UNIVERSITI Teknologi Mara (UiTM) academic Prof Dr Rahmat Mohamad, has been appointed the new chairman of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.

Along with the law and human rights lecturer, the PMO also announced the appointment of seven new commissioners.

The appointment comes more than two months after the previous commissioners’ tenure ended.

“The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has consented to the appointment of eight new commissioners for the session of 2022 to 2025.”

“The appointment was made under subsection 5(2) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999,” Ismail said in a statement.

Rahmat had earned notoriety in 2019 after he was among a four academics who had presented a paper to convince the Conference of Rulers to reject the Rome Statute or the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd)

The other academics who had presented the paper on April 2, were International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) law professor Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz,  Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (Usim) law lecturers Fareed Mohd Hassan and Hisham Hanapi.

The claim against them was made by a group of student activists who released an executive summary of the paper which was reported by news portal Malaysiakini

Following the report, Rahmat had subsequently told the portal he was not in a position to make any statements at the time.

Besides Rahmat, the other commissioners are Noor Azizah Mohd Awal, Hj Mohamed Nordin Ibrahim, Dr Chew Chee Ming (Sarawak), Mary@Mariati Robert (Sabah), Hasnal Revue Merican Habib Merican, Nazira Abdul Rahim and Ragunath Kesavan, a former Malaysian Bar president.

Their appointments will take effect on June 22.

The tenure of the previous nine Suhakam commissioners ended on April 26.

Of the nine, five had completed their two terms. They are May Weng Kwai, Jerald Joseph, Dr Nik Salida Suhaila Nik Saleh, Lok Yim Pheng and Godfrey Gregory Joitol.

The remaining commissioners who have completed their first term are Othman Hashim, Dr Madeline Berma Mohd Hishamuddin Md Yunus and Noor Aziah Mohd Awal (Children Commissioner). They were however not reappointed.

The delay of the prime minister to appoint new Suhakam commissioners drew flak from its former chairman as well as opposition politicians.

Mah Weng Kwai had called on Putrajaya to swiftly appoint new commissioners to ensure that the commission can keep up the momentum of its good work.

Opposition MPs meanwhile said Ismail’s delay in appointing new commissioners showed his lack of interest in human rights issues.

They said it is unacceptable for Putrajaya to drag its feet in filling up the vacant positions. – July 1, 2022.