GEORGE TOWN, July 20 — Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy wants the police to investigate groups that have falsely accused him of links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

He said those groups who made false allegations against him should be investigated for criminal defamation.

“We have a total 18 reports lodged against those who made false accusations against me so the police should investigate these groups too,” he said in a press conference today.

Police recently recorded a statement from Ramasamy and Bagan Dalam assemblyman Satees Muniandy over reports lodged against Ramasamy alleging him of having links to the LTTE.

Ramasamy strongly denied he has any links with the LTTE which he pointed out was destroyed in 2009.

“LTTE does not exist anymore, how can I be a member of something that does not exist?” he said.

He said he is a Malaysian and he is not a permanent resident of India or Sri Lanka.

Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun reportedly said they have received 52 police reports against Ramasamy.

Ramasamy said he too had lodged a police report on these false allegations against him.

He said these false allegations made against him were due to him raising questions on whether Zakir Naik will be extradited to India.

“When I asked whether Zakir Naik will be extradited, these groups got angry and tried to link me to the LTTE,” he said.

He said he is not worried about such false allegations as he did not do anything wrong.

He explained that the only dealings he had with LTTE was back in 2005 when he was still a lecturer in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

He said at that time he was a lecturer on political economy and international conflict management and he was actively involved as a negotiator between LTTE and the Sri Lanka government to find a peaceful resolution between the conflict.

“At that time I was also actively involved in negotiations between other groups in Acheh, Geneva and Norway,” he said.

He said he helped the Gerakan Acheh Merdeka (GAM) to negotiate with the government.

“Why don’t they accuse me of being a member of GAM too? What about the time I championed the rights of the Muslims in Palestine? Is that anti-Islam?” he asked.

He demanded that the groups accusing him of being a LTTE member and being anti-Islam to back their allegations with solid proof.

He said these were obviously lies against him.

As for his comment on preacher Zakir, he said he had merely pointed out that India wanted the preacher to be extradited for cases in the country.

“We have an extradition treaty with India so I was merely asking that Malaysia honour the treaty,” he said.