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HUMAN RIGHTS
Records are indispensable We need to retain a clear memory of 'what was done to whom' and 'who resisted what and when'
by P Ramakrishnan
As someone who has had the privilege of working in solidarity with many �generations� of its activists over many years, I wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge that SUARAM plays a central role within our national human rights movement. As an organisation, SUARAM has established for itself a proud and prominent place at the fore of Malaysian civil society�s long and determined struggle to promote, preserve and advance human rights and civil liberties. The dedicated and courageous efforts of its activists have justly earned SUARAM an international reputation for selfless, supportive and principled interventions against human rights violations. In short, SUARAM serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration � not only for the victims of human rights violations, but also for those who do their part to prevent or fight those violations. There is no doubt that SUARAM�s annual report on the human rights situation in Malaysia is a valuable document. For 2004, as it has been for previous years, the report is comprehensive in its coverage and thorough in its analysis of human rights issues. Yet the Human Rights Report is more than a mere document. In the Malaysian �human rights calendar�, the arrival of the Human Rights Report is always an event. By recording what was important and notable for human rights and civil liberties for each past year, the Human Rights Report helps us recognise what must be done the following year. More than that, the Human Rights Report makes us conscious that the human rights movement has matured another year despite the obstacles and harassments that are imposed by the state and its instruments of repression. Thus, the publication of the Human Rights Report 2004 is no mean achievement, for SUARAM most definitely, but not less so for the national movement for human rights. Critically, the annual Human Rights Report reminds us that records are important. But there are records and records! The �Special Branch� maintains voluminous but secretive records � namely, �files� on the regime�s opponents, critics and dissidents. Such files serve the agendas of those who, among other things, readily use the Internal Security Act to contain all kinds of alleged �threats to national security�. These kinds of records help to intimidate a lot of citizens and turn them into a �silenced majority�, the better for limiting, abusing or denying their fundamental rights and liberties. However, other types of records � such as the painstaking, accurate and moving chronicles of violations of human rights and of struggles against those violations � are an integral part of the deep memory of a nation. Without such records, human rights abuses and violations would be the easier to forget � and, thereby, easier to perpetrate. Certainly, we need to retain a clear memory of �what was done to whom� and �who resisted what and when�. Otherwise, �We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people�, as none other than that great fighter for human rights, Martin Luther King, Jr once wrote from Birmingham Jail. For these reasons, human rights records � in the form of systematic and authoritative assessments of the human rights situation � are indispensable to the continuing work of a broad-based movement that serves as the conscience of our nation. With full and honest records of actual episodes, real people and specific consequences, the movement�s unceasing defence of human rights gains a rich life and a compelling cause beyond abstractions and rhetoric. Thus, I wholeheartedly urge concerned Malaysian citizens to digest carefully what the Human Rights Report 2004 so valuably records and present � and then to stand up and be counted as members of the national human rights movement. Speaking as the President of Aliran, which continuously cooperates with SUARAM, other organizations and concerned individuals to advance the cause of human rights protection in Malaysia, I extend my congratulations and best wishes to SUARAM for publishing the Human Rights Report 2004. For Freedom, Justice and Solidarity 5 May 2005 Please support our work by buying a copy of our print publication, Aliran Monthly, from your nearest news-stand. Better still take out a subscription now. If you prefer to read our web-based edition, please support our work and make a donation.
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Without such records, human rights abuses and violations would be the easier to forget � and, thereby, easier to perpetrate.
