Parliament today rejected two motions which called for a debate on the issues highlighted in the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) Annual Report 2001 and that the foreign minister be censured for his alleged failure to safeguard human rights in the country.

In a written reply to opposition MP Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Tanjung) yesterday, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Dr Mohamed Zahir Ismail explained that the motion to debate the Suhakam report was "not a specific nor an urgent matter". The request was subsequently rejected.

The Suhakam report which was supposed to be tabled in parliament last April was finally distributed to the MPs in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday.

According to Chow, he also submitted another notice to the speaker yesterday for a motion to censure Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, as the minister in charge of Suhakam, for allegedly failing to ensure Malaysia's compliance with international human rights standards.

The MP claimed that Syed Hamid was unable to formulate a national action plan to promote and protect human rights in the country.

However, Mohamed Zahir also rejected the motion on the grounds that the issue is similar to the earlier request.

"Under Standing Order 18(6)(a), an MP cannot raise the same matter which has been rejected by the speaker earlier," he explained in his reply to Chow.

In public interest

Chow has also sent an appeal to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urging him to move a similar motion so that parliament could debate the motion against Syed Hamid and the Suhakam report.

The appeal was made to Abdullah in his capacity as the government's parliamentary whip.

Under parliamentary rules, the speaker could allow a motion to be debated with only one day's notice if he is satisfied, after being informed by a federal minister, that the matter should be debated as soon as possible due to public interest.

Chow, in a press statement today, reiterated his appeal to Abdullah to exercise his power to allow a full debate on the Suhakam report to proceed in parliament.

"Suhakam Annual Report 2001 is an important document on the state of affairs of human rights in Malaysia and should be debated in full in parliament," Chow said.

The MP also expressed his disappointment that the government has failed to respond to Suhakam's recommendations when the first Suhakam Annual Report 2000 was tabled in parliament last year.

A similar motion for a parliamentary debate on the Suhakam report last year was also rejected by the speaker.

Chow said it was unfortunate that the government has also not responded to Suhakam's recommendations this year.

"We hope the deputy prime minister will realise the importance of debating the Suhakam annual report in parliament as a commitment of the government towards human rights development in the country," Chow said.

"The government should treat Suhakam seriously and not as a 'decorative showpiece' of human rights in Malaysia," he added.

Parliament will only be sitting for eight days in this current session, with next Thursday being the final day.