MALAYSIA 2012 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy. It has a parliamentary system of government selected through periodic, multiparty elections and headed by a prime minister. The United Malays National Organization (UMNO), together with a coalition of political parties known as the National Front (BN), has held power since independence in 1957. The most recent national elections in 2008 were conducted in a generally transparent manner and witnessed significant opposition gains. In 2009 Najib Tun Razak became prime minister. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most significant human rights problems included restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, and association; restrictions on freedom of the press, including media bias, book banning, censorship, and the denial of printing permits; and restrictions on freedom of religion. Other human rights problems included some deaths during police apprehensions and while in police custody; caning as a form of punishment imposed by criminal and Sharia courts; the persistence of laws that allow detention without trial; restrictions on freedom of the press, including new laws to regulate Internet activity; bans on religious groups; restrictions on proselytizing and on the freedom to change one’s religion; obstacles preventing opposition parties from competing on equal terms with the ruling coalition; instances and perceptions of official corruption, the allegation of which sometimes led to harassment of whistleblowers and investigators; violence and discrimination against women; non-acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community; and restrictions on the rights of migrants, including migrant workers and refugees. Longstanding government policies gave preferences to ethnic Malays in many areas. There were restrictions on union and collective-bargaining activity, and various practices continued to create vulnerabilities to child labor and forced labor, especially for migrant workers. The government prosecuted some officials engaged in corruption and human rights abuses, although some degree of impunity continued to exist. Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life MALAYSIA 2 There were reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. One nongovernmental organization (NGO) reported 49 individuals were killed in police shootings during the year compared to 30 in 2011. State- influenced print media often used a common narrative to describe these encounters: Suspect was stopped by police, tried to attack police; police killed suspect in self-defense; evidence of criminal activity was found on suspect’s body. Local human rights groups suggested this pattern was used to justify deaths, usually of ethnic minorities, in the course of arrest or in police custody. On August 21, plainclothes police shot and killed Dinesh Darmasena Wijemanna in Ampang, Selangor. The police stated he was shot when he, along with four other men with machetes, meat cleavers, and iron rods, attacked a team of police officers. However, two witnesses claimed Dinesh was unarmed and the police shot and killed him at point-blank range. The police detained four witnesses at the scene and six more the next day as they were paying their respects to the deceased. The case was ongoing at year’s end. On December 24, K. Nagarajan was found dead on December 24 at Dang Wangi District police headquarters jail. He had been arrested on December 21 for alleged drug-related offenses. Police informed Nagarajan’s family he had died from a fall while in custody. Family members claimed they were not informed of the arrest, questioned why there was a delay in the autopsy, and questioned the overall circumstances of the death. There were no further details available at year’s end. On June 11, with regard to the 2009 death in custody of Ananthan Kugan, the high court convicted police constable Vivekanandan Navindran of causing “grievous hurt” to Kugan and sentenced him to three years in prison. The court had earlier overturned Navindran’s 2011 acquittal by the Selangor Sessions Court. On June 20, the prime minister confirmed the decision of the Attorney General’s Office to clear three Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers implicated in the 2009 death of Teoh Beng Hock. On July 19, the Kuala Lumpur High Court upheld the coroner’s court decision not to reach an official verdict in the death of R. Gunasegaran, who died while in police custody in 2009. However, the court noted other police districts should investigate future custodial death cases to ensure transparency, the first time a court had ever made such a recommendation. The police claimed Gunasegaran Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor MALAYSIA 3 collapsed while being fingerprinted; lawyers for his family argued he died from a kick to his chest by a police officer. On December 5, the high court acquitted police corporal Jenain Subi of causing the death of 15-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah in 2010. In September 2011 a sessions court found Jenain guilty of causing death by negligence and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment. Jenain, who was on patrol duty, discharged 21 gun shots purportedly in self-defense at the car driven by Aminulrasyid. The high court judge in acquitting Jenain ruled he was satisfied the police officer fired the shots merely to stop the car driven by Aminulrasyid and had no intention of killing the teenager. b. Disappearance There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment No law specifically prohibits torture; however, laws that prohibit “committing grievous hurt” encompass torture. On February 16, S. Mogan, a mechanic, alleged that five uniformed People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) members assaulted him while he was waiting for a customer whose car had broken down and along with three others beat him with batons and iron rods, breaking a bone in his leg. He claimed the RELA members then took him to the Taming Jaya police station where he underwent interrogation for more than three hours. In an effort to get him to confess to theft, four policemen continually beat, kicked, and stepped on him, used a rubber hose to hit his legs and feet, and pointed a gun at his head. Following his release, he claimed his car radio, speaker, mobile phone, tools, and 1,300 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) ($425) were missing. Mogan filed a complaint against the police, but police responded that his story did not match their version of events. There were no further reports on the investigation at year’s end. The criminal case against former Air Force Sergeant N. Tharmendran for allegedly conspiring to steal two jet engines in 2007 continued at year’s end. In 2010 he filed a police report alleging he was tortured into confessing to the crime. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor MALAYSIA 4 Criminal law prescribes caning as an additional punishment to imprisonment for those convicted of some nonviolent crimes, such as narcotics possession, criminal breach of trust, and alien smuggling. The law prescribes up to six strokes of the cane for both illegal immigrants and their employers. More than 60 offenses are subject to caning, and judges routinely included caning in sentences of those convicted of such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and robbery. The caning was carried out with a half-inch-thick wooden cane that could cause welts and scarring. The law exempts men older than 50 and all women from caning. Male children between the ages of 10 and 18 may be given up to 10 strokes of a “light cane.” The government published statistics on caning sporadically, but in a March statement in parliament the government revealed that between 2005 and 2011 it had caned 79,487 prisoners, of whom 46,338 were Malaysians and 33,149 were foreigners. A 2010 Amnesty International publication, A Blow to Humanity-- Torture by Caning in Malaysia, estimated the government caned as many as 10,000 prisoners a year. Some states’ Sharia laws--those governing family issues and crimes under Islam and which apply only to Muslims--also prescribe caning for certain offenses. Although federal law exempts all women from caning, there are no exemptions for women under Sharia, and the national courts have not yet resolved issues involving conflicts between the constitution, the penal code, and Sharia. Sharia caning uses a smaller cane and the caning official is not supposed to lift the cane above the shoulder, thus reducing the impact. Additionally, the cane does not touch any part of the flesh because the subject is fully covered with a robe. Local Islamic officials claimed the idea is not to injure but to make offenders ashamed of their sin so they will repent and not repeat the offense. During the year, Minister Nazri Aziz of the Prime Minister’s Department rejected a proposal from the National Parent-Teacher Association to reintroduce caning in schools. Nazri also called for review of the law providing for caning of illegal immigrants. Prison and Detention Center Conditions Prison conditions were harsh with some deaths of prisoners and detainees, particularly in police holding cells. Physical Conditions: Prison overcrowding, particularly in facilities near major cities, remained a serious problem. In mid-2011 the national prison administration reported that the country’s 29 prisons held 38,751 prisoners in facilities designed to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor MALAYSIA 5 hold 32,000. According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, in mid-2011 women made up 6.9 percent and juveniles 2.2 percent of the total prison population.