Malaysia's human rights situation has improved over the past year but problems remained, said the United States government.

The US State Department's annual human rights report, which was released yesterday, identified problems with deaths in police custody, detention without trial, restrictions on press freedom as well as freedom of assembly, mistreatment of foreign workers and constraints on the ability of Muslims to change their religion.

However, it noted progress in a number of areas including a "major trend toward greater public and government oversight" of the police force.

"While freedom of expression remained subject to significant constraints, the media increased criticism of government policies and officials, exposure of government corruption, and coverage of contentious debates among elected officials," the report added.

It also said that the government - which is not a party to the UN Convention on Refugees - had nevertheless granted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) unfettered access to facilities at immigrant detention centres.

Police ticked off

However, despite the improvements, the police - as in previous reports - have been singled out for criticisms

"Local non-governmental organisations reported that police killed nine persons while apprehending them, up from seven such killings in 2004. Local NGOs also reported that eight persons died in police custody during the year, up from two such deaths in 2004."

The report added that while the law empowers magistrates and public prosecutors to investigate deaths of persons in police custody and to charge those responsible, only a few inquests had been held.

"By the end of 2004, inquests had been initiated for only six of the 80 custodial death cases recorded since 2000."

The report said that last August, the police deputy inspector general stated that investigations into 30 of the deaths had been completed during the year and that the remaining 50 cases were being investigated.

"At year's end no prosecutions were initiated as a result of the investigations, and no investigation results had been released," it lamented.

The report noted that the Royal Police Commission, which was formed in February 2004 to suggest ways to improve the police, had proposed the law be amended to require a detailed report from the police to a magistrate within a week of a custodial death, followed by an autopsy within 24 hours and an independent inquest within a month.

"The commission noted a rising incidence of police corruption and stated that it was endemic due to 'the generally poor quality of senior supervising officers and poorly enforced supervisory system'."

Muslim apostates

The report also referred to the dilemma involving Muslim apostates in Malaysia.

"In practice, Muslims are not permitted to convert to another religion. In several recent rulings, secular courts have ceded jurisdiction to Islamic courts in matters involving conversion to or from Islam.

"In September, the Court of Appeal denied the request of a Muslim who had converted to Christianity to change the religion designated on her national identity card. The court ruled that a Syariah Court must first approve a request by a Muslim citizen to convert to another religion. In practice syariah courts routinely denied such requests."