Archive for category Human Rights
Bersih rally goes on, says Ambiga, PAS
Posted by Kit in Elections, Human Rights on Sunday, 12 June 2011
By Boo Su-Lyn
June 12, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and PAS leaders have dismissed opposition towards next month’s Bersih rally and maintained plans to proceed with it.
Umno daily Utusan Malaysia today urged Malaysians to boycott the protest and quoted Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein’s warning that “it will be chaotic when those for and against the street demonstration clash.”
“Opposition is normal. It is a democratic country,” Ambiga told The Malaysian Insider today.
“My own reading is that a lot of people are very supportive of the demands we are making. There’s unhappiness…like example in the Sarawak (election), unhappiness about corruption, (and) unhappiness about the independence of our institutions,” added the election watchdog chief. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang: Cops, MACC must answer RPK claims about dead Customs man
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, Teoh Beng Hock on Thursday, 9 June 2011
By Yow Hong Chieh
June 09, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Both the police and the national anti-graft agency must respond to claims by blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin that police found no proof of unusual wealth in the assets of deceased Customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed, Lim Kit Siang said today.
The DAP parliamentary leader said the authorities should not wait for an inquest or a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to confirm or deny the allegations, especially as this was the second mysterious death under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) watch.
Raja Petra, in a post on his Malaysia Today website yesterday, claimed the police had conducted a thorough check on Sarbaini’s assets and found no unusual or extraordinary wealth. Read the rest of this entry »
Reveal police probe into Sarbaini’s death at MACC before any inquest is decided upon
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, Teoh Beng Hock on Thursday, 9 June 2011
The Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar should accede to the most reasonable request of Sarbaini’s family that police reveal its probe into the senior custom officer Ahmad Sarbaini’s death at MACC premises at Jalan Cochrane on April 6 before any inquest is decided upon.
In this connection, both the police and the MACC owe the Sarbaini family and the Malaysian public a response and explanation on the revelation by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that the police had conducted a thorough check on Ahmad Sarbaini’s assets and found no “unusual or extraordinary” wealth.
Raja Petra blogged: “He (Ahmad Sarbaini) had only three modest cars — a Perodua Kancil, a second-hand Honda CRV and a Proton Persona — and a Modenas Kriss bike, which he rode to the MACC office on that unfortunate morning of 6th April, the day of his death. Read the rest of this entry »
Civil disobedience, race barriers and the Bersih rally
Posted by Kit in Election, Human Rights on Wednesday, 8 June 2011
By Keruah Usit
Jun 8, 11 | MalaysiaKini
COMMENT A writer friend of mine in Kuala Lumpur is a firm supporter of the upcoming Walk for Democracy rally on July 9, despite having been arrested during a candlelight vigil against the Internal Security Act (ISA) last August.
Bersih, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, announced on its website that “Bersih 2.0 has been actively advocating electoral reform but our demands have fallen on deaf ears.
The time has come for those mandated to administer the nation to ‘listen to the voices of the rakyat’. There is a clamour worldwide for greater democratisation of societies and we would invite those in power to heed those voices”.
This Bersih rally is a sequel to the first in 2007, involving some 40,000 Malaysians, with a cameo involving riot police, copious tear gas and water cannon. The first rally captured the voters’ imagination and contributed to the startling general election results the following year. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang: Have full-blown RCI into Sarbani’s death
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, Teoh Beng Hock on Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Jun 7, 11 | MalaysiaKini
DAP stalwart and Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang has called on the prime minister and cabinet to override the police and attorney-general’s (AG) call for an inquest into senior customs officer Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed’s death, and replace it with a full-blown royal commission of inquiry (RCI).
Lim (left) said such a move will restore public confidence in national institutions and also in the prime minister and cabinet.
“I have no qualms in admitting that I have reservations about the Teoh Beng Hock RCI, particularly over the conduct and strategy adopted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and its counsel Muhammad Shafie Abdullah who could make the outrageous suggestion that Teoh had committed ‘honour suicide’, but Malaysians are currently being deprived of a more satisfactory option to get to the bottom of Ahmad Sarbani’s death,” he said in a statement. Read the rest of this entry »
Sarbaini RCI will renew faith in institutions, says Kit Siang
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, Teoh Beng Hock on Tuesday, 7 June 2011
By Yow Hong Chieh
June 07, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — A royal commission of inquiry (RCI) looking into Customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad’s death would restore public confidence in the country’s institutions, Lim Kit Siang has said.
