KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 — Law and Institutional Reform Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman today said that she will be proposing amendments to the Human Rights Commision of Malaysia (Suhakam) Act 1999 to the Cabinet to empower it to take action.
Speaking at the Human Rights Day Forum 2022, she said that there is a need to strengthen the commission so its reports and recommendations can be acted on.
“There is no point in calling ourselves Suhakam if you don't have teeth to bite,” she said to loud applause at the event held in the Royale Chulan Hotel here.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department added that she will wait for Suhakam to present its suggestions to her before she prepares a paper to the Cabinet for approval.
She said that one amendment proposal that she has in mind involves extending protection for whistleblowers under the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, so that witnesses providing statements in Suhakam hearings are also protected.
“This unity government will commit to acting upon recommendations rendered by Suhakam.
“Suhakam ought to report all its findings directly to Parliament to be debated,” she said.
Azalina also said that a further review would be conducted on funding arrangements so that Suhakam’s independence can be preserved.
“Being a former deputy Speaker of Parliament, I do notice that if your funding is not really independent. There will be a lot of possibilities of not being independent,” she said.
On Saturday, Free Malaysia Today quoted Suhakam chairman Datuk Rahmat Mohamad as saying that there needed to be political will to give the commission more power to protect and promote human rights in the country.
One of his hopes, he added, was that Suhakam would be given the power to conduct unannounced visits to detention centres and prisons.
