KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Ethnic Indian activists claimed victory Monday as sedition charges against them were dropped, a day after they mounted an anti-discrimination protest broken up with tear gas and water cannons.
About 1,000 supporters carried the three freed activists out of the courthouse on their shoulders before a tense standoff with security forces outside a Hindu temple where they went to give thanks.
"We are seeking justice for the Indian community and today's verdict shows that we have made a small step in the correct direction," said P. Waythamoorthy, chairman of the Hindraf rights group, which organised the demonstration.
"It is a victory for the Indian community in Malaysia, but there is still a lot more work to do," he said, after the court ruled the charges must be dropped because prosecutors failed to provide transcripts of speeches.
The impromptu rally dispersed on police orders, but on Sunday there were ugly scenes near Kuala Lumpur's iconic Petronas Twin Towers, as about 8,000 people clashed with police, whom witnesses said used their batons to beat protesters.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi defended the response to the protest -- a rare event in Malaysia -- saying it could have turned violent if police had not intervened.
"Don't abuse the freedom that has been given to you," he said, adding that the rally and another mass demonstration held earlier this month calling for electoral reforms had tested the government's patience.
The three Hindraf members had faced three years in jail for speeches earlier this month in which they criticised preferential treatment for majority Muslim Malays.
Hindraf said the speeches touched on freedom of religion and inequality for ethnic Indians, who make up eight percent of the population, against Malay Muslims at 60 percent and ethnic Chinese at 26 percent.
The Chinese population is dominant in business while Malays control the ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation. Indians complain they run a distant third in skills, wealth and education.
Sunday's protest was held to support a lawsuit that accuses former colonial ruler Britain of being at the origin of their economic problems.
The lawsuit seeks four trillion dollars in compensation for the estimated two million ethnic Indians whose ancestors were brought to Malaysia as indentured labourers by Britain in the 1800s -- two million dollars each.
Campaigners want to present a petition to Queen Elizabeth II in London and are asking Britain to appoint a lawyer to represent them in their case, which they hope will highlight alleged discrimination by the Malaysian government.
Analysts said the unprecedented street protests by ethnic Indians have opened up a new faultline in race relations that are already tense, and presented the government with a major problem as it faces elections tipped for early 2008.
"It is quite clear we will have an emboldened community willing to fight for their rights. It's almost a renaissance or a rebirth," said political commentator Charles Santiago.
Malaysian Indians interviewed Monday defended the protests, saying they were forced onto the streets by a government that had ignored their grievances for decades.
"I think its a stepping stone for a better future, although change may not come overnight," communications executive Thavamalar Muniandy told AFP in the city's ethnic Indian Brickfields district.
"In my opinion the protest achieved its objective. We got the world to focus on us and the government can no longer ignore our concerns," said 24-year-old law student Sivamalar Ganapathy.
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