The DAP parliamentary leader said Cabinet should be prepared to override the Attorney-General (A-G) and the police tomorrow as an RCI, like the one established for Teoh Beng Hock, was the only way to determine the cause of Sarbaini’s death.
“The Cabinet’s immediate task is to act boldly and justly into the death of Sarbani. Let the Najib and his Cabinet Ministers not disappoint Malaysians once again tomorrow,” he said in a statement today. Read the rest of this entry »
Cabinet should override Police and Attorney-General to establish RCI into Sarbani’s death to restore public confidence not only in national institutions but also Prime Minister and Cabinet
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, Teoh Beng Hock on Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Cabinet tomorrow should override Police and Attorney-General to establish RCI into Sarbani’s death as in case of Teoh Beng Hock to restore public confidence not only in national institutions but also Prime Minister and Cabinet
The Cabinet tomorrow should override Police and Attorney-General to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into senior Customs officer Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed’s death as in the case of Teoh Beng Hock to restore public confidence not only in national institutions but also Prime Minister and Cabinet.
I have no qualms in admitting that I have reservations about the Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Inquiry, particularly over the conduct and strategy adopted by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and its counsel Shafie who could make the outrageous suggestion of Teoh Beng Hock’s committing “honour suicide”, but Malaysians are currently deprived of a more satisfactory option to get to the bottom of Sarbani’s death. Read the rest of this entry »
There should be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Sarbaini’s death at MACC
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, Teoh Beng Hock on Friday, 3 June 2011
The authorities concerned should learn from the unsatisfactory outcome in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest and have a Royal Commission of Inquiry straightaway into senior Customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamad’s death – second fatal fall-from-height incident at MACC premises in the short history of MACC.
The conduct of the MACC, the police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Cabinet have been most unsatisfactory to date – taking two long months for the police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers to recommend that an inquest be held.
Clearly, the inquest proposal is strongly opposed by the MACC, which had right from the beginning disclaimed any responsibility for Sarbaini’s death – just as it had disclaimed responsibility for Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death falling from 14th floor of MACC hqrs at Shah Alam on July 16, 2009 – even suggesting that Sarbaini had committed suicide, just like in Teoh Beng Hock’s case: that Beng Hock committed suicide, or “honour suicide” and even making the outrageous suggestion that DAP had murdered Beng Hock at the MACC hqrs! Read the rest of this entry »
Top UN official says ‘Malaysia solution’ illegal
Posted by Kit in Foreign, Human Rights on Tuesday, 24 May 2011
The Malaysian Insider | May 24, 2011
SYDNEY, May 24 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has slammed the Australian government’s asylum seeker deal with Malaysia as illegal, the Australian Associated Press reported today.
Navi Pillay, who is scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Canberra today, reportedly told a forum in Sydney that asylum seekers are not adequately protected in Malaysia.
Read the rest of this entry »
Freedom of speech for all?
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Media, Religion on Sunday, 22 May 2011
Sharmini Darshni
May 22, 2011
MAY 22 — I should not have done it. Should have left it alone. Should have continued my hiatus from the humdrum of life. Should have continued to embrace the peace that comes from purposeful ignorance.
But no, just knowing there was a single computer with Internet access, I gave in to the temptation and checked the e-mails — and unfortunately — read the news.
Regrets! I said goodbye to the zen stupor I had been in for five days as I read the latest buzzword in Malaysian politics: Crusade. Read the rest of this entry »
Finding the nation’s voice
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Media on Thursday, 19 May 2011
Christopher Chong
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2011
MAY 19 — Everyone knows that a democracy is a political system where periodical elections take place. But democracy is much more than just elections. It involves the existence of a space which allows for people to freely debate on public issues and government policies as well as presenting alternative ideas without the fear of repercussion. Indeed, the health of a democratic society is dependent on the existence of such a space.
This space — which could take various forms, i.e. physical, print, broadcast or virtual — also known as the public sphere enables people to freely gather to discuss and identify societal or political problems so that such discussions will lead to political action for the good of society.
Tahrir Square in Eygpt is a good example of how the public sphere was utilised by ordinary Egyptians who want to see political and social changes in their society. Through the mass protests throughout the country where Tahrir Square served as a focal point for hundreds of thousands of people gathered together to demand a change of the government, which had overstayed its welcome. Their efforts were crowned with the government bowing to the wishes of the people. Read the rest of this entry »
Family wants independent inquiry into teen’s fatal shooting
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Police on Sunday, 15 May 2011
By Clara Chooi
May 15, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
PETALING JAYA, May 15 — The family of Johari Abu Bakar have demanded an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 17-year-old’s shooting, accusing the police today of giving inconsistent accounts of the incident.
