Rights in Malaysia – No action, talk only

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On Jan 24, 2012

HRW’s latest report claims that the government’s efforts in promoting human rights leave a lot to be desired.

(Free Malaysia Today) – The state of human rights in Malaysia is filled with promises of reforms and politicians backtracking their words, according to Human Rights Watch’s 22nd annual report entitled World Report 2012 that was released yesterday.

The report looked into eight key issues in Malaysia but the one main issue was Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II trial.

HRW noted that Anwar’s legal team was denied access to the prosecution’s witness list, critical forensic samples for independent examination, and medical examiners’ notes from hospital examinations of the accuser – all in violation of international fair trial standards.

Anwar has since been acquitted on Jan 9 due to questionable DNA evidence and the Attorney General’s Chambers has filed an appeal last week.

Violations against freedom of expression, association and assembly are also well documented in the report, through the Bersih rally on July 9 last year and the detention of six political activists under the Emergency Ordinance.

“Malaysia’s leaders are fooling themselves by thinking they can backtrack on public promises to respect the rights to demonstrate peacefully and criticize the government without fear.

“The more Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and government politicians play their game of big talk, with little action on rights, the more they should expect popular pushback,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia region at Human Rights Watch on these violations.