HRW: End Crackdown on Peaceful Campaigners

(Bangkok, June 30, 2011) – The Malaysian government should immediately end its crackdown on the  Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) and release everyone  arbitrarily detained for involvement in its activities, Human Rights Watch said  today. Police should return all Bersih-related materials confiscated  during the past week and cease pursuing spurious criminal charges,  including sedition and “waging war against the king,” against peaceful political activists, Human Rights Watch said.  

On June 29, 2011, police raided Bersih’s office at the organization Empower, arresting  seven people and confiscating computers, office equipment, Bersih  literature, posters, and t-shirts. According to the inspector general of police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar, 101 people have been arrested on various charges  in the past five days for promoting what he termed an “illegal  assembly,” namely Bersih’s planned march in Kuala Lumpur on July 9.

“The Malaysian government’s  crackdown on an electoral reform group shows utter disregard both for  free expression and for the democratic process,” said Phil Robertson,  deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments that elected Malaysia to a second term on the UN Human Rights Council might feel duped.”

The Malaysian government,  instead of responding substantively to Bersih’s eight-point electoral  reform program, has begun an apparent campaign to discredit the  coalition and to scare off Malaysians who had considered participating in the July 9 march.

Thirty members of the opposition Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) remain in  custody in Penang after being arrested on June 25 on the way to a  political rally under the draconian charge of “waging war against the king” of Malaysia. The  inspector general of police told journalists that “foreign elements” – whom he declined to identify – were involved and would take advantage of the unrest if the rally went ahead.

Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia recognizes the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly, speech and expression  that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In  seeking a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, Malaysia pledged in an official communication to other governments on March 9,  2010 that it “reaffirms its full commitment to the promotion and  protection of human rights at both the domestic and international  levels.”

The  government is seeking to prosecute Bersih leaders and activists under  laws such as the Sedition Act of 1948 and the Police Act of 1967 in  violation of fundamental rights recognized under international law, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch urged the Malaysian government to end its crackdown on  Bersih and instead promptly initiate discussions with the Bersih  steering committee and representatives of the 60 civil society groups that endorsed Bersih’s proposed  electoral reforms.