The government should consider extending the term of Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioners so that they can accomplish more.

In saying this today, commissioner Ramon V Navaratnam said the current two-year tenure does not allow commissioners sufficient time. He proposed a three-year term instead.

"For somebody who's on just one term, it can be very difficult," he said, adding that the familiarisation process with the duties involved in itself is time consuming.

He said several months might pass before a commissioner can discharge his or her duty efficiently.

"Before you know it, it's already been a year and you only have one year left to really achieve things, added the commissioner, who is in his second term.

April 10 - term expires

Ramon was speaking to reporters after the launching of three reports on the Human Rights Approach to the Millennium Development Goals at the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

He was commenting on the expiry of the tenure of 13 Suhakam commissioners, including himself and commission chairperson Abu Talib Othman, on April 23.

To date, there have been no news from the government regarding the appointments. Suhakam has a total of 16 commissioners.

The remaining three - N Siva Subramaniam, Prof Khoo Kay Kim and Muhammad Shafee Abdullah - were appointed later and it is unclear whether their terms would end on the same date.