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Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2009 - Malaysia

Political context

The key political event of 2008 in Malaysia was the 12th General Election, which took place on March 8, 2008. This election saw the ruling National Front coalition (Barisan Nasional – BN) win, but experience its worst performance in Malaysian electoral history, failing for only the second time since independence in 1957 to obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament, required to pass amendments to the Malaysian Constitution. The opposition coalition, "Pakatan Pakyat", won 82 of the 222 seats in Parliament and took control of five of the thirteen State Governments. The election results sent a clear message to the ruling coalition that the electorate wished to see change, reform and greater respect for human rights.

Following the elections, the ruling coalition experienced a leadership crisis, with criticisms of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi coming from both within and outside the coalition. This crisis was compounded by the landslide victory of Mr. Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat – PKR) in the Permatang Pauh by-election in August 2008. Mr. Anwar brought further pressure to bear by announcing his intention to lure Members of Parliament into the opposition to form a new government. However, Mr. Anwar's political future was called into question when sodomy charges were brought against him, widely believed to be politically motivated and aimed at preventing him from leading a new government.

Despite calls for change, the political crisis led to an increased and arbitrary use by the Government of restrictive laws – including the Emergency Ordinance 1969, the Sedition Act 1948, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Police Act 1967 – to silence the opposition as well as any critics. The law most frequently used or threatened to be used against human rights defenders as well as political opponents continued to be the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960, which permits indefinite detention without charge or trial.¹ Whilst demands for the review or abolition of the ISA had been made in the past by civil society and opposition parties, 2008 was notable for the criticisms of the ISA that came from within the ruling coalition. In September 2008, Mr. Zaid Ibrahim, the Cabinet Minister responsible for legal affairs, resigned from his position because of the Government's use of the ISA to detain a Member of Parliament,² a blogger and a journalist on September 12, 2008. The following month, a number of major coalition parties called for the ISA to be reviewed. As of the end of 2008, however, no steps had been taken in response to these demands.

2008 was also a year of escalating religious tensions. After suffering heavy losses in the General Election, the ruling coalition, which has traditionally drawn support from all three major ethnic groups in Malaysia, increasingly used religion as a pretext to repress or attack defenders and political opponents, given the emotive nature of this issue.

Gagging the media and other restrictions on freedom of expression

2008 was a dark year for the media and freedom of expression. Journalists and bloggers critical of the ruling coalition and seeking to expose wrongdoings were the victims of arrest and detention under national security laws. For example, on May 6, 2008, Mr. Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a blogger well-known for exposing scandals, in particular corruption, on his website Malaysia Today, was charged with "sedition" for his on-line article about the murder of a Mongolian national, Ms. Atlantuya Shaariibuu. Posted on April 25, 2008, the article intimated that the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Najib Razak, and his wife, Ms. Rosmah Mansor, had been involved in the murder of Ms. Atlantuya in October 2006. Mr. Raja Petra Kamaruddin was arrested and charged with "criminal defamation" under the Criminal Code on July 17, 2008 after he made a statutory declaration containing these allegations against Ms. Rosmah Mansor. Malaysia Today was then blocked on the instructions of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in August 2008, reportedly due to some comments on the website being "insensitive" and "bordering on incitement". The website ban was lifted on September 11, 2008 but, the following day, Mr. Raja Petra Kamaruddin was again arrested; this time under the ISA. He was alleged to have posted articles that were deemed seditious and insulting to Islam, although it is believed that religion, in this case, was simply used as an emotive pretext to silence his criticisms of the Government. He was released on November 7, 2008 after a successful habeas corpus application.³

Organs of the media also suffered from Government repression. Under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, the Government has the discretion to grant and revoke a newspaper's publishing licence without independent review. In 2008, it continued to exercise this power arbitrarily. For example, on April 16, 2008, the Tamil-language newspaper Makkal Osai, which had given broad coverage to the demonstration organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) in November 2007 to demand equality and fair treatment for and protest the marginalisation of Indian Malaysians, was initially refused a publication permit, before being later granted a permit on April 24, 2008.

