18 or 20 commissioners seating in the Human Rights Commission appears unwieldy does it not. A smaller group of people will be effective, and too many cooks spoiling the broth can be avoided. Some of the members are so illusive to speak of, in terms of performance, their names do not even come on in print - possibly they are the silent action oriented people who work from the background.
The Hindraf group of lawyers are asking Siva Subramaniam to resign after his worthy investigation of the condition of a sick man. Siva went on remote control and said P.Uthyamoorthy was hale and hearty without even seeing the patient. His intuitive sense must be all prevailing. I wish all of us have that ability.
Groups want a trimmed-down Suhakam
Rights groups have called for the number of commissioners sitting on the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to be slashed while full-time commissioner to be appointed.
Their call came in the wake of 12, out of 18, commissioners whose two-year tenure expired on Wednesday, including Suhakam chairman Abu Talib Othman who has at the helm of Suhakam for six years.
The government has yet to announce the new Suhakam line-up but it is expected to do so next week. Suhakam comes under the purview of Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s office.
Nevertheless, NGOs have expressed their hope to see a ‘trimmed-down’ Suhakam to be unveiled to arrest the declining public confidence over the government-backed human rights organisation.“If you have full-time commissioners, they can be more focus and effective because human rights is not a part-time matter,” National Human Rights Society (Hakam) president Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said when contacted.
“When you are part-time, it gives an impression that they won’t do as much as the priority that it should be,” added Malik, also a lawyer.
Apart from that, he said the criteria in the selection process should be made clear that the commissioners must possess sufficient knowledge on human rights-related issues and laws.
Dumping ground for retirees
Leading local human rights watchdog Suaram echoed the sentiment for full-time commissioners.
“We have had cases where we have to wait for a reply from the commissioners depending on their availability to meet,” its coordinator John Liu said when contacted.
He supported the call for a transparent selection process on the commissioners and argued for the need to set up an independent search committee to appoint the commissioners, a practice which was done in certain countries in the region.
It can follow the footstep to that of the judiciary - where a judicial appointments commission was recently announced to be set up by the government after persistent complaints over the non-transparent selection process, Liu noted.
The activist, who presented a paper in Australia last September to draw a comparison between Suhakam and other regional human rights institutions, said the enabling act of Suhakam need to be amended.
“In the Suhakam Act, it is not stated that the experience and knowledge in human rights is a criteria to be appointed as commissioner. There is a need to amend the law on this otherwise Suhakam will turn into (like what some said as) the dumping ground for retirees,” he pointed out.
“There was one commissioner who doesn’t even know what Rela (people volunteers’ corps) was in one of the meetings,” claimed Liu.Under the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, it is only stated that the commissioners shall be appointed from among “prominent personalities include those from various religious and racial backgrounds”.
The commissioners are appointed by the king on the recommendation of the prime minister. Although the act allows the appointment of up to 20 commissioners, Suhakam at present has 18.
According to commissioner N Siva Subramaniam, each of the commissioner enjoy a RM7,000 monthly allowance, petrol claims and given a Proton Perdana during their service at Suhakam.
Avoid waste of public funds
A Suhakam insider however argued that due to the part-time nature of the job, the commitment and efficiency of certain commissioners do not tally with the allowances and perks they enjoyed.
“Some just turn up once in a month as they usually said they are busy,” said the insider, referring to the commission’s monthly meeting.The commission’s system where two commissioners are placed on duty from Monday to Friday to deal with the Suhakam’s affairs, such as receiving complainants, are not being followed.
The insider argued that the allowances allocated to the 18 commissioners, amounting to at least RM126,000 each month, should be consolidated to hire full-time commissioners to enhance the commission’s efficiency and to avoid a waste of public funds.
“Five or six commissioners will do if they are real effective,” another Suhakam source stressed.
The source also revealed that a recent move by the commission to change about 10 of the Proton Perdanas - those in use for more than five years - for the commissioners have prompted grouses among some officers who argued it is unnecessary.
Suhakam secretary Ahmad Yusuf Ngah when asked on this however declined to comment.
Suhakam has a chequered history in defending human rights, with NGOs frequently complaining about its ineffectiveness.
Most of the commission’s recommendations over the past eight years have been ignored by the government, while repeated attempts to get the Suhakam annual report to be debated in Parliament have proven futile.
The government has previously stated that it has no intention of giving the commission any ‘teeth’, in terms of enforcement of recommendations. Suhakam only acts as an advisory body to the government at present.
