SUHAKAM FEELS IGNORED BY PARLIAMENT

This report is obtained from NSTonline. It highlights the apathy of Malaysian Parliament pertaining to issues of human rights, police brutality and violation of justice.

Suhakam vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun (left) lamenting the fact that 11 annual reports submitted to parliament have never been debated by MPs. Seated next to him is Suhakam commissioner Datuk Dr Michael Yeoh Onn Kheng.

KOTA KINABALU: Is the Human Rights Commission relevant to Malaysians?

This may have been uppermost in the minds of participants at a dialogue yesterday in the wake of a discouraging evaluation of its effectiveness by a senior official.

Vice-chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said none of the 11 annual reports submitted by Suhakam to parliament had been debated.

He said only a handful of complaints had been amicably resolved "with response from the authorities being very discouraging".

In 2006, Suhakam received 723 complaints, of which 501 were from Sabah, 124 were from Peninsular Malaysia and the remainder from Sarawak.
In Sabah and Sarawak, most of the cases involved land disputes. In the peninsula, they were mostly related to the police.

Last year, Suhakam received 301 complaints in Sabah.

Sipaun said it was a pity that the annual reports had not been debated in parliament as they contained, among others, Suhakam's recommendations on human rights issues and violations.

"I expect members of parliament to persistently remind the government to act on Suhakam's recommendations," he said, hoping that a national human rights action plan would be implemented in future.

The government had previously turned down the idea insisting that the Federal Constitution was adequate.

Sipaun said that while Suhakam did not have enforcement powers, this was not unusual as most human rights institutions worldwide were in similar circumstances.

"However, their recommendations are highly regarded by the judiciary and they command a lot of respect and influence."

He said the commission was pushing for recommendations to the government and judiciary to be taken seriously.

"It is very difficult, but we are hoping that through our connections and commissioners who are former judges we will be able to get the authorities to be more receptive to our recommendations."

Also present were Suhakam commissioners Dr Chiam Heng Keng, Datuk Choo Siew Kioh, Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, Datuk Dr Michael Yeoh Onn Kheng and Datuk Khalid Ibrahim.