PETALING JAYA: A group of 75 civil societies released a report on the first 100 days of Perikatan Nasional in which it said the coalition had issued very few statements on law reforms and the direction of the government itself.
It further said there was a surge in police arrests and investigations against human rights defenders and journalists after PN took over Putrajaya.
“PH’s failure to repeal draconian laws when it was in power has led to potentially exacerbating human rights violations against vulnerable people,” said the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Platform for Reform.
The report titled Pakatan Harapan’s 22 Months and Perikatan Nasional’s First 100 Days stated that the general perception was that the PN government was Malay centric and was championing a more conservative Islam.
“There is an increasing gap that sees a clash in intra-Malay politics between conservatives and liberal forces,” it said, adding that this might also have an impact on the non-Malays.
It said the unexpected Covid-19 crisis had further seen marginalisation of indigenous people, migrants workers and refugees.
“The urgent task is how to strive for a more inclusive, peaceful and harmonious society,” it said.
On electoral reforms, it said the PN government had shown no urgency to reform the electoral system.
“The voters’ mandate that was given in the previous election was not respected as many MPs and state assemblymen jumped from PH to PN. MPs were given positions in GLCs and government agencies,” it added.
The 70-page report noted that a total of 82.3% of 113 PN MPs had been appointed to either the Cabinet, or made deputy ministers, or appointed to top GLCs positions or were made special diplomats.
However, it said, despite the manner in which PN came to power, it “appears to be trying to live up to some standards that had been set by its predecessor”. It added that the coalition was trying to get public approval and support although it did not use the democratic option of going to the polls.
PH’s 22 months
The group said under the PH, there was rehabilitation and restructuring of financial institutions such as the Tabung Haji Board and the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).
PH had also set up parliamentary select committees comprising of government and opposition MPs. In addition, under PH, several politicians were arrested for corruption and Malaysia’s ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index improved from 61 in 2018 to 51 in 2019.
It said there were still political appointments at government statutory bodies and PH had yet to start the adoption of international corporate governance standards.
As for child protection, PH had launched the National Strategy Plan in handling causes of child marriage but it had failed to end caning and other forms of corporal punishment.
As for access to justice, rule of law and human rights, PH had tabled the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission ( IPCMC) Bill and introduced a moratorium on the death penalty. But it failed to revoke the death penalty, remove many draconian laws such as the Sedition Act, National Security Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) and Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma).
Recommendations
The group of civil societies are hoping the PN government will continue the reforms carried out by PH but which were left in limbo after the change in government in February this year.
It said eight reforms to laws were in limbo: the Whistleblower Act, Employment Act for Women, an independent Election Commission, the Sexual Harassment Bill, Gender Equality Bill, Political Financing Bill, Government Procurement Bill and Anti-Stalking Bill.
The group also hoped for frequent engagement with the PN government just as happened with the PH government.
It also hoped the criminalisation of LGBTIQ persons would stop, adding that the pressure to suppress one’s sexual orientation and gender was overwhelming in Malaysia and had resulted in “low health seeking behaviour self blame and self guilt”.
The NGOs in the group include the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Voice of the Children, Bersih 2.0, Pusat Komas, Agora Society, Justice for Sisters, the Malaysian Centre for Constitution and Human Rights and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram). - FMT
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