Freedoms of assembly and association under severe restrictions⁴

Although freedom of assembly is already seriously curtailed as a result of the authorities' reliance on the Police Act 1967 – which renders it compulsory to obtain a licence for any public assembly, meeting or procession – developments in 2008 caused further concern. On July 3, 2008, it was reported that Inspector-General of Police had referred to the possibility of military involvement in police operations to maintain peace and order during public demonstrations, and that the police and armed forces had been carrying out joint security exercises. This was three days before a mass demonstration was due to be held against the fuel price increase. 2008 also revealed an increasing trend of the police obtaining court orders prohibiting specified individuals from accessing areas near the venues of planned assemblies. For example, in January 2008, five organisers of a demonstration against the rise in the fuel price were served with court orders barring them from being in the vicinity of the planned demonstration in Kuala Lumpur city centre. During the demonstration, police arrested 35 protesters, including the five who were charged with violating the court order. This marked the start of a year of severe restrictions on protests, public assemblies and demonstrations, with arrests and detentions being the usual response to those attempting to exercise their right to freedoms of assembly and association.

Moreover, the five HINDRAF leaders, Messrs. P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasanthakumar, detained since December 13, 2007 for organising the mass demonstration on November 25, 2007 to demand equality and fair treatment for and protest the marginalisation of Indian Malaysians, remained detained in poor conditions in Kamunting prison as of the end of 2008. Further, on October 15, 2008, the Government banned HINDRAF.

On November 9, 2008, an assembly held to commemorate the anniversary of the rally organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH) was broken up by the police, who arrested 23 of the protesters. Reportedly, the police punched and assaulted some of the protesters, causing at least one injury. Further, the Police Chief of the State of Selangor likened participants of public assemblies to criminals. Later that month, on November 23, 2008, seven individuals were arrested during an anti-ISA demonstration organised by the Abolish ISA Movement (Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA – GMI). Two additional supporters were arrested when they visited the seven who were being detained at the police station.

Significantly, the Government's harsh repression of freedoms of assembly and association did not extend to demonstrations and rallies in support of the Government or against the opposition. For example, on the same day the anti-ISA demonstration was put down, another rally in support of the use of the ISA was permitted.

Rise in religious tensions put defenders of religious freedom at risk

Those working on religious conflict issues were frequently impeded from carrying out their work. For example, in August 2008, a mob, led by members of the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the opposition PKR and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia – PAS) and several other Malay and Islamic-based NGOs, forcibly dispersed a forum organised by the Bar Council to discuss the conflict of law facing those caught between the separate jurisdictions of civil and Syariah laws. In November 2008, the Inspector-General of the Police, Mr. Musa Hassan, issued a warning to non-Muslim NGOs not to interfere in matters involving Syariah laws or Muslim affairs or to risk serious action by the police. This was after various NGOs had criticised and demonstrated against the National Fatwa Council's fatwa on "tomboys"⁵ in October 2008. Their protests were considered as a threat to national security.⁶

Urgent Interventions issued by The Observatory in 2008⁷

Names of human rights defenders	Violations	Intervention Reference	Date of Issuance
Mr. Kelesau Naan	Enforced disappearance / Death	Urgent Appeal MYS 001/0108/OBS 001	January 9, 2008
Messrs. P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan and T. Vasanthakumar	Arbitrary detention / Health deterioration	Press Release	January 31, 2008
		Urgent Appeal MYS 002/0408/OBS 061	April 22, 2008
		Press Release / International Judicial Observation Mission Report	May 28, 2008
Ms. Irene Fernandez	Acquittal	Press Release	November 24, 2008

1 As of December 5, 2008, ten arrests had been made under the ISA throughout the year and 46 people continued to be held in detention under the ISA. See Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Malaysia Civil and Political Rights Report 2008: Overview, December 2008.

2 Opposition MP Ms. Teresa Kok was detained from September 12 to 19, 2008 for allegedly inciting racial and religious tension. She was held in solitary confinement without a trial and was allowed only a short visit from her lawyer.

3 See SUARAM, Malaysia Civil and Political Rights Report 2008: Overview, December 2008.

4 See SUARAM.

5 "Tomboy" behaviour covers dressing like men and homosexual relationships between women.

6 See SUARAM.

7 See the Compilation of cases in the CD-Rom attached to this report.

Topics: Human rights activists,