Human Rights Watch (HRW) has likened the second report on freedom of expression in Malaysia to a "bad movie sequel" which should not have been made.

In launching the report at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, HRW Asia Division deputy director Phil Robertson said the Malaysian government has adopted almost none of the recommendations made in its report released last year.

"Malaysia is in the forefront of Asean countries that have a human rights problem.

"It is not common for us to do sequels for our reports, but we thought we had to when so little was done to respond to the human rights abuses in the previous report," he said.

Robertson also cited Thailand and the Philippines as countries alongside Malaysia that witnessed a rapid decline in human rights standards.

"Our view is that Malaysia is going the wrong way. It is quite clear that it is declining in (human) rights in a very rapid way," he stressed.

Commenting further, Robertson noted that many of the recorded incidents were linked to criticisms against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, the federal government or state-investor 1MDB.

He cited as an example investigations linked to artist and activist Fahmi Reza's clown-faced Najib caricature under the Sedition Act 1948.

Robertson, however, added that HRW does not take a position on allegations against 1MDB, as corruption issues are not part of its mandate, nor on calls for Najib's removal as it is a domestic political affair.

Same boat as Myanmar

Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen, meanwhile, said that the decline of human rights in Malaysia for the past year, has put the country in the same boat as Myanmar.

"It is sad but I’m constantly thinking of Myanmar. I have no doubt that the way Malaysia is going down the road, we would be mentioned next to Myanmar.

"Someone in Myanmar was recently charged for Facebook comments and was jailed. We can see a trend here that if Myanmar does this, we also do something similar. It is vice versa,” he said.

This year's report - "Deepening the Culture of Fear: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression in Malaysia" - documents the government's use of "overboard and vaguely worded laws" to criminalise peaceful speech and assembly.

Documenting cases from between October last year to September this year, the report is a follow-up to the Human Rights Watch October 2015 report - 'Creating a Culture of Fear'.