Malaysia had previously been on the HRC from 2006 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2013. This year, Malaysia submitted its candidature for a third term as a member of the HRC. Regrettably, Malaysia was not elected to the HRC after receiving the lowest number of votes among the five candidates from the Asia Pacific region, namely Afghanistan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Qatar. Malaysia fell short by only one vote behind Afghanistan. The Commission sees this as an unfortunate break in tradition as Malaysia has been able, on almost all occasions in the past, to win seats at various UN bodies it has bid for including the UN Security Council and HRC. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there were several possibilities that could have contributed to Malaysia’s unsuccessful bid for the HRC seat such as the strong support afforded to Nepal, which was contesting for the HRC seat for the first time; the likelihood of sympathy votes given to Pakistan, which failed in its last bid for the HRC seat; as well as the relatively late announcement of Malaysia’s candidature to the HRC. While these could have all been valid reasons, the Commission is of the view that Malaysia’s inability to secure a seat at the HRC was an eventuality that could have stemmed from an amalgam of other factors and circumstances. For instance, in comparison to the other four countries, Malaysia’s track record in terms of accession to core international human rights treaties is the least impressive with only three treaties to which it is a party. Although the number of human rights treaties a country is a party to is not a measurement for its human rights performance, it does denote, to some extent, the country’s commitment to international human rights standards. In addition, there is a considerable delay in the submission of Malaysia’s periodic reports to the relevant treaty bodies. Malaysia submitted its combined third to fifth report to the CEDAW Committee in September 2016, which was several years after its due date. Malaysia has yet to submit its combined second to fourth report to the CRC Committee and its first report to the CRPD Committee, respectively. Whereas such delay in the submission of periodic reports to treaty bodies is not uncommon even for other countries, it certainly does not bolster Malaysia’s image as a country that gives priority to its human rights treaty obligations. 52 S UH A KA M A N N UA L R E P O R T 2 0 1 7