The family will also file a court petition tomorrow, seeking for a second post-mortem on the school dropout, due to “suspicious” signs of assault found on the boy’s body, including a broken right arm.
Johari, an odd-job worker, was killed in a shootout with the police behind a budget hotel at the Cyber Valley Commercial Centre, Dengkil, at about 10.30pm on Friday.
According to a media statement by Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah following the incident, the suspect had been in his “20s” and was believed to have been hiding in the hotel after stealing a Toyota Alphard multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) near Taman Megah, Kelana Jaya, on May 10. Read the rest of this entry »
Australia must call off asylum seeker “outsourcing” deal with Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Foreign, Human Rights on Monday, 9 May 2011
Statement by Lawyers for Liberty
May 9, 2011
On 7.5.2011, Australia and Malaysia announced a bilateral agreement which sought to transfer up to 800 asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia by sea to Malaysia while their asylum claims are being processed by the UNHCR. In return, Australia will resettle 4,000 refugees currently residing in Malaysia over a period of four years.
While Australia’s agreement to accept more refugees for resettlement is commendable, Lawyers for Liberty is however extremely shocked and concerned with Australia’s plan to forcefully deport asylum seekers and “outsource” its international obligation to protect refugees as defined under international law including the 1951 Refugee Convention which Australia is a party to.
Let there be no doubt: Malaysia has a horrendous track record – infamous for its ill and brutal treatment of refugees and other undocumented migrants and has been consistently ranked as one of the world’s worst place for refugees to be in.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sarbaini’s kin not satisfied, wants police to reveal the truth
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Crime, Human Rights on Friday, 22 April 2011
By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani
April 22, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — The family of dead Customs official Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed are dissatisfied with police investigations and claim his death is being covered up.
They also want to know the “real story” behind his death plunge at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office here on April 6 — the second such case in an anti-graft office.
“We know that the late Ahmad Sarbaini fell from a high place but what caused him to fall? What caused his death?” asked a family member who declined to be named.
“Because from what I understand is that if someone falls from the third floor then the person will only suffer from broken bones but will not die from it,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Police said yesterday that the Selangor Customs assistant director died from head injuries due to the fall at the MACC building in Cheras.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah told reporters that it was now up to the Attorney-General to decide on the next course of action.
But the family said the police details were sketchy. Read the rest of this entry »
“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely” – Taib gives another illustration with entry ban of Bersih2 Chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Elections, Human Rights, Najib Razak, Sarawak on Friday, 15 April 2011
“Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.” Sarawak’s 30-year Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud has this morning given another illustration to prove the truism of this famous aphorism by British historian Lord Acton.
Bersih2 Chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan was barred from entering Sarawak when she flew into Kuching from Subang in Firefly flight at 9 am and was forcibly repatriated to Kuala Lumpur by 10.40 am MAS flight as she is on Taib’s blacklist.
What has Taib to fear from Ambiga and Bersih2 when all she and Bersih2 wanted was to monitor the 10th Sarawak state general elections to ensure that the polls tomorrow are fair, free and clean.
Is Taib preparing for the dirtiest Sarawak state general elections tomorrow so that it will be the most fraudulent in the nation’s history to allow Taib to subvert, impede and defeat the greatest political awakening of Sarawakians of all ethnic groups since the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and in their demand for change? Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia broke human rights pledges, says watchdog report
Posted by Kit in Human Rights on Tuesday, 15 March 2011
By Shannon Teoh | TMI
KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — Malaysia failed to live up to the human rights standards it had committed to in 2006 in its pre-election pledge to the United Nations Human Rights Council (Council), a Commonwealth human rights watchdog said yesterday.
A report by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) that corresponds to the first two years after the March 2008 election said that Malaysia made little progress to advance human rights domestically, allegedly using “draconian legislation” to stifle dissent instead.
“While Malaysia claimed in its pledge that it had succeeded in achieving a balance between human rights and security requirements, the continued use of draconian colonial-era security legislation suggests otherwise,” said the CHRI.
“Malaysia made specific commitments to advance the rights of vulnerable groups, including refugees and asylum seekers. The findings of the report indicate, however, that little substantive progress was made on this pledge.
