Jun 8, 2023 | DFF, Statements, Tools for MPs
KUALA LUMPUR – ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), in partnership with the office of the Speaker of Malaysia’s House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat), has launched the Toolkit for Parliamentarians to Promote Counter Narrative to Hate Speech Towards Migrants and Refugees in Malaysia.
The launch, which was held in the Malaysian parliament, was attended by members of parliament (MPs), the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Malaysia, ambassadors and representatives of foreign embassies in Malaysia, members of civil society, as well as the media.
“I urge all MPs present here today to utilize this toolkit as a powerful tool in raising awareness about the issue of hate against migrants and refugees. By doing so, we can collectively work towards creating a more inclusive and human rights-respecting society,” said Malaysian House Speaker Dato’ Johari bin Abdul.
Due to its diversity, strategic location, relatively stronger economy, and workforce needs, Malaysia is one of the largest migrant-receiving countries in Southeast Asia. However, migration remains a sensitive topic in the country, with a vast majority of Malaysians having negative perceptions of migrants and refugees.
Mainstream political leaders, such as MPs, play an important role in the construction of narratives on migration. Political narratives that emphasize the positive role of migrants and refugees in society and economies have proven to be successful in limiting the rise and influence of negative migration narratives. This is why APHR has created this toolkit, which aims to help parliamentarians become agents of social progress by using their voice to spread positive counter-narratives to hate speech towards migrants in Malaysia.
“We hope that this toolkit can empower MPs to take action against hate speech towards migrants and refugees, promote positive narratives and end harmful perceptions, stereotypes, and disinformation about these communities and celebrate their contributions to economic growth, social development, cultural enrichment, so we can build a Malaysia that thrives in diversity,” said APHR member and Malaysian MP Wong Chen.
The toolkit includes an explanation of what constitutes hate speech and the importance of countering such speech, as well as possible strategies that MPs can use to promote positive narratives about migrants and refugees both in parliament and in their respective constituencies.
“The role of parliamentarians in building inclusive and fair societies cannot be overemphasized. As political leaders elected by their constituencies, they have a paramount responsibility and undeniable power to influence public policies and shape the discourse on human rights, tolerance, solidarity, and inclusiveness,” said UN Resident Coordinator for Malaysia Karima El Korri.
Click here to download the toolkit in English.
Click here to download the toolkit in Bahasa Malaysia.
Feb 26, 2023 | DFF, Statements
KUALA LUMPUR – Lawmakers from across Southeast Asia urged the new Malaysian government to show its commitment to human rights by repealing repressive laws that are too often used to criminalize government critics, including parliamentarians and human rights defenders.
“As a long time member of the opposition, we hope that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recognizes the dangers posed by overly broad and ambiguous legislation that can easily be used by those in power to target opposition politicians and human rights defenders,” ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) Chair and member of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Mercy Barends, said today at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Two laws are of particular concern: the 1948 Sedition Act and the 1988 Communication and Multimedia Act. The Sedition Act can carry a punishment of three to seven years in prison for vaguely worded offenses, including acting with “seditious tendency” against the government. The former Barisan National government used the law to harass and imprison critics, including human rights defenders, academics, journalists and lawyers.
The Sedition Act has also frequently been used against opposition parliamentarians; in 2016, for example, People’s Justice Party MP and APHR member Tian Chua was sentenced to three months in prison and fined more than 400 USD after delivering a speech denouncing racism and corruption.
Meanwhile, section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act, which criminalizes online content that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character”, is too vaguely worded and therefore prone to misuse.
“The new Malaysian government must live up its promises and prove its commitment to human rights by ensuring that parliamentary immunity and the right to freedom of expression for all parliamentarians are effectively upheld,” said Charles Santiago, APHR Co-Chair and former Malaysian member of parliament.
APHR Members from Indonesia and the Philippines visited Malaysia to extend their solidarity with its Co-Chair, Charles Santiago, who is facing a defamation lawsuit from influential and controversial preacher Zakir Naik.
“We express our concern over this case because, albeit it was a civil case filed by an individual, it shows one of the main risks lawmakers throughout Southeast Asia face when speaking on issues that are of public concern,” said Barends.
The targeting of opposition MPs and human rights defenders through the use of draconian laws is unfortunately not limited to Malaysia. In Myanmar, the parliament remains suspended since the military coup in February 2021 that ousted the NLD elected government. Members of the national and sub-national parliaments remain in detention, facing not only the risk of torture in prison but also possible risk of execution following the executions of four pro-democracy activists, including a former lawmaker. Most ousted parliamentarians continue their work in hiding and are at risk of detention or even death.
“Parliamentarians should be able to carry out their mandate as the people’s representatives without fear of reprisals if they say the wrong thing or offend the wrong person,” said APHR member and Malaysian member of parliament Wong Chen.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, disinformation and red-tagging campaigns against opposition parties and lawmakers continue, and it intensified ahead of the national elections, leading to widespread online threats and violence against lawmakers and their supporters.
