IS THE delay in appointing Suhakam commissioners due to the prime minister looking for his supporters to fill in the positions, asked opposition member of Parliament Charles Santiago today.

“I can only hope the delay isn’t because the government is trying to appoint its supporters to sit on the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He also urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s special officer Kamarul Zalman Yusoff not to be too defensive in addressing criticism over the delay.

The DAP lawmaker also said Kamarul need not drag in the Pakatan Harapan administration to justify the delay in the appointments now.

Earlier today, responding to criticism, Kamarul said the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has already started to prepare a list of candidates for the vacant Suhakam positions.

He said the list would be presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong but did not specify a date.

He also said that the previous PH administration had taken two months to fill in the vacant positions in 2019.

Yesterday, several politicians, including Santiago, panned the government for dragging their feet in appointing new commissioners to Suhakam.Addressing Kamarul’s remarks today, Santiago said the government has shown little interest in strengthening democracy in the country.

“No political will to entrench freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and association.”

“The government continues to clamp down on legitimate dissent. It uses preventive laws to target activists and opposition politicians,” the Klang MP said.

Kamarul had also defended the prime minister’s stand on human rights, listing down several achievements of Ismail Sabri in defending them, including in calling for a free media.

Santiago however said all these were mere lip service.

“Yes the prime minister says lots of things, including clever words such as the media “remaining” free.”

“The media here is anything but free,” he said.

Santiago pointed out the harassment faced by Al-Jazeera and local reporters who revealed the immigration’s abuse of power in 2020, a period when Ismail Sabri was the defence minister under the Muhyiddin Yassin-led government.

In July 2020, as Malaysia was under movement restriction, reporters of Qatari broadcasters Al-Jazeera in Malaysia were investigated by authorities in relation to their documentary on the treatment of migrant workers in the country during lockdown.

Officials claimed that the 25-minute report was inaccurate, misleading, and unfair.

Then, Ismail Sabri wanted the international television channel broadcasters to apologise for coming up with an allegedly false report on the country. – June 10, 2022.