Malaysia party appeals to Indian PM to highlight discrimination against Indian minorities

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Oct. 27 (ANI): A Malaysian party has urged visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to highlight alleged discrimination against Indian minorities during his visit to the country.

According to the BBC, the Human Rights Party claimed that though Malaysia has one of the largest Indian populations outside of India, Malay Indians often feel marginalized in the country.

Ethnic Indians make up about eight percent of Malaysia's 28 million people.

Prime Minister Singh is in Kuala Lumpur on the second leg of his Asian trip.

P Uthayakumar, an ethnic Indian who spent 17 months in jail for his role in anti-government protests in December 2007, launched the pro-Indian Human Rights Party.

It says that the rights of the ethnic Indians have been violated, alleging discrimination in education as an example.

The party says about 2,000 Indian students who score straight As' are denied government scholarships or entry into public universities every year.

It has urged Dr. Singh to grant more scholarships to Malaysian-Indian students to study in India.

A policy that favours the Malay-majority means there is a quota system for education, employment and setting up businesses, the BBC said.

The Malaysian government has announced measures to promote fairer opportunities, but the Human Rights Party says similar promises made by the governing coalition have not been kept. (ANI)