Suhakam annual report goes to Parliament on Monday

comments     Claudia Theophilus     Published     Updated

The 2001 annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will be presented to the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) when Parliament reconvenes on Monday.

Suhakam chairperson Abu Talib Othman said today the report will be presented by the Foreign Affairs Ministry which is the authority responsible over Suhakam's affairs.

Asked why the ministry is presenting the report to Parliament instead of leaving it to Suhakam itself as was done for its inaugural 2000 report, Abu Talib said the commission decided that it was appropriate for the Foreign Affairs Minister (Syed Hamid Albar), as an MP, to table the report.

"The question here is that the minister has the forum in Parliament, whereas Suhakam doesn't. The law requires the report to be presented in Parliament, so they have to do so.

"But they (ministry) are not authorised to alter or amend the report in any way," he told reporters when met at his office in Kuala Lumpur after a 90-minute meeting with DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang, who had raised various matters pertaining to Suhakam and unresolved cases of human rights abuses.

On whether the commission has changed its stand on the Internal Security Act (ISA), Abu Talib declined to give a definitive answer.

Instead, he explained the commission's unanimous stand that since detention without trial was still relevant in the short term given the security situation the world over, the relevant safeguards are important to ensure that such laws are not abused.

"The safeguards should be to protect the detainees, like allowing them to consult a lawyer, get proper treatment, be not detained without trial and to be charged so that they can reply to it.

"Their families should also be duly informed," he said, adding that he had assured Lim that Suhakam was looking closely at the ISA provisions.

Abu Talib said once the study of the legal provisions is complete, Suhakam will make recommendations to the government.

"We need to get all aspects of the ISA cases, which means more information from the police, because we need to know the true facts from all parties involved."

'Compromised original stand'

Comparing Suhakam's statements before and after the Sept 11 attacks, Lim said the human rights watchdog had conceded that "threats to national security" may require "critical measures", including detention without trial.

Lim said Suhakam had "compromised and repudiated its original stand".

He also questioned whether Suhakam's shift of its original stand on the ISA was merely the new chairperson's view or whether the full commission had "properly and legally reviewed and revised the earlier stand".

Yesterday, DAP deputy chairperson Karpal Singh urged Abu Talib to review the preventive detention law, adding that the new commissioner would certainly be up to the task based on his previous experience as the government's chief prosecutor.

On Tuesday, when opening a two-day workshop designed to expose the Malaysian police force to human rights and related issues, the Suhakam chief ticked off top police officers by warning them against using preventive laws as a short-cut in carrying out their tasks.

Responding to a query from a senior police officer during a question-and-answer session, the former attorney-general said preventive laws should not be used to resolve cases which fail to be prosecuted for want of sufficient evidence or on technical grounds.



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