Malaysians must fearlessly put their foot down and demand to have prominent lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah stripped of his appointment as Malaysian commissioner to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

Vice-chairperson of Wanita DAP Kasthuri Patto said that although Shafee, according to Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, is “well-versed” on human rights issues, he is also the main player in a lethal game in the oppression of rights.

“How can Shafee Abdullah admonish on human rights when he himself abuses it?

“It’s a mockery that he will impart his ‘well-versed’ knowledge on human rights at AICHR meetings when he has botched and bungled on home ground?” she asked in a statement today.

Kasthuri ( left ), who is also Batu Kawan MP, received a written reply from Anifah in Parliament yesterday to her question of Shafee’s qualification and criteria of appointment.

The ministry, in justifying Shafee's appointment, added that the lawyer has “institutional memory” as well as having “international experience” in human rights.

Kasthuri said that while an ideology can be preserved, having an ingrained institutional memory can sometimes make someone less perceptible to challenge, even when “something is found to contradict that which was previously thought to have been correct”.

“Does this mean, in the words of the minister, that Shafee Abdullah works on auto-pilot mode to go to great lengths to protect and preserve the hands that feed him, ‘dulu, kini dan selamanya’ (before, now and always) and therefore will stick to his guns even if hell freezes over?

“Does it mean that human rights issues will have to be sidelined while he obeys the orders of the government of the day?” she asked once again.

‘No one really knows Shafee’s stand on rights’

She pointed out that this is Shafee’s second term representing Malaysia at the AICHR, yet no one really knows what is his stand on various human rights issues in Malaysia.

“What are Shafee Abdullah's views on the rule of law? What are his views on draconian laws still used in Malaysia? What are his views on freedom of speech?” These were among the questions Kasthuri asked.

She listed down several other things Shafee had done that contradict the fight for human rights - among others; he had acted as counsel for the Negri Sembilan government in its appeal against Muslim transgenders over cross-dressing and the wrongful incarceration of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

One cannot help but wonder what vested interest does this government have to protect and defend Shafee to this extent, she said.

What sort of image will Malaysia portray with a representative who embellished the in camera evidence with the perverted ‘nipple pinching’ innuendo during a roadshow?

“The prostitution of human rights must end here,” she said, adding that a new commissioner should be appointed that reflects full transparency, accountability and competency.