Human Rights report 2009 .mp4

About SUARAM's Malaysia Human Rights Report 2009:
Civil and Political Rights

When Najib Razak succeeded Abdullah Badawi as the Prime Minister of Malaysia in April 2009, he promised reforms in response to the growing demands for action to implement human rights compliance and democracy.

This promise did not materialise. Instead, the year saw a massive crackdown on the freedoms of speech, expression and assembly, with close to a thousand people arrested for peaceful forms of protest, signalling an increased level of intolerance shown by the Najib government towards dissent as compared to that of his predecessor.

2009 saw the biggest anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) rally to date and it forced the government to announce a review of the draconian legislation. Nonetheless, more than one thousand individuals remained in detention without trial.

At the international level, the government's record on human rights deteriorated with at least two high-profile reports in 2009 highlighting the collusion of government authorities in the trafficking of refugees at the Malaysia-Thailand border. When Malaysia's human rights record was reviewed by the United Nations in 2009, most recommendations and criticisms by the international community were rejected by the government.

Consistent with its record since 1998, this edition of SUARAM's Annual Human Rights Report on Malaysia documents the trends and cases of human rights violations in the country, as well as the struggles of the Malaysian peoples and human rights defenders in 2009.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• human rights
• malaysia
• 2009
• suaram
• human rights report