18 Facts About HINDRAF

Hindu Rights Action Force, better known by its acronym HINDRAF ; is a Hindu-activism right-wing non-governmental organisation with its renowned slogan of Makkal Sakti or Kuasa Rakyat translated as People's Power.

HINDRAF has had a major impact on the political landscape of Malaysia by staging the infamous 2007 HINDRAF rally.

HINDRAF was deregistered by Registrar of Societies on 15 July 2019.

Subsequently, HINDRAF appealed directly to the Inspector-General of Police in an attempt to ensure future forums went on peacefully.

HINDRAF organised the rally on 25 November 2007 to submit the petition at the British High Commission.

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HINDRAF later claimed to have faxed the petition to the British High Commission staff.

The reason given for this arrest was that the HINDRAF leadership has had links with international millitant organisations such as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India.

The invocation of the ISA to capture the HINDRAF leaders was seen as a strategic move by the BN's United Malays National Organisation government to arrest the momentum generated by HINDRAF.

The detention without trial of the HINDRAF leaders drew negative comments in the foreign press about Abdullah Badawi's administration and the poor way the BN government was handling the issue.

HINDRAF, which had barely existed for three years, and was barely known until August 2007, suddenly caught the mood of a large proportion of Malaysians, not only Indians and Hindus but the Chinese and a sizeable section of the Malays as well, causing a major upset in the process.

HINDRAF said the order was being made as a result of monitoring and investigation of the organisation's activities, since its inception, by the Registrar of Societies and the Home Ministry.

On 27 February 2011, HINDRAF organised a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur protesting the government's decision to include the Malay language novel Interlok in the school curriculum as compulsory reading for the Malay literature subject for students in secondary 5.

HINDRAF alleges that Interlok contains disparaging remarks against Malaysian Indians and is deemed racist.

On 26 January 2013 the ban imposed on HINDRAF was impromptu lifted by the Malaysian Home Ministry and later on 8 March 2013 the once illegal minority rights group registration had been tacitly approved by RoS.

On 18 April 2013, just weeks before the 2013 Malaysian general election, the factions of HINDRAF led by P Waythamoorthy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Barisan Nasional whereby they would work together to uplift displaced estate workers, resolve the issue of stateless persons and provide business opportunities thus bringing poor Indians into the mainstream of the country's development.

In 2018, HINDRAF was officially accepted as strategic partner of Pakatan Harapan in collaboration to face the 2018 Malaysian general election.

HINDRAF later founded Malaysian Advancement Party, the HINDRAF-linked new party approved by RoS in July 2019.

HINDRAF is seeking a legal declaration that the two decisions to deregister the organisation are illegal and thus null and void, as well as an order to temporarily suspend the decisions pending disposal of the judicial review application.