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Friday, July 22, 2011

Suhakam panel to investigate Bersih rally rights allegations


July 22, 2011

The announcement comes a day after the police had cleared themselves of brutality. — file pic
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has set up a panel to look into allegations of human rights violations during the controversial July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reform, a day after the police had cleared themselves of brutality.

Yesterday, the Royal Malaysian police’s internal security and public order director Datuk Salleh Mat Rashid told reporters that six special police teams tasked with investigating its own actions at the July 9 rally had concluded that their men had exercised “restraint” and were “hospitable” when dealing with Bersih 2.0 supporters.

Suhakam’s three-man public inquiry panel consists of the commission’s vice-chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee who will be aided by Professor Datuk Dr Mahmood Zuhdi Abdul Majid and Detta Samen.

Khaw had previously said the commission had sent out monitors to observe the chaotic rally for free elections and will also rely on its own reports for the probe after having heard first-hand accounts from Bersih 2.0 demonstrators who claimed they suffered physical and verbal abuse at the hands of the police on July 9.

Khaw is Universiti Malaya’s deputy dean of the law faculty and a former vice-president in the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) from 1997 to 2001 while Mahmood Zuhdi is a professor of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science at the International Islamic University; little is known about Detta at the time that this article was published.

Bersih demonstrators have claimed they suffered physical and verbal abuse at the hands of the police on July 9. — file pic
In its media statement today, Suhakam laid out its three terms of reference, which are as follows:

1. To determine whether there were any violations of the human rights of any person or party before and during the July 9 rally.

2. And if there were violations, to determine how they happened; what administrative directives and procedures or arrangements contributed to such violations; and who was responsible for such violations.

3. To recommend action and prevent a repeat of such violations.

Contacted by The Malaysian Insider, Suhakam spokesman Shahizad Sulaiman said the commission has yet to fix a date for the public hearing to start.

He also said Suhakam had decided to hold the public hearing after receiving two memoranda about the rally from Islamist political party PAS and from the Bersih 2.0 steering committee.

He added that Suhakam has also received a complaint about the rally from an individual but could not disclose the person’s identity.

“We are in the process of calling for witnesses to be interviewed and to record their statements,” Shahizad said.

Suhakam said it would be issuing an order soon to relevant witnesses, including members of the public and the police to give their testimony.

The commission is authorised under Section 14(1)(a) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999 to subpoena any person to obtain all such evidence, written or oral, and to examine all such persons as it deems necessary to aide their investigation.

Suhakam urged members of the public who had witnessed or had information on the alleged violations by the authorities on July 9 to contact the panel and submit their recordings by August 2.

For further details, please contact Encik Ameer Izyanif Hamzah or Encik Shahizad Sulaiman at Tel: 03 2612 5669/5623 ; Fax: 03 2612 5620/5694 or email: complaints@suhakam.org.my / humanrights@suhakam.org.my.

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