MEMBERS of Parliament must debate the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s (Suhakam) annual report at the next sitting so that human rights concerns can be addressed effectively, said commissioner Jerald Joseph.

The acting Suhakam chairman said that it wanted de facto Law Minister V. K. Liew to bring a motion for the report to be debated.

“Our reports have never been debated before.  

“This is also for our MPs to participate in issues pertaining to human rights. I’m sure the MPs will also be raising issues in their areas.

“We are willing to prepare whatever answers Liew needs for the debates,” he said after the launch of Suhakam’s annual report today.

The report has been passed to the MPs and tabled on April 11, the last day of the first Parliament sitting.

Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto had stated that Suhakam’s annual report will be debated in Parliament so that proposals receive appropriate attention.

Joseph said the report must be debated according to the Suhakam Act.  

“The tabling and debate should be done simultaneously. All these years, the report is tabled but never debated,” he said.

He said there is no particular order the topics in the report should be debated, but “everything in the report must be debated.

Suhakam Comissioner Lok Yim Pheng said she had attended a parliamentary select committee meeting where all the MPs had supported the idea for the report to be debated.

“We were told to submit the report to Liew who will have to bring a motion. We hope there will be an opportunity to do so at the coming sitting,” she said. 

Lok said Suhakam has officially written to Liew asking for the report to be debated but that was not possible due to time constraints. The report was tabled on April 11.

“If they are going to debate the report, then we need to prepare the answers. 

“We are confident that it will be debated in the future.”  – April 19, 2019.