Read the rest of this entry »
Call for action plan by ASEAN MPs to secure ratification of Rome Statute by majority of ASEAN nations on 10th anniversary of ICC on July 2, 2012
Posted by Kit in Foreign, Human Rights, Parliament on Thursday, 10 March 2011
It is said “All Roads Lead to Rome”. In the past two days, the road from Rome leads to Kuala Lumpur and I want to add to the voices of welcome expressed yesterday by the hosts to the distinguished foreign guests and participants to this consultation, and hope that you are fully enjoying the Malaysian hospitality imbibing the Malaysian sights, sounds and smells!
This however had been a long road from Rome to Kuala Lumpur – not only in distance but in time.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted on 17th July 1998 at a conference attended by 160 states, 33 international organisations and a total of 236 NGOs – with 120 votes cast in favour, only seven against, with 21 abstentions.
In order to enter into force, the Rome Statute had to be ratified by 60 states. This target was achieved in a relatively short period of some three years between the first ratification (Senegal, 2nd February 1999) and the last (Cambodia, Mongolia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Niger, Jordan and Slovakia on 11th April 2002).
When the world’s first permanent criminal court started work in The Hague on 1st July 2002 with authority over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the number of countries which had ratified the Rome Statute had reached 74.
On that historic day for human rigthts, international justice and the rule of law, I had issued a statement calling on the Malaysian government to ratify the Rome Statute and like-minded Malaysians have been working on this cause until we are here today some nine years later for the present consultation. Read the rest of this entry »
People’s Call for Regime Change – Part 1
Posted by Kit in Egypt, Human Rights, NH Chan on Friday, 18 February 2011
By NH Chan
17 February, 2011
(The People’s Judge reflects on the turmoil in the Middle East – a people’s revolution inspired by the power of the new media on the internet such as Facebook and Twitter – and the lessons for us in Malaysia. He ends with a personal note of his own political awakening, and a call to action for all of us who care for this country.- loyarburok.com)
The uprising in Egypt, the uprising in Tunisia,the uprising in Yemen and even in Jordan there are rumblings in the kingdom. The message is clear. The people do not want their dictators.
And what is the difference between kings, dictators and oligarchs? They are all totalitarian regimes – this means a system of government consisting of only one leader or party and having complete power and control over the people.
But the people do not want that kind of government; they want democracy – this word means a form of government in which the people have a say in who should hold power; they do not want despotism. And this wish of the people could only mean that they want a government of the people, by the people and for the people which is what a true democracy actually is.
In other words, they do not want repressive rule in any shape or form. They want human rights. They do not want draconian and oppressive laws.
In short, they do not want to live under a perennial state of emergency because all emergency laws are only excuses for tyranny. They also want freedom of speech and a free press. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia ranked ‘partly free’
Posted by Kit in Human Rights, Politics on Saturday, 15 January 2011
By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
January 15, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Malaysia was ranked ‘partly free’ in terms of political rights and civil liberties with Indonesia the only country in Southeast Asia to be ranked ‘free’ for 2010 in a report released by US-based freedom watchdog Freedom House yesterday.
On a scale of one to seven, with one being the best score, Malaysia obtained a four for both political rights and civil liberties while Indonesia managed a two and three respectively.
Malaysia edged out Singapore (5, 4) in the Freedom of the World 2011 assessment while Burma obtained the worst possible rating of seven for both categories which resulted in the tag of “Worst of the Worst.”
Other countries that scored two fours were Honduras and Nepal while Australia, Belgium, Germany, the US and UK were among those that obtained the best possible score of two ones. Read the rest of this entry »
FYT – a legend is born
Posted by Kit in DAP, Dr. Chen Man Hin, Human Rights on Monday, 10 January 2011
by Dr Chen Man Hin
DAP life advisor
At the memorial services in honour of the late FAN YEW TENG, hundreds of friends who had fought with him for human rights, democracy and justice gathered at the memorial services to pay tribute to a great Malaysian. FYT spent most of his life in the service of Malaysia and mankind.
As a teacher, he was editor of the publication of the teachers’ union and leading trade union leader and was instrumental in getting pay increases and equal pay without gender discrimination.
As a political leader, he was acting secretary general of the DAP and served as a Member of Parliament until he lost a sedition case after being charged for printing an article about the injustices of the day.
After politics he opted to struggle for human rights in the world arena. He was in the vanguard of world NGOs to campaign for freedom for Aung San Su Ki, the imprisoned leader of Myanmar, and other oppressed peoples. Read the rest of this entry »
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