HUMAN RIGHTS RESOURCE CENTER MALAYSIA

Ambiga Sreenevasan, Andrew Khoo and Zarizana Abdul Aziz

On 28 April, The Star published an article by Dr Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad under Ikim’s Views entitled ‘Human rights shouldn’t impose on religions and cultures‘. We wrote a rebuttal. The Star has chosen not to publish it.

Below is our rebuttal, and it is our personal opinion.

In the area of supra-national laws, there is a move to advance binding sets of principles that will guide nations. By their very nature, these principles govern and restrict the conduct of the state.

Malaysia is no stranger to such principles. We are a party to the Geneva Conventions and the Chemical Warfare Convention. These conventions regulate the conduct of warfare by states and are very much part of human rights laws. These laws are intended as a reflection of common decency, which guide civilised nations to the extent that they override or circumscribe a state’s absolute freedom in the conduct of war. Indeed, this is only to be welcomed.

Are these rules new? Hardly. Such rules of war have been in existence for several hundreds of years. For example, when the international community questioned and condemned Israel’s conduct in the Gaza War, we appealed to international human rights and humanitarian laws.

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By Jacqueline Ann Surin
jacquelinesurin@thenutgraph.comjacquelinesurin at thenutgraph dot com

 Penan child (© Robin Hanbury-Tenison/Survival, pic courtesy of Survival International)

DATUK Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil was the perfect picture of concern and care on the front page of The Star newspaper on 28 May 2009. The newly re-appointed women, family and community development minister was photographed at the Serdang Hospital with a five-year-old child who looked like he had suffered serious and constant abuse at home.

“It is so awful and very sad. Obviously the abuse must have been going on for some time,” Shahrizat was quoted as saying after she struggled to compose herself.

Shahrizat, who is also Wanita Umno chief, has rightfully demonstrated shock at such abuse. However, she has yet to illustrate the same kind of alarm and urgency towards the plight of Penan girls and women in the interiors of Sarawak who were reportedly sexually violated and abused.

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KOTA KINABALU: Suhakam is hopeful that the Government will be more receptive this time to its proposal for a National Human Rights Action Plan as it will foster better relations between the Government and the people.

Commission deputy chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said that such a plan would strengthen human rights practices in the country as it would spell out short and long-term measures for safeguarding human rights.

He said Suhakam met Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2004 to discuss the action plan then.

He said that Najib, as the minister responsible for Suhakam, had appeared to be quite receptive to the idea but there had been no development since that meeting.

Sipaun said Malaysia was the only country in this region with a human rights commission, apart from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, that had not drawn up such a plan as yet.

“Having this plan would reflect the Malaysian Government’s commitment towards human rights,” he said, adding that Suhakam was always prepared to work with the Government in drawing up such a plan.

On the release of the 13 detainees under the Internal Security Act yesterday, Sipaun said this was a positive development for human rights in Malaysia.

“The move clearly reflects the Prime Minister’s priority to ensuring human rights principles are respected,” he added.

Sipaun said Najib’s pledge of a re-look of the ISA was also an important development and lent high hopes among groups concerned with human rights here.

He said that while some were hoping for the abolition of the ISA, it was important to ensure for now that the ISA was not wrongly used.

“We hope never to see instances of the ISA being used indiscriminately such as the recent detention of journalists.

“The powers that be must always remember the original intention of the ISA which is to be used in situations of extreme threat to national security,” Sipaun added.

ISLAMABAD, April 4 — The Pakistani government has ordered an inquiry into the flogging of a 17-year-old woman by Taliban militants in the troubled Swat Valley, after public outrage triggered by shocking video footage of the punishment.

The images, played yesterday on private television channels, show a burka-clad woman being pinned to the ground by two men while a third whips her backside 34 times. The woman is seen screaming and begging for mercy as a crowd of largely silent men look on. She is accused of having had an illegal sexual relationship, according to local law. Her brother is among those restraining her.

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ANALYSIS
By AZMI SHAROM

Malaysians have this thing where they hope some mighty champion will sweep down from the mountains and solve their problems for them.

LAST weekend I was at a public forum organised by ERA Consumer. It was held in Johor Baru. I have not been to JB for many years and I found that it has the largest concentration of modified Protons I have ever seen.

That’s not the point of this article though. The forum was held to get feedback from the public regarding ERA Consumer’s report on Suhakam’s 2006 Annual Report.

What I noticed from the comments of the audience was a very strong desire for Suhakam to “do more” in the field of human rights.

Underlying the comments is a sense that Suhakam is a body that the citizens of this country can look to for assistance, and if Suhakam can’t get the attention of the government, then what hope is there for ordinary folks like you and me?

This is an understandable sentiment, but perhaps a little unrealistic. Suhakam does not have any real powers. It is not a body that can start prosecutions, for example. Its role is largely advisory and also educational.

For Suhakam to be able to “do more” would thus require an amendment to the Act which created it. Any dramatic changes are unlikely.

And even today the Suhakam annual report is not given any debate time in Parliament. Be that as it may, perhaps some simple changes could be pushed for.

For example, the appointment of Commissioners could be narrowed down from any old “eminent persons” that the Act specifies, to “eminent persons with a record of human rights work”.

As it stands, the Commission is large and filled with people who are not necessarily experts on human rights.

However, even without a change in the law, Suhakam can make itself more relevant by being more proactive in its endeavours. Education is well and good, but really it should push its power to conduct inquiries.

The Bandar Mahkota Cheras inquiry into the alleged police brutality inflicted on a young man was emphatic in its condemnation of the police and clearly stated that a wrong was committed.

So far (according to its website) Suhakam has only conducted three public inquiries. By focusing on these inquiries, Suhakam would be working on real cases of immediate concern to the citizens. And furthermore, it can start an inquiry on its own volition if it so chooses.

It is of course wonderful if Suhakam were to have real powers and play the hero for us, but another thing I noticed at the public forum in Modified Proton Land, is what I call the “Hang Tuah Complex” raising its little head again.

I have noticed that Malaysians have this thing where they are constantly hoping for some mighty champion to sweep down from the mountains and solve their problems for them. The way I see it, Suhakam is merely one cog in the wheel of human rights activism.

Sure they are pretty powerless but there is nothing to stop civil society from using its findings. Raise the findings, publicise them and demand they be acted upon.

After all, Suhakam is not some loony NGO. It is a legally constituted body created by the Government. Surely what it says must have some kernel of truth.

If the Government does not want to take what Suhakam says seriously, then we have every right to ask why not.

Dr Azmi Sharom is a law teacher. The views expressed here are entirely his own.

The distraughted family of a 22-year-old man who died in police custody yesterday lodged a police report this evening allegeding foul play.

Kugan Ananthan, who was detained in connection with several car theft cases, died at the Taipan police station in USJ yesterday morning.

His family today accused the police of killing Kugan while in custody and lodged a report at the Subang Jaya district police headquarters in Seri Kembangan.

The youth was detained by the police on Jan 15 in Kajang for questioning regarding several car theft incidences in the Subang Jaya district.

Kugan was subsequently held at the Puchong police station under a two-week remand to facilitate investigations.

Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was reported as saying yesterday that Kugan had died of breathing difficulties.

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