Malaysia The ACJ recommends that the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) urges its Government to address the following issues: • the need to become a party to the ICCPR, the First Optional Protocol, the ICESCR, the CAT, the OPCAT, the Refugee convention, the Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, and the Rome Statute. • the circumstances in which derogations to fundamental rights are permitted by the Constitution extend well beyond a situation of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation as required by article 4 of the ICCPR; • the provisions of the Internal Security Act extend the period of police investigation for 60 days, denying the detainee the right to be released on bail and permitting a Ministerial order for detention at any time after arrest without any possibility of judicial review and merely on suspicion that a person may commit an offence; • the provisions of the Internal Security Act extend the period during which a person may be detained to two years; • the Internal Security (Detained Persons) Rules 1960 restrict a person’s rights to be visited by and communicate with family; • the apparent failure to provide a legislative definition of torture; • the reluctance of Malaysian courts to recognise customary international law; • reports of human rights violations by law enforcement officers and the abuse of powers by government agencies; • the continued practice of caning in schools; and • the need to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Malaysian police. 47