The Malaysian prime minister’s major announcement that the
government would abolish the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other repressive
laws should be achieved promptly and without passing new legislation in their
place, Human Rights Watch said today.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak promised in a September 15,
2011 speech to revoke the ISA – for half a century the target of international
condemnation – and three emergency laws. But subsequent government statements
indicated that the law would remain in effect for months and that new
preventive detention laws would be enacted.
“Actions speak louder than words for Malaysian activists,
opposition politicians, and others who suffered long-term detention without
trial under the infamous ISA,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at
Human Rights Watch. “The government should immediately revoke the abusive laws
and release or fairly prosecute those being held in preventive detention.”
Cosmetic
Prime Minister Najib’s speech and subsequent statements by
members of his Cabinet raises concerns that the proposed changes may have
little impact on government practice, Human Rights Watch said. Najib said that
to prevent “subversive activities, organized terrorism and crime to maintain
peace and public order” the government would enact two new laws under Article 149
of the Malaysian Constitution. Article 149 permits passage of laws with overly
broad and vague security provisions that could be used to detain people without
charge and deny basic freedoms.
Real human rights reform in Malaysia requires more than
abolishing the ISA, Human Rights Watch said. Although the government has
promised to amend licensing requirements in the Printing Presses and
Publications Act, long used to stifle freedom of expression, and to review
overly restrictive public assembly provisions in the Police Act, neither
proposal goes far enough.
Najib has already indicated that while attention will be paid
to freedom of assembly it will be restricted by “a principle that is strongly
against street demonstration.” Proposed reform of the Printing Presses and
Publications Act would end annual renewal requirements but still leave the home
minister with unrestricted power to decide what can or cannot be published.
Both of these rights-abusing laws should be abolished or significantly revised.
The senior minister in charge of legal affairs, Nazri Aziz,
this week announced that detention without trial would continue under two new
counterterrorism laws even after the repeal of the ISA and other laws, but that
the detention periods would be shorter.
Discrepancies
and absence of timeframe
No schedule for action to rescind the ISA and emergency
regulations has been set but Nazri Aziz told the media that action might have
to wait for the March 2012 legislative session. The Malaysian government should
not delay and should set a clear timetable to implement these reforms and take
a series of interim steps to demonstrate progress toward their achievement,
Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch urged the Malaysian government to
demonstrate its intent to end unlawful detention, initially by publicly
releasing information on all those detained under the ISA and the Emergency
Ordinance, and ensuring immediate access to detainees by legal counsel and
family members. The government should immediately release such detainees or
charge them with a genuine criminal offense.
Revocation of the three remaining state of emergency
proclamations, which Najib also announced on September 15, should be either
proposed immediately by the government to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (king) for
revocation or considered at the October 2011 session of parliament. The
government should not pass separate legislation retaining the ill-trained
Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia (RELA) corps, which has been implicated in many
abuses.
The government should also ensure that reform of the Printing
Presses and Publications Act ends the substantive restrictions on free
expression rights rather than just addressing procedural matters such as
license renewal dates. It should revoke actions under the act to ban books and
to prevent online news portals, like Malaysiakini.com, from issuing print
editions.
Many
more abusive laws
Police Act reforms should guarantee the right to peaceful
public assembly in line with international human rights standards and end
restrictive and often discriminatory police permit procedures. The Malaysian
government should also broaden its legislative review to include other archaic
laws regularly used to violate rights, such as the Sedition Act, the Societies
Act, and the Official Secrets Act.
The government should rescind its ban on the Coalition for
Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) under the Societies Act and immediately drop
charges against the more than 1,700 people arrested during Bersih’s peaceful
protest on July 9. The decision of “discharge not amounting to an acquittal” of
charges against 30 Parti Socialist Malaysia (PSM) activists on September 19
should be amended to be a full acquittal.
“More than a single speech will be needed to convince
Malaysians and concerned governments that substantial improvements in freedom
of expression and assembly are imminent in Malaysia,” Robertson said. “Taking
action on specific cases now is the best way to convince the world that the
Malaysian government is really changing its approach.”
Casino Classic
Source : HRW
No comments:
Post a Comment