Malaysia’s “new” Internal Security Act

Mickey Spiegel, Senior Advisor with the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch, explains why Malaysia’s replacement bill for the Internal Security Act “does not go far enough to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of Malaysians.”

Malaysia – Assembling the Peaceful Assembly Act

The process of enacting the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 and the public debate and disappointment this has engendered illustrate some of the worst, and yet also some of the most encouraging, aspects of the law and legal culture in Malaysia.

Race-based ideology and Islam: The Malaysian enigma

Seeing ‘Malays’, ‘Bumiputeras’, and ‘Muslims’ being juxtaposed next to each other certainly stirs up curiosity as to what actually has the third group (Muslims) to do with the other two: Does Islam teach race-based ideology or race-favouritism? Is it true that Islam requires the advancement of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ (Malay Supremacy)? Joshua Woo analyses this question.

Apostasy in Malaysia: The hidden view

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Joshua Woo analyses the diverse views on apostasy in Islam and wonders why Malaysian Muslim politicians only hold on to one view – that apostasy is forbidden in Islam.

Malaysian Muslims responses to conversion

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Malaysian Muslims responses to conversion out of Islam has been varied. Norani discusses these responses and provides her views on some of the genesis of these responses.

Are civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights mutually exclusive?

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Part III. More than sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the importance of human rights is well established in the international community. Despite this general acceptance, however, debate persists on the ways in which human rights should be protected and prioritized in different communities and cultures, particularly in the context of political and economic development. The division between civil and political rights, on the one side, and economic, social, and cultural rights, on the other, was first outlined in 1966 and continues to shape the way human rights activists, governments, and citizens approach these questions. This post is the second in a series about the interaction between these two categories of rights and the ways in which that delineation influences the global debate regarding political and economic development.

What are civil and political and economic, social, and cultural rights?

More than sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the importance of human rights is well established in the international community. Despite this general acceptance, however, debate persists on the ways in which human rights should be protected and prioritized in different communities and cultures, particularly in the context of political and economic development. The division between civil and political rights, on the one side, and economic, social, and cultural rights, on the other, was first outlined in 1966 and continues to shape the way human rights activists, governments, and citizens approach these questions. Several posts starting with this one will discuss the interaction between these two categories of rights and the ways in which that delineation influences the global debate regarding political and economic development.