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Censorship, sedition probes: is Perikatan Nasional’s Malaysia ‘sliding down the democracy scale’?
- Rights groups warn the government is backtracking on the progress made under its predecessor, the Pakatan Harapan
- Sedition investigations have tripled, while repressive laws and the harassment of journalists are being used to stifle dissent, critics say
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Increased censorship, government proposals to revive a law against fake news and a tripling of investigations into alleged seditious activity since 2019 all point to a loss of civil liberties that could see Malaysia “slide down the democracy scale”, rights groups are warning.
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Observers say the Perikatan Nasional coalition government has taken a marked turn from the approach of its predecessor, the more permissive Pakatan Harapan, which was voted into power in May 2018 but unceremoniously turfed out in a political coup in February this year.
“As a country that was being celebrated as a beacon of hope for reforms and change in 2018, recent non-movements on human rights will be viewed with trepidation by others in the region and globally,” said Jerald Joseph, a commissioner at Malaysia’s national human rights commission, Suhakam.
His remarks follow a decision by parliament last week not to discuss an annual report by Suhakam that had called for greater protections for indigenous peoples, women and children, victims of human trafficking and refugees. Parliament, currently engaged in vociferous debate on the 2021 federal budget, cited more pressing issues.
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But Joseph said the silence on the report was just one of the concerns facing human rights in the country.
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