Former Malaysian Human Rights Commission member Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan said it was disrespectful for complainants to dismiss a Suhakam commissioner from receiving a complaint.

He said such an act was disrespectful to Suhakam, as it was the commission which appoints specific commissioners to handle complaints.

"Whenever a complaint is made, it is made to the commission, not individual commissioners," said Hamdan, who was at one time one of Suhakam's most recognisable faces.

(Photo: Hamdan and Siva at a Suhakam meeting in the past)

Hamdan said this when asked for his reaction to Group of Concerned Citizen's refusal to submit their complaint to commissioner N Siva Subramaniam yesterday.

Siva and Prof Khoo Kay Kim were both assigned to receive the complaint, but Khoo was left alone when Siva quietly bowed to pressure and walked out of the meeting room where the complaint was lodged.

Hamdan said Siva had been "very kind" to make himself available to receive the complaint and that the complainants was not in a position to be choosy.

"It makes the NGO looks very unreasonable and intolerant," he added.

'Not polite'

Similarly, senior Suhakam commissioner Simon Sipaun told Malaysiakini that GCC did not achieve anything by urging Siva to discharge himself from receiving the complaint.

"The way I see it they (complainants) are visitors to Suhakam. To tell your host to leave, it's not very polite," he said.

Sipaun said the complainant seemed unaware that Siva and Khoo's role that day was merely to receive the complaint and hold a dialogue, if necessary, with those present.

He explained that complaints are weighted by a working group for further action and, if warranted, would at a later stage be discussed at a full Suhakam commission meeting.

He said therefore, Siva's presence yesterday would not affect the collective decision made by Suhakam on a complaint.

Siva, a veteran trade unionist, told Malaysiakini yesterday that he excused himself from the meeting room yesterday in the interest of "democracy" and that he was "not hurt" by the incident.

Yesterday, the GCC submitted a complaint alleging human rights violations had occured on Nov 25 when police dispersed a crowd at Batu Caves, Selayang.

GCC claimed that Siva was 'unfit' to receive the complaint because they disagreed with the latter's comments regarding the police conduct during the Nov 10 published Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) rally, that were published in a newspaper.