Anifah: Failure not reflection of M’sia’s human rights record
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia’s unsuccessful bid to secure a seat in the Human Rights Council does not reflect the country’s human rights record.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said that by implying Malaysia’s unsuccessful bid to the Human Rights Council is due to the failure of the leadership is a malicious and baseless accusation.
He said that in DAP leader Lim Kit Siang’s recent media statement, several accusations were hurled at the Prime Minister, his ministry and himself.
In a nutshell, the unsuccessful bid of Malaysia to secure a seat at the recently concluded Human Rights Council elections was seen and deduced by Kit Siang to be the yardstick by which Malaysia’s human rights record were seen and decided, Anifah said.
“In my reply to YB Liew Chin Tong, I provided some of the possible reasons for the unsuccessful bid and the fact that the loss in itself was not a depiction of Malaysia’s human rights record.
“In fact, I had also listed several of the Committees and Commissions to which Malaysia has been appointed to in order to further enlighten the readers on how Malaysia is perceived in the international community with regard to human rights issues.
“It is obvious that YB Lim Kit Siang decided to ignore all these achievements and take a rather personal approach with erroneous assumptions, constipated thoughts and unsubstantiated accusations linking (rather shallowly) Malaysia’s unsuccessful bid with the leadership of YAB Prime Minister and to stretch it as far as to even relate it to the issue of 1 MDB,” he stressed.
Anifah pointed out that if one were to play along with Kit Siang’s farcical argument that Malaysia’s international reputation and human rights standing plunged so precipitately under Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s premiership, then Malaysia’s appointment as coordinator of the APG Group in the Human Rights Council for 2016; being nominated to represent the APG in the Consultative Group for the term April 2017-March 2018, being a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (20152016), being a member of the UNESCO Executive Board (20152019); a member of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (2016-2019); a member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (2017-2022) or in the numerous other Committees and Commissions he mentioned in his earlier response, would not only debunk Kit Siang’s assumption, but sever the link completely.
All of the above came about under the current leadership, he said.
For if one truly understands the workings of an international organisation, one will appreciate the fact that an unsuccessful bid is not a reflection of what truly transpires in the domestic realm of a state, he stressed.
“An unsuccessful bid could be due to several reasons, which I had already explained in my earlier reply to YB Liew Chin Tong, which includes amongst others, securing ‘sympathy’ votes by first-time candidates and by candidates which had lost in its previous bid,” he disclosed.
Furthermore, for the term 2018-2020, with the exception of the Asia Pacific Group, all other Groups (Africa, East European, Latin America and Caribbean and West European) had a clean slate of candidates, meaning there was no competition for seats in the respective Groupings, hence, the reason why countries such as Angola and DRC got into the Council, Anifah said.
Also, for the author’s information, in deferring Malaysia’s bid for a Council seat from 2017-2019 to 2018-2020, countries which had agreed to QPQ arrangements (whereby a country expresses support for a candidate in exchange for support for his/her candidature in another organization), with Malaysia for the term 2017-2019 were unable to extend their support for Malaysia’s new bid as they had already promised their support to a another candidate, he said.
To further exacerbate the situation, countries such as Myanmar and North Korea renegaded on their promise to support Malaysia’s bid for the 2018-2020 term due to the unfortunate strain in ties, he explained.
“Accusations of ‘Malaysia’s international reputation and human rights standing plunged so precipitately under the current leadership’ is nothing more than an angry man venting his anger at the current leadership.
“The statement is weightless and downright nonsensical as he himself had argued that some countries which have terrible human rights records yet had got voted in. He therefore not only contradicts himself, but also proves that his theory linking the unsuccessful bid with the current leadership is flawed,” Anifah said.
Malaysia having secured two terms at the Human Rights Council previously in itself is a great achievement and a recognition of Malaysia’s human rights status, he pointed out.
“What is more, we now have friends in the Council who are willing to raise and discuss common human rights issues which affect us all, irrespective of our differences in political ideology.
“I do understand however that for the opposition, any calamity, negative news or unsuccessful bid needs to be linked to the current leadership, irrespective of how illogical, impractical and incredulous the accusation is. This here is a classic example.
“Those involved in the realm of international relations are acutely aware that a candidate (be it a State or a representative) does not win every time the name is put forward. This is attributed to the ever changing and fluid geopolitical circumstances and the constant variance in the landscape of international organisations. It’s a simple fact, but some unfortunately find it hard to comprehend,” he said.
Anifah added, “To put an end to this baseless accusations, Malaysia has won several elections in international organisations in the past and recently, and I am certain that there are many more to come.
“By implying that Malaysia’s unsuccessful bid to the Human Rights Council is due to the failure of the leadership, is not only a malicious and baseless accusation, but also an insult to our country and the many diligent and dedicated officers who strive to see the country’s flag fly high in international organisations.
“To that end, my ministry works hard to ensure the best outcomes irrespective of what the political climate is internationally. We have had our fair share of successes, and I am sure, many more are to come.
“Unfortunately for the author, no ‘kleptocratic chickens are coming home to roost’,” he said.