A memorandum on the lack of police protection for Indians in areas affected by the recent racial clashes in Petaling Jaya Selatan was handed to the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) today.

The 30-page memorandum, prepared by the pro-tem committee of the Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia's Police Watch and Human Rights sub-committee, included 28 photos of some of the victims.

"We appeal to Suhakam to investigate all the allegations and to initiate an urgent inquiry into these baseless and brutal racial attacks on innocent Malaysian Indians," said the sub-committee's legal advisor P Uthayakumar, who is also the pro-tem secretary-general of the party.

The memorandum named 29 victims of the clashes and detailed the injuries they suffered. It also said that it could not get in touch with about 20 others were also injured in the clashes.

About 20 family members of the victims were present when the memorandum was handed to Suhakam commissioner Anuar Zainal Abidin this morning.

Hundreds deployed

Violent clashes in Kampung Medan and its vicinity since March 9 resulted in the death of six persons and 52 injured. The clashes were reported to have continued for four days. About 600 police personnel are stationed at the affected areas to maintain peace and order.

The police arrested about 300 people believed to be involved in the clashes and most of them have been charged in court under the 1958 Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act, the 1967 Police Act and the Penal Code.

Uthayakumar said the purpose of the memorandum was to highlight the "unknown reasons" for the clashes which resulted in severe injuries and the death of six people.

Four of those died were Indians, one an Indian national and the other an Indonesian.

"We want to put a stop to such abuses and to identify these unknown attackers and their unknown reasons," said Uthayakumar.

Uthayakumar said in the memorandum that the clashes were "made out" to have resulted from an incident which started at a wedding and a funeral and a subsequent incident involving a boy catapulting a vehicle windscreen.

He added that these reasons could be misleading as there had not been any racial tension between the Malays and the Indians in the area.

"A carefully planned, orchestrated and executed operation by a selected squad propelled by some political force seems to be the real culprit and this has to be investigated by Suhakam," said the memorandum.

Fact-finding mission

Uthayakumar said the memorandum was based on Prim's fact-finding mission, accounts of residents, victims, press reports, police reports and witnesses' accounts.

He added that despite a letter by Prim dated March 13 to the Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai and another to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad dated March 15, there appeared to be little improvement in the security situation at Petaling Jaya Selatan.

Uthayakumar conceded that some of the accounts contained in the memorandum may not be "accurate, proven or substantiated" as Prim has no powers of investigations.

"We look forward to Suhakam to call for an urgent inquiry and establish the truth. Their recommendations for possible prosecution of the relevant authorities responsible will help ensure this tragedy does not happen again in the future," he added.

Brutal racial attacks

Uthayakumar said the local media has continuously published reports about the racial clashes in the area.

"It must be noted here that they are not racial clashes but brutal racial attacks," he said.

"What is more worrying is that they also attack Indians anywhere they see even outside the Petaling Jaya Selatan squatter area and the police are not providing protection for these innocent Indians,' he added.

Uthayakumar said that in the process of upholding justice and revealing the truth, his team may be prosecuted but he said he was prepared to face the consequences.