Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy
Malaysian politician
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, sometimes spelled Waythamoorthy (Tamil: வேதமூர்த்தி பொன்னுசாமி, romanized: Vētamūrtti poṉṉucāmi; born 16 July 1966), is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of National Unity and Social Wellbeing in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department from May 2013 to his resignation in February 2014 and Senator from June 2013 to his resignation in February 2014 and again from his appointment to the Cabinet in July 2018 to July 2021. He has served as the 1st and founding President of the Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) since July 2019. He is also known as a former key leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF).
Early life and education
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy was born on 16 July 1966 to Ponnusamy Arunasalam who was a first-generation immigrant. Waytha Moorthy mentioned in his statement of claim that his parents sold their home to finance his studies in the United Kingdom. Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy also stated that he was denied entry into a local university despite having all the requirements purely because he was an Indian origin.
Legal career and activism
He is a Barrister from Lincoln's Inn and began his career as a lawyer in Malaysia in 1997. Waytha's work involved public interest litigation relating to arbitrary arrests, unlawful deaths in police custody, extrajudicial killings; police abuse of detainees; denial of the grant of citizenship status to ethnic Indians born in Malaysia, forced conversion of ethnic Indians to Islam, unlawful demolition of Hindu Temples or places of worship; and denial of government compensation to ethnic Indian Estate/Plantation workers. Much of Waytha's work was done pro bono due to a lack of public funds allocated to those areas of the law. He is well known among Malaysian Indians as one of the founders of HINDRAF and his domestic and international campaign to fight discrimination against Hinduism in Malaysia.
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