Relaxing the rules

Relaxing the rules

Malaysia's Human Rights Commission is unlikely to persuade the
country's government to scrap the Internal Security Act when it
is such a useful tool for suppressing dissent. Nor is Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad enthusiastic about calls for a sweeping
review of laws that restrict press freedom or curtail political
rallies.

But it was he who set up the commission -- known as Suhakam --
and he will have to live with its findings. There were
suspicions, given its origins, that the commission would produce
a bland report. But it has certainly not done so. The authors,
who include Musa Hitam, former deputy prime minister and former
chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights, recognize that the
growing demand for greater political freedom cannot be ignored
indefinitely. The jailing of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim
let the genie out of the bottle, and even a controlling leader
like Dr. Mahathir has to bow to pressure when it becomes
unassailable.

Significantly, the report dismisses the familiar theme that
human rights in Asia means just a daily meal. For an educated and
increasingly sophisticated society, "a full stomach is no longer
enough" says Suhakam. Therein lies the problem. It is easy enough
to satisfy the wants of the population when the economy is
growing, but affluence creates a different set of needs, and
governments -- however reluctantly -- must yield to them
eventually.

Dr. Mahathir is rightly praised as the architect of Malaysian
prosperity, but there is a darker side to the picture, which
recent events have brought to the fore. Ethnic strife and growing
religious fundamentalism are symbols of a wider discontent. If
the nation's voice is silenced, it will eventually find other
means of expression. Relaxing repressive rules could take the
tension out of a volatile situation.

-- The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong