Eight amendments to the Human Rights Commission of  Malaysia Bill to ensure that the Commission is independent, effective and credible and not an alibi institution to legitimise violations of human rights

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  

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The amendments to the Bill include:
 

•  to expand the definition of "human rights" in the Bill to embrace  not only  fundamental liberties as guaranteed in Part II of the Federal Constitution but also human rights embodied in the International Covenants, Conventions and Treaties to which Malaysia is a party.
• to provide statutory authority to the Commission to protect and promote human rights by taking into regard the  Univeral Declaration of Human Rights 1948 as well as fundamental liberties embodied in the International Covenants, Conventions and Treaties to which Malaysia is a party.
• to provide for the appointment of up to 12 and not 20 Commissioners as proposed by the Bill.
• to spell out the criteria for the appointment of Human Rights Commissioners to ensure that they be appointed from amongst prominent personalities including those from various religious and racial backgrounds as well as persons "of proven integrity and competence and have been involved in human rights protection and promotion activities and must not have been candidates for any elective position in the immediately preceding elections".
• to provide for a five-year tenure in the  appointment Human Rights Commissioners instead of the proposed two-year period to provide for greater security of tenure which is conducive to greater independence and therefore credibility of the Commission.
• to provide that the Commission will not be precluded from inquiring into any complaint of infringement of human rights where it is only incidentally or collaterally part of a cause of action in any court of law or where the decision of any court affecting the complaint  is based not on the merits but on procedural or technical grounds.
• to provide for greater accountability and transparency of the Commission by requiring it to immediately inform the complainant of its findings.

In moving the Bill in Parliament on Thursday, the Foreign Minister, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar said that the government had been guided by the Paris Principles in the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission.

One of the fundamental tenets  of the Paris Principles for the establishment of national human rights institutions is the full involvement of the civil society in the formulation of the necessary legislation for the Commission as well as in its operations.

As the proposed amendments reflect the representations which have been made  by the civil society in Malaysia through many NGOs as to how to make the Human Rights Commission independent, credible and effective, I hope the Foreign Minister will be open-minded enough to accept these amendments to the Bill on Monday.

The refusal of the government to accept constructive amendments to the Bill which can only enhance public confidence in the independence and credibility of the Commission can only reinforce public reservations that there is simply no political culture or will  in Malaysia which could allow a Commission of Human Rights to operate effectively and meaningfully.

(17/7/99)