The Malaysian Insight

PUTRAJAYA will be meticulous in its effort to sign on to a global treaty against torture and cruel punishment after the debacle over the convention against racial discrimination, said Hanipa Maidin.  

The deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said Pakatan Harapan doesn’t want to sign on to another United Nations human rights convention only to have to withdraw from it after a public backlash.

This time, said Hanipa, the government wants the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to have more public engagement sessions over UNCAT or the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Hanipa, who handles the law portfolio, said Malaysia’s shariah system will be one element that has to be taken into account in whether or not to ratify UNCAT.

This is since some shariah punishments proscribe caning for Muslims found guilty for offences such as adultery and consuming alcohol.

“To me (the syariah system) is not an obstacle because the convention does allow for exceptions,” Hanipa told reporters on the sidelines of Suhakam’s latest public dialogue on UNCAT.

“But it’s how you conduct the public engagement. I believe that if you explain it properly, society can accept it.

“We have experienced ICERD where we ratified it and then we had to withdraw. So for (UNCAT), we have to be more meticulous about it.”

“I personally do not see an obstacle ratifying it,” said Hanipa.

PH has had to retreat from ratifying two global treaties – the UN convention to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination and the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court (ICC).

This is after Umno, PAS and their allies mounted protests claiming that the two conventions threatened the constitutional provisions on the Malays’ special position and Malay rulers.

Although the government and legal experts said these fears were unfounded, it still backtracked from signing the laws.

Critics accused the administration of failing to explain these treaties to the public as what appeared to be anger from the Malay community was actually ignorance.  

Hanipa said today the government has not set a deadline on ratifying UNCAT so as to allow Suhakam to conduct as much public engagement as possible.

During his speech, Hanipa urged Suhakam to take into account the religious sensitivities of different segments of society when it holds its dialogues on UNCAT.

“We cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach and there is already the perception in society that human rights is a Western creation. We have a lot of challenges in getting these statutes passed, especially in terms of convincing people,” Hanipa said.

“We have to explain to all segments of society, especially the rural areas because people see human rights as a Western concept.” – July 8, 2019.