KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — The Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR Process (Comango) has downplayed any friction with its Islamist counterpart, the Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (Macsa) ahead of the United Nations review tonight.

Following years of smear campaigns against Comango and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Comango said both coalitions have submitted their reports for the fourth process in recognising the universality of human rights.

"They have not condemned us, unlike previously,” said Pusat Komas programme director Ryan Chua, who is also leading Comango’s secretariat alongside Suara Rakyat Malaysia’s (Suaram) Jernell Tan Chia Ee, told Malay Mail in a recent media briefing.

Held every four and a half years, the UPR is a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) mechanism that was established in 2007 to improve the treatment of human rights in all 193 UN member states.

The process involves a three-hour interactive dialogue, where UNHRC members will question Malaysia based on reports prepared by the government, UN agencies, and the stakeholders’ report ― which summarises the reports of NGOs both national and international.

For this cycle, the UPR will scrutinise 29 reports from stakeholders which include the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), civil societies, and coalitions such Comango and Macsa.

The peace between the two divides of civil societies over the issue of human rights this year is a stark contrast to the previous cycles in 2013 and 2018.

During the second cycle in 2013, Macsa's predecessor MuslimUPRo had accused Comango of being an illegitimate and foreign-funded organisation which it claimed disrespected the position of Islam as the religion of the federation and attempted to portray Malaysia as secular.

Spearheaded by the controversial Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), a campaign called "Sejuta Ummah Tolak Comango” (Community of a million rejecting Comango) was launched which included the distribution of leaflets at mosques after Friday prayers slamming Comango for allegedly calling for the freedom to renounce Islam; the protection of LGBT rights; the removal of Malay privileges; the freedom to embrace Shiah teachings; and the right for Catholics to refer to God as "Allah”, among others.

This pressure led to the Home Ministry declaring Comango "illegal” — alleging that Comango was promoting sexual rights contrary to Islam and that only 15 out of its 54 groups were legally registered.

In 2018, Comango released a report detailing how human rights defenders had been attacked by state-sanctioned and private groups under the previous government — singling out MuslimUPRo. The report was panned by Macsa which denied any link with the Barisan Nasional administration.

The main schism between the two lobby groups lies in Macsa's then stance that Malaysia’s human rights policies must also uphold the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, of which Malaysia is a signatory.

Prior to 2018's UPR, then foreign affairs minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said that the gap and differences between the two coalitions are minor, giving the example of recognition of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community after Macsa said it supports Putrajaya’s effort to ensure the rights of LGBT persons to religious guidance and praised efforts to help the community "to return to the right path”.