The government has never been committed to uplifting human rights in Malaysia, as it cannot even defend the rights of mothers and children in the country, said a PKR lawmaker today. 

In a statement, Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung cited the rejection of his private member's bill to discuss unilateral conversions in the last Parliament sitting to argue why the government's National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP), set to be presented in March, will fail. 

"I was appalled that my private member's bill was rejected on a totally erroneous ground - that it had touched on matters concerning Islam, which required consultation and consent from the states in the federation before it can be allowed to be tabled," he said. 

Had it been tabled, debated and passed in the August House, it would have "gone a long way" in resolving unilateral conversion issues concerning children in the country, he claimed. 

Such a law would have guaranteed the equal cultural and religious rights of all, without discrimination, in accordance with international human rights law, he added.

"If the government does not even have the will and determination to defend the rights of mothers and women, what rights can we expect the government to champion on our behalf in the NHRAP plan to be announced?" he asked.

In September last year, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has sought support from women to give BN the mandate in the upcoming general election, as it would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution in order to put an end to unilateral conversions.

In the last parliamentary sitting, Gooi sought to introduce his private member's bill to amend Article 12(4) of the constitution to make it necessary to obtain both parents’ consent to change a child’s religion, but it was shot down. 

Therefore, Gooi dubbed the soon-to-be-unveiled NHRAP a "stillborn". 

The idea comes almost 20 years after the Malaysian Human Rights Commission's (Suhakam) proposal to the government in the early 2000s, he pointed out. 

"Nevermind the fact that our government has to date failed to ratify most of the major international human rights instruments, they ignored Suhakam's repeated calls to strengthen its mandate and powers, or the fact that we don’t have a parliamentary select committee on human rights.

"The only reason why the government has decided to launch the NHRAP plan now is that this year, Malaysia will once again have to undergo the Universal Periodic Review process in which our poor human rights record will be scrutinised by the UN," he said.