Forty-two NGOs will boycott the Malaysian Human Rights Commission's (Suhakam) 10th anniversary event tomorrow to protest the commission's poor performance.

The boycott, though temporary, serves to highlight three key areas:

  • Suhakam's failure to proactively protect and promote human rights,
  • The government's failure to ensure Suhakam's independence and effectiveness and;
  • The government failure to implement most of Suhakam's recommendations.

abu talib othman interview 220807 gesture "With or without Suhakam, human rights, over the past 10 years has not improved," said Sevan Doraisamy, a representative of the 42 NGOs, at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today to announce the boycott.

As an example of Suhakam's lack of proactive monitoring, Sevan cited the Aug 1 Anti-Internal Security Act rally, where the commission did not deploy any monitoring team despite knowing that numerous arrests would take place.

The group is also condemning Suhakam chair Abu Talib Othman ( above ) for being idle.

"The chairman only made one press statement out of 23 released by Suhakam (in 2008). It was to clarify that a press statement released by three commissioners on the previous day, was not an official Suhakam statement," read the 42 NGOs' joint-statement.

The statement also noted that over the past decade, Suhakam reports have been ignored by the government, and none of these documents have ever been debated in parliament despite repeated requests by the opposition or civil society groups.

Third boycott

Among the 42 NGOs boycotting the event are Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), Abolish the ISA Movement (GMI), Sisters in Islam, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca), Aliran Kesedaran Negara (Aliran), All Women's Action Society (Awam) and Amnesty International.

This is the third time NGOs have boycotted Suhakam events. In 2002, NGOs boycotted Suhakam for 100 days in protest of Abu Talib's appointment.

mahathir and internal security act isa In 2005, a Suhakam conference was boycotted by NGOs for inviting former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a key speaker. Mahathir has been long been blamed for jailing political dissidents during his 22-year reign.

This time around, the boycott is deemed 'temporary' as the 42 NGOs will continue to engage Suhakam, albeit conditionally.

Suaram coordinator John Liu said the groups want Suhakam's current crop of commissioners to initiate drastic reforms before their tenure ends in April 2010.

Among others, their demands include intensified public campaigns by Suhakam, particularly on issues ignored by the government, and provide a time frame for the government to implement the commission's recommendations.

'Let us help reform Suhakam'

The 42 NGOs are also urging Suhakam to mediate meetings between civil society and relevant ministries to implement the commission's recommendations and conduct more monitoring activities, particularly in cases of imminent threats to human rights violations.

Liu added that the NGOs were willing to work with the government to help plan and implement reform efforts within Suhakam.

"This is the final call for improvement and reforms within Suhakam, and a time frame has been set. Failing which, we will call for more permanent forms of boycott," said Liu.

Incidently, the Suhakam conference tomorrow was to propose "a roadmap for a national strategy on human rights", according to Suhakam commissioner Dr Chiam Heng Keng.

The half-day conference themed ' Human Rights in Malaysia: The Last 10 Years' will see among its speakers Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan.

The boycott comes at a time when Suhakam is under threat of being downgraded from its 'A' status by United Nation's Accreditation Sub-Committee of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (ICC).

Though the government scrambled to amend laws to comply with the ICC requirements, civil society groups were quick to point out that only superficial changes were made and reforms were still wanting.

The ICC is expected to decide on the matter by November.