US report gives poor marks for Msian judiciary, police

comments     K Kabilan     Published     Updated

The United States Human Rights 2001 report on Malaysia described the judiciary as lacking independence, blamed the police for "extrajudicial killings" and accused the government of continuing to stifle the press.

The report, released by the US Department of State yesterday, also reiterated the US government's criticism of the trials involving former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

"Anwar Ibrahim is a political prisoner because he was charged, tried and convicted in a legal process that was politically motivated and patently unfair," said the 32-page report.

The report further added that Anwar's convictions on charges of corruption and sodomy in 1999 and 2000 demonstrated the judiciary's lack of independence.

Anwar is presently facing a 15-year jail term following the convictions. He had always maintained that the charges against him were a result of a high-level government conspiracy, an accusation which the government had denied.

Although the report said that politically motivated and selective prosecution decreased during the year, it nevertheless pointed out that authorities continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights.

The report said that despite increased public confidence in the judiciary following the appointment of Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah as chief justice in December 2000, many observers continued to express concerns about a series of high-level judicial appointments during the year.

These include the appointment of former attorney-general Mohtar Abdullah to the Federal Court, the promotion of justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim as chief judge of High Court last year and the appointment of the lead prosecuting counsel in Anwar's cases, Abdul Gani Patail, as the new attorney-general this year.

"These developments appeared to indicate that executive encroachment on the judiciary could remain a serious concern."

Extrajudicial killings

On the excessiveness of the police in handling citizen's rights, the report said that the police had committed a number of extrajudicial killings.

It stated that at the end of 2001, the press had reported that the police had killed 26 persons while apprehending them.

The police was blamed for not implementing a standard procedure to investigate cases of police shootings as proposed by the Bar Council in 1999.

"The government also had not formed an independent commission to investigate police killings, as was recommended by a group of 119 non-government organisations."

However, the report said that the police had taken other efforts to curb such abuses. These included human rights training to police officers by the United Nations Human Rights Commission and meeting with members of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission.

The report added that the police also on "occasion tortured, beat, or otherwise abused prisoners, detainees and demonstrators", and that the conditions in the detention facilities of illegal migrant workers "continued to pose a threat to health".

Press self-censorship

On press freedom, the report said that government restrictions, pressure and intimidation led to a high degree of press self-censorship.

"The government continued to limit the publications of an opposition party newspaper, and refused to renew the publication permits of several other political weeklies," said the report.

"It also routinely delayed the release of several foreign weekly magazines. Independent on-line newspapers operated without government interference, but one online outlet was subjected to an intermittent government campaign to undermine its credibility.

"The government engaged in a sometimes intimidating campaign to discredit malaysiakini ... [It] was told that it could be barred from covering government press conferences because its credibility is doubtful.

"However, this policy was not systematically implemented. The government also informed in Parliament that it was monitoring every article published by malaysiakini to ensure the writings did not upset public order."

On the mainstream media, the report said that they provided "generally laudatory, uncritical coverage of government officials and policies".

Nanyang takeover

The report said that the Chinese-language newspapers had been generally freer in reporting and commenting on sensitive political and social issues, but they were not immune to government pressure.

It added that the takeover of two major Chinese dailies, Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press , by MCA last May caused some concerns as it could transform the newspapers into "publishers of pro-government propaganda".

On the whole, the report stated that the government generally respected its citizens' rights in some areas, however, its records were poor in a number of other areas, and significant problems remain.

The US Human Rights report, released annually by the State Department, covers the state of human rights in most countries around the world, and helps guide American foreign policy.



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