The NGO's annual report details the government's ineptitude last year in preserving human rights in Malaysia.
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has done worse in preserving human rights despite Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s reliance on reforms to guarantee a win in the upcoming election, Suaram director Kua Kia Soong said today.
“We find that the record for the government in 2011 is worse than in 2010. They failed in 2010 and they failed again in 2011, and it looks like it will fail worse this year,” he told reporters at the launching of Suaram’s Malaysia Human Rights Report 2011 here.
“Because you cannot have a government that supposedly values human rights, yet has detention without trial,” he said.
He was alluding to the Internal Security Act 1960 which subjects detainees to an initial 60-day detention period without the requirement of a judicial order.
Although the ISA was repealed this year, the government has replaced it with a Security Offences Special Measures Act which Suaram claims is merely the “new ISA”.
“Those basic indicators like detention without trial, how many people were detained, how many deaths in custody last year… it was worse than 2010. How many police shootings were there? It was worse than 2010,” Kua added.
Suaram has documented a total number of 10 deaths in custody last year, compared with seven in 2010.
Meanwhile, its Human Rights Report 2011 also notes that 25 individuals were killed in police shooting last year, an increase from 2010 which recorded 18 cases.
“And with regard to freedom of association, expression, assembly, etc, the government has failed again,” Kua said.
“If you go through different freedoms, you find that they were worse.”
According to the Human Rights Report 2011, the changes made by the government were “aimed at legalising the government’s powers over its people and falsely promoting the government’s compassion towards human rights and liberties”.
It lists down the violations the government has made last year towards human rights principles such as freedom of assembly, association, and information.
Among the most notable violations was the freedom of assembly. The Human Rights Report highlighted five rallies last year in which Malaysians were denied their right to assemble: the anti-Interlok demonstrations, the Anti-Lynas campaign, the May Day rally, Bersih 2.0 and various protests against the Peaceful Assembly Act.
But in an ironic twist, the report noted that groups sympathetic to Barisan Nasional, such as Malay-rights group Perkasa and Pertubuhan Islam Gabungan Amal, were allowed to hold rallies with little to no police crackdown, despite their intention to “fuel hatred and create conflict”.
BN administration to blame
The report also highlights the “regressive” policies passed by the “Barisan Nasional-dominated Parliament”, such as the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
“We demanded the government repeal section 27 of the Police Act 1967, but the government came out with a new law, which is the Peaceful Assembly Act, in which no [spontaneous] street protests are allowed,” Suaram executive director Nalini Elumalai told reporters.
“Those who are not Malaysians cannot assemble, those who are below 15 years cannot assemble, those below 21 cannot organise a protest.
“These are the indications that it’s going worse,” she said.
When asked whether such “regressive policies” were the fault of Parliament, Kua said the blame lay squarely on the shoulders of the BN administration as it made up the numbers in Parliament.
“Parliament is at the moment dominated by BN and the laws that have been passed so far have been passed by the majority of the BN members.
“So if you say it is the failure of the BN-dominated Parliament, then of course it is. For all these years, the BN administration has paid the most lip service to reforms.”
“The prime minister is counting on his reform zeal for the upcoming general election, but the records for 2011 are not promising,” he said.
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has done worse in preserving human rights despite Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s reliance on reforms to guarantee a win in the upcoming election, Suaram director Kua Kia Soong said today.“We find that the record for the government in 2011 is worse than in 2010. They failed in 2010 and they failed again in 2011, and it looks like it will fail worse this year,” he told reporters at the launching of Suaram’s Malaysia Human Rights Report 2011 here.
“Because you cannot have a government that supposedly values human rights, yet has detention without trial,” he said.
He was alluding to the Internal Security Act 1960 which subjects detainees to an initial 60-day detention period without the requirement of a judicial order.
Although the ISA was repealed this year, the government has replaced it with a Security Offences Special Measures Act which Suaram claims is merely the “new ISA”.
“Those basic indicators like detention without trial, how many people were detained, how many deaths in custody last year… it was worse than 2010. How many police shootings were there? It was worse than 2010,” Kua added.
Suaram has documented a total number of 10 deaths in custody last year, compared with seven in 2010.
Meanwhile, its Human Rights Report 2011 also notes that 25 individuals were killed in police shooting last year, an increase from 2010 which recorded 18 cases.
“And with regard to freedom of association, expression, assembly, etc, the government has failed again,” Kua said.
“If you go through different freedoms, you find that they were worse.”
According to the Human Rights Report 2011, the changes made by the government were “aimed at legalising the government’s powers over its people and falsely promoting the government’s compassion towards human rights and liberties”.
It lists down the violations the government has made last year towards human rights principles such as freedom of assembly, association, and information.
Among the most notable violations was the freedom of assembly. The Human Rights Report highlighted five rallies last year in which Malaysians were denied their right to assemble: the anti-Interlok demonstrations, the Anti-Lynas campaign, the May Day rally, Bersih 2.0 and various protests against the Peaceful Assembly Act.
But in an ironic twist, the report noted that groups sympathetic to Barisan Nasional, such as Malay-rights group Perkasa and Pertubuhan Islam Gabungan Amal, were allowed to hold rallies with little to no police crackdown, despite their intention to “fuel hatred and create conflict”.
BN administration to blame
The report also highlights the “regressive” policies passed by the “Barisan Nasional-dominated Parliament”, such as the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.
“We demanded the government repeal section 27 of the Police Act 1967, but the government came out with a new law, which is the Peaceful Assembly Act, in which no [spontaneous] street protests are allowed,” Suaram executive director Nalini Elumalai told reporters.
“Those who are not Malaysians cannot assemble, those who are below 15 years cannot assemble, those below 21 cannot organise a protest.
“These are the indications that it’s going worse,” she said.
When asked whether such “regressive policies” were the fault of Parliament, Kua said the blame lay squarely on the shoulders of the BN administration as it made up the numbers in Parliament.
“Parliament is at the moment dominated by BN and the laws that have been passed so far have been passed by the majority of the BN members.
“So if you say it is the failure of the BN-dominated Parliament, then of course it is. For all these years, the BN administration has paid the most lip service to reforms.”
“The prime minister is counting on his reform zeal for the upcoming general election, but the records for 2011 are not promising,” he said.
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