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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Indians stayed away in droves
from a popular Hindu festival Wednesday, in a boycott linked to
allegations of discrimination by the nation’s majority Muslim
Malays.
The colorful Thaipusam festival,
during which devotees pierce their bodies with hooks and skewers,
usually attracts more than a million people to Kuala Lumpur’s Batu
Caves temple, set in a spectacular limestone cavern.
But this year activists called on
Hindus to celebrate elsewhere, accusing temple managers of assisting
police who cracked down hard on a demonstration there in November,
using tear gas and water cannons.
The crowds were thin Wednesday,
numbering only in tens of thousands, thanks to the boycott call and
the prospect of more trouble.
A series of SMS text messages had
called on ethnic Indians who did turn up to use their sandals to
pelt political leaders including Samy Vellu, the leader of the
Malaysian Indian Congress that is a member of the ruling coalition.
The veteran politician, who has
sided with the government and been accused of neglecting the
interests of his constituents, insisted there were at least half a
million people at the complex and a million the day before.
Stallholders and devotees
lamented the small turnout and said ethnic Indians should work
together to promote their cause.
Sweet seller Joga Singh said that
with the crowds so thin he and other vendors were not making any
money this year.
At least 3,000 ethnic Indians
gathered in the temple grounds to protest in November, and more than
8,000 people massed elsewhere the following day in unprecedented
scenes that shocked the government.
In December it jailed five ethnic
Indian activists under draconian internal security legislation that
allows for detention without trial.
Malays, who make up 60 percent of
the country’s 27-million population, control the government while
ethnic Chinese, who make up 26 percent of the population, dominate
business.
Ethnic Indians, who make up 8.0
percent of the population, complain they run a distant third in
terms of wealth, opportunities and education.
--AFP
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