Human Rights Commission of Malaysia

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Hak Asasi Malaysia) better known locally as Suhakam is a human rights watchdog in Malaysia. It was established by the Malaysian Parliament using the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999, Act 597.

Having being established after the fallout of the Anwar Ibrahim controversy, its creation may have been due to the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Muhammad's desire to exercise damage control. As documented in the online newspaper Malaysiakini, there was a great deal of trepidation about it being a pure whitewash of Dr. Mahathir's policies.

However, when Tan Sri Dato' Musa Hitam was named as the first chairman of Suhakam, these fears were eased, as he was believed to be critical of Dr. Mahathir in many ways. The commission's recommendations under Musa, however, were often not implemented by the government. When his term ended, and he did not seek a reappointment, it was speculated that he chose not to out of disgust for the lack of action from the government.

When Musa left, he was replaced with Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman in April 2002. Abu Talib had served as Attorney General under Dr. Mahathir, and was also involved in the Anwar Ibrahim controversy. As reported in Malaysiakini, he was widely seen as one of Dr. Mahathir's lackeys, and his appointment to replace Musa was seen as a great blow to Suhakam's credibility by many people both in Malaysia and abroad.

These concerns were somewhat eased when Suhakam under Abu Talib continued to put forth many human rights recommendations. Many of these recommendations have yet to be acted upon by the government.