Political will needed to empower Suhakam on human rights issues

Rahmat Mohamad said Suhakam should also be given the power to conduct unannounced visits to detention centres and prisons.

PETALING JAYA: Political will is needed if the government is to equip human rights commission Suhakam with more power to promote and protect human rights in the country.

Currently, Suhakam can only provide recommendations to the government about human rights issues.

“Perhaps it’s about time the government gave more power to Suhakam. There must be trust on its part for this to materialise,” Suhakam chairman Rahmat Mohamad told FMT in a recent interview in conjunction with the United Nation’s Human Rights Day today.

“Will the government be comfortable (with giving more power to Suhakam)? If the government is serious about maintaining human rights, then some power must be given. (But) is the government ready to do so?”

Rahmat was also hopeful that Suhakam be given the power to conduct unannounced visits to detention centres and prisons. He also wanted to see Suhakam’s recommendations implemented, and justifications to be provided if the proposals are rejected.

Separately, the former law professor suggested that the government have a legal framework to identify various categories of undocumented people in order to support any effort by the government in dealing with them, including providing assistance.

“Not all of them are undocumented immigrants. For instance, there are economic migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees,” he said.

Rahmat also called for the new government to table and debate the annual Suhakam report in Parliament.

Suhakam wants to be given the power to conduct unannounced visits to detention centres and prisons. (Bernama pic)

“The report needs to be laid out in the Dewan Rakyat so that all 222 MPs are aware of the issue of human rights. It is only when it is debated that they would know what action to take.

“Issues such as statelessness, citizenship, and cramped prisons need to be debated. Otherwise, the report will only belong to the library,” he said.

Rahmat added that it’s the responsibility of the government to provide education and training to everyone, including the country’s large Rohingya community.

“They are stuck here. If you train them and give them the right to work in a certain sector such as plantation, I think a third country will consider taking them,” he said.

However, he emphasised that the government must assure the public that such migrants are not here to steal their jobs.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says Malaysia hosts some 181,000 refugees and asylum-seekers.

Around 85% are from Myanmar, including some 103,000 Rohingyas. The remaining are from 50 other countries, including Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia. - FMT