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Freedom in the World 2001 - Malaysia

Publisher Freedom House
Publication Date 2001
Cite as Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2001 - Malaysia, 2001, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5278c94522.html [accessed 7 June 2023]
DisclaimerThis is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

2001 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 5.0
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 5

Overview

After winning an election in 1999 that saw a large swing in support to the Islamic fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (Pas), the ruling National Front coalition tried in 2000 to appeal to conservative Muslims while cracking down on Pas and on liberal activists.

Malaysia was established in 1963 through a merger of independent, ex-British Malaya with the British colonies of Sarawak, Sabah, and Singapore (Singapore withdrew in 1965). The 14-party, ruling National Front has captured at least a two-thirds lower house majority in ten straight general elections since 1957. The Front consists of several race-based parties, led by the conservative, Malay-based United Malays National Organization (UMNO). Since taking office as prime minister in 1981, Mahathir Mohamad has promoted economic development and racial harmony while restricting political dissent. Until recently, his greatest political challenge came in the late 1980s, when a breakaway UMNO faction formed Semangat '46 (Spirit of '46, the year UMNO was founded in Malaya) and joined the country's first Malay-led opposition coalition. However, the opposition foundered in the 1990 elections and Semangat '46 rejoined the Front in 1996.

Mahathir's policies helped Malaysia achieve nearly a decade of 8 percent economic growth by the time the regional financial crisis began in 1997, but also contributed to excessive corporate borrowing and a high current account deficit. Critics also accused the government of tolerating crony capitalism and accumulating a large public debt. By spring 1998 the economy was heading into recession, and Mahathir's calls for expansionary fiscal and monetary policies drew open criticism from Anwar Ibrahim, the deputy prime minister and Mahathir's presumed successor. In September, Mahathir fired Anwar and had him jailed on corruption and sodomy charges. In the following months, police forcibly dispersed unprecedented antigovernment demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur and several towns that drew thousands of students and other youths who called for "reformasi" (reform).

Following a seven-month trial that drew international and domestic criticism, a court convicted Anwar of abuse of power in April 1999. Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Ismail, responded by founding Keadilan (the National Justice Party), which entered into a new, opposition Alternative Front coalition with Pas, the main Malay-based opposition party; the ethnic Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP); and the Tamil-based Malaysian People's Party. At the November 29 elections, held under a 72 percent turnout, the National Front won 148 seats, led by UMNO with 72; the Alternative Front, 42 (Pas, 27; DAP, 10; Keadilan, 5); and Parti Bersatu Sabah, an opposition party based in Sabah state, 3. While Keadilan had presented itself as a secular, Malay-based alternative to UMNO, which lost 16 seats, the biggest swing, of 20 seats, went to the Islamic-oriented Pas, which apparently gained the support of many conservative Malays angered by Mahathir's treatment of Anwar. Strong support from the Chinese and Indian minorities helped the Front retain its two-thirds majority, but its share of the popular vote fell to 56 percent from 65 percent in 1995. The Alternative Front named Pas president Fadzil Noor as parliamentary opposition leader on December 8.

Shortly after the election, Mahathir announced that he was beginning what would be his last term. On May 11, 2000, UMNO returned Mahathir as party president and Deputy Prime Minister Abdulah Ahmad Badawi, his likely successor, as deputy president after party leaders successfully discouraged challenges for the top posts.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Malaysians have a limited ability to change their government through elections. While elections are generally free, they are not fair because of the government's partisan use of state-run media and other resources and its use of numerous security laws to restrict freedoms of expression, assembly, and association. Nevertheless, in the 1999 elections, the opposition Pas retained control of Kelantan state and captured oil-rich Terengganu for the first time.

The constitution provides for a house of representatives (193 seats in the 1999 elections), which is directly elected for a five-year term, and a 58-member senate. Executive power is vested in a prime minister and cabinet. The king serves as a largely ceremonial head of state, but can delay legislation for 30 days.

The opposition alleged that Mahathir timed the 1999 elections to prevent the participation of some 650,000 new voters, who had registered in spring 1999 amid unprecedented antigovernment demonstrations. The law did not allow voters who signed up during the spring registration period to cast ballots until January 2000. The Bangkok-based Asian Network for Free Elections said its election monitors had found evidence of irregularities in the voter-registration process and of ineligible voters casting ballots. A local monitoring group, Permantau, also reported irregularities. Following UMNO's victory in the March 1999 Sabah state elections, the opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah and human rights groups had accused the Front of bribing and intimidating voters, charges the Front denied.

While these accusations of irregularities are plausible, an arguably greater problem is the government's use of the law and state resources to undermine the opposition. The government said in September that rather than continue paying oil royalties due to Terengganu directly to the state administration, it would disburse the money through a federal agency that would choose projects for funding. Critics charged the government with trying to undermine Terengganu's opposition administration. In March, Malacca withdrew some state business from banks and professionals suspected of supporting the opposition during the 1999 general elections.

In its country report for 1999, the United States State Department noted, "A number of high-profile cases continued to cast doubt on judicial impartiality and independence, and to raise questions of arbitrary verdicts, selective prosecution, and preferential treatment of some litigants and lawyers." In August, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists condemned as "politically motivated" a court decision to sentence Anwar to nine years in jail for sodomy, to be served following his six-year jail term for abuse of power. In ordinary cases, defendants enjoy most due process rights. However, in some circumstances police can deny detainees access to legal counsel, and there are restrictions on the right to appeal.

