Category: Human Rights

“Amaran kepada MCA – Hishammuddin minta henti kenyataan Malaysia Negara secular” — blared the Berita Harian front-page headline today, which carried the report by-lined Norfatimah Ahmad and Suzianah Jiffar as follows:

RANAU: Pergerakan Pemuda Umno meminta pemimpin MCA berhenti daripada mengeluarkan kenyataan yang mendakwa Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara sekular kerana tindakan itu tidak membawa manfaat kepada sesiapa.

Ketuanya, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (gambar)menegaskan polemik sedemikian tidak harus cuba diperbesar-besarkan oleh MCA kerana ia tidak membawa kebaikan kepada mana-mana pihak sebaliknya boleh memberi kesan negatif.

“Saya beri amaran kepada pemimpin MCA supaya berhenti membuat kenyataan sedemikian. Ingin saya tegaskan, saya bukan pemimpin naif yang akan membenarkan perkara ini berterusan. Amaran saya ialah berhenti membuat kenyataan,” katanya selepas merasmikan mesyuarat Umno Bahagian Ranau, di sini semalam.

Kelmarin, beberapa akhbar melaporkan Setiausaha Agung MCA, Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, mempertikaikan kenyataan Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Isnin lalu yang menegaskan Malaysia adalah negara Islam yang melindungi hak bukan Islam.

Ong antara lain dilaporkan berkata, kedudukan Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara sekular terbukti menerusi pelbagai dokumen sejarah termasuk Laporan Reid, Suruhanjaya Cobbold dan keputusan Mahkamah Agung yang dibuat pada 1988.

Beliau berkata, status sekular Malaysia itu juga terbukti berdasarkan persetujuan dan kontrak sosial oleh pemimpin terdahulu seperti termaktub dalam pelbagai dokumen yang digunakan dalam proses merangka Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

Bernama yesterday also carried a similar report which appeared on New Straits Times online, as follows: Continue reading “Hishammuddin’s “no more statement that Malaysia is secular state” warning and power-grab by publications unit”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must respect human rights and end police abuses of power of “arrest then investigate” and insist that police adhere strictly to “investigate then arrest” procedures.

Abdullah should order the immediate release of blogger, PKR webmaster and aide to Anwar Ibrahim, Nathaniel Tan to send a clear message that his administration and the police under his watch respect human rights, one of the three core functions delineated by the Royal Police Commission in its Report and 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.

Police abuses of power were manifest when they first let it be known that Tan was arrested in connection with the doctored photograph purportedly showing Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak with his confidante Razak Baginda and the murdered Mongolian woman Altantunya Shaariibuu.

Then there was talk about action against Tan under the Penal Code before the Official Secrets Act (OSA) was trotted out as the reason for Tan’s continued remand.

And most incredible of all, the subject of the OSA action was the anonymous website on the RM5.5 million corruption allegations against Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Johari Baharum.

It is not only Johari who would want to know the identity of the person or persons responsible for the anonymous website which posted the corruption allegations against Johari — and there are allegations that the anonymous website could originate from within the police itself. Continue reading “Release Nat Tan now – “investigate then arrest” and not “arrest then investigate””

The Prime Minister and Internal Security Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must intervene to free Nathaniel Tan immediately to ensure that his administration does not start the slide down the slippery slope of repression to mark Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka anniversary — openly violating his pledges of an open, democratic, accountable and good governance when he was appointed to the highest office of the land 44 months ago.

The secretive circumstances in the first seven hours of arrest of Nathaniel Tan, an aide of Anwar Ibrahim and information bureau staff of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, where his friends, relatives and supporters had to go on a “wild goose chase” to locate his whereabouts with the police initially disclaiming knowledge and refusing to give information about his detention, is a scandal which speaks of a police which has yet to fully accept that the first principle of policing in a democratic system must be policing for the people and not policing to serve the government leaders of the day.

The irregular and illegal circumstances of Tan’s arrest, with the police spiriting him away for seven hours without proper accounting, raises the question as to the actual motives behind the police action.

Is Tan’s arrest the beginning of a clampdown on dissent and criticism particularly in the blogosphere?

Had Tan become a pawn in a trade-off among the powers-that-be in the political and police establishments to close ranks and protect their vested interests in the face of more and more specific and detailed allegations and increasing expose in the public domain of corruption, malpractices and abuses of power involving both the top political and police establishments? Continue reading “Abdullah should intervene to “Free Nat Now” so that 50th Merdeka anniversary will not start off infamously”

The speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the Mass Media Conference 2007 last Friday is more significant for what he omitted than what he said.

