Suhakam Shackled and Rendered Ineffective

What purpose does the Human Rights Commission Act serve? Is there a need for Suhakam?

It is a very refreshing experience for me to meet you once again, this time away from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That alone certainly gives the Commission a better image.

Since our last meeting, Suhakam has made certain pronouncements that have been received positively. Your publicly expressed views with regard to freedom of assembly, your role in conducting a public inquiry into the Kesas Highway incident pertaining to police brutality, your recommendations with regard to certain repressive laws and the need for Malaysia to ratify certain covenants are commendable.

But unfortunately, all these comendable initiatives have practically come to naught with the detention of ten citizens under the ISA last month.

This terrible episode has undone whatever good that was achieved by Suhakam over the last one year. Serious questions have been raised as to whether SUHAKAM can play a meaningful role when things come to a crunch.

Within the confines of these walls, I think, we can be frank and honest with one another. When I state my views in a forthright fashion, it does not mean that Aliran is dismissive of Suhakam. Far from it. We are only stating the facts as we see them.

The truth is, SUHAKAM has not come across as an institution that is fully committed to human rights, especially during these difficult times when ten Opposition leaders and activists have been incarcerated. This is a very grave concern to all those organisations and individuals who are involved in the struggle to protect and advance human rights in this country.

There are valid reasons for believing that SUHAKAM hasn’t been effective in the face of the gross violation of the rights of the ISA detainees.

For 35 days the police have defied an Act of Parliament. In the process of doing so, they have rendered the Malaysian Human Rights Commission not only helpless but regrettably useless, too.

Although SUHAKAM is empowered by Parliament to visit any place of detention, SUHAKAM has been either unable or reluctant to exercise this authority. This is disappointing.

It makes no sense to the public for the Chairman of the Human Rights Commission to claim that ‘the authorities had allowed Suhakam to meet the detainees even though it had to wait for the right time’. (The Sun May 8, 2001)

The Chairman is either misleading the public or deluding himself. The simple truth is that, at this point in time, Suhakam does not have the permission of the police to meet the detainees.

Suhakam has not been given the green light yet if by ‘green light’ one means the official permission to begin an action. In effect it means that SUHAKAM doesn’t have Police permission to function as SUHAKAM is required to function according to the National Human Rights Commission Act. It is also a fact that SUHAKAM finds itself in no position to state when the police will give the ‘go-ahead signal’.

In spite of being conferred the right to visit detainees by an act of Parliament, Suhakam has been shackled and rendered ineffective by the police. Sadly it is not even evident that Suhakam is fighting to claim its right.

It is disturbing that Suhakam has so meekly surrendered its right to visit detainees who have been arrested and incarcerated without trial, if SUHAKAM makes no attempt to exert itself when gross violations of human rights have been committed by the State.

What role can SUHAKAM expect to play in preserving and protecting human rights?
What influence can SUHAKAM possibly have?

When the police state that Suhakam can visit the detainees at the ‘appropriate time’, did Suhakam question the police as to when that appropriate time would be? Would it be a week, 10 days, 2 weeks, 3 weeks? Surely SUHAKAM can see that an unspecified ‘appropriate time’ can only become be an indefinite period of waiting.

Has Suhakam asked of the Police:

Why is it ‘not appropriate’ for SUHAKAM to make its visit at the present time?
How will SUHAKAM’S visit interfere with or disrupt the on-going police investigation?
What inference should SUHAKAM draw from the Police’s absurd delaying tactics?
Are the police afraid of SUHAKAM’S visit? Are they scared that the public’s worst fears will turn out to be nightmares for the families of the detainees?

Suhakam should walk that extra mile to convince the public that SUHAKAM is truly pro-human rights. The Commissioners of SUHAKAM should march to Bukit Aman and demand to visit the detainees. They should not tolerate this inordinate delay.

If Bukit Aman turns Suhakam Commissioners away, then Suhakam must turn to the courts, or find other ways to claim their right to visit the detainees.

For Aliran, but even more for the families of the detainees, it is important to verify without delay that the detainees are accorded the minimum comfort and decency that is due to a human being who has not been charged in Court. Let alone convicted in an open trial.

It is important to verify that the detainees have not been brutalised or tortured.
It is important to know that the detainees are not denied sleep or subjected to torturous interrogation and that they are provided with decent meals.

If Suhakam is not able to undertake this urgent task of verification, it is only a matter of time when the public will ask: What purpose does the human rights Commission Act serve?

Is there a need for SUHAKAM?

As we are all aware, the bottom line is, ‘rights’ become meaningless when they cannot be exercised or enforced.

Over this issue of SUHAKAM’s right to visit the detainees, it would seem that the ISA overrides the Human Rights Commission Act.

If this situation is allowed to persist, then it is not just legitimate Opposition politicians and concerned social activists who have become ISA victims, but SUHAKAM itself which is being lined by the Government to be ISA’S latest and biggest casualty.

And that, Mr Chairman, would be a great Malaysian tragedy.

by P Ramakrishnan
Aliran