“Lawmakers who have criticized the government have also faced trumped-up and politically-motivated charges, including APHR Board Member Walden Bello, who faces cyber-libel charges, and Senator Leila De Lima, who has been unjustly detained since 2017 on absurd drug charges. Governments and parliaments throughout Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, should learn from the Philippines, and work to repeal repressive laws to ensure that this kind of persecution against lawmakers do not occur,” said Teddy Baguilat, Jr., APHR Board Member and former Philippines member of parliament.
Dec 2, 2022 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia welcome the formation of a unity government in Malaysia led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim after the results of the 19 November general elections led to a hung parliament, and urge it to work towards realizing the citizenry’s aspirations for genuine democratic reforms.
“After several days of political uncertainty, it is commendable that Malaysian political parties and coalitions have been able to transcend their differences and take the interests of the nation at heart to form a new government. This is a historic moment of unprecedented unity, and the new government should use it to work in fulfilling the dreams of social justice, equality, and clean governance that the reformasi movement put on the agenda over two decades ago; there is much more for the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia, to learn from,” said Senator Risa Hontiveros, Member of Parliament from the Philippines and Member of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
The Reformasi (Reformation) was a political movement led by Ibrahim in 1998 after he was sacked from office as deputy prime minister by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Ibrahim was sentenced to 12 years in jail and that led to a series of mass protests followed by repressive crackdowns against activists, student leaders, and members of civil society. The Reformasi movement rallied for social, economic, and political change and it inspired a generation of pro-democracy activists in Malaysia and Southeast Asia in general.
Now the leader of that movement has become Prime Minister, and that amounts to a triumph for those who took part in Reformasi after years of struggle. Yet the new government faces great challenges, after four years of political instability in which there have been four prime ministers, and Malaysian politics have been plagued by high-profile corruption scandals. The new government is a fragile alliance of different parties, and may have difficulties implementing its reform agenda.
“Malaysia badly needs political stability to confront the many issues it faces, from the global economic crisis, impacts of climate change, corruption, to the decline in civil and political rights. Now is the time for all political forces in Malaysia to work together on moving the country forward,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, former Member of Parliament of Indonesia and APHR Board Member.
The new government also confronts the problem of divisive identity politics, especially the divisive use of race and religion in politics by some candidates during the election campaign. Ibrahim said before the election that he would seek “to emphasize governance and anti-corruption, and rid this country of racism and religious bigotry,” and APHR would like to express its support for such endeavors, and assure the new government that it will support any policies aimed at reaching such goals, and denounce those that deviate from it. Having long been a part of the political opposition, APHR hopes that Ibrahim and the new government uphold their commitment to democracy and the protection of minorities.
“Some politicians have demagogically exploited racial and religious cleavages in certain sectors of Malaysian society in order to get votes. That is an extremely dangerous game that can easily get out of control and lead to tensions and even violence. The first priority of the new government should be leading the country to overcome past politics based on race and religion, and foster mutual understanding between the different groups that make up the vibrant and multicultural Malaysian society,” said Sundari, “These are problems that cut across all the countries in ASEAN and we hope that the new government can be the start of greater cooperation on these crucial issues across the region.”
Nov 18, 2022 | CCHR, Opinion Articles
By Mercy Barends.
As COP27 draws to an end, the dozens of Southeast Asian politicians and government officials who attended the global climate change meeting must answer a crucial question: are they going to take real steps to address the climate crisis and its devastating impact or continue to treat it as if it did not exist?
With over 56 million living along its coastlines, Southeast Asian people are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. For many in the region, climate change is not just the abstract notion of rising temperatures; it is a real threat to their lives and livelihoods, to their right to health, to their right to education, and even to their right to suffrage. Unfortunately, few among the region’s political leaders take this threat with the seriousness it demands.
A case in point is Malaysia, which plans to hold general elections on 19 November. In December last year, Malaysia faced devastating floods that left nearly 50 people dead, thousands displaced, and an estimated RM6.1 billion (USD1.3 billion) in financial losses. The post-flood recovery is still ongoing today, nearly a year later. The scheduling of the elections during this year’s monsoon season risks further compounding those losses and could limit the ability of many Malaysians to vote.
And yet, while the floods were often discussed in the Malaysian parliament, their root cause was hardly addressed. According to research by Greenpeace, of the 19,401 questions asked in parliament since the last elections in 2018, only 8.4% contained environment-related keywords. The term ‘climate change’ or ‘perubahan iklim’ was only discussed less than 0.3% of the time. Of the 350 questions related to ‘flood’ or ‘banjir’, only 16 mentioned ‘climate change’.
This lack of discussion in the Malaysian parliament reflects a wider reality in the region: too few Southeast Asian politicians are willing to publicly recognize climate change as the inherently political issue that it is – one that threatens the stability of our democratic systems and the rights of our peoples, especially the most vulnerable.
