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Malaysia ‘falls far short’ on rights vows

AFP/Herald Sun
January 22, 2012

MALAYSIA has fallen “far short” of upholding its pledges to allow civil liberties ahead of elections widely expected to be held soon, Human Rights Watch says.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has promised to grant greater civil rights by revising or abolishing several security laws, including the Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial of those deemed security threats.

But activists and opposition leaders have dismissed his vows as ploys to regain at fresh polls expected this year votes lost in the last general election, where Najib’s Barisan Nasional had its most narrow ever win.

Human Rights Watch said on Sunday in its annual world report that the South-East Asian nation had last year “arbitrarily” detained critics, broken up a peaceful march for electoral reforms and replaced restrictions on free assembly “with even more draconian controls”.

“Malaysia’s leaders are fooling themselves by thinking they can backtrack on public promises to respect the rights to demonstrate peacefully and criticise the government without fear,” the group’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said in a release. Continue reading “Malaysia ‘falls far short’ on rights vows”

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Top five topics of all Malaysians during the Dragon Chinese New Year holidays

What will be the top five topics of all Malaysians during the Dragon Chinese New Year holidays?

I will pick the following five:

(1) The Attorney-General’s appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal in the Sodomy2 charge by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, expressing the determination of the top UMNO leaders to want to see Anwar in jail.

(2) The Court of Appeal decision to overturn the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision to acquit and discharge DAP National Chairman Karpal Singh on the sedition charge relating to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic coup d’etat against the Pakatan Rakyat Perak state government.

Both these incidents have killed off public hopes that Malaysia is firmly set on the road to restoration of national and international confidence in our justice system, with a just rule of law and truly independent judiciary.

The only inescapable conclusion is that Malaysia can only begin to seriously undo the ravages against the doctrine of separation of powers especially between the Executive and the Judiciary in the past 24 years years stemming from the arbitrary sacking of the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two Supreme Court judges Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah in 1988. Continue reading “Top five topics of all Malaysians during the Dragon Chinese New Year holidays”

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They are going to convict Anwar – that is certain!

by P. Ramakrishnan
22 January 2012

What wasn’t expected surprisingly happened. The High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar. That decision took everyone by surprise and they hoped that it would be the end of this sordid affair.

What the vast majority of Malaysians had hoped for following Anwar’s discharge did not happen. The Prosecution shocked everyone and appealed the High Court decision.

What will happen following this appeal is predictable. We have said as much in our previous statement on 23 December 2009. This is what we said:

“Aliran has been keeping track of recent Court decisions and with this knowledge we must warn the jubilant litigants not to get carried away easily. This is Round 1 and Round 1 usually goes in favour of truth and justice. It is here where the facts are scrutinised diligently and justice has its sway. It is as far as justice can go!

“In Round 2, this decision will almost certainly be overturned, as has been the case on many occasions. It is here where facts don’t matter but technicalities will be the overriding factor and justice will be forced to take a back seat.

“This glaring outcome is inevitable in our system of justice. We have witnessed this without fail in Anwar’s cases, in the Perak Pakatan government’s tussle for democracy, in the Kampung Buah Pala residents’ plea for justice and in the MACC case involving Tan Boon Wah’s human rights.” Continue reading “They are going to convict Anwar – that is certain!”