Pity Prof Dr Chiam Heng Keng the lone Suhakam commissioner who told a 200-strong crowd on Saturday that she felt like a lamb being led to the slaughterhouse. And slaughter, it was.

The occasion was the annual evaluation of the two-year-old human rights organisation by members of non-government organisations held in Ipoh last weekend. Speakers after speakers, almost without exception, took Suhakam to task.

Clearly, the tide has turned against Suhakam. The mood was decidedly uglier than last year's consultation both of which were organised by Era Consumer. Then, the representatives of the civil society were willing to give the country's Human Rights Commission the benefit of the doubt. Not anymore.

Chiam knew Suhakam's honeymoon was over. So too were her fellow commissioners. Which was why unlike the first consultation none of them turned up this time to face the music. Not even Suhakam's new chief, former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman, who was invited by the organiser to give the keynote speech.

First salvo

So it wasn't surprising that the first salvo was targeted at Abu Talib.

Fan Yew Teng, a former MP and now an author, slammed the Suhakam chief for his active role as the government's top legal officer in the 1988 sacking of Lord President Tun Salleh Abas an event considered to be the darkest blot in the history of our judiciary.

The former AG was also chastised for ordering the police to destroy salacious videotape evidence of then MIC deputy leader DP Vijandran in alleged sexual acts with a number of women.

Keadilan leader N Gobalakrisnan too joined in the attack against Suhakam. "I was an ISA detainee," he said, adding that he was held for 51 days after the police arrested him and nine other reformasi activists last April.

He told the crowd that he was slapped and tortured during police interrogation. And when he was taken out of his cell to meet a visiting team of Suhakam commissioners, one of his torturers sat next to him.

He said the first question the Suhakam commissioners asked was, "Are you getting proper food?"

One could hear the crowd sniggered.

"My 51 days of detention did not hurt me as much as Suhakam did," decried Gobala.

Other participants related their bitter disappointment in Chiam's speech and questioned her emphasis on providing human rights education to students. What about educating the police who have a complete monopoly in human rights abuses, they asked.

And how could students discussed human rights when they are being badgered into submission to pledge loyalty to the nation (read government), asked another.

Greatest failure

True, Suhakam has many failings over the past two years. But its greatest failure is to keep mum when its recommendations are being treated with contempt by the government.

Take, for example, its call for the powers-that-be to respect the right of citizens to hold public rallies. That was blatantly ignored. Indeed, the ban on such gatherings, imposed since last year, is still in force and is not likely to be lifted anytime soon.

Such a mockery of our human rights watchdog does not stop there. The Parliament went to the extent of refusing to debate Suhakam's annual reports. And to add insult to injury, the recommendations of this independent body must now be vetted by the Foreign Ministry before they are made public.

How can Suhakam defend human rights when it cannot even defend its own reports and recommendations?

There is no doubt that the country's many draconian laws have spooked Malaysians from openly voicing their opinion. However, the meeting in Ipoh showed that not all members of the civil society have been cowed into silence.

Perhaps it is time for Suhakam too to speak out and stand up for its own rights.