HUMAN RIGHTS RESOURCE CENTER MALAYSIA

Nalini Elumalai, Suaram 2:32PM Sep 22, 2012

Memorandum to Suhakam on the concerted harassment against Suaram by the government and its agencies

The ongoing harassment on Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd (Suaram) by the government and its agencies is getting out of hand. Suaram has since July 2012 been publicly persecuted by the government and its agencies. The chronology of events is set out in the following:-

• On July 20, 2012, in compliance with the notices of inspection dated July 13, 2012, Suaram produced all documents and information to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM)

• On August 30, 2012, in compliance to a notice dated 3rd August 2012 from the Social Security Organisation (“22 September 2012”), Suaram produced all requested documents and information to the Perkeso office.

• On September 5, 2012, 2 officers from CCM served notices pursuant to ss 7C and 7D(1) of the Companies Act 1965 (CA 1965) to Suaram’s company secretary and auditors. The S7C notices require the secretary and auditors to produce a list of documents to the CCM for investigation while S7D(1) notices require the secretary and auditors to appear at CCM on 10th September 2012 for investigation.

• On September 7, 2012, 2 officers from CCM served notices pursuant to s7D(1) CA 1965 to Suaram’s finance manager, Danapakiam Savari, refugee coordinator, Sarah Vanitha Devaraj, directors, Kua Kia Soong and Yeoh Seng Guan and executive director, Enalini Elumalai.

• On September 10 and 11, 2012, Suaram’s company secretary and auditors were investigated by CCM. On September 13, 2012, Danapakiam Savari and Sarah Vanitha Devaraj were investigated by the CCM. CCM’s investigation on Danapakiam Savari resumed on the September 18, 2012.

• On September 11, 2012, a meeting between the CCM, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Central Bank (Bank Negara), Registrar of Societies (RoS), PDRM and Home Ministry was held to determine the jurisdictions of respective agencies and actions to be taken against Suaram.

• On September 13, 2012, Suaram chairman, Arumugam Kalimuthu received a notice pursuant to S7D(1) CA 1965 by way of registered mail and was summoned to appear at CCM  on September 19, 2012 for investigation.

• On September 19, 2012, the RoS and PDRM visited Suaram’s office for an intended inspection on Suaram. However, the team led by one Ganesh of RoS had to return empty handed upon being notified that Suaram is a registered private limited company and is not a society under the purview of the RoS.

• On the same day, Danapakiam Savari was again summoned to appear at the CCM on September 20, 2012 for further investigation vide a notice pursuant to S7D(1) CA 1965. The said notice was served at her residence at or about 9:15PM.

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By EDITH M. LEDERER (AP) – 11 hours ago

UNITED NATIONS — Seven countries accused of human rights violations, including Libya, Angola and Malaysia, won seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council in an uncontested election Thursday.

The U.N. General Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the 47-member council by wide margins despite campaigns by human rights groups to deny countries with poor rights records the minimum number of votes needed.

All 14 countries easily topped the 97 votes required from the 192-member world body. Libya, which currently holds the presidency of the General Assembly, received the lowest number of votes — 155 — while Angola got 170 and Malaysia 179.

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT

When Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak visits the United States this week, US government officials should press him to end Malaysia’s institutionalised system of discrimination against non-ethnic Malays.

As a first step, Malaysia should agree to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a UN treaty already ratified by 173 countries.

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John Liu
Mar 1, 10

While the ongoing new process of selecting members of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) marks a seemingly relative improvement in the commission’s compliance with international standards, Suaram expresses its concerns and disappointment over the current application of the new process.

Although the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) has given Suhakam an ‘A’ status in November 2009 after considering the amendments made to the enabling law of Suhakam in July 2009, the international body will nonetheless once again review Suhakam’s status in November 2010, in particular to assess whether the new selection process is applied in accordance with international standards.

In relation to this, Suaram regrets that the application of the new selection process has thus far been flawed since the beginning, with little or no regard paid to the principles of openness, transparency and inclusiveness.

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Tuesday, 02 February 2010 Super Admin

The last time Anwar Ibrahim was put on trial, I was tortured and forced to ‘confess’ to sodomy

My detention by the Malaysian Special Branch taught me how it feels to be forcibly separated from one’s wife and children. How it feels to be searched and seized, disallowed to make phone calls, handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped naked, driven in an animal cage, shaven bald, endlessly interrogated, humiliated, drugged, deprived of sleep, physically abused.

By MUNAWAR A. ANEES, Wall Street Journal

Nearly 12 years ago, I was languishing in a local hospital as a prisoner of conscience. This loss of freedom was due solely to my long-standing personal and professional association with Anwar Ibrahim, then Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia. We were falsely implicated in a fabricated case of having committed a mutual act of sodomy.

Such an internment, when driven by ulterior motives, brings a brutal deprivation upon the victim. It acts like a double-edged sword. While one’s freedom of movement is taken away by tormentors, one’s conscience suffocates in a dungeon. A poignant grief sets in once there is awareness that both the body and the conscience have fallen victim to the act of tyranny. That is what distinguishes incarceration out of an actual crime from that emanating from the acts of those who prosecute and persecute innocent others. The tormented memory never fades.

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