KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The RM12 million that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) gets annually from the government should provide it with the resources needed to fulfil its role, minister in charge of human rights Datuk Paul Low has said.

Beyond Suhakam’s financial muscle, Low also said the rights commission has adequate powers under the Suhakam Act, the law it was formed under.

“Suhakam is funded with a budget of over RM12 million annually. The government believes that this should provide sufficient capacity and teeth for Suhakam to not just criticise, but to engage and collaborate with government agencies to protect human rights in Malaysia,” Low told Malay Mail Online in a recent email response issued by his office.

Last week, the rights watchdog repeated its request for Putrajaya to roll out new legal changes to give it more authority and help boost its chances at retaining its Grade A status, warning that Malaysia would otherwise suffer international embarrassment.

In December 2013, Suhakam submitted nine proposed changes to the Suhakam Act to Putrajaya through Low, with the latter confirming to Malay Mail Online that his office had reviewed and accepted most of the recommendations.

“Perhaps they were not tabled at the last sitting of Parliament due to the large number of bills which took priority,” Suhakam said.

“We hope that it will be passed sometime this year.”

New laws and legal amendments would usually fall under the responsibilities of the current de facto law minister Nancy Shukri. Malay Mail Online is awaiting a response from her office.

But Low’s office also noted that most of Suhakam’s proposed amendments are “structural” in nature and have been agreed to, noting that the existing Suhakam Act already provides the commission “wide powers to ultimately advise and work as a stakeholder to see real gains in human rights in Malaysia”.

Low said Putrajaya would like Suhakam officers to play a greater role as specialists on issues and to work together with government agencies to promote and uphold human rights.

“Human rights is a wide and complex area in itself and as the government does not know everything, Suhakam is there to help support with its specialised capacities,” he said.

Among the nine recommendations made by Suhakam was for its annual report to be debated in Parliament, instead of merely being tabled as required under the current law.

In response, Low said Putrajaya “has not in any way prevented issues relating to human rights to be debated”, adding that it is up to Parliament to decide if it wants to debate Suhakam’s annual report.

Suhakam said that it had proposed an interim measure through the setting up of a Parliamentary committee on human rights, but noted that it had yet to be formed despite the idea being floated since Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz’s term as minister in charge of human rights.

Expressing Putrajaya’s support for greater dialogue on human rights in Parliament, Low’s office said it had discussed the matter with Suhakam’s commissioners and secretary, describing the proposed parliamentary select committee as a “possibility that can be considered”.

“In fact we have urged them to discuss with YB Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs — with whom they may consider establishing it as an ad hoc committee or a caucus,” he said.

On top of that, Low suggested that Suhakam proactively engage lawmakers from both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara to facilitate interest and promote familiarity with human rights issues.

“However, what most interests the government is the realisation of benefit to the people,” he said, noting that Putrajaya’s Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) conducts an inter-agency feedback process and compiles detailed responses to Suhakam’s annual report.

The report on feedback from government agencies is first brought to the attention of Cabinet before being passed to Suhakam, Low said.

Low pointed out various examples of the government’s engagement with Suhakam, including invitations for the commission’s secretary to weekly post-Cabinet meetings where it can raise human rights issues directly with a minister.

Low also said his office had convened meetings for Suhakam with the Foreign Affairs Ministry to discuss the accession to international human rights conventions. Suhakam had said Malaysia is a “laggard” as it had only acceded to three out of nine treaties.

Among other examples, Low’s office said it was also agreed in face-to-face meetings between the Home Minister and Suhakam that the latter would be allowed to conduct spot checks on immigration detention centres, but said it was unaware if the commission had followed up on this. One of Suhakam’s proposed amendments is to be empowered to conduct visits unannounced.