Abu Talib’s first challenge as new Suhakam Chairman is to conduct full public inquiry into increasingly grave  violations of the constitutionally-entrenched human   right  to freedom of speech,  expression and the press illustrated by press blackout of critical responses to his appointment

(Petaling Jaya,  Wednesday): Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman’s first challenge as the new Suhakam Chairman is to conduct a full public  inquiry into the increasingly grave violations of the constitutionally-entrenched human right to freedom of speech,  expression and the press best illustrated by the press blackout of critical responses to his appointment in the mainstream print and electronic media in the last two days.  

Such an inquiry is particularly imperative for at least four  reasons:  

• Suhakam has specifically identified infringement or violation of the “right to freedom of speech and expression” as one of the ten areas which it is empowered to conduct inquiries under its “Suhakam Complaints Procedure”.  

• violations of the freedom of speech and expression have worsened since the 1999 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Speech finding that freedom of opinion was curtailed systematically in the country and during the entire two years of the first Suhakam appointments, with recent examples the mainstream media blackout or distortions of the 11-day hunger strike of the six ISA reformasi activists, Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor, Hishamuddin Rais, Chua Tian Chang, Saari Sungib, Badrulamin Bahron and Lokman Noor Adam and the four-day censorship last week imposed on all local media from reporting on the MCA power struggle issued  by the Prime Minister’s Department.  

• Corporate takeover  of another two national dailies, the Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press, by the MCA, drastically reducing the constricted space of press freedom in the country.  
• to give meaning to the 2002 World Press Freedom Day on May 3, which had been proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the fundamental principles of press freedom and as  an occasion to inform the public of violations of the right to freedom of expression. 

If critical responses and comments not about the Prime Minister or Cabinet Ministers but about  Abu Talib’s appointment as Suhakam Chairman are also deemed “unacceptable” or  “impermissible” and have to be blacked out in the mainstream electronic and Bahasa Malaysia/English print media, it must be a wake-up call to all Malaysians about the parlous state of freedom of speech, expression and the press in the country – and in particular, to Suhakam, which is entrusted and mandated by Parliament in the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999 to “protect and promote” human rights in Malaysia.  

I hope Abu Talib can agree that the state of the right to freedom of speech, expression and the press, which had unfortunately been ignored or overlooked by the first Suhakam in the past two years, warrants urgent and immediate attention and action to turn the tide of erosion and to build ramparts to strengthen free and responsible press institutions in the country. 

Although I have expressed great reservations about the suitability of Abu Talib’s appointment as the new Suhakam Chairman in my media statement yesterday, because of his antecedents particularly when he served as Attorney-General from 1980 – 1983 when he was responsible in helping in putting in the statute books some of the most draconian laws not only in the nation’s history but in the world, such as ousting judicial review in ISA detentions in 1988, I have nothing personal against the new Suhakam Chairman.  

It is only right and proper that Abu Talib should be fully aware of these grave reservations on his taking up his appointment as the second Suhakam Chairman. Similarly,  it is only right and proper that having been conferred  the royal appointment, Abu Talib should be given the time and opportunity to prove these grave reservations wrong  by demonstrating that he could be a good Suhakam Chairman – although he would not have a lot of time, as human rights in Malaysia is facing an acute crisis in the wake of the 911 exploitation by the government to justify a whole spectrum of  unprecedented violations of fundamental liberties.  

In this connection, I call on Abu Talib to set an example of openness, accountability and transparency by publicly  declaring his business and corporate interests, as he is on the board of over half a dozen companies, to ensure that there could be no conflict of interest in the discharge of his duties as Suhakam Chairman as his corporate interests.

(24/4/2002)