The government can detain suspects without judicial review or formal charges under the 1960 Internal Security Act (ISA), the 1969 Emergency Ordinance, and the 1985 Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA). Both the ISA and the Emergency Ordinance permit authorities to detain suspects for up to two years. Enacted at a time when Malaysia faced a Communist insurgency, the ISA has, in recent years, been used by authorities for long-term detention of suspected Communist activists, ordinary suspects, and "religious extremists," and occasionally to detain non-Communist political opponents for under 60 days. According to the U.S. State Department's country report for 1999, the Home Ministry said in late 1998 that authorities were detaining 223 persons under the ISA, nearly all of them for document forgery or illegal alien smuggling. While there were no figures available for detentions under the Emergency Ordinance, the State Department report said that police had detained 1,375 suspected drug traffickers under the DDA in 1999.

The government has also curbed dissent by using the Official Secrets Act, criminal defamation laws, the 1984 Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), which bars the publication of "malicious" news, and the colonial-era Sedition Act, which restricts public discussion on issues defined as sensitive, including certain racial and religious topics. In January, authorities charged two opposition leaders with sedition and a third under the Official Secrets Act. During the year, the social activist Irene Fernandez continued to stand trial after being accused in 1996 of "malicious publication of false news" over a 1995 report by her organization, Tenaganita, which detailed alleged abuse and torture of migrant workers at detention camps. The DAP deputy leader, Lim Guan Eng, spent 12 months in jail in 1998 and 1999 under the Sedition Act and the PPPA for having publicly criticized the government's handling of statutory rape allegations against a former state chief minister in 1994.

The media face numerous constraints, and journalists practice self-censorship. In May, a court convicted and fined the printer of Harakah, the Pas newspaper, after he pleaded guilty to sedition over an article in which the jailed Anwar accused Mahathir of conspiracy. Having pleaded not guilty in the same case, Harakah's editor was on trial for sedition at year's end. In March, authorities used the PPPA to withdraw the publishing license of the pro-opposition Detik magazine, ostensibly on technical grounds, and to restrict Harakah to two editions per month from twice-weekly. The PPPA permits the government to ban or restrict allegedly "subversive" publications, requires newspapers to renew their licenses annually, and prohibits publications from challenging such actions in court. Previously, the government had closed three newspapers under the PPPA in 1987.

Most major newspapers are owned by individuals and companies close to the ruling National Front, and their coverage favors the government. State-run Radio Television Malaysia is the major broadcaster and mainly offers pro-government views. Prior to the 1999 elections, government officials openly said the state broadcast media would not cover the opposition.

In recent years, authorities have permitted the opposition somewhat greater campaigning opportunities by relaxing a 1969 ban on political rallies during campaigns. The government had permitted only indoor "discussion sessions." Since the reformasi movement began in September 1998, police have permitted some antigovernment demonstrations but have forcibly dispersed others and arrested hundreds of demonstrators, including peaceful protesters. Many of those arrested were acquitted, although some were convicted. The 1967 Police Act requires permits for all public assemblies except for workers on picket lines. The government tightened its policy in March, when it banned public rallies in Kuala Lumpur.

The newly formed, official National Human Rights Commission began receiving complaints in April, mainly of police abuse. However, the commission lacks enforcement powers. The U.S. State Department and Amnesty International have reported in recent years that police have abused some protesters during and after antigovernment demonstrations, and have also occasionally tortured or otherwise abused ordinary detainees.

Under the 1966 Societies Act, authorities have refused to register some organizations and have deregistered some political opposition groups. The act requires any association (including political parties) of more than six members to register with the government. Nongovernmental organizations operate openly but face some harassment.

While Islam is the official religion, non-Muslims worship freely in this secular country. Authorities restrict and monitor some "deviant" Islamic sects including the Shias, periodically detain members of deviant sects under the ISA, and restrict the content of sermons at government-affiliated mosques. The government blamed Islamic fundamentalists for an armed hostage crisis in early July that killed three people, and cited the incident as evidence of the need to maintain these restrictions.

Sharia (Islamic law) courts have authority over family and property matters in the Muslim community. In each of the nine states with traditional sultans, the sultan is at the apex of the Islamic religious establishment. The king, who is elected by and from among the nine sultans, supervises Islamic affairs in the four remaining states. In recent years, Mahathir has angered religious leaders by advocating a progressive practice of Islam, criticizing the ulama (religious scholars) who head the Sharia courts for discrimination against women, and proposing to unify the state Islamic laws under a federal system. Pas-controlled administrations in Kelantan and Terengganu have imposed some religious-based dress, dietary, and cultural restrictions on Muslims.

The government has taken numerous measures to promote women's equality and is generally responsive to the problems of sexual harassment in the workplace and violence against women, including domestic violence and rape. The 1999 U.S. State Department report noted, "Malaysia is a source, transit point, and destination country for trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation."

Ethnic Malays enjoy quotas in education, the civil service, and business affairs. The government established the quotas in 1971 in response to anti-Chinese riots in 1969. The riots occurred in the context of mounting Malay frustration over the economic success of the ethnic Chinese minority. In peninsular Malaysia, indigenous people have limited opportunity to own land on an individual basis, despite recent legal changes permitting them to do so. Indigenous people in eastern Malaysia allege that logging and plantation companies encroach on their land.

Most workers have the right to join trade unions and bargain collectively. The law allows a union to represent only workers in single, or similar, trades or industries. The government continued to discourage the formation of national unions in the export-oriented electronics industry. The law restricts the right to strike.

Mahathir has frequently denounced corruption within UMNO, and there is also evidence of corruption in business affairs. The Berlin-based Transparency International's 2000 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Malaysia 36 out of 90 countries with a score of 4.8 on a 0-to-10 scale, with Finland, the top-ranked and least corrupt country, receiving a 10.

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