Detention without trial in Malaysia

By Dr Kua Kia Soong 

Simon Tisdall’s World briefing (14 July) on Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s violent suppression of last weekend’s street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur was a welcome reminder to the Cameron government of its commitment to human rights.

The Najib government has continued the decades of suppression of Malaysians’ freedom of expression, assembly and association, and blatant racial discrimination. Most objectionable of its abuses is the use of detention without trial under three different laws. The most infamous of these is the Internal Security Act, which has been used against more than 10,000 people since it was passed in 1960.

Today more Malaysians have been detained without trial under the emergency ordinance and the Dangerous Drugs Act than under the Internal Security Act. Six leaders of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, including Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj MP, were detained just before last weekend’s demonstration under the emergency ordinance. They are being held in solitary confinement, which is a form of mental torture, and face further two-year renewable detention orders. Throughout the years of abusing human rights by detention without trial, the Malaysian special branch has used torture with impunity.

David Cameron should demand the immediate release of detainees, the abolition of detention without trial, and the ratification of the convention against torture and the convention on the eradication of racial discrimination before doing business with the Najib government. Failure to do so would be another compromise of British commitment to human rights, democracy and justice. 

Dr Kua Kia Soong

Director, Suaram for Human Rights

*This letter was published in The Guardian, UK.