US State Department Report on Human Rights in Malaysia - 6 of 8

["M.G.G. Pillai" <pillai@mgg.pc.my>]

d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and
Repatriation

Citizens generally have the right to travel, live, and work where they
please; however, the Government restricts these rights in some
circumstances. The East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak have the right
to control immigration into them and to require citizens from peninsular
West Malaysia and foreigners to present passports or national identity cards
for entry. In 1998 the Court of Appeal ruled that Sabah and Sarawak, despite
their autonomy, still are bound by the federal Constitution in all matters.
Thus, the court voided Sabah's expulsion of a West Malaysian attorney who
had been involved in several lawsuits against the state government. In May
the Sabah state government filed an appeal of the ruling. The Federal
Government regulates the internal movement of provisionally released ISA
detainees (see Section 1.d.). The Government also uses the Restricted
Residence Act to limit movements of those suspected of some criminal
activities (see Section 1.d.).

The Government generally does not restrict emigration.

Citizens must apply for the Government's permission to travel to Israel.
Travel to Jerusalem for a religious purpose is allowed explicitly.

The Government has not ratified the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and rejects customary international law. The Government
does not recognize the principle of first asylum; however, it sometimes
grants temporary refuge to asylum seekers. In September Foreign Minister
Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said, "we allow people for temporary stay and
when that stay is over they have to go back. We have never granted anybody
refugee status." In 1998 the Government forcibly returned several hundred
Acehnese, despite representations from the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and the international community, and evidence that the
Acehnese might face persecution upon return to Indonesia. The Government
continues to refuse to acknowledge that any Indonesian illegal aliens,
including Acehnese, have a claim to refugee status. However, there were no
incidents of deportation, harassment, and detention of Acehnese persons
during the year.

The Government did not restrict the access of undetained asylum seekers to
the UNHCR office and cooperated in the resettlement of some refugees.
However, the Government only infrequently granted the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations access to detained aliens. There were some forced
expulsions of asylum seekers and refugees.

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change
Their Government

By law citizens have the right to change their government through periodic
elections; however, while votes generally are recorded accurately, there are
some irregularities that affect the fairness of elections, and in practice
opposition parties cannot compete on equal terms with the governing
coalition (which has held power at the national level since 1957) because of
severe restrictions on campaigning, freedom of association, freedom of
assembly. Nevertheless, opposition candidates campaign actively. In the
November elections, the opposition roughly doubled its strength to 25
percent of federal parliamentary seats and an opposition party won control
of two state governments (the opposition won control of one state government
in the 1995 elections). Prime Minister Mahathir has held power since 1981.

Malaysia has a parliamentary system of government. National elections are
required at least every 5 years and have been held regularly since
independence in 1957. The Malay-based United Malay National Organization
(UMNO) party dominates the ruling National Front coalition, which has ruled
Malaysia continuously since independence. Since 1969 the National Front
coalition always has maintained a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which
enables the Government to amend the Constitution at will. Over the years,
power increasingly has been concentrated in the executive branch, i.e., the
Prime Minister.

The lack of equal access to the media was the most serious problem
encountered by the opposition in the November elections (see Section 2.a.).
Government officials frankly stated that government television and radio
would not carry reporting on the opposition. The country's two private
television stations also had virtually no impartial reporting on the
opposition. The mainstream English-language and Malay-language newspapers
also carried slanted coverage of domestic politics. In addition opposition
parties encountered difficulties in placing paid advertisements in
newspapers; however, a few opposition advertisements did appear, after
editing by the newspapers, in English- and Chinese- language newspapers.

Opposition leaders credibly stated that the Election Commission, which is
responsible for holding and monitoring elections, did not carry out its
duties impartially. The Election Commission is nominally independent but
widely perceived by the opposition to be under the control of the
Government. In June Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Datuk Seri
Abdullah Badawi said that there was no need to consult the opposition on the
appointment of a new election commission chairman. Opposition leaders said
that Prime Minister Mahathir's remark in June that the Government would "not
entertain" an opposition demand for a long campaign period in upcoming
elections demonstrated the lack of independence of the Election Commission
(supposedly the Commission has the sole power to set the length of the
campaign period). After the election, several government officials publicly
disputed opposition claims that the Election Commission was biased.

Opposition leaders also complained that local government officials who serve
as election officers are not always neutral. For example in July the
opposition National Justice Party filed a complaint with the Election
Commission accusing a district officer in the state of Perak of
participating in an UMNO party event. The Election Commission later
announced that it completed its investigation but did not reveal its
findings. After the election, there were some complaints about
irregularities during the counting of ballots. At year's end, these
complaints were not substantiated, and there is no evidence that the conduct
of election officers significantly affected the results of the election;
however, the Government did not permit international monitoring or
adequately allow for domestic NGO monitoring efforts.

Opposition parties and some NGO's also alleged that defective voting rolls
led to some fraudulent votes. In the Sabah state elections in March,
opposition leaders accused the ruling coalition of employing "phantom"
voters (illegal aliens and other fraudulently documented voters). NGO's
analysis of the voting roll used in the November national elections also
revealed irregularities, such as dead persons on the rolls, multiple voters
registered under single identity card numbers, and other anomalies; however,
there is no evidence that these irregularities significantly affected the
results in more than a handful of races. After the election, an election
monitoring NGO renewed its calls for a national reregistration exercise to
produce a clean electoral roll.

