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Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy
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Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, sometimes spelled Waythamoorthy (Tamil: வேதமூர்த்தி பொன்னுசாமி, romanized: Vētamūrtti poṉṉucāmi; born 16 July 1966), is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of National Unity and Social Wellbeing in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department from May 2013 to his resignation in February 2014 and Senator from June 2013 to his resignation in February 2014 and again from his appointment to the Cabinet in July 2018 to July 2021. He has served as the 1st and founding President of the Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) since July 2019. He is also known as a former key leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF).
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy was born on 16 July 1966 to Ponnusamy Arunasalam who was a first-generation immigrant. Waytha Moorthy mentioned in his statement of claim that his parents sold their home to finance his studies in the United Kingdom. Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy also stated that he was denied entry into a local university despite having all the requirements purely because he was an Indian origin.[citation needed]
He is a Barrister from Lincoln's Inn and began his career as a lawyer in Malaysia in 1997. Waytha's work involved public interest litigation relating to arbitrary arrests, unlawful deaths in police custody, extrajudicial killings; police abuse of detainees; denial of the grant of citizenship status to ethnic Indians born in Malaysia, forced conversion of ethnic Indians to Islam, unlawful demolition of Hindu Temples or places of worship; and denial of government compensation to ethnic Indian Estate/Plantation workers. Much of Waytha's work was done pro bono due to a lack of public funds allocated to those areas of the law. He is well known among Malaysian Indians as one of the founders of HINDRAF and his domestic and international campaign to fight discrimination against Hinduism in Malaysia.
Waytha Moorthy has led a campaign against demolitions and relocations of Hindu temples in Malaysia by private companies and the government. Examples of Hindu Temple demolitions and relocations in Malaysia include the Sri Kumaravel Hindu temple in Kampung Medan which had been relocated next to a sewerage tank in 2006, the Muniswarar Hindu temple in Midlands estate was demolished using the hammer in 2006, the Muniswarar temple in Seremban with a 100-year-old rain tree which was given notice for demolition in 2006, and the Sri Siva Balamuniswarar Hindu temple in Setapak of which Waytha was a devotee was demolished using bulldozers in 2006.
He sued and accused the British Government of "abandoning minority Indians to the mercy of majoritarian authoritarian government while granting independence on 31 August 1957". Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy sued the British Government to pay £1,000,000 to each Malaysian Indian for the "pain, suffering, humiliation, discrimination and continuous colonization". This extraordinary lawsuit had the backing and support from HINDRAF.
Just as Malaysia was celebrating its 50th Independence on 31 August 2007, Waytha Moorthy led a team of lawyers to file a 4 trillion pound lawsuit against the British Government. "After a century of slaving for the British, the colonial government withdrew after granting independence and they left us unprotected and at the mercy of a majority authoritarian government that has violated our rights as minority Indians," said Waytha after filing the suit.
On 30 October 2007, Waytha Moorthy and other members of HINDRAF — M. Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar and V. Ganabatirau, were arrested at 11:00 p.m. and detained until 8:00 a.m. the following morning for taking part in a demonstration against the demolition of a Hindu Shrine in Kuala Lumpur. Because of this "unlawful arrest" which is quickly refuted by Chief of Malaysian Police at that time, lawyers are seeking 85 million Malaysian Ringgits in compensation, with Manoharan, Uthayakumar and Ganapathy Rao seeking 20 million while Waytha Moorthy is seeking 25 million.
He was arrested again on 23 November together with P. Uthayakumar and V. Ganabatirau, this time on sedition charges. All three were granted bail, but Waytha refused bail as a sign of protest. But on 26 November, the court discharged Waytha Moorthy, Uthayakumar and Ganapathy Rao because "the prosecution had failed to adhere to Zunaidah's (the judge) instructions on Friday to attach the Tamil transcripts of the speeches to the charge sheet".
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Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, sometimes spelled Waythamoorthy (Tamil: வேதமூர்த்தி பொன்னுசாமி, romanized: Vētamūrtti poṉṉucāmi; born 16 July 1966), is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of National Unity and Social Wellbeing in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department from May 2013 to his resignation in February 2014 and Senator from June 2013 to his resignation in February 2014 and again from his appointment to the Cabinet in July 2018 to July 2021. He has served as the 1st and founding President of the Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) since July 2019. He is also known as a former key leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF).
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy was born on 16 July 1966 to Ponnusamy Arunasalam who was a first-generation immigrant. Waytha Moorthy mentioned in his statement of claim that his parents sold their home to finance his studies in the United Kingdom. Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy also stated that he was denied entry into a local university despite having all the requirements purely because he was an Indian origin.[citation needed]
He is a Barrister from Lincoln's Inn and began his career as a lawyer in Malaysia in 1997. Waytha's work involved public interest litigation relating to arbitrary arrests, unlawful deaths in police custody, extrajudicial killings; police abuse of detainees; denial of the grant of citizenship status to ethnic Indians born in Malaysia, forced conversion of ethnic Indians to Islam, unlawful demolition of Hindu Temples or places of worship; and denial of government compensation to ethnic Indian Estate/Plantation workers. Much of Waytha's work was done pro bono due to a lack of public funds allocated to those areas of the law. He is well known among Malaysian Indians as one of the founders of HINDRAF and his domestic and international campaign to fight discrimination against Hinduism in Malaysia.
Waytha Moorthy has led a campaign against demolitions and relocations of Hindu temples in Malaysia by private companies and the government. Examples of Hindu Temple demolitions and relocations in Malaysia include the Sri Kumaravel Hindu temple in Kampung Medan which had been relocated next to a sewerage tank in 2006, the Muniswarar Hindu temple in Midlands estate was demolished using the hammer in 2006, the Muniswarar temple in Seremban with a 100-year-old rain tree which was given notice for demolition in 2006, and the Sri Siva Balamuniswarar Hindu temple in Setapak of which Waytha was a devotee was demolished using bulldozers in 2006.
He sued and accused the British Government of "abandoning minority Indians to the mercy of majoritarian authoritarian government while granting independence on 31 August 1957". Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy sued the British Government to pay £1,000,000 to each Malaysian Indian for the "pain, suffering, humiliation, discrimination and continuous colonization". This extraordinary lawsuit had the backing and support from HINDRAF.
Just as Malaysia was celebrating its 50th Independence on 31 August 2007, Waytha Moorthy led a team of lawyers to file a 4 trillion pound lawsuit against the British Government. "After a century of slaving for the British, the colonial government withdrew after granting independence and they left us unprotected and at the mercy of a majority authoritarian government that has violated our rights as minority Indians," said Waytha after filing the suit.
On 30 October 2007, Waytha Moorthy and other members of HINDRAF — M. Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar and V. Ganabatirau, were arrested at 11:00 p.m. and detained until 8:00 a.m. the following morning for taking part in a demonstration against the demolition of a Hindu Shrine in Kuala Lumpur. Because of this "unlawful arrest" which is quickly refuted by Chief of Malaysian Police at that time, lawyers are seeking 85 million Malaysian Ringgits in compensation, with Manoharan, Uthayakumar and Ganapathy Rao seeking 20 million while Waytha Moorthy is seeking 25 million.
He was arrested again on 23 November together with P. Uthayakumar and V. Ganabatirau, this time on sedition charges. All three were granted bail, but Waytha refused bail as a sign of protest. But on 26 November, the court discharged Waytha Moorthy, Uthayakumar and Ganapathy Rao because "the prosecution had failed to adhere to Zunaidah's (the judge) instructions on Friday to attach the Tamil transcripts of the speeches to the charge sheet".
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