(Petaling Jaya, Sunday): The
new Suhakam Chairman, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, who advised the government to make Malaysia’s
Official Secrets Act the most draconian in the civilized world by
providing for a mandatory
one-year jail sentence for any conviction however petty the offence, should
explain whether he had imported the cult of secrecy into Suhakam making the
second Suhakam more opaque and secretive
and less accountable and
transparent than its predecessor.
This is because there had been no news
about Suhakam’s decisions and plans of action after its first meeting on
Friday, apart from Abu Talib’s personal views and sentiments – very unlike
the inaugural meeting of the first Suhakam under the chairmanship of Tan Sri
Musa Hitam on April 24, 2000 which was followed by the
public announcement on the very same day that Suhakam had appointed four
working groups to be responsible for Suhakam’s tasks and responsibilities and
the Commissioners assigned to each group.
The four working groups in the first
Suhakam were:
(i)
Education Working Group
Professor Chiam Heng Keng (Chairperson)
Tan Sri Simon Sipaun
Datuk Lee Lam Thye
Professor Mohd Hamdan Adnan
(ii)
Law Reform Working Group
Puan Mehrun Siraj (Chairperson)
Datuk K. Pathmanaban
Cik Zainah Anwar
(iii)
Treaties and International Instruments Working Group
Datuk Mahadev Shankar (Chairperson)
Datuk Dr. Salleh Mohd. Nor
Dr. Mohammad Hirman Ritom
(iv)
Complaints and Inquiries Working Group
Tan Sri Harun Mahmud Hashim (Chairperson)
Tan Sri Datuk Anuar Zainal Abidin (Deputy Chairperson)
Datuk Mahadev Shankar
Datuk Dr. Salleh Mohd Nor
Professor Mohd Hamdan Adnan
Puan Mehrun Siraj
Dr. Mohamad Hirman Ritom
The least the new Suhakam should have
done after its first meeting on Friday was
to inform the Malaysian public of the new composition of the Suhakam
working groups, bearing in mind the crisis of confidence afflicting Suhakam
as a resdult of the axing of
the most industrious, conscientious and committed Commissioners, in particular
Anuar, Mehrun and Salleh which have also done
havoc to the functioning and efficacy of the
working groups.
The Suhakam Complaints and Inquiries
Working Group, which was the target
of the rage and greatest denigration by the government particularly because of
its public inquiry and report on the Kesas Highway Incident on police abuses of
power and human rights violations, has now been virtually crippled with the
dropping from the new Suhakam of its three most active and committed members –
Anuar, Mehrun and Salleh. Harun,
though appointed as Chairperson of the Working Group at the inaugural meeting of
Suhakam on April 24, 2000, was not involved in any of the Suhakam inquiries
after he assumed the position of Suhakam Deputy Chairman.
Who are now on the Suhakam Complaints
and Inquiries Working Group? Will
Hamdan be appointed its Chairperson to provide for continuity, especially as it
has a mountain-load of outstanding complaints about human rights abuses and
violations?
Will the dropping of Anuar, Mehrun and
Salleh because of their commitment and conscientious discharge of their
statutory role to “protect” human rights be a warning
to the present batch of Suhakam Commissioners not to emulate their
examples?
To a great extent, the answers to these
questions would be important criteria in determining whether Suhakam is going to degenerate
into a weak and compliant instrument of the government
or whether it will mature into a robust and dynamic protector of human
rights as mandated by the Suhakam Act – unbeholden to the government.
The leadership and
composition of the Law Reform Working Group is another matter of grave
concern, as it is now left with only Zainah Anwar with the removal of Mehrun as
Chairperson. Can the government
trust Zainah to take over the chair of this important Working Group, which has
announced comprehensive plans to review the repressive laws in the country such
as the Internal Security Act, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Presses and
Publications Act, the Universities and University Colleges Act and the Police
Act?
Abu Talib should announce all the new membership of the Suhakam working groups and submit t them to public judgement.
(28/4/2002)