HUNGER STRIKE BY SAUDARA MYTHREYAR OF TAMILAN MALAYSIA
We wholeheartedly commend Saudara Mythreyar’s courage and selflessness in undertaking a hunger strike to protest the Malaysian government’s plan to allow BlackRock entry into the ownership and management of our country’s airports. His actions have successfully kept this critical issue in the public eye and garnered media attention, even prompting MPs to address his protest in Parliament.
In light of these significant achievements, we urge Saudara Mythreyar to consider his health and well-being and to end his hunger strike as soon as possible; ideally, immediately.
At the same time, we are profoundly disappointed that the government has chosen to ignore his hunger strike. If the MAHB privatisation scheme proceeds with the involvement of BlackRock through its fully-owned subsidiary, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), it would signify several concerning points:
The government is prepared to ignore calls by the United Nations to put pressure on entities which are complicit in enabling the genocide in Gaza, such as BlackRock.
The government misinterprets the issue as a political one when it is a humanitarian issue related to the campaign to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This is evidenced by the fact that politicians in and outside the ruling coalition have expressed disquiet over BlackRock’s presence in the deal.
The government is prepared to simply dismiss and ignore the views of a substantial segment of the country’s population about the matter.
The government is not moved by the suffering of the Palestinians to take steps that will prove meaningful in ending that suffering, such as a refusal to do business with an entity overtly supportive of the Zionist apartheid state.
In view of the above and all the protests by Malaysians such as Sdr Mythreyar, we again urge the Malaysian government to review the MAHB privatisation deal and replace BlackRock’s participation in it with that of another company.
