Overview of Human Rights in Malaysia

Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy. Recent elections were considered generally transparent, but the opposition still complained of "exploitation of the powers of incumbency."  In the realm of human rights, Malaysia's record did improve recently, but problems persist. The police in Malaysia are under investigation by an Independent Royal Commission of Inquiry for multiple occurrences of excessive use of force, torture, ill-treatment, and unlawful killings during arrest and custody. A strengthening of police internal disciplinary protocol is being called for by the chairperson of the commission. The Internal Security Act (ISA) allows for detentions without trial for up to 24 months (renewable indefinitely) for persons considered to be a potential threat to national security. The ISA has not defined the actual nature of such threats. The government has also failed to act on the National Human Rights Commission’s recommendation that the ISA be repealed and replaced by a more complete law, which takes human rights into consideration along with national security concerns.

Human Development Index (HDI) Rank:

61st out of 177

Note: Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite index that measures the level of well-being of nations in the world. It uses factors such as poverty, literacy, life-expectancy, education, gross domestic product, and purchasing power parity to assess the average achievements in each nation. It has been used in the United Nation’s Human Development Report since 1993.