Public can give opinion on ISA on Suhakam’s website
(The Star) KUALA LUMPUR: Suhakam is seeking the views of the public on reviewing the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Members of the public can do so by going to Suhakam’s website at www.suhakam.org.my and clicking on a new column called “Your Say”.
Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman said the National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) had recommended to the Government many years ago that the ISA be repealed and be substituted with an Anti-Terrorist Act.
“But no one in Government responded to our recommendations. Recently, the Prime Minister said the ISA is going to be reviewed. I hope the amendments will be meaningful,” he said recently.
Earlier, vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said that among the frustrations and constraints experienced by Suhakam was the “lukewarm” response by the Government to its recommendations and annual reports.
Suhakam had prepared nine annual reports since its inception but none of them had been debated in Parliament as yet, he added.
On the need for a National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP), Sipaun said Malaysia did not have any such plan compared with other Asean countries like Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Sipaun said Suhakam had proposed that the Government establish a NHRAP in 2002 but nothing happened. He said that during a discussion with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2004, the then deputy prime minister indicated his willingness to consider the development of such a plan.
He added that Suhakam had submitted an updated paper in 2006 but there was no positive response, apart from the comment that a NHRAP was not necessary because the Federal Constitution was sufficient.
He stressed that a NHRAP would go a long way towards the creation of respect for a human rights culture, especially within the bureaucracy and government institutions.
