One year since taking government, the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition has backtracked on its initial commitment to defend several fundamental freedoms, a report has found.

Prepared by the international human rights NGOs Article 19 and Civicus, the report referred to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

In a joint presentation today, the NGOs stated that Harapan had gotten off to an “encouraging” start after winning GE14 by forming the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC), abolishing the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 in the Dewan Rakyat and promising to abolish the controversial Sedition Act 1948.

However,...