Heed call for reform to improve human rights standards

“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”

- Nelson Mandela, former South African president after spending 27 years in prison for “treason”.

Every year on Dec 10, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, and it is a time when countries make pledges, many times driven by lawmakers, CSOs and the public to ensure the business of human rights is on the main agenda of the government of the day.

This Human Rights Day is a grim and mournful one - with the ongoing bloodbath in Gaza in the state of Palestine and gross human rights violations closer to home in Myanmar, and in other parts of the world - dictators and war criminals all over the world continue to terrorise civilians in the name of nationalism and national security.

Innocent children, women and men have become casualties of greed, authoritarianism, identity politics, race, religion and power and it is unthinkable that this is still happening in this time and age.

At home, while we are fortunate not to be in any form of active armed conflict (except for the South of Thailand bordering Peninsular Malaysia), we must not rest on our laurels and therefore, we must continue to strive hard to ensure we never go down that dangerous slippery slope, threatening democracy, freedom, equality, justice and impartiality.

After all, dictators learn from each other and in time when they ally, it would be too late to restore human rights.

Malaysia, being a young democracy, is in the best position and under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th prime minister steering, inspiring and galvanising the Madani government, to spearhead the needed and necessary changes for human rights in Malaysia.

Every year, Suhakam produces a Human Rights Report which must be tabled in Parliament for the government to take heed of suggestions, constructive criticisms and reform proposals and reconstruct how the government, her machinery in the form of civil servants, lawmakers and the public at large.

However, it was not tabled for over a decade and under Pakatan Harapan, tabled after a long hiatus in 2019. We cannot let that be a “once-in-a-blue-moon” occurrence and must press for it to be tabled and debated every year.

The impact of the report tabled and debated in Parliament will surely have an impact on how the rakyat views human rights and will begin to understand the significance of it to be heard in the Dewan Rakyat.

‘Government-knows-best’ syndrome

For decades, Malaysia was plagued by the “government-knows-best” syndrome but now with experts in the field of human rights and champions in various disciplines covering a list of overarching issues from:

- child rights on citizenship and education, nutrition and a safe secure environment,

- to youths who have dropped out of school due to poverty, to the lack of political and sex education in schools,

- to young adults suffering to make ends meet with a minimum wage, battling creeping mental health issues,

- to women on gender-based violence, financial independence, maternal mortality,

- to equal pay and political representation,

- to an ageing nation in the years to come,

- to being a barrier-free nation for our disabled friends with the mantra of “nothing about us, without us”,

- to the robbing of rights, culture, identity and land of the indigenous Orang Asli and Orang Asal

- to threats against journalists and the Fourth Estate,

- to institutional reforms of separation of power from the office of the Attorney-General’s Chambers,

- to placing the MACC and the Election Commission under the watchful eye of the Parliament,

- to reforms in the criminal justice system with the abolition of the mandatory death penalty,

- to custodial deaths in lock-ups, immigration detention camps and prisons,

- to the abuse of regressive laws like the Sedition Act, Printing Press and Publication Act, Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, Prevention of Crime Act and so forth,

- to the plight of refugees in Malaysia and rising xenophobia,

- to enforced disappearances,

- to the thriving human trafficking syndicate,

- to racial and religious extremism and the cherry on the cake –

- to the lack of campaigns, awareness and knowledge of human rights in general,

the Madani government must start to heed the call to action by human rights CSOs whose opinions, recommendations and resolutions - backed by data and studies and using international standards and best practices are all driven in the best interest of the nation, in creating a cohesive, united Malaysia, a beacon for human rights in the region.

Resolving these issues will be heavy for the government alone to address, strategise and reform. The solution is a shared responsibility between all, especially the common actors in the ecosystem of human rights who are civil society groups, and like-minded lawmakers.

Lawmakers and CSOs who are human rights advocates can no longer be seen as enemies of the state but as reliable partners for bringing about change, reform and rejuvenating the way Malaysia and Malaysians see human rights as an important matter and without it would throw the nation into chaos, instability, inequality and discrimination.

This Human Rights Day, let us renew our clarion call to make human rights for all and not just for those who are and who have power.

Freedom, equality and justice for all. - Mkini

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KASTHURI PATTO is DAP deputy secretary for International Affairs and DAP Women's vice-chairperson.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.