Eight years ago, when he was first appointed Home Minister, some 600 journalists in Malaysia which in the subsequent year grew to over 1,000 journalists, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3 presented a memorandum to him calling for the repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act and other repressive laws fettering the development of a free and responsible press.

Abdullah had given a solemn undertaking to the Malaysian journalists that he would give their memorandum serious consideration.

Eight years have passed and Abdullah has still to respond directly to the 1999 memorandum on press freedom which has the support of over 1,000 journalists.

The Mass Media Conference 2007 on Friday is most disturbing for more reasons than one. In particular, the conference was organized by the Internal Security Ministry which seems to reflect an increasingly intrusive and invasive government role in the sphere of mass media.

In his eight years first as Home Minister and later Internal Security Minister with direct responsibility over the media, the arsenal of repressive instruments and laws fettering media freedom had been left intact, whether Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Sedition Act, the Internal Security Act or the Police Act.

At any time, these repressive instruments and laws could be resorted to and re-activated. There has been no move whatsoever towards new legislation to create an environment which fosters greater openness, accountability and transparency like the Freedom of Information Act and Whistleblowers Protection Act. Continue reading “Pak Lah rejects 8-year press freedom memo by 1,000 journalists?”

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan’s claim yesterday that the crime situation in Johor was under control as figures indicated the crime rate had declined by four per cent is most premature and unconvincing.

The police must not be satisfied with any improvement of the crime situation until the people in Johor Baru can feel safe in the streets, public places and privacy of their homes and be assured that they are free from crime and the fear of crime.

The people most qualified to pass judgment as to whether the crime situation in JB is “under control” are the people in the Johor capital and not the police, and such a situation must be felt by the people in JB and not artificially generated by media spins or newspaper headlines like “IGP says situation in Johor under control” (New Sunday Times 1.7.07) or “JB FOLK FEELING SAFER NOW” (NST front-page headline 30.6.07).

True, the people in JB do feel safer with the greater visibility of policemen and patrol cars in the streets these few days. But they do not want to just feel safer before the spate of brutal and horrendous crimes of abduction-robbery-gang rape in the past two months, with victims from all races, but to be fully restored their most important human rights — to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or privacy of their homes.

The Police was in denial just two weeks ago when faced with the outrage in JB and the nation at the rampant crime and lawlessness in the Johor capital, and they will be seen to be still in denial if they claim that the crime situation is under control when the people have yet to feel so. Continue reading “JB crime under control? – speak up at public hearing of Parliamentary Human Rights Caucus in JB on Sunday”

My second of three urgent motions for Parliament this week was rejected by the Deputy Speaker Datuk Lim Si Cheng this morning.

My motion to urgently debate Malaysia’s inclusion in the United States Government’s 2007 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report in the Tier 3 list of the worst human trafficking offenders together with 15 other nations including Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.was rejected on the ground that it was not urgent.

Most shocking of all, the rejection was received with table-thumping by Barisan Nasional MPs as if they were overjoyed that Parliament is denied an opportunity to clear Malaysia’s good name which had been stained internationally by the shameful listing of the country mong the worst human trafficking offenders.

When Dewan Rakyat debated the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Bill on May 9, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, who piloted the bill through Parliament, referred to Malaysia’s being ranked as Tier 2 Watch List in the US Government’s 2006 TIP Report released in June last year.

Nazri did not condemn or challenge the right of the US Government to issue any TIP Report.

In January 2007, the US Government issued a Trafficking in Persons Interim Assessment “to serve as a tool by which to gauge the anti-trafficking progress of countries which may be in danger of slipping a tier in the upcoming June 2007 TIP Report and to give them guidance on how to avoid a Tier 3 ranking”.

Yet, despite the TIP Interim Assessment and guidance, Malaysia fell into Tier 3 ranking in the TIP 2007 report.

