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People who are demanding their rights are not demanding more rights than others, said social activist Marina Mahathir in a keynote speech to commemorate World Human Rights Day today.
Speaking at Suhakam’s 20th anniversary function in Kuala Lumpur, Marina said minorities are often mispresented as trying to get special treatment, when in reality they just wanted to be treated as equals.
"People in positions of privilege often claim that if we give more rights to some people, they will likely abuse them.
"If we give them freedom to be themselves, they say, they will want to dance naked in the streets," she said, describing such claims as "alarmist propaganda" that must be confronted and refuted.
"When people do not even enjoy the basic right to be able to walk safely in the streets, or even to feel secure in their own homes, rights that more privileged citizens enjoy, why would they want to abuse them?
"On what basis are these unfounded allegations being made other than the fervid imaginations of those who want to protect their own positions and privileges?" said Marina, who had for decades called for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Such allegations and arguments were often used, among others, to justify restrictions and attacks on, and arrests of LGBT communities in Malaysia.
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Meanwhile, Marina also noted that minority groups continue to be victims of a mindset left over from colonial times, that certain races, religions and gender are superior to others.
She said the concept has contributed to a cycle of abuse and violence against women, children, sexual minorities and Muslims who do not subscribe to the majority Sunni school of thought in Malaysia.
"Today, in our own country, the concept of a hierarchy of human beings still prevails. Some humans are superior to others by no other virtue other than their race, religion or gender.
"There are people who even consider sexual diversity irrelevant. To classify a section of humanity, even if small, as irrelevant is a living example of the type of thinking that once considered some human beings as rats and cockroaches," she stressed.
After 60 years of Independence, she noted that the idea of equal rights for all citizens is still difficult for many Malaysians to accept.
"In Malaysia, we live in an era where ever-thinner slices of citizens are granted full rights, while all the rest are left to fend for themselves.
"Despite the diversity of the Muslim world, we only accept one narrowly defined community as true and faithful," she said, alluding to crackdowns by religious authorities against Syiah groups and other Muslim minorities.
"The rest, we hound and harass and deny them the freedom to believe, even when they pose no threat to us," she added.
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Today's function in Kuala Lumpur also marked the 71st anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Suhakam chairperson Othman Hashim, who delivered the opening remarks, said this year's celebration was organised in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Department Legal Affairs Division, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the United Nations office in Malaysia.
UN resident coordinator in Malaysia, Stefan Priesner, said promotion of human rights and development - as outlined under UN's sustainable development goals - should be addressed hand-in-hand.
“I am encouraged by Malaysia’s furthering commitment to human rights, and there is a long way to go.
"To this end, it is important to see development and human rights as two sides of the same coin," said Priesner in his opening speech.
"In this way we can sharpen the direction of development, make good governance more meaningful, and ensure that no one is left behind," he said. - Mkini
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