Suhakam must campaign for its rights
Steven GanPublished: Sep 9, 2009 8:38 AM | Updated: Sep 9, 2009 2:16 PM
COMMENT The following is an extract of a speech given today at Suhakam’s conference on ‘Human Rights in Malaysia: The last 10 years’.
I was reluctant to speak at this event. Reluctant, because I was afraid I would say the same thing after all these years. Reluctant, because I cannot claim to speak on behalf of human rights groups in this country. Reluctant, because I knew I would be harsh on Suhakam.
COMMENT The following is an abstract of a speech given today at Suhakam’s conference on ‘Human Rights in Malaysia: The last 10 years’.
I was reluctant to speak at this event. Reluctant, because I was afraid I would say the same thing after all these years. Reluctant, because I cannot claim to speak on behalf of human rights groups in this country. Reluctant, because I knew I would be harsh on Suhakam.
But the organisers were insistent. Perhaps it was because I've been a witness to Suhakam's growth. After all, Suhakam and Malaysiakini are born in the same year.
The Suhakam Act was passed 10 years ago today, while Malaysiakini went ‘live’ two months after - Nov 20, 1999. We were the first media organisation to do an extensive interview with Suhakam's first chairperson Musa Hitam (right).
Since then, Malaysiakini has provided Suhakam so much coverage that we have become, more or less, its official media. Indeed, we have been fellow-travellers, and what a journey it has been these past 10 years.
Long struggle for press freedom
Months before Suhakam and Malaysiakini came into existence, print journalists had handed a petition to the then home minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling for press freedom.
They mooted a self-regulatory regime - an independent press council - if at least the licensing clause of the Printing Presses and Publications Act was repealed.
In response, the government moved ahead with the council proposal, but not the demand for repeal.
To this, we strongly object - a press council cannot operate in an environment where restrictive press laws remain. We do not want yet another layer of control over the media.
Since then, journalists have followed up on their petition with memorandum after memorandum to Suhakam, often around May 3 - World Press Freedom Day. Only last month, a media watchdog made yet another plea to Suhakam.
It has been 10 years - our message remains the same. It is essential for Suhakam to promote freedom of expression as the central element in our push towards an information society.
What has Suhakam accomplished?
I was asked some years ago at a forum to spell out what the commission has accomplished on press freedom since its inception.
My answer: three things - nothing, nothing and nothing. Before, you lynch me, the emphasis here is on ‘accomplish’, not ‘has done’.
Yes, Suhakam has done quite a bit on press freedom. It organised a workshop in 2002 and following that made a number of recommendations to the government.
As expected, the government failed to accede to such requests. But that's not new. Time and again, Suhakam's recommendations have been ignored.
That, I believe, is Suhakam's greatest failure. Suhakam cannot remain silent when its recommendations are treated with contempt by the government. More so, when Parliament refuses to even discuss its annual report.
Clearly, Suhakam is being used by the government like a trophy wife - nice to bring along to dinner parties just to prove critics wrong about its lack of respect for human rights, but at all other times, is kept under lock and key.
Stake in press freedom
I have said this often enough: press freedom is like toothpaste - once it is out, it's difficult to put it back into the tube.
Our job as journalists is to squeeze a blob of press freedom out from the tube. Suhakam's job is to lend us a hand. And the government's job is not stand in our way.
Press freedom is as much a lifeblood to journalists as it is to Suhakam.
Suhakam, too, has a stake in press freedom. Without it, the commission will find itself shut out when dealing with a hostile government that has the media under its thumb.
I have mostly restricted my speech on the issue of press freedom because it's an issue with which I'm familiar. But the same can be said about the lack of progress made in many other areas of human rights.
In particular, rights involving the truly vulnerable groups - indigenous peoples, squatters, detainees and foreign workers. It's not surprising that detainees continue to die in custody and Malaysia is blacklisted as a country involved in human trafficking. And all this has taken place under Suhakam's watch.
For a full account on how Suhakam has failed, you can refer to the press statement of the 42 NGOs which have boycotted this conference. They are more eloquent than I am on that score.
An excuse, not a reason
If there is one recommendation that I can give Suhakam, it is this - it needs to campaign for its own rights.
More than 10 years ago, journalists were lamenting the state of the media and blaming the laws which have muzzled them. My answer to that was “that’s an excuse, not a reason”.
Suhakam cannot continue to claim that its hands are tied, that it is not empowered to do more, and that its role is merely to advise, not to admonish. These are excuses, not reasons.
In fighting for its rights, Suhakam must do it collectively - all 16 commissioners, with one voice. Don’t let one or two commissioners do all the talking because eventually the government will single them out - look at what happened to Anuar Zainal Abidin (left), Hamdan Adnan and Mehrun Siraj, whose tenure was not extended.
Suhakam must speak up as one. Here, I’m not talking about 1Malaysia, but 1Suhakam. And if the government decides to sack all of the commissioners, then Suhakam would have indeed achieved something.
