Joint NGO Memorandum on Reforming Malaysia

Two decades of former Prime Minister Dr. Mathahir Mohammad's authoritarian rulehas ended. However his legacy of policy errors, human rights violations, and indiscriminate abuses of power has impeded the progress of Malaysia and its public institutions. This has come at great social, economic and political costs to the nation.

Many of civil society's concerns have yet to be address by the government. These include:

•the deteriorating standards of human rights in the country;
•the concern over the encroachment of the state on fundamental civil liberties including freedom of the press;
•the growing concern about the independence of the judiciary and all other public institutions;
•the worry about the lack of transparency in the inquiries regarding numerous economic and financial scandals - dating back to the BMF scandal of the 1980s to the still unresolved enquiry into Perwaja Steel;
•the rhetoric of confrontation and antagonism that has come to characterise the relationship between the government and the opposition parties and dissidents;
•the deteriorating record of the police and security services in the country;
•and the enduring legacy of communalist and communitarian politics in Malaysia that has created an unstable and fragile political consensus that is shallow at best and dangerous in times of crisis.

The end of Mahathir's rule provides the new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi an opportunity to start afresh and to right many wrongs in the country. This should be a new epoch for Malaysia and Malaysians - where there can be greater democracy and openness in our society and of genuine development of all our social classes. It remains our hope that Malaysia will reform to embrace a future free from want and free from fear.

In order to do this, the political environment must be conducive for genuine reforms to occur. For starters, below are basic tangible preconditions that are immediate and necessary for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration to implement, in order to realise our hopes of reforming Malaysia:

1. National Unity and Pluralism

Pluralism, multiculturalism and national unity have been at best superficial. Despite 46 years of Independence, the colonial strategy of 'divide-and-rule' is still maintained. The first commitment to end this is for the government to:-

·Legislate a Race Relations Act and constitute a Race Relations Commission to combat racism and racial discrimination

2. Democracy

Democratic institutions have been hampered due to lack of accountability, transparency and authoritarian rule. In order to restore faith in these institutions and to make elected representatives accountable to the public, the following must be implemented immediately:-

·Limit the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers' tenure to two terms in office
·Constitute a parliamentary working group to reintroduce local council elections and elections of Senators

3. Civil and Political Rights

Malaysia's human rights record has been dismal, due to the arsenal of draconian legislation that the Executive has in its hands. The preconditions necessary for the reversal of this trend include:-

·Abolish the Internal Security Act
·Amend the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses Publications Act, the Police Act, the University and University Colleges Act, the Official Secrets Act the Trade Union Act, the Dangerous Drugs Act - Special Preventive Measures, the Emergency Ordinance - in line with international human rights standards
·Legislate a Freedom of Information Act
.Expand the powers of the National Human Rights Commission
(SUHAKAM)and implement all recommendations of the Commission made to
Parliament since 2000
·Release Malaysia's most famous political prisoner - Anwar
Ibrahim; release all ISA detainees or charge them in court
·End the four Emergency proclaimations of 1964, 1966, 1969, and 1977
·Sign and ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the Convention Against Torture

4. The Economy and Social Services

Rampant privatisation of public utilities and public projects has resulted in vast amounts of public monies wasted and squandered. Funds from the national pension scheme have been used to bail out crony projects and these remain unaccounted for. Public services have been privatised at the expense of the public while basic social needs of the poor have deteriorated. The government must immediately:-

·Declare a moratorium on all privatisation projects in the country
·Declare a moratorium on all Employees Provident Fund's (EPF) investment until an audit on its performance is completed
·Stop the corporatisation of the national healthcare system
·Increase the number of low-cost housing and give land titles to existing villages and settlements of indigenous peoples, urban settlers, plantation workers and new village residents

5. Corruption

Corruption, nepotism and cronyism have become synonymous with the rule of Barisan Nasional in the past 22 years. To curb corruption in all levels of the government, the following steps must be taken immediately:-

·Reconstitute the Anti-Corruption Agency to make it independent
and accountable to the Parliament
·Enact regulations for all elected representatives in state assemblies and the Parliament to publicly declare their direct and indirect assets and businesses

6. Education

The development of mother-tongue education schools has deteriorated in recent years. The lack of academic freedom and freedom of association and expression in the institutions of higher education has severely compromised the quality of education in the country. There is an urgent need to:-

·Implement the increase of Chinese and Tamil Schools as promisedm during the 1999 General Elections; amend the Education Act 1996 to reflect the national education policy as originally stated in the Education Ordinance 1957 which ensures the development of mother-tongue education for all
·Amend the Universities and University Colleges Act and 'Aku Janji' to protect academic freedom and freedom of association, assembly and expression

7. Women

Women make up more than 50% of the Malaysian population, yet many of the rights of women have yet to be realised. Violence against women and sexual harassment at workplaces is increasing. In 1999, a coalition of prominent women's organisations produced a comprehensive list of demands and we call upon the government to:-

·Endorse and constitute a Parliamentary working group to implement
the "Women's Agenda for Change 1999"

8. Press Freedom

The press is a crucial institution where checks and balances and scrutiny of the Executive and all public institutions should be made. However public opinion is such that there is little trust in the media. Furthermore, Malaysia remains at the bottom of many international indexes of press freedom. There is a need to allow the press to operate independently of Executive control and for this to happen, the government must:-

·Amend the Printing Presses Publications Act and other related legislation to be in line with international press freedom standards
·Increase the number of licenses for newspapers, magazines, radio and television broadcasting agencies
.Reconstitute judicial review powers of the courts over the decisions of the Home Minister in relation to press freedom

9. Workers

Despite moving towards the path of an industrialised nation, many fundamental guarantees have not been made available to Malaysian workers. There is no minimum wage system across the board for all sectors and workers still face problems forming or joining a trade union. Hence the government should immediately:-

·Legislate a guaranteed minimum wage system for all workers as recommended by the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)
· Recognise the rights of workers to join and form trade unions, especially in the electronics sector
.Amend the Trade Union Act and other related legislation to be in ine with international trade union standards
·Ratify all remaining fundamental International Labour rganisation's Conventions in particular C87 Freedom of Association and rotection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948

10. Public Institutions

Public confidence in public institutions such as the judiciary and the Malaysian Police has been shaken in recent years. In order to restore onfidence in our criminal justice system, the government must mmediately:-

·Constitute a Royal Commission of Enquiry to investigate all cases of police abuse of power, deaths in custody, deaths by police shooting and police brutality since 1998
·Establish an independent Judicial Commission to ensure a more transparent and systematic procedure for future judicial appointments.