Despite being one of the leaders of a key social movement among Indian Malaysians that led to the rise of Hindraf, its chairperson P Waythamoorthy has found himself akin to a stateless Malaysian.
Waythamoorthy, who returned to Malaysia on Aug 1 after four years of self-imposed exile in Britain, said the police were in possession of close to 100 of his personal documents, including his MyKad.
"When the police raided my office in 2007, I was not in the country.... They have my MyKad, birth certificate, school and degree certificates, Malaysian Bar certificate, banking details and a number of other files," he said.
Police simultaneously raided the offices of Waythamoorthy and his elder brother P Uthayakumar ( left ) on Nov 19, 2007, taking away materials intended for the Hindraf protest that year.
Subsequent to the Hindraf protest on Nov 25, 2007, police again raided Waythamoorthy's office in Seremban, this time taking away several personal documents.
Waythamoorthy appealed to inspector-general of police Ismail Omar for the police to return his documents.
No response to inquiry
"The police have not even given me any acknowledgment for what they look.
"Normally, if I lose my MyKad, the procedure would be to make a police report, But now it is the police who are holding it," he said.
Waythamoorthy added that he had inquired about his MyKad and documents through a letter in 2008, but there was no response.
"I'm walking around without my identity card... I need my Bar certificate to resume my practice, I'm jobless now," he said.
Waythamoorthy, who upon returning to Malaysia took over the reins of Hindraf from Uthayakumar, had said the movement will adopt a non-partisan strategy in the coming general election.
This is an about-turn on Uthayakumar's plan to field candidates in the election, under the movement's political offshoot Human Rights Party, which is not a registered entity.
However, Waythamoorthy has denied any split with his brother, stating that the two of them would adopt divergent strategies for now.