Suaram questions gov't claim on preventive detention

Six people are still being detained without trial at the Kamunting camp in Perak, although the Internal Security Act was abolished last year, said human rights NGO Suaram.

"(Yet, the government’s) Universal Periodical Review Report (in August, to the UN Human Rights Council had) claimed that the practice of preventive detention (has) effectively ended,” Suaram executive director Nalini Elumalai (right) said today.

“In practice, preventive detention continues ..."

The six detainees are said to be linked to Islamist group Darul Islam. They comprise Malaysians Muhammad Adnan Umar, Adzmi Pindatun, Mohd Nazri Dollah and Bakar Baba; and foreigners Muadz Hakim (Philippines) and Darto Bandu (Indonesia).

Suaram cited Human Right Commission sources as saying that they may be freed when their two-year detention order expires on Jan 6 next year.

However, Suaram said there is no guarantee that the government will not pursue action against them under other laws that provide for preventive detention.

These include the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) which was passed in June  last year; the amended Prevention of Crime Act passed in October this year; and the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.

Nalini noted that Sosma had been used in February this year against Yazid Sufaat (left), Halimah Hussein and Hilmi Hafim. They were arrested on Feb 8 for alleged links to terrorists in Syria, but were released on May 20.

"I think the most challenging part for civil society ... is the problem of accountability by the police," Nalini said at a press conference to launch the 2013 Suaram overview and report on the status of human rights in Malaysia.

The report outlined three key challenges related to the police:

1.  Many regulations with regard to the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the police have been placed under the Official Secrets Act.

2. The internal disciplinary system to deal with police misconduct lacks transparency and impartiality; there is also lack of clarity as to how complaints are investigated and acted upon.

3. Criminal offences tantamount to human rights violations are not addressed in a transparent and systematic manner to hold the authorities accountable.

Gov’t gets ‘F’ for human rights

Based on detention without trial and human rights violations by the police, Suaram has given the government an ‘F’ for its human rights record this year.

Its joint monitoring efforts with the Abolish ISA Movement showed that there were 23 ISA detainees at the Kamunting detention camp last year - of whom 17 were freed earlier this year.

Suaram recorded 12 cases of death in police custody (up to June), while it cited a Home Ministry parliamentary reply that the police had shot dead 124 people from 2009 up to August.

Also highlighted were irregularities during the 13th general election, including the inability of Suhakam to monitor the polls process on May 5.

This was because, similar to 2010, there was 39-day gap between the end of tenure and appointment of new commissioners, with the period falling between nomination and  election day.

"For the first 22 of the 39 days without commissioners, a total of 79 cases were lodged. The commission could not act on these, as the enabling law clearly stipulates that only commssioners can decide if an inquiry is necessary," Suaram said.

Suaram's chairperson K Arumugam said that it is becoming more difficult to point out the government's faults because of its growing intolerance especially after GE13.

Resorting to the analogy of a football match to illustrate his point, he said: “Despite our monitoring, we are not in a position to show a red card and say 'Get out of the field!'

“Actually, we get the red card and are told ‘Please get out of the system... you are too much for us, we can't handle you’."

Apart from releasing its report , Suaram singled out three activist groups for mention in "saying no to corporations and businesses which are taking away their rights". 

They are the action groups working against the Kaiduan Dam in Sabah; the Pengerang petrochemicals project in Johor; and the Taman Permata Dengkil Residents Committee who were relocated to unsafe low-cost flats in Dengkil 14 years ago to make way for the construction of Putrajaya.