KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Former Umno minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said today called for the annual reports of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to be debated in Parliament.
The Pengerang MP said there was no point in Malaysia sitting on the United Nations Human Rights Council and champion the issues internationally when lawmakers at home could not even discuss the issues that affect their own people.
“There is no use for us to be involved in human rights issues if it’s so difficult for us to even debate the Suhakam annual report,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat while debating the royal address.
“No point for us to be seen as champions of human rights issues internationally if we forget to talk or protect our own human rights issues here,” she added.
She reached out to the Opposition MPs as she expressed her wish for the Suhakam reports to be tabled in Parliament annually for discussions.
Malaysia was elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2022-2024 term last October.
The last time the Suhakam annual report was tabled in Parliament was on November 4, 2019 but was not debated.
According to Kota Baru MP Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, Section 21 of the Suhakam Act (Act 597) stipulates that its annual report must be presented to Parliament, but there is no provision for the Dewan Rakyat to debate it.
Takiyuddin who was at the time the de facto law minister said on December 1, 2020 that in order to debate the 2019 Suhakam report, it had to be submitted through a motion by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in accordance with Meeting Rules 27 (3) of the Dewan Rakyat. He added that there was not enough time then to debate the report.
However, the 2018 Suhakam report was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on April 11, 2019 and debated on December 5, 2019.
