The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and other agencies that are facing drastic budget cuts have been advised to use funds in their fixed deposits during tough economic periods.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Paul Low gave this advice today when he officiated at the Human Rights Day 2015 event in Kuala Lumpur.

"In the case of Suhakam, it has a fixed deposit of RM4 million to RM4.5 million. So the Treasury would ask, why do you keep the fixed deposit?

"If you use the fixed deposit at a time like this, I think it is okay," Low said.

He encouraged all government agencies, particularly Suhakam, Institute for Integrity of Malaysia (IIM) and Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) to do this.

"I am sure this does not mean the government is not recognising (human) rights. It is just that it wants to have a look at each to justify (the expenditure)," he said.

Low also dismissed the notion that speeches against the government by the senior officials of Suhakam had led to a drastic cut in its budget.

Meanwhile, Suhakam vice-president Khaw Lake Tee ( photo ) disagreed with Low, saying that if Suhakam took out all its fixed deposit sums, it would still be short of money in 2016 .

"We still think the budget allocation cut is a bit too high. At least, you must be able to cover the fixed costs for the year.

"All our programmes will be impacted. We will endeavour to carry out the activities, but we will still need to scale down some of the programmes," Khaw said.

Suhakam is allocated RM5.51 million in Budget 2016, almost 50 percent less than its budget in 2015 when it was allocated RM10.98 million for this year.

Its allocation for this year was also cut by 10 percent.

Suhakam chairperson Hasmy Agam has said that the budget would only cover Suhakam’s fixed expenses until November next year.

This does not take into account the various programmes it conducts, he said.

NGOs Suaram and Proham had slammed the budget cuts, saying that it showed Putrajaya's disregard for human rights.

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