Covering events from January-December 2001

Malaysia
Head of state: Raja Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (replaced Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah in December)
Head of government: Mahathir Mohamad
Capital: Kuala Lumpur
Population: 22.6 million
Official language: Bahasa Malaysia
Death penalty: retentionist

Opposition activists and suspected Islamic "extremists" were arrested and detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and were at risk of torture or ill-treatment. Peaceful demonstrations were dispersed with excessive force and protesters arrested, detained and ill-treated. Students and academics faced penalties for peaceful political activity. Politically motivated prosecutions were pursued against opposition figures. A number of judicial decisions and the activities of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia were perceived as bolstering respect for human rights principles.

Background

The ruling Barisan National (National Front) coalition continued to dominate the political scene and won 60 of 62 seats in the November state elections in Sarawak. Peaceful public assemblies and demonstrations were forcibly dispersed by police throughout the year. From April, after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad stated that the government would break from international human rights norms to preserve national stability, a series of opposition activists and suspected Islamic "extremists" were detained without trial under the ISA. A coalition of opposition parties and civil society groups formed to campaign against the detentions. Following the attacks in the USA on 11 September, the government justified past use of the ISA and announced it may amend it and other laws to combat "terrorism".

Detention without trial under the ISA

The ISA allows the detention without trial for up to two years, renewable indefinitely, of any person considered by the authorities to be a potential threat to national security or public order. ISA detainees reported that they were subjected to intimidation and intense psychological pressure, at times amounting to torture. In the initial period of police investigation, detainees were held in solitary confinement and denied access to lawyers, family members and independent doctors. Isolated and induced to fear for the well-being of their families, the detainees were threatened with indefinite detention unless they cooperated and "confessed".

  • Three members of the minority Shia Muslim community reportedly remained in detention during most of 2001. The reasons for their detention were not made public. They were among six members of the community who were arrested under the ISA from late 2000.
Keadilan activists and others

In April a human rights defender and nine political activists, mostly senior members of the opposition Parti Keadilan Nasional, National Justice Party, were arrested under the ISA and accused of planning to overthrow the government by "militant" means including violent demonstrations. No evidence to support these allegations was made public.

The detainees were prisoners of conscience. In June, four of them were released while six others, Tian Chua, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, Haji Saari Sungib, Badrul Amin Bahron, Lokman Nor Adam and Hishamuddin Rais, were served with two-year detention orders. Badrul Amin Bahron was released in November, but was rearrested in December and charged with breaking the terms of a restriction order barring him from political activity and severely limiting his freedom of movement and association.

PAS members and others accused of Islamic 'extremism'

In August, 10 men, including at least seven members of the main opposition party Parti Islam seMalaysia (PAS), Islamic Party of Malaysia, were arrested under the ISA and accused of links with a local Islamic "extremist" group, Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), Malaysia Mujahidin Group. Reported KMM members were alleged by the government to have received religious and military training in Afghanistan and to have planned to violently overthrow the government in order to set up an Islamic state.

After being held incommunicado for over 50 days, nine of the detainees were served with two-year detention orders. In October, six other men, mostly religious teachers at Islamic schools, were also detained and held incommunicado for over three weeks. Five of them were subsequently served with two-year detention orders. The authorities linked all these arrests to the detention under the ISA in June of at least six alleged Islamic "extremists" accused of various crimes, including murder, bank robberies and the bombing of a church and a Hindu temple. By the end of the year, at least seven other alleged Islamic militants, accused of having links with "international terrorism", were detained under the ISA as arrests continued.

Freedom of assembly

The authorities continued to impose restrictions on the right of peaceful assembly and association. A series of demonstrations against the ISA, or in support of political reform and Anwar Ibrahim (see below), were dispersed by police, at times with excessive force. Protesters were arrested and assaulted, held in remand for up to 14 days and charged with illegal assembly. Permits for public assemblies were issued or refused arbitrarily and selectively, and in July police issued a ban on all public political rallies.