Until Suhakam can gain its rights to carry out its mission, it cannot hope to do a proper job in advancing human rights in Malaysia. And hopefully, I won't need to recycle this speech in 10 years' time.
STEVEN GAN is editor-in-chief of Malaysiakini.
I was reluctant to speak at this event. Reluctant, because I was afraid I would say the same thing after all these years. Reluctant, because I cannot claim to speak on behalf of human rights groups in this country. Reluctant, because I knew I would be harsh on Suhakam.
But the organisers were insistent. Perhaps it was because I've been a witness to Suhakam's growth. After all, Suhakam and Malaysiakini are born in the same year.The Suhakam Act was passed 10 years ago today, while Malaysiakini went ‘live’ two months after - Nov 20, 1999. We were the first media organisation to do an extensive interview with Suhakam's first chairperson Musa Hitam (right).
Since then, Malaysiakini has provided Suhakam so much coverage that we have become, more or less, its official media. Indeed, we have been fellow-travellers, and what a journey it has been these past 10 years.
Long struggle for press freedom
Months before Suhakam and Malaysiakini came into existence, print journalists had handed a petition to the then home minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling for press freedom.
They mooted a self-regulatory regime - an independent press council - if at least the licensing clause of the Printing Presses and Publications Act was repealed.
In response, the government moved ahead with the council proposal, but not the demand for repeal.
To this, we strongly object - a press council cannot operate in an environment where restrictive press laws remain. We do not want yet another layer of control over the media.
Since then, journalists have followed up on their petition with memorandum after memorandum to Suhakam, often around May 3 - World Press Freedom Day. Only last month, a media watchdog made yet another plea to Suhakam.It has been 10 years - our message remains the same. It is essential for Suhakam to promote freedom of expression as the central element in our push towards an information society.
What has Suhakam accomplished?
I was asked some years ago at a forum to spell out what the commission has accomplished on press freedom since its inception.
My answer: three things - nothing, nothing and nothing. Before, you lynch me, the emphasis here is on ‘accomplish’, not ‘has done’.
Yes, Suhakam has done quite a bit on press freedom. It organised a workshop in 2002 and following that made a number of recommendations to the government.
As expected, the government failed to accede to such requests. But that's not new. Time and again, Suhakam's recommendations have been ignored.
That, I believe, is Suhakam's greatest failure. Suhakam cannot remain silent when its recommendations are treated with contempt by the government. More so, when Parliament refuses to even discuss its annual report.
Clearly, Suhakam is being used by the government like a trophy wife - nice to bring along to dinner parties just to prove critics wrong about its lack of respect for human rights, but at all other times, is kept under lock and key.
Stake in press freedom
I have said this often enough: press freedom is like toothpaste - once it is out, it's difficult to put it back into the tube.
Our job as journalists is to squeeze a blob of press freedom out from the tube. Suhakam's job is to lend us a hand. And the government's job is not stand in our way.
Press freedom is as much a lifeblood to journalists as it is to Suhakam. Suhakam, too, has a stake in press freedom. Without it, the commission will find itself shut out when dealing with a hostile government that has the media under its thumb.
I have mostly restricted my speech on the issue of press freedom because it's an issue with which I'm familiar. But the same can be said about the lack of progress made in many other areas of human rights.
In particular, rights involving the truly vulnerable groups - indigenous peoples, squatters, detainees and foreign workers. It's not surprising that detainees continue to die in custody and Malaysia is blacklisted as a country involved in human trafficking. And all this has taken place under Suhakam's watch.
For a full account on how Suhakam has failed, you can refer to the press statement of the 42 NGOs which have boycotted this conference. They are more eloquent than I am on that score.
An excuse, not a reason
If there is one recommendation that I can give Suhakam, it is this - it needs to campaign for its own rights.
More than 10 years ago, journalists were lamenting the state of the media and blaming the laws which have muzzled them. My answer to that was “that’s an excuse, not a reason”.
Suhakam cannot continue to claim that its hands are tied, that it is not empowered to do more, and that its role is merely to advise, not to admonish. These are excuses, not reasons.
In fighting for its rights, Suhakam must do it collectively - all 16 commissioners, with one voice. Don’t let one or two commissioners do all the talking because eventually the government will single them out - look at what happened to Anuar Zainal Abidin (left), Hamdan Adnan and Mehrun Siraj, whose tenure was not extended.Suhakam must speak up as one. Here, I’m not talking about 1Malaysia, but 1Suhakam. And if the government decides to sack all of the commissioners, then Suhakam would have indeed achieved something.
Until Suhakam can gain its rights to carry out its mission, it cannot hope to do a proper job in advancing human rights in Malaysia. And hopefully, I won't need to recycle this speech in 10 years' time.
STEVEN GAN is editor-in-chief of Malaysiakini.
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