This coming Wednesday, P. Waythamoorthy who is the Hindraf leader in exile, will be returning to Malaysia via the causeway from Singapore. Waythamoorthy is leaving Britain which had in 2008 granted him political asylum after his Malaysian passport was revoked.

It is reported that the Malaysian High Commission in London on Friday had been unable to renew a valid passport for Waythamoorthy due to an international alert preventing him from travelling to any part of the world on a Malaysian passport.

Photo: Waythamoorthy’s departure from London airport.

Apparently Waythamoorthy’s is “a special case” requiring personal clearance from the Inspector-General of Police himself.

Political asylum status is not easily granted by the British government. Under the Geneva Convention by which the UK abides, an asylum seeker must show that he has “a well-founded fear of persecution” in his home country and the (UK) authorities must also concur with this perception.

For Waythamoorthy to be granted asylum, Whitehall evidently considered that his political opinions and involvement in Hindraf put him at risk of persecution by the powers-that-be in Malaysia – persecution which infringes on the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Uthayakumar – who is his Waythamoorthy’s older brother – as well as four other Malaysian Indians were held under ISA for their connection to the Hindraf street rally of 25 Nov 2007.

Hindraf national coordinator W. Sambulingam said in a press statement that his organization is fully prepared to face the situation whereby the IGP may initiate criminal charges against Waythamoorthy as Putrajaya had previously signalled that he was wanted for criminal charges.

(Read Sambulingam’s full statement at www.hindraf.org )

Waythamoorthy has said he does not fear arrest as he has already accomplished his mission of re-filing Hindraf’s trillion-dollar class action suit in the London court on July 2 against the former colonial British government.

Hindraf’s immediate concern is the safe return home of Waythamoorthy and his wife and their young daughter without any harassment or hassle.

In our view, the Malaysian authorities should welcome rather than obstruct Waythamoorthy’s return to the country.

Continuing this selective, vindictive and unjustifiable persecution of a loyal citizen - whose sole ‘crime’ is to hold views on his community’s interests that are different from those of the government – is contrary to the message of political reform that the prime minister has been so eager to send the country and the world.

In the matter of Waythamoorthy and Hindraf, this is an opportunity for the Malaysian government to show that the leopard can change its spots, if not because of a change of heart, then at least in recognition of the Najib administration’s need for Indian votes in the coming general election.