KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8 — Malay Mail Online assistant news editor Boo Su-Lyn was today recognised for “extraordinary reporting on human rights issues” by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
She received the prize at the commission’s 2016 Human Rights Awards at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations that was also attended by Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Datuk Paul Low.
In her acceptance speech, Boo urged Malaysians to vigorously defend their rights and encourage others to follow suit.
“When the powers that be push us, we do not give up, we push back harder and we continue to fight for rights until we break the wheel of tyranny,” she said.
Throughout her six years in the industry, Boo has written numerous articles on human rights, freedom of religion, rights of children, child marriage and freedom of assembly, among others.
The Star’s senior writer Stephen Then won the award for the print media category.
Others who also received the award from Suhakam were free medical care provider Teddy Mobile Clinic founder Dr S. Madhusudhan for the individual category, Malaysia Handicraft Development Corporation for the government agency category, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad for the business entity category and The Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (Cetdem) for the civil society organisation category.
Low, when delivering his speech, conceded that more can be done to improve the freedom of expression in the country.
“We need to see where to put boundaries in areas involving enforcement agencies but this will take some time,” he said.
Low assured that the government would engage with Suhakam in more meetings to speed up the process of doing so.
