As of 31 December, SUHAKAM has 14,540 likes on Facebook, 17,814 followers
on Twitter and 951 followers on Instagram, which are higher than 13,360 likes
on Facebook, 15,900 followers on Twitter and 685 followers on Instagram in
2019.
SUHAKAM’s 2019 Annual Report was tabled in Parliament on 4 November.
However, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law),
YB Dato’ Takiyuddin Hassan, announced on 1 December that it would not
be debated in Parliament, given competing priorities. SUHAKAM hopes that
future reports will be debated.
SUHAKAM’s Sabah Office held an SBM event on 5 February in Pitas District. The
main objective was for SUHAKAM to disseminate and create awareness of our
roles and functions and provide an avenue for the public to lodge complaints
on human rights infringement.
The Sabah Office received 192 human rights cases and 119 non-human rights
complaints. The majority related to the right to a nationality (116 complaints),
followed by the right to native customary land (NCR) with 37 complaints. The
Sabah Office records indicate an increasing number of complaints concerning
undocumented persons due to issues related to birth registration and identity
card among Indigenous Peoples and the children of migrants.
Sabah State Legislative Assembly was dissolved on 30 July. The state election
took place on 26 September to elect 73 members of the 16th Sabah State
Legislative Assembly. SUHAKAM accepted the invitation to oversee and
monitor the election process to protect the people’s rights. A team of 31
people, comprising SUHAKAM Commissioners, staff and volunteers, was
involved in the monitoring at 19 selected constituencies. The monitoring, from
21 to 26 September, covered campaigning activities and the polling process.
SUHAKAM’s Sarawak Office received 46 human rights complaints. Of them,
three were successfully resolved, and 43 are still pending, awaiting appropriate
action by the relevant parties. Citizenship issues formed the bulk of complaints
lodged there. They related to nationality, children’s citizenship, late registration
of birth certificates or identification cards for residents in rural areas, as well as
children whose mothers are foreigners.
There were eight complaints concerning conversion from Islam to Christianity.
Five of them involve Sarawakian Muslim converts wanting to revert to their
former faith after their exogamous marriage to Muslim spouses failed. The other
ANNUAL REPORT 2020
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