Malaysia’s callow government has not kept its vows on civil liberties

POTS OF BRUSHES litter the desk of Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, a Malaysian political cartoonist better known as Zunar. Drawings of which he is especially proud decorate the blue walls of his studio in Kuala Lumpur. Several satirise Malaysia’s disgraced former prime minister, Najib Razak, who was booted from office more than a year ago, along with his big-haired wife, Rosmah Mansor. Such cartoons drew the ire of Mr Najib’s government. Zunar was charged with multiple offences under illiberal laws on publishing and sedition. The surprise victory in last year’s elections of a reformist coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PH), brought his legal troubles to an end. But although PH has stopped persecuting journalists, it has not, as it promised, done away with the instruments of repression. “All the laws that the government used against me before still exist,” he grumbles.

Dismantling the oppressive systems put in place by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party that ruled Malaysia for more than six decades, was never going to be quick or easy. Under Mr Najib and, to a lesser extent, his predecessors, the press was cowed, the electoral system was rigged, the judiciary and bureaucracy were pliant and critics, whether within or outside the government, were harassed or imprisoned, often on trumped-up charges. Officials who complained about corruption at 1MDB, a state investment vehicle from which $4.5bn disappeared on Mr Najib’s watch, lost their jobs. Those charged with investigating the affair say they feared for their lives.

PH, many of whose members were victims of such abuses, promised to change all this. Its manifesto was a liberal wish-list of 464 initiatives, including repealing the Sedition Act, allowing the press greater freedom, reducing the powers of the prime minister and erecting stronger barriers between the executive and the judiciary.

PH has taken some steps in the right direction, most notably by appointing respected figures to pivotal posts such as that of attorney-general, speaker of parliament and chief justice. A former campaigner for fair elections now sits on the Election Commission. The new head of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Latheefa Koya, is considered independent. And in recent days the lower house of parliament passed an amendment to lower the voting age from 21 to 18. The shift could enfranchise almost 8m young voters in time for the next general election, which is expected in 2023.

But in other respects, the government’s record is chequered. An effort to repeal a law on “fake news”, which allows the government to criminalise unfriendly reporting, was stymied in the upper house last year by the opposition. There has been no effort at all to repeal or amend a law that allows for detention without trial for 28 days, which was used to arrest the leader of demonstrations against corruption when Mr Najib was prime minister. And revisions to other laws, such as the Peaceful Assembly Act of 2012, which in practice curtails protests, are seen as inadequate. For example, the government plans to amend the law to require protesters to give the authorities seven days’ notice of a rally or march, rather than the previous ten. That is still far more, however, than the 48 hours that Human Rights Watch, an international NGO, considers reasonable.

Meanwhile, Malaysians continue to be targeted under the Sedition Act. An outcry followed the High Court’s decision this month to reject the appeal of an Islamic preacher and political activist sentenced to nine months in prison for insulting the Sultan of Selangor, one of the nine monarchs who take turns as Malaysia’s head of state. Instead the activist’s sentence was increased to a year. The government points out that he was originally charged and sentenced, and his appeal lodged, while UMNO was still in power. But democracy advocates do not understand how a government supposedly determined to repeal the Sedition Act can sit by while such abuses continue. Mahathir Mohamad, the current prime minister, insists that change is at hand. “We are in the midst of structuring the new law and it will be concluded as soon as possible,” he declared on July 11th.

But Dr Mahathir may be part of the problem. He is a former UMNO leader who unashamedly used many of the repressive laws that PH is supposed to be repealing during a previous stint as prime minister. More generally, the government is an awkward mix of long-time opposition activists and defectors from UMNO, such as Dr Mahathir, who were put off more by Mr Najib’s alleged corruption than by his authoritarian ways.

Then there are Malaysia’s racial politics. The government was forced to abandon plans to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a UN-sponsored treaty, after objections from Malays, the country’s biggest ethnic group, who feared this might threaten the many affirmative-action schemes that favour them and discriminate against other groups. The opposition has painted many of the government’s reforms as harmful to Malays or contrary to Islam (the religion of most Malays)—charges fledgling ministers, many of whom are neither Malay nor Muslim, lack the confidence to rebut forcefully.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that voters, and thus the government, are more interested in other subjects, most notably the economy. Repealing a hated goods-and-services tax was among PH’s first moves upon taking power. “I don’t think human rights is a real top priority,” admits one activist working with the government.

As voters tire of the government, however, reforms will become harder to enact. “If you don’t do it off the bat when you come into power I’m not sure it will ever get done,” says Ambiga Sreenevasan, a prominent lawyer investigated for sedition by Mr Najib’s government. Malaysians voted for a coalition that loudly and explicitly espoused liberal values—but that may not have been why they voted for it. In the meantime, the state retains the power to repress their views. One of Zunar’s drawings captures the situation well. In it the stripes of Malaysia’s flag become bars behind which its people are imprisoned. ■