Students and academics engaging in demonstrations and other political activity also faced penalties under the Universities and University Colleges Act. In June, following the arrest for illegal assembly of seven students who participated in a peaceful demonstration, a number of the students were expelled or suspended from their universities. In July, two students involved in peaceful campaigning against the ISA were arrested and detained incommunicado under the ISA for 10 and 23 days respectively.
  • In August a schoolteacher was charged with sedition for setting an examination question to discuss the effectiveness of the Malaysian judiciary.
  • In October the authorities announced that 61 university lecturers had been dismissed, transferred or issued with warnings for alleged "anti-government activities".
The judiciary

In late 2000 the newly appointed Chief Justice, Mohamad Dzaiddin Abdullah, pledged to address a decline of public confidence in the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary. In February the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee submitted a memorandum listing a series of defects in the administration of justice and proposing reforms. In March the Chief Justice recommended limits on the size of defamation awards to avoid unjustified curbs on freedom of speech.
  • In May a High Court upheld the habeas corpus petition of two people detained under the ISA and ordered their release after ruling that their detention was unlawful. The Court affirmed fundamental constitutional principles and urged parliament to review the relevance of the ISA. The police appealed against the ruling. Habeas corpus petitions by other ISA detainees were rejected and remained under appeal before the Federal Court at the end of the year.
  • In June the Federal Court quashed a conviction for contempt of court previously upheld by the Court of Appeal against Zainur Zakaria, one of Anwar Ibrahim's defence lawyers. He had filed an affidavit in court in 1998 alleging that two public prosecutors had attempted to fabricate evidence against his client.
Prosecution of opposition figures

Selective and politically motivated prosecutions were threatened or pursued against opposition figures.
  • In March Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, leader of the youth branch of Keadilan, was arrested and charged under the Sedition Act for allegedly planning violent demonstrations. In April he was detained without trial under the ISA. In October a court dropped charges against him of participating in an illegal assembly in April. In November Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor went on trial under the Official Secrets Act for distributing allegedly classified documents about official corruption to journalists in 1999.
  • Prisoner of conscience Anwar Ibrahim lodged an appeal against his sentence of nine years' imprisonment on charges of sodomy, imposed after an unfair trial in 2000. The sentence was being served consecutively with a six-year sentence for alleged abuse of power, which remained under appeal before the Federal Court at the end of the year.
National Human Rights Commission

In April the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) submitted its first annual report to parliament, detailing the activities of its working groups, including those addressing law reform, human rights education and complaints. Initial recommendations included ratification of major international human rights instruments, review of restrictive laws including the ISA, and constitutional changes to combat gender discrimination. In April Suhakam called for the release of recently arrested ISA detainees and asserted their right to a trial. In July it reported on the arbitrary and selective application of laws restricting freedom of assembly, and recommended specific legislative amendments and enhanced liaison between the police and public assembly organizers.

In August Suhakam issued the findings of a public inquiry into the dispersal of a peaceful demonstration in November 2000. Suhakam found the police were responsible for human rights violations including excessive use of force during dispersals, assaults on detainees and delays in the provision of medical care; it gave detailed recommendations for reform of police policy and practice.

The government pledged to study some of Suhakam's recommendations. However, its responses to Suhakam's findings during the year were frequently dismissive and included public statements that its reports were "biased" and "idealistic".

Death penalty and corporal punishment

Four people convicted of murder and a man convicted of drugs trafficking were executed by hanging. At least three people were sentenced to death, and at least 159 were reported to be on death row. Caning, a cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, was imposed throughout 2001 as an additional punishment to imprisonment.

AI country reports/visits

Reports
  • Malaysia: Students penalized for political activities (AI Index: ASA 28/016/2001)
  • Malaysia: Human rights under threat – the Internal Security Act and other restrictive laws (AI Index: ASA 28/031/2001)
Visits

An AI delegate visited Malaysia in April to conduct research and met relatives of those detained under the ISA.

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