Parliamentary opposition stalwart Lim Kit Siang said today that he would be pushing for the formation of a 'Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights' when the House reconvenes Tuesday for the year's final sitting.

The first task which Lim wants the caucus to assign itself to is the deployment of a fact-finding team to probe allegations of 'rioting' on Dec 8 by Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees in Perak's Kamunting Detention Centre.

"A dark cloud hangs over the 2004 World Human Rights Day in Malaysia with serious allegations that ISA detainees at Kamunting had been beaten up during a spot check (on Wednesday) by prison authorities," said Lim in his statement.

The Internal Security Ministry has alleged that the detainees rioted to prevent prison officials from carrying out a spotcheck and that they used home-made weapons against the authorities

These claims have been refuted by the detainees' family members and activists.

Govt track record

The government's allegations reminded Lim of two events dating back 30 years ago which gives rise to questions of credibility on the event's 'official version'.

He cited his own experience when arrested under the ISA during the government's infamous 'Operasi Lalang' operations where it was claimed that the camp authorities lied about inmates - namely Karpal Singh and Lim Guan Eng - having secretly taken food during their week-long hunger strike.

Another incident he quoted was "the lies by the authorities during the 1974 ISA arrests and subsequent white paper" on communist activities among Chinese students in a local university.

"Stage props for a Chinese cultural concert was used by the authorities to claim that they had seized arms from students at University Malaya (which was) meant for a violent overthrow of the government," he recalled.

"With such a background, I cannot but take the claims of the two deputy internal security ministers, about weapons found in Kamunting, with a huge pinch of salt".

Important day ignored

Lim also chided the government for its lacklustre commemoration of the internationally celebrated rights day which fell on Dec 10.

"It does not speak well for its commitment to human rights that the day was practically ignored by the government and all the Cabinet ministers as if it was a non-event," he snapped.

One way Lim suggests the government make up for it and to meaningfully mark human rights day is to allow the establishment of the cross-party caucus and to immediately send an investigation team to the camp from within the caucus.

"All MPs, regardless of whether Barisan Nasional (BN) or opposition, are welcome to attend the inaugural meeting for the establishment of the caucus to be held at Parliament Committee Room 2 on Tuesday Dec 14 at 12.30pm," announced Lim, using the statement as a notice for parliamentarians given that time is of the essence.

The House is adjourning before the next Cabinet meeting and the only option available for the caucus to be set up is for the formation of an unofficial parliamentary grouping such as was done recently for the Burma and southern Thailand caucuses.

"Ideally, there should be a Parliamentary Select Committee on Human Rights but such a committee can only be formed by way of motion in Parliament, which means the agreement of government - the PM and the Cabinet - with the 92 percent command of the parliamentary seats by BN," Lim lamented.

He however called for cooperation and support from all parliamentarians to send out a clear and unequivocal signal to Malaysians and the world community on their serious commitment to human rights promotion and protection.