The newly formed Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) will begin its inquiry into complaints of police brutality during the "Black 14" demonstration soon, a member of the commission told a public forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

"The commission agrees that we will have to start the inquiry (on "Black 14") soon," Prof. Mehrun Siraj said, adding that she will personally asked for the investigation to be initiated at the commission's June 5 meeting.

About five "Black 14" protesters had complained that they were beaten after being arrested by the police during a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the sentencing of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim on April 15.

One told the magistrate last month that he suffered a head wound but was denied medication. ("[#1]Musa to probe alleged police violence against ''Black 14' detainees[/#]", April 24)

Prof Mehrun said that the commission had so far received 127 complaints, of which 101 are protest letters from overseas mostly regarding human rights violations during the "Black 14" crackdown.

"There are complaints written in French, German and even Portuguese," she said during the forum, in which she was one of the guest speakers.

The forum entitled "Understanding Human Rights Commission Act 1999" was organised by Era Consumer Malaysia to raise public awareness on the roles and functions of the month-old Suhakam. ("[#2]Human rights commissioners to address forum[/#]", May 25)

Other speakers who spoke at the forum were United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence and Impartiality of Judges, Param Cumaraswamy, Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez, Hakam secretary-general Elizabeth Wong and Universiti Teknologi Mara's Prof. Shad Faruqi.

During the forum, Wong expressed concern that cases of human rights violations which are brought to court would not be investigated by Suhakam as stated in Article 12 (2) of the Human Rights Commission Act 1999.

She said that a clause like that "invites abuse" from the police. She feared that the police could charge the complainant so that the case would be "out of bound" of the commission.

Fernandez also expressed similar concerns.

"The pattern and strategy of (Prime Minister) Dr. Mahathir is to push everything to the court," she said.

"I don't think we will get far in court when we do not have independence of the judiciary," she lamented.

Earlier, a keynote address was delivered by another member of the commission, former chief justice Anuar Zainal Abidin.

According to him, although there are existing restrictive laws in the country, this does not mean Suhakam cannot do anything about such laws.

"The least we can do is to express our very strong opinion against them," he said.

Another member of the commission, Prof Chiam Heng Keng, said that everyone has the responsibility to promote human rights awareness. According to her, individuals as well as the state have a role to play.

"We must not only have the knowledge (of human rights). But, we must translate the knowledge into action," she said, adding that the development of values, belief and attitudes is the key to achieve these objectives.

In response to a question from a participant that the "culture of fear" among the public to speak about issues pertaining to human rights abuses, Chiam said that education plays an important role and a "thinking culture will diminish such 'culture of fear'".