Some quarters abusing term ‘human rights’, says chief justice

Chief Justice Richard Malanjum says there is a possibility that in the near future, words like human rights may acquire negative connotations.

PUTRAJAYA: Chief Justice Richard Malanjum today said that society needed to be sensitised about the true meaning and scope of human rights as some quarters were abusing the term for ulterior motives.

He said these words were being misused to the extent that common sense and realities had been made to take the back seat, and peace, racial harmony and national security were also brushed aside.

“The danger arising from such abuse or overuse is that probably, in near future, these words may acquire negative connotations,” he said.

In his keynote address at the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)-Council of Asean Chief Justices (CACJ) High Level Asean Human Rights Dialogue: “The Rights of Accused Persons In Criminal Cases” here today, Malanjum, who is a member of the CACJ, said absolute freedom was a mirage or elusive, to say the least.

“The words ‘human rights’, at any given time, may bring unrealistic consequences and problems, thereby drawing adverse reactions from society,” he added.

Malanjum said a total of 503,380 criminal cases, from August to October 2018, were registered with 96% of the criminal cases recorded in magistrates courts and the remaining in traffic courts.

Speaking to reporters later, he said most of the cases registered in magistrate’s courts involved petty offences and in Sabah, most of them involved foreigners.

“But Malaysia has no choice but to remand them (the foreigners). I was told in a year the Prisons Department spends RM1.4 billion for food and to take care of them. It is a very expensive affair,” he said.

He proposed that Asean countries could arrange the exchange of prisoners so that those serving in Malaysia can serve the sentence in their own countries.

“That will help the country in terms of cost,” said Malanjum. -FMT