We must recognize that the most politically disenfranchised in our society are also the most endangered by climate change. In the Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone and affected countries, the urban poor often live in informal settlements designated as danger zones because the land is especially prone to flooding, earthquakes or landslides. The impact of climate change means that they are at higher risk of suffering destruction of property and loss of life during, and in the aftermath of, a disaster.
In my own country, Indonesia, indigenous peoples are often the most vulnerable to both the effects of climate change and some of the proposed solutions to climate change that often do not take their needs and aspirations into account.
The urban poor and the indigenous peoples, incidentally, are also groups that have historically faced more barriers to participate in democratic processes, including to their access to voting.
Our national leaders, in Malaysia and elsewhere, need to realize this and prioritize climate change: national governments can no longer ignore that climate change is a political issue, including during their campaigns, particularly with elections coming up not only in Malaysia but also Thailand, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. They should do that not only for the public interest but for their own as well – calls for climate action are gaining a growing constituency, especially among young voters, who will hold to account leaders who dither over addressing the climate crisis.
So what should Southeast Asian politicians do, starting with those running in the Malaysian elections? First, political candidates can support the climate action campaigns organized by civil society and show a unified front on climate policy. Lawmakers should create a comprehensive climate action framework that covers both mitigation and adaptation measures.
Second, election management bodies tasked with implementing the entire electoral process, such as the Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) in Malaysia, must design a clear contingency plan should a natural disaster strike, in order to ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to take part in free and fair elections.
And lastly, both short-term and long-term electoral policy reforms should consider the impact of climate change on political participation, especially among voters whose political rights are most at risk. This could be done through establishing a more independent SPR in Malaysia, by moving its supervision from the Prime Minister’s office to the Parliament, so it can make fully independent and non-partisan decisions, as well as be held accountable for its actions, or lack thereof.
Climate change is here and it is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable among us, leaving loss and devastation in its wake. The least that those seeking their votes can do is to take it seriously.
Mercy Barends is a member of the House of Representatives in Indonesia, and a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
This article first appeared in Malaysia Kini.
Aug 4, 2022 | CCHR, Statements
JAKARTA – Malaysia urgently needs political unity across the board to recognize and tackle the deleterious impact of climate change in the country, Members of Parliament (MPs) and representatives of civil society organizations said during an event hosted by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) at the Malaysian Parliament on 1 August 2022.
The “Interface for Members of Parliament and Civil Society Organizations on strengthening climate action in Malaysia” brought together 11 MPs and seven CSO representatives for an open discussion on the harmful impacts and causes of climate change in their communities, and the measures required to push for more coordinated and effective solutions.
To strengthen climate action in Malaysia, political unity across party lines is more urgent than ever because climate change is not a local or party issue. No single constituency is immune from its effects, as seen in the flood disaster in December 2021 that affected eight states, resulting in the loss of at least 54 lives.
All the participants recognized that the climate emergency affects all Malaysians, but not in equal measure: the rights of marginalized and vulnerable groups are often more adversely affected. Stronger protection measures for these groups are needed in any proposed national legislation and policy on climate. Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi recommended parliamentarians to push for the recognition of the human right to a healthy environment in the Constitution of Malaysia, urging Members of Parliament to remember that “human rights do not belong to you and me only, they also belong to the next generation.”
“MPs must work together to use our budgetary oversight to ensure that the national budget is providing sufficient funding to address the adverse impact of climate change,” said Charles Santiago, Malaysian MP and Chair of APHR, as budgetary issues were identified as one of the critical gaps on climate action by the attendees.
The issues discussed included assessing to what extent enacted and proposed measures, such as improving the urban draining system to reduce floodings, contribute to climate adaptation or mitigation. MPs advocated for the adoption of a standardized index on “green tagging”, to measure whether the budget helps to attain, or hinder, climate objectives. They also supported a tax on carbon emissions from power producers in Malaysia, in order to raise the capital needed for a just transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
For their part, CSO representatives suggested that their work could be improved if they are granted access to official data on the national budget allocation to climate measures. They also urged MPs to institutionalize and expand current budget commitments, including under the ecological fiscal transfer, to enable state governments to protect forest areas.
The representatives also detailed the need for stronger national legislation on key areas: to urgently cut down carbon emissions by stopping deforestation, a moratorium on building more coal power plants, and supporting ecotourism at the state-level. MPs agreed to develop a legislative roadmap that would help them to identify the climate legislation to push for, an institutional framework to make the fight against climate change a priority across all sectors, and an action plan to ensure the government’s accountability.
Both parliamentarians and CSO representatives at the event noted that, in the absence of an existing institutional mechanism for engagement on climate, it was necessary to widen and strengthen this kind of cooperation between CSOs and more MPs across party lines, and Mr. Santiago announced that a similar meeting between MPs and CSOs will be held in September, before the next Parliament session.
