The government today once again denied that it had revoked Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy's passport.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been informed by the Immigration Department of Malaysia that the Malaysian international passport issued to Waytha Moorthy s/o Ponnusamy is still active in our passport and travel document system.
"In other words, the Malaysian government has never made any cancellation to the mentioned travel document," said Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar Syed Hamid in a statement today.
"Waythamoorthy is now believed to be overseas and is still free to travel internationally," added the minister.
The issue erupted on May 16 when Waythamoorthy, presently in self-imposed exile in London, and Amnesty International said that the Malaysian government had revoked former's passport to force him to return to Malaysia.
Waythamoorthy had said that he was informed of the status of his passport when he returned to London from Zurich on April 21.
"I was informed by the UK immigration officer at Gatwick Airport that the Malaysian government had revoked my passport," he had said then.
Passport to expire in 2010
In an immediate reaction then, Syed Hamid suggested that Waythamoorthy's passport could have expired and shrugged off the issue by saying that a misunderstanding could have occurred over the status of the passport.
However Waythamoorthy clarified later that his passport was only due to expire in 2010.
Waythamoorthy has been away from Malaysia since the government's crackdown on Hindraf last November.
He had claimed that the government was seeking to lure him back to this country to detain him under the Internal Security Act.
Five other Hindraf leaders, including the movement's most popular face and Waythamoorthy's brother Uthayakumar, are presently being held without trial since Dec 13.
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