Human rights organisation Suaram has found that the 'war against terrorism' in Malaysia has not only eroded civil and political rights, but has also set back campaigns against draconian security laws.

In a summary of its 2002 annual human rights report, Suaram noted that the executive used the "convenient excuse" of carrying out anti-terrorism measures to usurp additional power over the past year.

"The events of Sept 11 gave the executive a convenient excuse to further clamp down on rights. The Anti-ISA movement was reaching its peak when Sept 11 happened," Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong said today during the launch of the executive summary.

"Security laws may now be tightened even though the Internal Security Act (ISA) is already among the most draconian of laws in existence, because it excludes judicial review of detention orders."

The 14-page executive summary was released ahead of World Human Rights Day, which will be observed tomorrow. The full Suaram report is expected to be completed in three months' time.

No credibility to ISA

Although the government has claimed that the ISA is used to ensure security of the people, Kua said the executive has undeniably abused its powers in detaining those with dissenting views.

"As long as people like the six reformasi activists continue to be detained for peaceful practice of human rights principles, there will be no credibility to the ISA. Like any other law, because of one technical fault, the whole law falls," he said.

However, in an early reaction to Suaram's findings, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied that the government had ever exploited the ISA to detain people.

"We have never used the Sept 11 (attacks on the United States) as a reason to detain people. We will make sure that human rights are not violated in Malaysia, but we must also make sure that the people who speak about human rights and want to do anything in the name of human rights will not violate the human rights of others," Bernama quoted him as saying.

Abdullah was also reported as saying that if full freedom were given and the people were to exercise their full rights, then "we would not be able to live in peace because then we would be quarreling and having all sorts of problems...the rights of the community must be respected too."

Rise in deaths in custody

Still on the issue of detention without trial, Kua said there were mixed outcomes in cases where the use of unfettered executive powers had been challenged in court.

One example, he said, was the decision of Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar of the Shah Alam High Court, who last month ordered the release of Nasharuddin Nasir, an alleged KMM-linked ISA detainee.

"After applying the objective test, the judge held that the grounds of the detention order were flawed and there was no evidence of the allegations as stated in the detention order. However the joy was short-lived as upon his release, (Nasharuddin) was promptly re-arrested the next day," he said.

Kua also highlighted reported cases of police brutality including the death of several persons while in police custody and deaths as a result of police shooting.

"Parliament was told during the October sitting that 34 persons had died while under police custody since 2000, with six deaths in 2000, 10 deaths in 2001 and 18 deaths as at September 2002.

"According to Police Watch and Human Rights Committee, 35 persons were reportedly killed by the police in shoot-outs (between January and October 2002)," he said.

Kua pointed out that, although many complaints had been lodged on police abuse of powers, the authorities had acted only on a few of the reports.

"About 1,000 policemen are disciplined each year for various offences including corruption, excessive use of force, robbery, misuse of firearms, misconduct, causing injury, rape, molest, kidnapping and drug abuse," he revealed.

Hudud scope inconsistent

Evaluating the status of other constitutional rights such as the freedom of speech, assembly and religion, Suaram returned more despondent findings.

Kua said the press in Malaysian remained fettered, while the government continues to intensify efforts to rein in freedom of expression via its control of mainstream media channels.

The government was also found to have tightened restrictions on the activities of mosques and threatened the use of laws such as the Official Secrets Act and Sedition Act against individuals and groups expressing views contrary to the official government position.

This was particularly true in the case of vernacular groups who have opposed the plan to switch the teaching of Mathematics and Science in schools, to the English language from next year.

On matters of religion, Suaram took exception to the passing of the hudud law by the PAS-led Terengganu state assembly because of "severe and harsh" punishments under the law and the "haphazardly defined" scope of the law which allows for different treatment of men and women, as well as to Muslims and non-Muslims.

'Insensitive' commissioners

Reviewing the work of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), Kua said an area of great concern was the manner in which Suhakam's 'Inquiry into the Conditions of Detention under the ISA' was carried out.

"The inquiry was plagued with inconsistencies and secrecy. The ambiguous scope of the inquiry led the five reformasi detainees to boycott the inquiry," he said.

Kua also expressed reservations about Suhakam's position on the issue of detention without trial, saying that Suaram could not give unconditional approval of the commission's position unless it takes a clear stand on the issue.

While conceding that several Suhakam commissioners have stressed that detention without trial is unlawful, Kua said other commissioners have also made "immature statements" on the ISA.

Such statements included the comment by Commissioner Harun Hashim during the ISA inquiry that detention was a waste of time as the detainees were not being 'rehabilitated' since they were doing nothing.

"This suggests that he accepted the government's premise that political detainees needed rehabilitation," Kua said.

"Sometimes, we feel that Suhakam may just be the cosmetic face of the government's human rights record. Just as we welcome progressiveness in their human rights stand, we will also condemn them if unprincipled statements are made."

Suaram executive director Cynthia Gabriel added that human rights groups were disappointed with Suhakam's inability to defend its recommendations.

"As a national human rights body, Suhakam has failed to convince or influence the government position on human rights issues. It is safe to say that none of the progressive human rights recommendations have been acknowledged or discussed by the government," she said.

Suaram first published its human rights report in 1997, addressing and compiling developments in civil, economic and cultural rights in Malaysia up to 1996.

Since 1998, the organisation had produced annual reports focusing specifically on the status of civil and political rights in the country.