The Centre for Independent Journalism has identified several reforms that the Malaysian government can implement to uphold the country's commitment to promote and protect human rights.
This statement was originally published on cijmalaysia.net on 10 December 2021.
In conjunction with International Human Rights Day 2021, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is pleased to celebrate and honour the many achievements of activists and human rights defenders in protecting and defending human rights, specifically Freedom of Expression (FOE) related challenges. Human Rights Day is commemorated globally on 10 December every year to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948.
Today, we honour the effort, persistence and courage, and acknowledge the challenges of exercising our rights.
Throughout 2021, CIJ has observed and monitored a sharp increase in the usage of oppressive legislation such as the Sedition Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act to silence dissenting opinions and expressions. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have also observed the suspension or derogation of our fundamental human rights while navigating the Covid-19 pandemic. Authorities also have frequently used harassment tactics, and below are some of the cases where many individuals were investigated under archaic and repressive laws in 2021:
| January to November 2021 | List of repressive laws included as part of our media monitoring |
| 140 | Incidents under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia (CMA) Act 1998 (criminalises improper use of network facilities or network service, etc) |
| 19 | Incidents under Sedition Act 1948 (criminalises discourse deemed as seditious) |
| 32 | Incidents under Section 504 of the Penal Code (criminalises intentional insults with intent to provoke a breach of the peace) |
| 35 | Incidents under Section 505 of the Penal Code (criminalises statements conducting to public mischief) |
| 1 | Incident under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 (criminalises the dissemination of information classified as an official secret) |
| 0 | Incidents under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 (governs the usage of printing presses) |
| 9 | Incidents under the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012 (regulates public protests) |
| 30 | Incidents under the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021 [EO2] (criminalises “fake news” relating to COVID-19 or the Emergency Proclamation of 2021) |
Disclaimer: The data and statistics presented in this report were computed from CIJ’s monitoring of online media reports and may not include every case under the aforementioned laws. As such, our data may vary from official government statistics or data from other human rights organisations. Furthermore, our monitoring scope does not cover all repressive laws that are used in Malaysia to curtail FOE, such as security laws and gender or sexuality-related laws. Therefore, this already extensive list is certainly non-exhaustive as there are many more individuals who are being probed and charged under very repressive laws. Read together, however, these cases can be seen as part of a larger, deliberate and concerted series of actions intended to stifle our fundamental freedoms.
As Malaysia recently secured a seat in the UN Human Rights Council last October and has made public pledges to uphold human rights, the government must take sincere and concrete action to improve its human rights record at home. This international commitment should not remain a mere facade but must be translated into real action and reform at the national level.
On a more positive note, we have seen the current government’s commitment to moving ahead with the plans to draft a federal right to information legislation that would promote our access to information and public data. Today, the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department (BHEUU), Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and CIJ are jointly organising a forum on Right to Information (RTI) in conjunction with the International Human Rights Day (IHRD). This forum aims to provide a shared space to contribute to the development of a coherent and aligned legal framework on right to information that would address the challenges in Malaysia and to reaffirm the government’s commitment in the roadmap to promote and uphold the right to information, including through enabling legislation.
In a similar spirit, we urge the State to show that the reform landscape in Malaysia is not dying, and they remain committed to good governance and accountability based on respect for universal human rights and freedom of expression, assembly, speech and right to information.
In this regard, the State must guarantee and adopt the following without delay:
- An immediate end to the intimidation and harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, and other civil society actors in Malaysia who speak out, dissent and demand accountability from the State, including through the application of the repressive laws;
- Implement an immediate moratorium on the use of and move towards the repeal of the Sedition Act 1948, the Official Secrets Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984, Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA), and to reform or amend the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 and Section 504 and 505(b) of the Penal Code;
- Commit to the enactment of a Right to Information law without any further delay;
- To develop a concrete timeline and plan of action to immediately move towards the ratification of international human rights treaties, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), amongst others;
Meanwhile, join us tomorrow, Saturday, 11 December 2021, from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm at NU Sentral Shopping Mall, Kuala Lumpur, to celebrate International Human Rights Day 2021 in an event jointly organised by CIJ, Article 19, SUARAM, KRYSS Network, MCCHR, Sinar Project, GERAMM, Freedom Film Network, and Sisters in Islam. Our theme for this year’s celebration is “Humanising Human Rights”, and we are featuring aspects of human rights that are often taken for granted. CIJ will also be releasing the Freedom of Expression (FOE) Status Report 2021 in conjunction with Human Rights Day 2021.
10 December 2021
Wathshlah Naidu
CIJ Executive Director
