‘Malaysia making mockery of human rights’

Malaysia sits in the UN Human Rights Council. But Klang MP Charles Santiago says the country should be stripped of its membership, with all the violations happening now.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council and its main purpose is addressing human rights violations.

But judging from the blatant abuse of human rights here over the last two weeks, Malaysia’s very presence in the council is likely to be questioned.

The Human Rights Council was created by the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006, aimed mainly at addressing human rights violations and make recommendations on them.

Malaysia was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council on June 19, 2008. It will serve a three- year term which ends in 2013.

Klang MP Charles Santiago says the Barisan Nasional (BN) government does not care for human rights in the country and the UN should strip Malaysia of its membership of the Human Rights Council.
Santiago said the government should stop making a mockery of the council.

“It’s time the government stopped pretending that it cares about human rights in the country. Arbitrary arrests, inhumane treatment of detainees and silencing of legitimate dissent are not marks of a democratic nation,” he said.

The clampdown on the Bersih’s planned “Walk for Democracy” on July 9 has been intensifying. This morning, 14 people including DAP Jalong assemblywoman Leong Mee Meng and PKR Teja assemblyman Chang Lih Kang were taken in by police in Sungai Siput for promoting the rally.

In the afternoon, police raided the office of Bersih office in Petaling Jaya. Selangor police chief Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said the raid was conducted following a tip-off that there were illegal activities taking place in the premises.

He also said that his officers had seized hundreds of Bersih T-shirts and other Bersih apparels from the office.

Government’s high-handedness

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today said that it was illegal to wear the yellow Bersih 2.0 T-shirts as it was associated with illegal activities.

To date, about 100 people have been caught for wearing the T-shirts. Bersih has said that it will not apply for a permit for its rally because the government had already warned that it will not issue any permits.

Over the weekend, the police arrested 30 Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM) members, including Sungai Siput MP, Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, in Penang and they have been remanded for a week to be investigated for illegal assembly and waging war against the king.

PSM has clarified that the arrests were not related to Bersih but linked to its own campaign, “Udahla Tu… Bersarala” (Enough already – retire now).

Bersih chairman S Ambiga, national laureate A Samad Said, Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali and an Umno Youth representative were quizzed on Monday.

Yesterday, PKR vice-president Nurrul Izzah, Subang MP R Sivarasa, and lawyers N Surendran and Fadiah Nadwa Fitri (from legal aid organisation Lawyers for Liberty) were also summoned to give their statements at the Dang Wangi police station.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was also questioned by the police yesterday.

A few more leaders such as Bersih steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah and DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok are scheduled to give their statements today.

Santiago said that all these developments demonstrates the government’s high-handedness and disregard for human rights in the country.