Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

By Simon Sipaun PROHAM is a new human rights NGO formed by former Suhakam and the Police Commission commissioners. It was launched on 21st March, 2011. Incidentally, 21st March every year is the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This RTD will go a long way towards realizing PROHAM’s hope to see that Malaysia will, sooner rather than later become a party to the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969 (ICERD). This move represents a realistic approach to the issue rather than sweeping it under the carpet and pretend it is not there. 2. I am unable to find one good reason why Malaysia should persistently continue to be not a party to ICERD. Any government which refuses to be a party to ICERD is a government that supports racism and racial discrimination. How else can I interpret such state of affairs? 175 countries are currently party to ICERD including many Islamic countries. Only 15 cou...

In the contemporary world, it is also true that authoritarian governments or regimes are often identified by the presence of only one political party. Instead of classifying states according to the location and scope of political power, it in fact may be more useful to classify them according to the number and characteristics of their political parties. And there should be little doubt that a government that permits only one party to operate in the political system is an authoritarian government. No organized political opposition exists; there is no alternative set of political leaders that can take the place of the existing elites for the purpose of implementing new programs; political communications are strictly according to what the government and its ruling party allow; and alteration of government personnel and policies must take place within the single party, usually only after the death or purging of the dominant leader. Generalizations such as these are difficult to unders...