• Human Rights in Malaysia

    Prime Minister Najib Razak’s pledge to “uphold civil liberties” was belied by passage in November of the Peaceful Assembly Act, which bans “assemblies in motion” and empowers the police to control the content and conduct of public meetings. Police used the Societies Act to ban Bersih 2.0, a popular coalition demanding clean elections, and harshly broke up a July 9 rally in Kuala Lumpur, arresting nearly 1700 people. The government has not fulfilled its promise to repeal the Internal Security Act, an administrative detention law. On January 9, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, tried for consensual same-sex relations in a trial marred by due processes violations, was acquitted. 

  • A demonstration outside a mosque near Kuala Lumpur on November 4, 2011 protests the Seksualiti Merdeka festival which focuses on “the human rights of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.”
    © 2011 Getty Images
    Malaysia: Respect Rights of LGBT People

    The Malaysian government should end rights-violating and discriminatory government policies that vilify members of Malaysia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

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Malaysia

  • Malaysia: Respect Rights of LGBT People
    Dec 5, 2012

    The Malaysian government should end rights-violating and discriminatory government policies that vilify members of Malaysia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

  • Letter to Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohammed Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak regarding discriminatory LGBT rights policy.
    Dec 4, 2012
  • Civil Society Denounces Adoption of Flawed ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
    Nov 19, 2012
    Disregarding the deep concerns expressed by senior United Nations officials, human rights experts and hundreds of civil society and grassroots organisations at the national, regional and international levels, ASEAN leaders nonetheless adopted yesterday an “ASEAN Human Rights Declaration” that undermines, rather than affirms, international human rights law and standards.
  • Malaysia: Cartoonist Case Tests Freedoms
    Jul 31, 2012
    A Malaysian civil court ruling in the case of a prominent political cartoonist has set back the right to freedom of expression in the country.
  • ASEAN: Ensure Declaration Meets Rights Standards
    Jul 8, 2012

    Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should make a public commitment to ensure that the forthcoming ASEAN Human Rights Declaration will fully comply with international human rights standards. 

  • ASEAN: Less than Adequate
    Jun 21, 2012
    Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Dignity International, and Article 19 welcome the first official consultation between ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) and civil society organisations (CSOs) on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), which is due to take place in Kuala Lumpur on June 22, 2012 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
  • Smoke and Mirrors: Malaysia’s “New” Internal Security Act
    Jun 19, 2012
    When Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced last September that the country’s infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) would be repealed, he referred to tensions “between national security and personal freedom,” and promised that new “legislation formulated will take into consideration fundamental rights and freedoms.”
  • Malaysia: Reverse Book Ban
    May 31, 2012

    The Malaysia government should respect the right to free expression and immediately reverse its ban on a book, Allah, Liberty and Love, by Canadian Muslim writer Irshad Manji. 

  • Malaysia: Drop Charges Against Protest Participants
    May 21, 2012

    The Malaysian government should withdraw politically-motivated charges against opposition leaders who participated in the “Bersih 3.0” demonstration in Kuala Lumpur on April 28, 2012. 

  • Betraying human rights, ASEAN style
    May 14, 2012

    This past week in Bangkok, the ASEAN Inter-government Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) discussed one of the most important documents drafted by ASEAN since the regional grouping adopted the ASEAN Charter five years ago.  

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