Suhakam: PM did us a favour by not attending Human Rights Day event
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's decision not to attend the Human Rights Commission's (Suhakam) International Human Rights Day celebration today actually helped the event, according to chairperson Razali Ismail.
"The prime minister has, in his own way, done us a favour.
"Because he is not here, people suddenly got more interested, so they have come (to the event)," he told reporters after the event in Padang Timur, Petaling Jaya...
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's decision not to attend the Human Rights Commission's (Suhakam) International Human Rights Day celebration today actually helped the event, according to chairperson Razali Ismail.
"The prime minister has, in his own way, done us a favour.
"Because he is not here, people suddenly got more interested, so they have come (to the event)," he told reporters after the event in Padang Timur, Petaling Jaya.
Yesterday, Mahathir said he would not attend the celebration today as Suhakam and Putrajaya differ on the ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).
Read more: Human rights are aligned with religion, says Suhakam chief
Razali noted, however, that Mahathir is a "master strategist" and everything he says must be viewed on a larger scale.
He related a time when he was speaking to Mahathir after one of the prime minister's speeches, and Mahathir told him that his speech is not meant just for that particular crowd but also the wider audience outside.
"He made the point (on Icerd yesterday) that there are all these people who are not happy, which the government is aware of and it is Suhakam's job to narrow the gap," Razali said.
It is also a lot easier for Suhakam to work with the current government, he added.
During his time as the Suhakam commissioner in the past few years, he said he found it difficult to meet with ministers from the previous administration to discuss relevant issues.
"We had asked for three years to see the (then) deputy prime minister and in three years, he never saw us. Hardly any minister was willing to actually talk to us.
"Yes, they used us only as an ornament to put out to tell the world that, yes, we have a human rights commission, but... genuinely they were not committed to (human rights)," Razali said.
Though the current government is still unwilling to sign Icerd, it is more proactive in looking at human rights issues in Malaysia and more open to working with Suhakam, he said.
Suhakam has already met with eight ministers in the new cabinet, along with the attorney-general and it is going to meet another minister soon.
Suhakam commissioners Jerald Joseph and Mah Weng Kwai later told Malaysiakini that as far as they could remember, they only met with then minister in the prime minister's department Paul Low; then women, family and community development minister Rohani Abdul Karim; then attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali; and then Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, during the previous administration.
Suhakam's event today was originally scheduled for Dec 8, but it was postponed after police highlighted potential security risks.
On Dec 8, a rally organised by Malay-Muslim NGOs and supported by PAS and Umno was held at Dataran Merdeka to celebrate the government's decision to not ratify Icerd.
Malaysiakini estimated 80,000 people in attendance during the rally's peak.
