Putrajaya’s human rights plan more ‘Melayu’ than universal, says activist

The National Human Rights Action Plan is rejecting the basic rights of Orang Asli, says activist Siti Zabedah Kasim. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, November 16, 2014.

An activist has cast doubts on the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) currently being formulated by Putrajaya, calling it a "Melayu concept" of human rights because of the government appointees in the consultation process and rejection of basic rights of Orang Asli and sexual minorities.

Lawyer and activist Siti Zabedah Kasim, who is a member of the Malaysian Bar's Human Rights and Orang Asli Rights committees, panned the government's appointment of an academician known for her anti-human rights views to lead the consultation process with civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

This is Associate Professor Dr Shamrahayu Abd Aziz from the International Islamic University of Malaysia, whom Siti Kasim, as she is better known, said has supported detention without trial in anti-terrorism laws, and whose understanding of Islam does not incorporate room for human rights.

"She is well known amongst (civil society as) anti-human rights, and that culture and religion, i.e. Islam overrides everything else.

"The issue is not about going against Islam because as I understand, Islam is compatible with human rights. But not to this woman! We are appalled that she's appointed to be in charge of a human rights project," Siti Kassim told The Malaysian Insider in a Whatsapp message.

Siti Kasim, who is part of the consultation between the government and civil society to formulate the NHRAP, said the whole exercise was a "sandiwara" or charade, as well as a waste of public funds.

Activist Siti Zabedah Kasim, better known as Siti Kasim, says the National Human Rights Action Plan has a 'Melayu concept'. – Twitter pic, November 16, 2014.She said other government appointments in the consultation exercise, such as committee leaders, were drawn from the civil service and made without input from civil society.

The government in 2012 decided to embark on formulating the NHRAP and placed it under the purview of the legal division in the Prime Minister's Department.

"It is a charade to show the world that Malaysia is doing something to rectify its poor performance in the last Universal Periodic Review," Siti said in an earlier statement to The Malaysian Insider.

She had also written on her Facebook page that the people engaged by the government to lead and conduct the consultation were not those who understood human rights.

"You can begin to see what sort of human rights they have in mind, the Melayu concept of human rights.

"I can see in the future when they come out with the blue print, they can claim they have consulted with the NGOS," she said on her Facebook page.

In an earlier statement to The Malaysian Insider, Siti Kasim also said that none of the steering committee members handling the consultation process were from civil society. Instead, all were government servants and she doubted that the final NHRAP would reflect the aspirations of every layer of society.

Siti Kasim had attended a ceremony to mark the participation of civil society groups and NGOS in the NHRAP consultation process in Bangi, Selangor, on Thursday.

Her statement, written together with Orang Asli Rights committee chairperson Yogeswaran Subramaniam, said that at the ceremony they were told that the NHRAP would be based on what Malaysia had accepted during the last Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

The UPR is a mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council to assess the human rights performance of all UN member states.

Using the UPR as a base for the NHRAP was a problem, Siti Kasim said, because Malaysia had rejected important recommendations on the rights of the Orang Asli and sexual minorities.

"In the last UPR, Malaysia received 232 recommendations, accepted in full 113, accepted in principle 22, accepted partially 15, rejected 83."

"Most of the recommendations rejected were on the Orang Asli," she said.

Even core recommendations made by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) from its national inquiry into Orang Asli land rights were rejected, she said.

"How are the authorities going to formulate Orang Asli rights if they reject the recommendations.

"Can the NHRAP succeed if it only follows the government's wishes and not the people's aspirations, especially the marginalised?" she asked.

Putrajaya had also rejected all basic rights for the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, transvestites) community, and these were nothing more than the basic right not to be persecuted, abused and discriminated, Siti Kasim said.

She also said the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) had had a say in Malaysia's UPR presentation, and had told the UN human rights council that Malaysia did not consider equality between men and women and also held that that only Sunni Islam was accepted in Malaysia.

Siti Kasim also took issue with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Nancy Shukri, who officiated Thursday's event and said civil society should use the "Malaysian mould" when formulating the NHRAP.

“Do not be influenced by human rights groups in other countries. Let us have our own Malaysian agenda and form a human rights plan for the good of the country," Nancy had said, and also reminded participants to be "civic minded", "rational" and to understand the "thinking and culture" of Malaysia's diverse ethnic groups.

Siti Kasim said the repeated emphasis through the session on how Malaysia's circumstances were "unique" and that the country had to follow its own "mould" with regards to human rights was a disappointment as it showed that there was no understanding on universal human rights values.

"If this is a sign of what the final plan is, we are disappointed. No doubt every country has its unique set of circumstances, but we would be disappointed if the NHRAP process relied too much on cultural relativism as opposed to adopting universal understandings of human rights," she said.

She still intends to participate in future consultations, "to keep track of what they are doing".

"We must ensure we give input so that we know they are aware that we are watching with keen interest. Civil society must continue to give input although I doubt they are keen to have us there again," she said.

- TMI