The Malaysian government is not bounden to justify its record to the US Government but it is duty-bound to vindicate its record to Parliament and the Malaysian people. Continue reading “Second urgent motion knocked out — no debate on Malaysia listed as “worst human traffic offender””

18th June 2007
Yang di Pertua,
Dewan Rakyat,
Parlimen,
Malaysia

YB Tan Sri,

S.O. 18 motion of urgent, definite public importance: Inclusion of Malaysia in the United States Government’s 2007 “Tier 3” list of the worst human trafficking offenders together with nations such as Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia
_____________________________________________________________________

This is to give notice under S.O. 18(2) to move a motion of urgent definite public importance for the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Wednesday, 20th June 2007, as follows:

“That under Standing Order 18(1), the House gives leave to Ketua Pembangkang YB Lim Kit Siang to move a motion of urgent, definite public importance, viz the inclusion of Malaysia in the United States Government’s 2007 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report in the Tier 3 list of the worst human trafficking offenders together with 15 other nations including Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

“The inclusion of Malaysia in the Tier 3 list of the worst human trafficking offenders is a matter of grave shame and dishonour to the nation, which had recently the signal honour of being Chair of three international organizations simultaneously, i.e. ASEAN, Non-Aligned Movement and Organisation of Islamic Conference and is seriously proposing a candidate to be the next Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

“The reasons cited for Malaysia’s inclusion in the US Government list of the worst human trafficking offenders are:

• The government of Malaysia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.
• Failure to show satisfactory progress in combating trafficking in persons, particularly in areas of punishing acts of trafficking, providing adequate shelters and social services to victims, protecting migrant workers from involuntary servitude and for not prosecuting traffickers who were arrested and detained under preventive laws.
• The government needs to demonstrate stronger political will to tackle Malaysia’s ‘significant’ forced labour and sex trafficking problems.

  “The Foreign Minister has lambasted as ‘ill-informed’ Malaysia’s inclusion in the US trafficking blacklist while the Prime Minister has promised severe punishment for human traffickers. Continue reading “Malaysia “worst human trafficking offender” – notice for urgent motion”

Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar should present a Ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday giving a detailed rebuttal to the United States government’s inclusion of Malaysia on its list of human trafficking offenders.

It is not enough for Syed Hamid to brush aside the US government report as one-sided for not taking into account what Malaysia had been doing or just to express amazement as to how the US government could come up with such a report.

The listing of Malaysia in the US government list of human trafficking offenders must not be taken lightly.

Malaysians should not be left with having to accept either the Malaysian government or the US government claim without the facts, and this is why Hamid should present a detailed Ministerial statement in Parliament fully stating the case for Malaysia as to why it should not be included in any list, whether US government or otherwise, of human trafficking offenders.

In the Ministerial statement, Hamid should give a full report of the exchanges between the two governments on the issue, as there must be considerable interaction between the two governments before the inclusion of Malaysia in the US government list of human trafficking offenders. Let the entire file of the bilateral exchanges be made public. Continue reading “Malaysia in US govt list of human trafficking offenders – Hamid should give full details in Ministerial statement to Parliament”

The Federal Court 2-1 majority decision rejecting Lina Joy’s appeal marks a tectonic shift of Malaysia in moving further and further away from the Merdeka “Social Contract” founding principles of nation-building agreed by the forefathers of the major communities on the attainment of independent nationhood.

It casts a larger shadow over the national horizon with the country entering the second half-century of nationhood, with increasing doubts among Malaysians about the meaning, permanence, sustainability and viability of constitutional guarantees, civil liberties and fundamental rights.

This is because the Lina Joy case has shattered confidence in the constitutional guarantees on freedom of religion, the Constitution as the supreme law of the land and above all, the sacred Merdeka “Social Contract” underlying the Constitution that Malaysia is a secular nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state.

Malaysians alarmed at the abandonment of the “Social Contract” principles are fully justified in their concerns, especially when one compares as to what would have happened to a Lina Joy case in the first quarter-century of the nation’s history as compared to today when the nation stands on its 50th year of nationhood! Continue reading “After Lina Joy case – Malaysia, Quo Vadis!”

[1] (International Herald Tribune)
In landmark case, Hindu man in Malaysia gets custody of children born to Muslim wife
The Associated Press
Published: May 3, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia’s Islamic authorities gave a Hindu man married to a Muslim woman custody of their children Thursday, in a landmark decision for minority rights, after the couple were forcibly separated because they follow different religions.

The decision was announced at an emotional hearing in the High Court attended by the ethnic Indian couple, Marimuthu Periasamy and Raimah Bibi Noordin, both rubber tappers who had been happily married for 21 years.

The case is the latest in a series of conflicts involving the religious rights of minority groups that is straining ties in multiethnic Malaysia, where Islam is the dominant religion. Buddhists, Christians and Hindus are the minority faiths.

The crisis began unexpectedly when Islamic authorities took away Raimah Bibi and six of her seven children on April 2 on the grounds that her marriage with Marimuthu was illegal. It was not clear why the authorities acted now when the couple had been together for 21 years.

