Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Human Rights Watch accuses Malaysian government of ‘climate of fear’

Human Rights Watch, in a hard-hitting 147-page report, has accused the Najib government of creating a “climate of fear,” citing a long litany of incidents in which government critics and the press are under attack from authorities using broad and vaguely worded laws use to arrest, harass and intimidate them.

The report, delivered at a Kuala Lumpur press conference this morning (Oct. 27) by Human Rights Watch’s Asia director Brad Adams and the author, Linda Lakhdhir, relates in punishing detail how government intimidation has cascaded upwards along with the use of religious tension in the always-fraught ethnic equation that has plagued the country for decades.

“Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Malaysian government have repeatedly broken promises to revise laws that criminalize peaceful expression,” Adams said in a prepared statement. “Instead, Malaysia has gone on a binge of prosecutions of critics. The government is making a mockery of its claims to democracy and fundamental rights by treating criticism as a crime. After the ruling coalition lost the popular vote in the 2013 elections, a crackdown on its critics began. That repression has intensified in the past year in the face of critical media coverage and rising public discontent over issues ranging from the imposition of a new Goods and Services Tax, to the government’s response to a spiraling corruption scandal involving the government-owned 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), whose board of advisers is chaired by Prime Minister Najib.

Use of draconian laws to shut down dissent has been a concern since 1987 when former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ordered a roundup of opposition politicians, reporters and other critics under what was called “Operation Lalang” and jailed them under the colonial-era Internal Security Act. Full story...

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