Covering events from January - December 2002

MALAYSIA
Head of state: Raja Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin
Head of government: Mahathir Mohamad
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: not signed

Throughout 2002 the authorities used an array of restrictive laws, including the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for detention without trial, to deny or place unjustified restrictions on fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Thirty-seven people suspected of having links with organizations allegedly responsible for planning acts of violence were arrested and detained under the ISA, putting them at risk of torture or ill-treatment. Opposition leaders were subject to politically motivated arrest and prosecutions. Some continued to be detained under the ISA. Peaceful demonstrations and meetings were broken up or prevented by the police, and a ban on public political gatherings (ceramah) continued to be imposed. Ill-treatment at the hands of the Malaysian authorities was reported in detention camps during a mass expulsion of undocumented migrants. Hundreds of people were sentenced to be caned under amendments to the Immigration Act. At least seven people were sentenced to death and at least three people were executed during the year.

Background


All academics, as well as university students, teachers and civil servants, were obliged to sign a pledge of loyalty to "the king, country and government", raising questions of academic freedom.

After 21 years in power, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unexpectedly announced his resignation in August, declaring that he would step down in October 2003. Fadzil Noor, President of the main opposition party Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), died in June and was replaced by Abdul Hadi Awang, chief minister of the state of Terengganu.

In July Hudud law (Syariah criminal code) was passed by the PAS-controlled state assembly in Terengganu. Punishments under the law include caning, amputation, and the death penalty. However, under the Malaysian Constitution, criminal law falls under federal jurisdiction, casting doubt on whether the law would actually be implemented.

The government justified the continued use of the ISA in light of the attacks in the USA in September 2001 and the bomb attack in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2002.

Detention without trial

The ISA allows for the detention without trial of any person considered to be a potential threat to national security or public order. However, the broad terms of the ISA fail to provide any precise definition or criteria for determining which individuals pose a threat. Those arrested by the police under the ISA can be detained for up to 60 days for investigative purposes. During this period detainees have been subjected to ill-treatment, sometimes amounting to torture, and held incommunicado (sometimes in solitary confinement) without access to lawyers, families or independent doctors. After this period the Home Minister may hand down a two-year detention order (renewable indefinitely). After two court rulings declared the detention of several individuals under the ISA to be unlawful, the government proposed amendments further restricting judicial review.

Thirty-seven people were arrested under the ISA during 2002 for alleged links with the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) or Jemaah Islamiah (JI), bringing the total detained to at least 71. The authorities claimed that both groups were planning to use violent means to set up a pan-Islamic state in southeast Asia. No evidence to support these allegations was made public, and none of the detainees was brought to trial.

  • Nasharuddin Nasir was arrested in April, accused of being a member of the KMM and given a two-year detention order. A High Court ruling in November stated that his detention was unlawful and ordered his release. He was immediately rearrested and given another two-year detention order.
Opposition activists

Members of the political opposition continued to be the target of politically motivated arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.
  • Six reformasi (reform) activists, including members of the opposition Parti Keadilan Nasional (PKN), National Justice Party, continued to be detained under the ISA. They were arrested in April 2001 and accused of planning to overthrow the government by "militant" means, but no evidence to support these allegations has ever been made public. All were prisoners of conscience. The Federal Court ruled on 6 September that the initial 60-day detention of some of the activists was unlawful. However, the court did not release them as its judgment was restricted to the 60-day police detention and not the subsequent two-year detention order handed down by the Home Minister. The ISA prevents acts of the Home Minister under the ISA from being questioned by the courts, apart from issues of procedure. In December the ISA Review Board announced its recommendation that the activists should be released, but no action was taken.
  • Members of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) were arrested on several occasions between June and August under the Sedition Act for distributing leaflets critical of the Prime Minister's statement that Malaysia was an Islamic state. All were released on bail. The police raided the DAP headquarters and confiscated 5,000 copies of the leaflet. The Sedition Act places wide-ranging limitations on freedom of expression, especially regarding sensitive political subjects.
  • Gopala Krishnan, a leading PKN member, was arrested under the Sedition Act in October for allegedly criticizing the treatment of ethnic Indians in police detention. This followed increasing publicity given to deaths in police custody; 19 people died in custody during the year. Gopala Krishnan was later released on bail.
  • In July former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim lost his appeal against a six-year prison sentence on charges of corruption, imposed after an unfair trial in 2000. He was still waiting for his appeal against his nine-year sentence for sodomy to be heard. He was a prisoner of conscience.
  • In August Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, leader of the youth branch of the PKN, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for reading out documents regarding investigations by the Anti-Corruption Agency into senior government ministers at a press conference in 1999. The OSA imposes wide restrictions on the right to freedom of expression.
Undocumented migrants and refugees

The Immigration Act was amended so that anyone found guilty of being in the country without the appropriate legal documentation would face a mandatory sentence of up to five years' imprisonment and up to six strokes of the cane. Previously, caning was applicable only to repeat offenders. The amendment also imposed mandatory caning on those convicted of harbouring five or more undocumented individuals. By the end of 2002, hundreds of people had been sentenced to caning.

A government amnesty running from March to the end of July allowed those without documents to leave the country without being arrested, with an extension of two weeks for those who had applied to leave the country before the end of the amnesty but had been unable to secure transportation.

Tens of thousands of people, predominantly migrants from the Philippines and Indonesia, were held in detention camps prior to deportation. They faced insanitary conditions, lack of medical care and ill-treatment. There were reports of tens of people dying, including children, from dehydration and disease in camps in the state of Sabah. Refugees and those seeking asylum were also arrested and placed in detention camps during the crack-down.
  • A 13-year-old girl was reportedly raped in a detention centre in Sabah state by three policemen. The girl, who was deported in August, was originally thought to be from the Philippines, but further investigation showed she was a Malaysian citizen. The Malaysian police opened an investigation but had not arrested anyone by the end of 2002.
National Human Rights Commission

Two years after being established, the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) came under increased criticism from human rights groups. A coalition of 32 Malaysian non-governmental organizations conducted a disengagement campaign for 100 days in protest at Suhakam's poor performance and at the government's lack of action on its recommendations.

During 2002 Suhakam held an inquiry into conditions at the Kamunting detention centre, where ISA detainees are held. It held a workshop on press freedom in August, stating that the government should review all laws curtailing freedom of expression, including the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the OSA, the ISA and the Sedition Act. The government promised to build four new prisons in response to a Suhakam report on overcrowding and lack of segregation of juvenile offenders. Suhakam criticized the government's ban on political gatherings, and advised that the police need only be notified of such events rather than having to grant a permit.

Visits

An AI delegate visited Malaysia in August.

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