Human rights violated

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) is regarded as the authority when it comes to the universal standard of civil and political rights in the world.

The substantive rights protected in it are found in Part III (Articles 6 – 27) of the Covenant.

In the past few weeks, Malaysia has violated almost all the rights contained in the ICCPR. Quite an achievement?

Article 6

1. Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

There were many death threats made against the leaders of Bersih, especially against Ambiga. Perkasa has clearly insinuated that non-Malays will be killed when he made reference to the May 13 incident.

Yet no action seems to be taken to protect the right to life. Najib even endorse the silat group who threatened to wage war against Bersih – war meaning to go and kill.

Yesterday, an individual was reported to have died while trying to run away from the police shooting tear gas in his direction.

Article 7

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The detainees under the Emergency Ordinance have given evidence of how they have been tortured and treated inhumanely while in custody.

Article 9

1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.

Clear example will be again those held under the EO. And the many others arrested today.

Article 10

1. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.

See Article 7 above.

Article 12

1. Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.

91 people including the leaders of Bersih have had this freedom restricted.

Article 13

An alien lawfully in the territory of a State Party to the present Covenant may be expelled therefrom only in pursuance of a decision reached in accordance with law and shall, except where compelling reasons of national security otherwise require, be allowed to submit the reasons against his expulsion and to have his case reviewed by, and be represented for the purpose before, the competent authority or a person or persons especially designated by the competent authority.

This needs to be verified but I heard that a foreigner has been deported due to allegations of his/her involvement in funding Bersih.

Article 14

1. All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.

See Article 9 above – detained without a hearing.

Article 15

1 . No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.

The government has outlawed the wearing of certain t-shirts!!! How can it be a criminal offence?

Article 16

Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

This is basically the right to a legal personality – which involves the right to the protection of the law and be equally protected everywhere by law and in practice. See Articles 6, 7, 9, 10, 14 above.

Article 17

1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.

See Articles 6, 7, 9, 10 above.

Article 18

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

Bersih has been outlawed.

Article 19

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

See Article 18 above.

Article 20

1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

Propaganda for war by the silat groups against Bersih has been endorsed and supported by our PM directly and/or indirectly.

Article 21

The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

The Bersih rally had not been allowed – in fact, the police had threatened Bersih not to go on with their rally.

Article 22

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Bersih is considered an illegal organisation.

Article 23

1. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

The right to family life of those detained (mentioned above) has not been protected.

Article 24

1. Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.

The rights of the children of those detained have not been protected.

Article 25

Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions:
(a) To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
(b) To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;

This is the whole purpose of Bersih! But they are not allowed to exist.

Article 26

All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

People are discriminated because they agree with the objectives championed by Bersih.

Article 27

In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language

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Ambiga has been labelled as “anti-Islam” allegedly due to the views she held about the Lina Joy’s case and other things she did when she was the President of the Bar Council.

Rights not mentioned:-

Article 8 which talks about slavery

Article 11 which talks about imprisonment for failure to fulfil a contractual obligation

Not bad - almost a clean sweep! No wonder Malaysia has continued to resist ratifying the ICCPR!

Malaysia boleh!

Bullet

PJ Utara MP, Tony Pua received a death threat recently:-

Pics taken from The Malay Mail online

"Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said police believed the threat could be over Pua's statement calling for the abolishment of the bumiputra discount for houses costing more than RM500,000 and commercial property costing more than RM2mil" (taken from The Star newspaper - read the report here).

If the police are right, then it is really sad. Such discounts are clearly acts of discrimination - some may say racism as it (arguably) considers people of a race more superior.

In our country, when someone speaks out against discrimination, they get a death threat.

Maybe i may get one too...

Malaysia boleh!

Don't talk about it

This is the way how our government works! When an issue arises, don't talk about it. If people want to talk about it, make them stop.

Blogger blogs against the Government and politicians. He is detained indefinitely without trial (see here).

Newspaper reports on racist politicians, corrupt practices etc. They receive a show cause letter from the government (see here).

Reported does her job (bravely) by reporting an incident where racist and seditious words were made in public by a politician. She is detained indefinitely without trial (see here).