"Postal votes," or absentee ballots by police and military personnel and
their spouses, also are a concern. The Government, citing security concerns,
does not allow party agents to monitor absentee ballot boxes placed on
military and police installations. Opposition parties question the rationale
for such security restrictions. Opposition parties and NGO's have raised
credible allegations of improper manipulation of postal votes, including
statements by former military personnel that their ballots were filled out
by others or under they eye of commanding officers. In the November
elections, the Election Commission changed some procedures to allow better
monitoring by Election Commission officers. Opposition parties continue to
call for monitoring of postal votes by party agents. Election Commission
officials estimated before the November election that roughly 235,000 postal
votes would be cast. No count of the actual number of postal votes was
published by year's end.

The anonymity of balloting also is a potential concern. Ballots are marked
with a serial number that could be matched against a voter's name. While
there is no evidence that the Government has ever traced individual votes,
some opposition leaders allege that the potential to do so has a chilling
effect on some voters, particularly civil servants.

Gerrymandering dilutes the votes of some citizens. The Constitution states
that parliamentary constituencies should have roughly equal numbers of
eligible voters, although the same section states that greater weight should
be given to rural constituencies. In practice these guidelines often are
ignored. For example in Sabah constituencies are weighted strongly against
the state's large Christian population. Nationwide the constitutional
provision giving greater weight to rural constituencies greatly dilutes the
voting power of urban residents. Finally, the single member, winner-take-all
system diminishes the political power of the minority ethnic Indians.
Because of the changing dynamics of ethnic politics, ethnic gerrymandering
of parliamentary constituencies, used against the opposition in the past, is
believed to no longer be as great an advantage to the ruling coalition.

Other government measures hamper the opposition's ability to compete with
the incumbent ruling coalition. For example the Government on several
occasions issued oblique public warnings to civil servants, including
teachers (see Section 2.a.) not to support the opposition. An application to
form a new political party was rejected (see Section 2.b.). Students face
certain restrictions on political activity (see Section 2.b.). Government
leaders routinely and openly threaten to cut off federal funds beyond the
constitutionally mandated minimum to constituencies that elect opposition
representatives. Ruling coalition Members of Parliament receive a government
allocation totaling in aggregate roughly $25 million (95 million ringgit).
Opposition Members of Parliament receive no such funds. In July a government
minister told Parliament that the money only was given to ruling coalition
Members of Parliament because it came from the Government.

The opposition has complained in the past about restrictions on public
assemblies during the campaign period (see Section 2.b.). In the period
prior to the November elections, police did not implement vigorously
restrictions and the opposition held many large rallies. The opposition also
has stated that the short official campaign period gives an advantage to the
incumbent ruling coalition. However, de facto campaigning began long before
the November elections and there is little evidence that the short official
campaign period had much practical effect.

In August Prime Minister Mahathir stated that the ruling coalition's failure
to win a two-thirds majority in Parliament in 1969 had resulted in
widespread rioting and said that if a "weak government" were elected, "the
peace of the country could not be guaranteed." Opposition leaders complained
that these statements were a threat to instigate violence if the ruling
coalition should lose the two-thirds majority in the upcoming elections
(which did not happen). Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang called on the
Government to pledge to accept the results of the upcoming election. The
Government made no response.

Prime Minister Mahathir said in June that he expected upcoming elections to
be "the dirtiest ever." For different reasons, the opposition expressed
similar fears. The Government did not respond to the opposition's call for
an election code to ensure that the upcoming elections would be free, fair,
and clean. A group of NGO's formed an independent elections watch
organization. The Election Commission stated that the NGO's were free to do
so, but the election watch organization was accorded no special privileges.
(The law does not provide for monitoring of polling stations except by
political party agents.) In June the Government publicly rejected the idea
of foreign observers. The Government also rejected opposition calls for
foreign observers in Sabah state elections in March. (The last time that
foreign observers monitored elections was in 1990.) After the election, the
Prime Minister continued to allege that the opposition engaged in dirty
tactics, including slander. At year's end, the election results still were
not gazetted officially and it was unclear if the ruling coalition or the
opposition parties would, as allowed by law, appeal the results of any
parliamentary races.

Opposition parties filed objections to the results of 17 of 48 seats
contested in the Sabah state elections in March. In July and August, courts
rejected the first of two of these petitions. In October a third petition
was dropped. The other petitions still were pending at year's end.

In the past, within the ruling UMNO party there had been active political
debate. "No-contest" rules for leadership positions and generally increased
intolerance of dissent limited but did not eliminate UMNO's role as a
vehicle for public debate. After the removal of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar
in 1998, intolerance of dissent within UMNO increased. In 1998 an
extraordinary UMNO Assembly approved a series of measures designed to limit
independent grassroots initiatives. During the year, there were no contests
for leadership positions in UMNO.

