Still An Independent Commission? Or BN’s Tool?

With Abu Talib as its Chairman, Suhakam may not even display any pretence of autonomy

The Barisan Nasional government has terminated the services of Professor Mehrun Siraj and Tan Sri Anuar Zainal Abidin as members of Suhakam, and appointed Tan Sri Abu Talib as Suhakam’s new Chairman.

In doing so, the BN government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad has again demonstrated its contempt for any meaningful protection of human rights in this country.

Perhaps the BN government hopes to fool the people once more. But the public understands very well the meaning of these changes to Suhakam’s composition. These changes have confirmed the public’s worst fears that Suhakam will cease to be an independent commission and instead become an outright tool of the BN government.

On the one hand, by dropping Mehrun Siraj and Anuar Zainal Abidin the BN government has exposed its disdain for any independent Commissioner. For the record, Mehrun Siraj was courageous and correct to call it ‘preposterous’ that Suhakam’s former chairman, Tan Sri Musa Hitam, should say that human rights ‘will have to take a back seat in the fight against terrorism’. Anuar Zainal Abidin, too, was an honest and diligent commissioner. He led the ‘Kesas Highway’ investigation which concluded that the police had used excessive force on the protestors.

The BN government offers no justification for terminating Mehrun Siraj and Anuar Zainal Abidin’s services. We give a simple explanation: these two outstanding commissioners were pushed out because of their independence, courage and honesty.

On the other hand, with Abu Talib as its Chairman, Suhakam may not even display any pretence of autonomy, let alone conduct serious investigations into human right abuses in this country.

Where in Abu Talib’s public record has there been any indication that he was committed to the true spirit of upholding the rule of law, protecting civil liberties and advancing human rights?

As Attorney-General, Abu Talib instructed the police to destroy eleven (11) videotapes and four (4) envelopes with thousands of photographs which constituted the critical evidence in the D. P. Vijandran ‘sex scandal’ which was even then under investigation.

It was also none other than Attorney-General Abu Talib who led the impeachment of former Lord President Tun Salleb Abas, and five Supreme Court judges. The public has never forgotten that those impeachments, which led to the dismissal of Salleh Abas, Wan Suleiman and George Seah, were sordid politically-motivated moves that wreaked havoc on the integrity of our judicial system.

Abu Talib was also the kind of Attorney-General who was mean-spirited enough to liken the solitary confinement of ISA detainees to placing them in ‘single rooms’ presumably as if our prisons were hotels. After Operasi Lalang, Abu Talib even argued in court that ‘since complaints of maltreatment were not made on behalf of all the applicants (who had applied for writs of habeas corpus) it must mean they were happy in detention’ (Aliran Monthly, vol. 8, no. 1, 1988).

Never since any of these incidents has Abu Talib recanted his callous comments or shown a fresh belief in the sanctity of human rights. Has Abu Talib said anything to show a trace of sympathy for former ISA detainees and their families? Has he uttered a word in defence of the rights and liberties of numerous citizens detained under ISA since April 2001.

To our knowledge, the newly appointed Commissioners - Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, Hasmy Agam, Dr Abdul Monir Yaacob, Asiah Abu Samah and Dr Raj Abdul Karim - are little known to the cause of protecting human rights in this country. None of them, to our knowledge, has stood up for the protection of civil liberties and human rights in Malaysia or spoken out against the BN government’s abuse of human rights. All of them may have distinguished themselves as senior civil servants under the BN. However, the public can scarcely take that as an assurance that they will defend basic freedoms and constitutional rights against the BN’s abuses.

As a public institution Suhakam was established by an Act of Parliament for the protection and promotion of human rights. But obviously that such matters meant little to Dr Mahathir and the BN government. Acting as the sole judge who determines who comes or stays or goes within Suhakam, Dr Mahathir and his BN government betray their self-serving view that all public institutions are playthings for them to manipulate for narrow political purposes.

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