Ambiga should be protected, says MIC minister
Subramaniam said today of Ambiga, “Like all Malaysians, I sincerely hope that the attacks on her were not because of her being a lady or her being an Indian.” — file photo KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Bersih chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan should be protected and her rights respected despite having contrary views to the government on electoral reforms, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said today.
“As a citizen, she should be given all the protection necessary and her rights respected. All fair thinking Malaysians don’t condone such actions,” he said in a statement today.
The MIC deputy president had come under fire after news reports quoted him as saying the personal attacks against Ambiga, a prominent lawyer-activist, were not racial but due to her role as leader of an 84-member grassroots movement pressuring the government to clean up the electoral roll ahead of national polls that must be called by March next year.
“I want to clarify my response to questions from reporters on whether the attacks on Ambiga’s house were racial in origin, as my reply was not reported in full. I had said that it could have been more to [do with] her role as the leader of Bersih rather than being racially motivated,” Subramaniam said.
“Nobody will know the real intention of the people who did it. Like all Malaysians, I sincerely hope that the attacks on her were not because of her being a lady or her being an Indian,” he added.
Ambiga had been the recent target of several disgruntled groups of petty traders and small business owners in the capital city who blamed her for alleged losses incurred as a result of Bersih’s rally in KL city centre last April 28.
Detractors of Bersih have organised demonstrations right outside Ambiga’s home in upscale Damansara Heights to make clear their dissatisfaction, including flexing their buttock muscles and hanging beef burgers on the vegetarian Hindu practitioner’s gates.