At the hearing Tuesday, Raimah Bibi, 39, broke down and sobbed openly when the judge asked her if she will give up custody of their seven children, who are aged between four and 14.

“Yes, I agree to surrender my children to Marimuthu,” she said, wiping her tears with the ends of her headscarf.

Marimuthu had filed an application demanding that the Islamic Affairs Department bring his wife and children to court. The department has indicated the couple cannot live together because Marimuthu did not convert to Islam as required by law for their marriage to be legal. Continue reading “Marimuthu/Raimah case – foreign media reports”

Veteran Chinese educationist Sim Mow Yu has said that Parti Keadilan Rakyat adviser and former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should apologise for what he had done over the 1987 Ops Lalang mass arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the controversy over dispatching of staff unversed in Mandarin to hold senior posts in Chinese primary schools.

As one of the Ops Lalang ISA detainees served with a formal two-year detention order and incarcerated at Kamunting Detention Centre, Sim is most qualified to speak up on these subjects.

The Ops Lalang detention was my second ISA detention, which lasted 18 months as compared to 17 months in my first ISA detention in 1969-1970.

DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng and I were the last two of the Ops Lalang ISA detainees incarcerated in Kamunting Detention Centre to be released in April 1989 — serving the longest Ops Lalang ISA detention after all the other 49 Ops Lalang detainees had been earlier released from Kamunting in various batches.

Anwar has admitted that he was wrong in 1987 in the dispatch of staff unversed in Mandarin to become principals and senior assistants of Chinese primary schools which resulted in the subsequent Ops Lalang mass arrests.

Anwar has now taken a stand on mother-tongue education which is in accord with justice and fair play for mother-tongue education in plural Malaysia as well as the higher national interests of enhancing Malaysia’s international competitiveness, which should be commended and supported. Continue reading “1987 Ops Lalang and Chinese primary school crisis – will Cabinet own up to historic wrongs?”

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan should declare whether the Police would accept the Suhakam inquiry findings that excessive police force was used against protesters at the KLCC demo on May 28 last year on petrol and power price hikes and whether disciplinary action would be taken against the errant police personnel.

The findings of the Suhakam public inquiry, which was made public last Friday, will be an acid test as to whether Musa is serious and not just indulging in a publicity stunt when he announced during the 200th Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) anniversary celebrations that the police is being rebranded with a new vision and mission to implement the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police Commission to create an efficient, incorruptible, accountable, trustworthy, professional world-class police service.

The deadline for Recommendation 2 of the Royal Police Commission to “Review and refine the Vision Statement” was August 2005 — which means that the RMP has lagged nearly 20 months behind this time-line.

Among the proposals by the Royal Police Commission for the review and refinement of the Police Vision are “to reflect the need for police personnel to respect and uphold human rights in view of the allegations of abuse of human rights”.

Musa should tell Malaysians whether in the rebranded police Vision, the Royal Police Commission’s specific proposal that it expressly incorporate the principle “Respecting and upholding human rights as provided for in the Federal Constitution and the laws of Malaysia” has been accepted.

As the proof of the pudding is in the eating, Musa should declare whether he is serious about a new rebranded Police Vision which respects and upholds human rights by accepting the Suhakam public inquiry findings that excessive force was used against a group of protesters at the KLCC last year, resulting in 10 people being injured. Continue reading “New Police Vision re-branding – proof of pudding in the eating”

Secondly, on Inter-religious relations today and the past 50 years. In the first two decades of nationhood, the government sponsored the establishment of a Inter-Religious Council headed by a Cabinet Minister to promote inter-religious dialogue, understanding and goodwill. Today, a very similar proposal, the Inter-Faith Council, is regarded as highly sensitive and intolerable by the government-of-the day. What has gone wrong?

It is most regrettable that despite six requests in the past nine months, the Prime Minister has refused to meet the Article 11 coalition of 11 civil society groups to uphold the Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land — or even to give any response.

Why is the Prime Minister who preaches inter-religious dialogue in international conferences adopting such a hostile attitude to Article 11 and domestic inter-religious dialogue?

Non-Muslim concerns about religious freedom as entrenched in Article 11 have been re-ignited by the latest Court of Appeal judgment in the R. Subashini case.

Just like the S. Shamala case in 2004, the Hindu women found they could not seek legal remedy in the civil courts to protect their rights after their husbands converted to Islam and unilaterally converted their children.
Continue reading “PM – address cumulative Article 11 concerns”