There must be an official government response, and not an outburst of criticism, within a month of the publication of any Human Rights Commission report, suggested DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang today.

This standing government policy must be implemented as a matter of public duty to indicate that the government was serious about human rights in the country, said Lim.

He said the government could start implementing this policy this Sunday at the opening ceremony of the first Human Rights Day organised by the commission, Suhakam.

The ceremony will be officiated by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"Abdullah should give meaning to the occasion by giving a full accounting of the government's responses to the three Suhakam reports, specifying the Suhakam recommendations which it would accept or reject," said the veteran politician.

To date, Suhakam has published three reports, all of which has yet to receive a proper response from the government.

The three reports - the first Suhakam annual report released at the end of April, the Aug 3 report on freedom of assembly and the Aug 20 report on the inquiry into the Kesas highway incident - only drew severe criticism from the government and police.

The government only responded positively to the third report on Tuesday, when Abdullah said that the authorities were still studying the recommendations made on the widespread violations of human rights by the police at the aborted 100,000 People's Gathering in Klang last November.

Prior to this, Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai dismissed the report as "biased and unrealistic" while Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad denounced it as "Western influenced" and "anti-national". A host of other politicians, too, had reprimanded Suhakam over this report as well as the other two.

"There has been no proper considered response from the police, the Home Ministry or the government as a whole to demonstrate that the government is serious, sincere and fully committed to the protection and promotion of human rights in this country," said Lim.

Permanent blot

In its maiden report, Suhakam had recommended that peaceful assemblies be allowed with the removal of the strict restrictions for the issuance of permits for such gatherings.

The commission followed this up in its second report that in the long term, various repressive laws such as the Police Act be amended to remove undue restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly.

In its third report, Suhakam outlined detailed and specific findings on the use of excessive and unnecessary force and the widespread of human rights violations by the police at an opposition gathering.

Lim said that if these findings were not rebutted, they would remain as a permanent blot in the police records.

"The police silence on such serious findings can only mean admission of guilt," he said.

As such, Lim said Abdullah should make use of the Human Rights Day to demonstrate the government's seriousness and commitment to protect and promote human rights by responding to all the three reports.