Slide in Harapan’s commitment to fundamental freedoms - Report

One year since taking government, the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition has backtracked on its initial commitment to defend several fundamental freedoms, a report has found.

Prepared by the international human rights NGOs Article 19 and Civicus, the report referred to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

In a joint presentation today, the NGOs stated that Harapan had gotten off to an “encouraging” start after winning GE14 by forming the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC), abolishing the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 in the Dewan Rakyat and promising to abolish the controversial Sedition Act 1948.

However, these positive developments were followed by a string of applications of the very laws the coalition promised to repeal or amend.

“In particular, the Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) - longstanding tools of repression wielded by the previous government - have continued to be used against activists, journalists and human rights defenders,” the report said.

Among the cases listed were sedition investigations carried out on Bersatu supreme council member A Kadir Jasin, lawyer-activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy and organisers of this year’s Women’s Day March.

Police’s use of the law, the report noted, was done despite assurances from Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo that the government had placed a moratorium on, and would ultimately repeal, the Sedition Act.

Meanwhile, it stated that despite Harapan’s election promise to amend the CMA, 23 individuals have been investigated under the law since May last year, with 12 of them for alleged insults to Islam, the Malay rulers and Prophet Muhammad.

The NGOs stated that such actions sent “mixed messages” as to Putrajaya’s true intentions with the controversial laws.

These also brought into question the lack of transparency on ongoing efforts to reform said laws, with the report pointing out that much has been kept secret from the public.

Measured increase in freedom to assemble

The report, entitled New government, old tactics, concluded that freedom to assemble had improved under the Harapan administration as several protests were held without restriction from authorities.

These included last December’s mass rally protesting the government’s ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination(Icerd) and a protest outside Parliament calling for the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) last month.

However, the report highlighted cases in which participants have been arrested and questioned by police under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA), such as student protests at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya and another in Kota Kinabalu last September.

Organisers of the Women’s Day March this year were also investigated under the PAA after the demonstration was heavily criticised for the participation of LGBT activists.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the report's launch today, transgender activist S Thilaga noted a rise in the “politicisation and scapegoating” of LGBT people under the Harapan administration.

This, she said, was happening in public spaces, as well as online.

“Due to the election results, there were major anxieties over ‘liberalism’ reigning in Malaysia and the LGBT community faced a lot of reprisals (as part of the) backlash,” she said, adding the Harapan government has been under constant pressure to crack down on the community.

‘Still hopeful’

As for the freedom of association, the report said it was not aware of any efforts by the government to simplify the process for establishing NGOs or to set up a Charities and Non-Profit Organisations Commission despite promising to do so in its election manifesto.

Despite the criticism, Article 19’s Asia programme director Matthew Bugher expressed hope for Harapan.

This, he said, was as the change in government allowed for engagement with authorities.

“We, as human rights activists, are still hopeful, in part of the new ability to engage with authorities and also [...] elected officials (who) have a very sincere commitment to these issues.

“What we would like to see in the next year is very simply, follow through on some of the commitments that have been made,” he said. - Mkini