KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Malaysia must try its best to adhere to global human rights standards as it is its “moral obligation” to do so as a member of the United Nations, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said today.
Despite that, the independent oversight body said it is disheartened by the public’s poor perception of human rights here, with many mistakenly thinking that they are just values imposed by the Western world against Malaysia.
“The principles are universal. As a member of the UN, it’s a requirement upon membership of UN to adhere to the charter of the UN,” Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam told a press conference.
“It has been adopted by many countries including Muslim countries as well. It’s incumbent upon us as a member of UN to try to live up to expectations of the community. It’s a moral obligation as far as the UN charter is concerned.”
Hasmy admitted that Western nations have been more active in advocating human rights, but said it was partly due to their experience in the past two World Wars.
“We shouldn’t just reject all these things. It may well be perceived as alien, imposition, but are they? The attempt to just dismiss them as Western or foreign imposition I think is not fair,” Hasmy added.
Suhakam has been pushing for its annual human rights report submitted to the Parliament to also be debated by MPs.
According to Hasmy, the debates will be a way for the public to be more informed on human rights issues.
Suhakam vice-chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee reminded Malaysians that the list of human rights are wide, and also includes the rights to health, education, life, work, vote, participate in government.
“Are all these issues to be considered by cultural context? Are they not rights that all human beings are entitled to? … I know there’s been a lot of derailment in colouring human rights as representing some aspects only,” she said.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that while his administration would uphold basic human rights in Malaysia, it will only do so within the context of the Islamic teachings of balance and wasatiyyah (moderation).
Najib also pointed out that Muslim Malaysia cannot defend the more “extreme” aspect of human rights, citing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual rights as example.
Since 1995, Malaysia has ratified only three UN conventions of human rights: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
