"The future for the rule of law and human rights in Malaysia is dismal. Rule by law and not rule of law supersedes and takes priority in most aspects of ruling the people. The decline of the rule of law and human rights in Malaysia can be traced to the corrupted notion of democracy which the executive holds. It has been suggested that in Malaysia human rights and the rule of law are precepts peculiar to the West which, so the imputation goes, it is inappropriate to apply in Malaysia. This should be seen as a severe distortion because human rights and the rule of law are no longer within the confines of the geo-political parameters of each country. They are now universal rights."
"With an overwhelming majority in Parliament of the same political party since Merdeka in 1957 it has now become a misconception to regard the Malaysian Parliament as the safeguard of rights and freedoms. In many respects that institution is the issuer of licence to violate freedoms."
[Rais Yatim, "Freedom under Executive Power in Malaysia", 1995]
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim gave the most intellectually dishonest answers about the rule of law in Parliament during question time yesterday but the Deputy Speaker Dato' Haji Muhamad bin Abdullah was most unfair and irresponsible in not allowing any Opposition MP the chance to expose Rais’ intellectual dishonesty.
[Lim Kit Siang, Nov.2000]
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