[Suhakam nampaknya tidak begitu menyerlah. Ia kelihatan mahu bermain sembunyi-sembunyi sahaja. Sudah hampir setahun ia ditubuhkan, tetapi tidak ada apa yang dapat dikagumkan dengan penubuhannya itu. Ia bagai satu hiasan kemanusiaan yang terikat kaki dan tangan. Sepatutnya Suhakam lah yang tampil dengan segala bukti dan semua rakaman - barulah rakyat boleh menilai erti kemanusiaan. - Editor]

From Asia Times
15th January 2001

DIRE STRAITS

Rights at risk at massive Malaysian gathering

By Anil Netto

Malaysian rights groups, fearing repressive action against a potentially huge "reformasi" gathering planned for January 20, are hoping that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will reverse an earlier decision not to send human rights observers to monitor the event.

The gathering near Kuala Lumpur, dubbed the "100,000 Raya (Festival Day) gathering", is being organized by opposition party Keadilan (National Justice Party). A similar gathering last November drew tens of thousands of Malaysians from across the country and choked the Kesas Highway, a major artery leading out of Kuala Lumpur, and led to harsh police action against the peaceful crowd.

Organizers have planned the January 20 gathering on private property owned by a grandmother in a village about 4 kilometers from an exit off the same highway. They hope to draw 100,000 people to the gathering, making it one of the largest in recent times.

The event is meant to mark the festivals observed by various communities in Malaysia: Christmas, the end of Ramadan, the Indian Ponggal (harvest) festival, and the Chinese Lunar New Year. It also aims to forge greater multi-ethnic integration within the reformasi movement. Reformasi demonstrations in the past have tended to be dominated by the country's ethnic Malays, who make up more than half the population.

In a reply dated January 10, Suhakam thanked Keadilan for an invitation to attend the gathering, but said that "after evaluating the matter, regret to inform that Suhakam would not be able to accept the invitation".

Rights groups Suaram (the Voice of the Malaysian People) and Hakam (the Malaysian Human Rights Society) immediately criticized the decision while another group, Aliran, urged Suhakam to reconsider. Activists said Suhakam commissioners had a responsibility to the public to monitor any gathering and to uphold the freedom of peaceful assembly, a basic constitutional right.

Suhakam commissioner Anuar Zainal Abidin was later reported as saying that the commission would decide at its next meeting whether to reconsider the invitation. He added, however, that he was not sure when the next meeting would be held.

Malaysia has not yet ratified key human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (along with the Optional Protocol) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. As of March 1, 2000, 144 nations had ratified the former and 142 the latter.

Suhakam has been holding a public inquiry into human rights complaints after the last huge gathering on November 5, when police reacted strongly to what they said was an "illegal gathering" on the highway. Victims have testified before commissioners that they were assaulted by police. Others said they were sprayed with tear gas in a confined area, with at least one man temporarily losing his vision. One woman alleged that a female police officer forced her to strip in custody and do push-ups.

Photographers recording the scene reportedly had their film confiscated.

Rights activists argue that Suhakam commissioners could have deterred such incidents by their presence. They say that the commissioners could have witnessed any brutality first hand rather than now having to rely on testimony from witnesses, one of whom was Keadilan president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of ousted deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.

In an earlier gathering on August 8 last year, a large crowd gathered outside court to hear the verdict in Anwar's s###my trial. Suhakam chairman Musa Hitam, a former deputy premier, had reiterated the people's right to gather outside court. On the morning of the verdict, several Suhakam observers along with rights activists and volunteers from the Legal Aid center monitored the gathering. Under the glare of the international spotlight and the gaze of the observers, the gathering took place without any violence save for a couple of incidents.

This was in sharp contrast to "Black 14" the previous April, when many reformasi activists marking the first anniversary of Anwar's earlier conviction for abuse of power were arrested. Suhakam observers, appointed to the commission earlier that month, were conspicuously absent from the scene.

Suhakam also failed to send observers to the November 5 gathering along the Kesas Highway as conservative commissioners argued that it was an illegal gathering. With few independent observers present on the day, the police came down hard on the crowd even as they were ready to disperse. Opposition leaders, who had just finished delivering speeches, were themselves red-eyed from the effects of the tear gas and were forced to flee.

With Suhakam yet to make a final decision on the next gathering, the organizers are now asking rights groups Hakam, Suaram and Aliran to send observers to monitor the event. They are also urging writers, journalists, photographers and NGO activists to closely watch and identify whoever is responsible for any trouble that might emerge.

Suhakam's hesitation on sending observers is probably due to the prevailing view in official circles that such gatherings are illegal - that is, held without obtaining a police permit.

Observers feel that the commission can enhance its credibility if in the end it does decide to send commissioners to monitor the gathering. The commission is somewhat handicapped by a weak enabling Human Rights Commission Act, which gives the commission only powers to monitor, oversee and advise but not to penalize rights violators. But some critics argue that this handicap can be overcome if Suhakam commissioners assert their independence and act according to their conscience.

As Suhakam approaches the first anniversary of its formation in April, many Malaysians will be watching to see if it can overcome the perception in some circles that it was set up to co-opt the human rights agenda and deflect international criticism of the country's human rights record.

(Special to Asia Times Online)

http://www.atimes.com/se-asia/se-asia.html