Members of the cabinet disagrees on the timeline set by the PM to step down. PM tells them to stop talking about it (see here).

Malaysia boleh!

Emergency

Stae of Emergency has been declared in Thailand. This happened after

"...street fighting overnight between opponents and supporters of the government
left one man dead and dozens of people injured. The violence heightened a
national crisis brought on when anti-government protesters occupied the prime
minister’s office compound Aug 26 and vowed to hold it until Samak (the PM)
stepped down"

Read the report here.

So what does it mean? According to the news report linked earlier, it means this:-

• Bans gatherings of more than five people in Bangkok.
• Bars the media from disseminating any news that "causes panic, instigates
  violence or affects stability.''
• Allows security officials to close or block roads or deny citizens the right
  to use vehicles.
• Allows security forces to evacuate or close buildings and other areas as
  they see fit for maintaining public order.
• Under the constitution, emergency rule also allows security officials to
  hold suspects without charge for up to 30 days if they get permission from a
  court.

Hey, wait a minute? Doesn't this sound familiar? Isn't this happenning in our country now?

The Police Act 1967, section 27 provides that it is an illegal gathering in Malaysia if it consists of 3 (not 5) people or more.

Our media is not allowed to disseminate news that "causes panic, instigates violence or affects stability." Newspapers had been shutdown in the past because of this and a local blog was even blocked recently!

Roads had been closed and blocked in recent times to disallow members of the public to join peaceful demonstrations.

Buildings were evacuated - the forum in Bar Council had to be ended abruptly and those attending had to be evacuated (see post before this).

Hold suspects without charging them for up to 30 days with permission from the court? In our country, people can be held up to 2 years WITHOUT permission from the court!!!!

Are we under a state of emergency? Is there violence that threatens the safety of the country? Are we facing a national crisis?

No? But it appears like we are! At least the state of emergency in Thailand is supposed to be temporal. In our country, it is the status quo.

Proud to be a Malaysian?

Malaysia boleh!

Sensitive

I was shocked and unhappy when i read the article yesterday regarding the Bar Council's forum pertaining to conversion to Islam. The Deputy PM was against the idea of the forum to be held openly!!! What was worse was the Umno Youth exco member Datuk Pirdaus Ismail who was quoted saying:-

“Don’t play with fire! Don’t ever touch on religious and racial sentiments. Whatever the excuses given, the forum still provokes Malay sentiments and creates uneasiness and public disorder, particularly among the Malays.”

Read the article here.

My first response to the said politicians was that it was an insult to the Malay people and the people of Islam faith. Surely they are not so sensitive! Surely they are mature enough to handle it. Surely they are not so insecure!

Well, apparently, i was wrong! They are! Well, some of them, anyway. I'm referring to the group of people who gathered purportedly in the name of Islam and resorted to violence and vulgarity to disrupt the forum. Read about it here.

Let's put things into perspective - the forum was regarding conversion to Islam. It is IMHO of benefit to the Islam faith too. The Islam faith had been getting a lot of bad press in recent times when people who did not fully understand the implications of conversion, converted to Islam and then tried to convert out of it. By having a forum like this, people will be able to make an educated choice when converting to Islam and not change their minds easily later - and no more bad press to the Islam faith.

Instead, the Bar Council is accused of threatening and challenging Islam (see pic). What a bunch of morons - those who protested today.



Furthermore, this is another attack on freedom of expression - can't we not have open discussions freely and in a mature manner? Must we always bow to the whims and sensitivities of one race in this land? Unless the exceptions to this human right are fulfilled, then the forum should be allowed to go on.

Of course people are free to demonstrate - that is another form of freedom of expression. But to threaten violence? No, of course not!

Oh, those protesters who were allegedly defending the Islam faith? Well, these people did so with obscenities and vulgar words. Read the above mentioned news report. Now, does Islam teach its followers that?

But they won in the end. The cops - instead of dispersing the protesters with tear gas and water cannons (like they do to the opposition protesters in the past) - told the Bar Council to end the forum early.

Malaysia boleh!