Uyghur activists disappointed with M'sia, other allies over aborted UN debate

Uyghur leaders have admitted that it was a crushing blow when the UN Human Rights Council rejected a motion last week to hold a debate on alleged human rights abuses by China against Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The vote among the 47 members was 19 against, 17 in favour, and 11 abstentions, including Malaysia. This was only the second time in the council's 16-year history that a motion has been rejected and was deemed an unprecedented victory for Beijing.

The Western-led motion had demanded a debate on the alleged rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China's western Xinjiang region.

“This is a tragic issue for us. Personally, I don’t even know if my mother or father is alive or not. We feel that China tried to manipulate the system and it worked.

“Still we brought the issue to the UN Human Rights Council voting, and to lose by 19-17 with so many abstentions was very disappointing,” Centre for Uyghur Studies executive director Abdulhakim Idris told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview.

He said that while the Uyghur community is grateful for Malaysian support, the country’s choice to abstain was hard to take.

“Malaysia is very important to convince Muslims around the world of the enormous injustice that is going on. Muslims think that if Malaysia doesn’t speak about the Uyghur issue - that means everything is ok,” Abdulhakim said.

To others outside of the Uyghur diaspora, East Turkestan is known as China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the government has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and genocide against the Muslim-minority ethnic group.

In July last year, China's State Council Information Office reportedly issued a white paper titled "Respecting and Protecting the Rights of All Ethnic Groups in Xinjiang" which stated that the government had upheld a "people-centred approach to human rights protection".

US President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, had both publicly decried China's persecution of the Uyghurs, with the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 passed during Trump's administration.

Malaysia had, in September 2020, reiterated its stand to not extradite any Uyghur refugees, even at China's request, citing Putrajaya's non-interference policy in the internal affairs of another country.

Earlier this year, World Uyghur Congress executive committee chairperson Omer Kanat visited Malaysia to build solidarity among Muslim nations for his cause.

China’s economic power a major factor

Abdulhakim’s spouse Rushan Abbas is also an Uyghur rights advocate and is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs.

Like her husband, she too has family members who have gone silent and are presumed to be detained by China’s Communist government.

“I was already losing my faith in the system and those countries that abstained or voted.

“Human rights are universal, and if the UN rights council cannot defend them, then who is going to do it?

“My disappointment is with Ukraine. The Russian invasion and many deaths that followed are clear examples of what human rights violations can happen when you follow the policy of appeasement of a dictator. How in the world can they abstain?” Rushan lamented.

Abdulhakim said that Indonesia’s “no” vote was another big disappointment.

“This is a regime that is suppressing faith, burning the Quran, sending believers to re-education camps and committing other human rights violations. How then can you still support this government?

“Maybe it is about keeping the balance between US and China, but actually there is a war going on that you cannot turn a blind eye to. This is hypocritical - why are you not talking about this?

“Even Xinjiang is a colonial name and an insult to our people,” he added.

Calls for the debate on the Xinjiang situation followed the release of the outgoing UN rights chief's report which alleged that "arbitrary and discriminatory detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the country's Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity.

According to Germany's Deutsche Welle, many states are unwilling to criticise China because of its economic clout and its position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

China had in 2018 requested Malaysia to extradite 11 Uyghurs arrested in the country after being released from a Thai jail.

The Pakatan Harapan government, however, did not yield to pressure, and it was eventually revealed they were deported to Turkey after being found by the courts to have done nothing wrong in Malaysia.

‘Powerful lobby, cyber troopers have an effect’

Abdulhakim claimed that the China of today is very adept at managing its image.

“You may ask how some people believe this China narrative even though there are reports of suppressed human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong, with the Uyghurs and post-Tiananmen Square. I think the change started with Deng Xiaoping’s reforms and after Tiananmen, the idea was to keep China low-key, but do big things.

“Now they are very nationalist to appeal to their people, both in the country and outside. They feed the population with communist and now even capitalist ideas. It’s because the government figured out how to use the Western countries' system to sell the propaganda, and internally they are very good at controlling the information flow.

“Here in Malaysia, they will find journalists to benefit from them and take them on managed tours that they can control.”

Abdulhakim said that Uyghur activists have to go up against an intimidating network of fake news and cyber troopers.

“There are limited possibilities, but we still want to reach out to people and remind them that democratic freedoms are at stake. We believe that they are using East Turkmenistan as a vast camp, its people are treated like lab rats,” he added.

Rushan said for her, this is a battle between good and evil.

“They always say this, wherever we go, that it is an internal issue. But this is genocide, slavery and forcibly sterilisation.

“When they choose to stay silent, they are giving up the future of this world,” added Rushan, who fled to the US after being involved in protests in the 1980s.

She believes that her sister was sentenced to 20 years in jail after she (Rushan) wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post attacking China for crimes in Xinjiang.

It was pointed to Rushan and Abdulhakim that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered by Saudi Arabian government agents for writing a similar opinion piece.

It is true, said Abdulhakim, that some of the Islamic governments they are appealing to for help are not squeaky clean.

“Yes, not every government has a clean human rights record. Human rights should never be disposable due to business interests. We care about the Uyghur issue, alongside all injustices. Right now, we have to accept and represent the rights of the people.

“The Belt and Road Initiative can be like an extension of colonialism, with 90 percent of the wealth being taken by the superpower,” he warned.

Malaysiakini has attempted to contact the Embassy of China for a response to the Uyghur claims.

Amanah leader: Malaysia's abstention on Uyghur vote 'shameful'

Malaysia abstains in UN vote on China's Muslim Uyghurs

Uyghur leader urges Japan to join call for UN debate on alleged abuses in China

China rights report prompts Western-led call for UN debate

Uyghurs in Turkey disappointed by UN report on China's Xinjiang

Outgoing UN rights chief: Serious human rights violations committed in Xinjiang