MALAYSIA does not deserve its new seat on the UN Human Rights Council, the country's leading activist group said, highlighting cases of police shootings and arbitrary detention.
"The Malaysian government is directly responsible for a worsened human rights situation in 2010," The Voice of the Malaysian People (Suaram) said today in its annual report.
Three women were caned under sharia law for the first time in Malaysia last year and arrests under a tough security law that allows detention without trial more than tripled to 25 from a year earlier, it said.
The group said a "culture of impunity surrounding the police and other law enforcement agencies continues to worsen".
"The spike in deaths by police shooting reached alarming levels... 2010 saw water cannons and tear gas turned on peaceful protesters including children," it added.
The report accused police of being "trigger happy" and estimated that at least 18 people had been killed by police shootings last year.
It said that of the 279 people killed in police shootings between 2000 and 2009, half had died between 2008 and 2009.
The report came just two weeks after police arrested more than 1600 people during a mass protest in the capital Kuala Lumpur on July 9.
Police crushed the electoral reform rally by firing tear gas and water cannon on peaceful protesters. One protester died during the demonstrations.
"It is shocking that Malaysia was elected to the UNHRC on 13 May 2010, with its poor human rights' record. 2010 is testimony to the fact that Malaysia does not deserve a place at the UNHRC table," it said.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who took office in 2009 promising economic and political reforms including a review of laws that allow for detention without trial, has defended the July 9 police action.
- news.com.au
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