The Malaysian government is facing tremendous pressure to release five members of the Hindu Rights Action Force, who were detained under the draconian Internal Security Act last November, for organising a massive rally against the government.

Former Works Minister and Malaysian Indian Congress leader S Samy Vellu has joined opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in calling for the release of the five men, who were detained without trial for an indefinite period for being a national security threat.

Vellu pointed out that one of the detained, M Manoharan, 46, had won a state assembly seat in the March 8 general election and should be freed while another, R Kenghadaran, 48, was very ill.

Vellu, who lost his parliamentary seat in the elections after having been in the government for over 30 years, also called for the release of V Ganabatirau, 34, and K Vasantha Kumar, 34, saying there were not ''very much involved in the massive rally organised by the unregistered Hindraf in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 last year''.

The fifth detained Hindraf leader is P Uthayakumar.

While dismissing suggestions that his call for the release of the five Hindraf detainess was a political move, Vellu told mediapersons in Kuala Lumpur, ''This is done in fairness, sympathy and, also, we feel that as Indians, we have to do something about it. It is not a publicity stunt.'' But, according to political observers, Vellu had supported the detention of the five when he was in government till the March elections.

Meanwhile, the Opposition said that the government, having done badly in the March 8 general elections, is still not hearing the people's voices by continuing to detain Manoharan.

The Malaysian Indian Congress performed worst in the elections, for having failed to support Malaysia's two million ethnic Indians, who claimed that they have been sidelined by the government. They rued that the Chinese community dominated trade and commerce and the Malays enjoyed special privileges under the governments' incentive-based economic progress sharing policy.