Over the years, Parliament's function as a deliberative body has
deteriorated. Legislation proposed by the Government rarely is amended or
rejected. Legislation proposed by the opposition is never given serious
consideration. Opposition opportunities to hold legislation up to public
scrutiny have diminished. The Parliament in 1995 amended its rules to
strengthen the power of the Speaker and curb parliamentary procedures
heavily used by the opposition. The amendments empowered the Speaker to ban
unruly members for up to 10 days, imposed limits on deputies' ability to
pose supplementary questions and revisit nongermane issues, and established
restrictions on the tabling of questions of public importance. Further
measures in 1997 and 1998 limited even more severely members' opportunities
to question and debate government policies. Nonetheless, government
officials often face sharp questioning in Parliament, although this is not
always reported in detail in the mainstream press.

State assemblies also limit debate. For example in December the speaker of
the Penang state assembly refused to allow an independent assemblyman to ask
which constituencies had received the largest budget allocations for road
repairs. The speaker said that the question was "prejudicial to the public
interest." After the 1969 intercommunal riots, the Government abolished
elected local government in favor of municipal committees and village chiefs
appointed by state governments. Some politicians and NGO activists have
advocated reintroduction of local government. Even some ruling party
municipal officials have noted that local bodies are simply "rubber stamps"
for the Government. Because of racial and political factors (non-Malays are
more concentrated in urban areas), the Government is not expected to
reintroduce elected local government soon.

Women face no legal limits on participation in government and politics;
however, they remain underrepresented due to social and other factors. At
year's end, 2 of 28 cabinet ministers were women. Women hold 20 of 193 seats
in the elected lower house of Parliament and 18 of 69 seats in the appointed
upper house. Women also hold some high-level judgeships. In 1998 the
Minister of National Unity and Social Development stated that the country
would not achieve its goal of 30 percent female representation in the
Government by 2005. The Minister stated that the 1998 rate of participation
(defined as the percentage of female representatives in Parliament and in
state assemblies) was 6 to 7 percent. The Islamic opposition party does not
allow female candidates. In the past, it has supported female candidates of
other parties.

Ethnic minorities are represented in cabinet-level positions in government,
as well as in senior civil service positions. Nevertheless, the political
dominance of the Malay majority means in practice that ethnic Malays hold
the most powerful senior leadership positions. Non-Malays fill 9 of the 28
cabinet posts. An ethnic Chinese leader of a component party of the ruling
coalition holds executive power in the state of Penang.

Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental
Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

A number of NGO's, including the Bar Council and other public interest
groups, devote considerable attention to human rights. The Government
generally tolerates their activities but often does not respond to their
inquiries or press statements. Government officials harshly criticize
domestic NGO's for collaborating with foreigners, including international
human rights organizations. However, at year's end, no group had been banned
or decertified. Public apathy and racial divisions (non-Malays had dominated
most human rights NGO's) have limited the effectiveness of NGO's in past
years. However, public discontent over the 1998 removal of Deputy Prime
Minister Anwar has given some impetus to NGO agendas among the Malay
community.

In 1998 the Government amended the Companies Act to grant the Registrar of
Companies wide powers to block or disband organizations deemed prejudicial
to national security or the national interest. In May the Government
announced that it was planning to table amendments to the Registration of
Businesses Act to enable the Government to track the activities and
movements of organizations registered under the act (see Section 2.b.).

The Government generally does not allow international human rights
organizations to form branches; however, it generally does not restrict
access by representatives of international human right organizations. A
February report issued by the IPU on prison conditions (see Section 1.c.)
notes that, while the Government welcomed the December 1998 investigative
mission, the IPU delegation was not able to make important appointments and
was not allowed to meet privately with Lim Guan Eng. Several foreign human
rights observers have attended sessions of Anwar's two trials.

In July Parliament passed legislation to form a National Human Rights
Commission. The Commission's functions and powers would include promoting
awareness of human rights, helping the Government to draft laws and
regulations concerning human rights, advising the Government on acceding to
human rights treaties, inquiring into human rights complaints, inspecting
places of detention, and hearing witnesses and receiving evidence on human
rights questions. At year's end, the 20 members of the Commission had not
yet been appointed. The Government pledged that the Commission would be
independent, but opposition leaders were skeptical. The legislation creating
the Commission defines human rights as "the fundamental liberties provided
for" in the federal Constitution and restricts the application of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights to those provisions consistent with
the Constitution. Opposition leaders and NGO's, including the Bar Council,
criticized the definition as too narrow. At year's end, it was unclear how
these provisions would be implemented.

In February the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression
issued a report stating that freedom of opinion is curtailed systematically
in Malaysia (see Section 2.a.).

A February IPU report stated that the conditions of imprisonment of
opposition Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng did not comply with
international standards (see Section 1.c.).

Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability, Language,
or Social Status

The Constitution provides for equal protection under the law and prohibits
discrimination against citizens based on religion, race, descent, or place
of birth. Although neither the Constitution nor laws explicitly prohibit
discrimination based on sex or disabilities, the Government has tried to
eliminate discrimination against women and promote greater public acceptance
of the disabled. Government policies give preferences to ethnic Malays in
housing, home ownership, the awarding of government contracts, educational
scholarships, and other areas.

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