Manoharan s/o Malayalam (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

: ம. மனோகரன்; born 13 September 1961) also known as M. Manoharan is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and was the State Assemblyman for Kota Alam Shah in the

Selangor State Assembly The Selangor State Legislative Assembly () is the unicameral state legislature of the Malaysian state of Selangor. The State Assembly is composed of 56 members representing single-member constituencies throughout the state. Elections are held no m ...

. He is a member of the

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...

(DAP). Manoharan was actively involved in the

HINDRAF Hindu Rights Action Force, better known by its acronym HINDRAF (, ); is a Malaysian Hindu- activist non-governmental organisation (NGO) with its renowned slogan of ''Makkal Sakti (மக்கள் சக்தி)'' or ''Kuasa Rakyat'' translat ...

movement. He represented M. Moorthy's widow, Kaliammal Sinnasamy in a legal tussle over the late

Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its ...

conqueror's body.

Political career

Manoharan is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP). In the 1999 general elections, Manoharan was the DAP candidate for the

Segambut Segambut is a sub-district in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The federal constituency represented in the Dewan Rakyat is Segambut (federal constituency). From the high-end condominiums of Mont Kiara and Sri Hartamas to the middle-class areas of Tam ...

parliamentary constituency. Manoharan lost to the

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

(BN) candidate Tan Kee Kwong with 16,340 votes opposed to Tan's 24,926 votes. In the 2008 general elections, Manoharan, represented the DAP and won the

Selangor State Legislative Assembly The Selangor State Legislative Assembly () is the unicameral Dewan Undangan Negeri, state legislature of the Malaysian Malay states, state of Selangor. The State Assembly is composed of 56 members representing single-member constituencies througho ...

seat for Kota Alam Shah getting twice as many votes as the ethnic

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

candidate, in a seat dominated by ethnic Chinese voters. M Manoharan obtained 12,699 votes to win with a 7,184-vote majority the Kota Alam Shah state seat. The news of his victory was one of the surprising ones in the 2008 elections as he is being detained under the Internal Security Act without trial after organising anti-discrimination protests. Manoharan is only the third person to have won an election while under ISA detention. On 9 May 2009, Manoharan, along with P. Uthayakumar and K. Vasantha Kumar were released from ISA detention at about 2.30.

HINDRAF

or Hindu Rights Action Force is a coalition of 30

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s. Manoharan along with four other lawyers, P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy, K. Ganghadaran and V. Ganabatirau are seeking justice for the Hindu and Indian Malaysian community. On 30 October 2007, Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and S. V. Ganapathi Rao were arrested for taking part in the 2007 HINDRAF demonstration against the demolishment of a Hindu Shrine in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. Because of this "unlawful arrest", the lawyers are seeking 85 million

Malaysian Ringgits Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysians, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regardless o ...

in compensation, with Manoharan, Uthayakumar and Ganapathi Rao seeking 20 million while Waytha Moorthy is seeking 25 million. Manoharan was also part of a team of lawyers representing P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and S. V. Ganapathi Rao after they were arrested again for

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

Arrest under Internal Security Act (ISA)

Manoharan was arrested under the Internal Security Act on 13 December 2007.

Karpal Singh Karpal Singh s/o Ram Singh Deo (; 28 June 1940 – 17 April 2014) was an Indian Malaysian politician and lawyer. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bukit Gelugor in the state of Penang from 2004 to 2014. During that t ...

and M. Kulasegaran, two

(DAP) Members of Parliaments filed an application to free Manoharan, but it was struck out by the presiding judge because the photocopy of the detention order served to Manoharan was not certified.Hindraf lawyer's habeas corpus application struck out
The Star

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manoharan, M. 1961 births 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Malaysian Hindus Malaysian prisoners and detainees Malaysian democracy activists Living people Prisoners and detainees of Malaysia Malaysian politicians of Indian descent Malaysian human rights activists Members of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians 21st-century Malaysian lawyers Alumni of the University of Sheffield