Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): Citing the presence of over 70,000 Hindu temples, Malaysia has rejected criticism by the US while asking it to probe its own human rights record at home and in Iraq.
A US Congress-appointed commission had expressed concern at the destruction of Hindu temples and other alleged discrimination faced by religious minorities in Malaysia.
Reacting strongly, but asking his countrymen to ignore it, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the Indian government knew for a fact that the Indians in Malaysia were not being mistreated.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom had urged the Bush Administration to raise the matter with Malaysian government and insisted that immediate measures be taken to protect sacred sites and prevent further destruction.
‘I have not seen many temples in other countries but in Malaysia, there are over 70,000 temples. In some places, we even have problems getting approvals to build mosques,’ Albar said.
The ethnic Indian community has been in the news recently after the Malaysian police cracked down on a rally Nov 25 of more than 10,000 who were protesting against marginalisation of the ethnic Indian community in that country and also to support a $4 trillion lawsuit filed in London in August by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), a rights group demanding that Britain compensate Malaysian Indians for bringing their ancestors to the country as indentured laborers and exploiting them.
Albar said the police action against demonstrations and rallies in recent weeks was to maintain peace and stability and was within the norms of universal practice, the New Straits Times reported Thursday.
If they (demonstrators) want to get together within the law and not cause problems to other citizens, the government will have no problem with that. But if they want to jeopardise public safety, we definitely have to take action.
‘What our police and other authorities have done is acceptable worldwide. They have been very cautious before taking action.
‘But public freedom does not mean chaos. Even the US government will not allow this to happen in America,’ he said, adding that the US government clearly did not understand the situation in Malaysia.
On the US human rights report, Syed Hamid said, ‘The US writes reports on every country because they think they are the superpower.’ He took a dig at the US’ own human rights record, as it has unilaterally detained thousands of people without trial in Guantanamo Bay.
US soldiers have also been found to have murdered and tortured hundreds of people in the detention camp and in Iraq, he charged.
‘We should not over-react to US comments because they themselves have a lot of things in their backyard. They should try to settle their own problems and not interfere.’
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has denied the charge of ethnic cleansing levelled by Hindraf that alleged that 35,000 Hindu temples have been destroyed by the Malaysian authorities since the independence in 1957.
Malaysia rebuffed the expression of concerns by the Indian government, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
Subsequently, it told New Delhi that it suspected Hindraf of having links with Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE) that has listed as a terrorist body by the UN, the US, the UK, India and others. Indian immigrants, mostly Tamil Hindus, form eight percent of Malaysia’s 27 million population.
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