PETALING JAYA: An aide to Ismail Sabri Yaakob has defended the prime minister from criticism over the delayed appointments of new Suhakam commissioners, pointing out that the same thing happened when Pakatan Harapan was in power.
Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, a special officer to Ismail, said the posts have been vacant for about six weeks and that the list of candidates have been presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He took aim at DAP leader Charles Santiago, who said yesterday the delay in appointing new commissioners showed Putrajaya was not interested in human rights, and reminded him that PH had taken two months to fill the positions in 2019.
“Where was Santiago then? Why didn’t he question PH’s tardiness in filling the vacant Suhakam positions or PH’s commitment to human rights?” he asked.
He also denied that Ismail had never spoken about human rights and democracy throughout the past six months in the top post, citing several speeches made by the prime minister at different events.
“He has repeatedly stressed that his government will ensure that no one in Malaysia will be left behind. This includes the rights of Sabah and Sarawak, the minority races, the Orang Asli, the disabled, the elderly, women, children as well as B40 and M40.
“In fact, he is even caring about animal rights, with amendments made to the Wildlife Conservation Act to beef up laws for the conservation of wildlife.
“But if human rights involves getting rid of laws that make homosexuality a crime, then the prime minister has definitely never talked about this,” said Kamarul.
Suhakam had been left without any commissioners for the third time, after their terms expired on April 26.
Putrajaya had been urged by NGOs to fill the positions immediately. They said Suhakam could not function without any commissioners. - FMT
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