ii. iii. The UK was very proud to achieve dialogue partner status with The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in August 2021 and the first new partners for 25 years as part of their wider strategy in the Indo Pacific in the recognition of the growing importance of ASEAN and bilateral relations to them;4 The British High Commissioner in Malaysia was a Director of the UK Consular Services responsible for the welfare of British nationals abroad. Quite a significant part of his work was on British nationals who ended up being incarcerated in jails around the world. He always made it a point of visiting local prisons to hear from the prisoners about what is going on and to see for himself the conditions of prisons.5 The British High Commissioner further stated that he looked forward to hearing more about the thoughts on how to take prison reforms forward in ASEAN countries following presentations and discussions. He reiterated that the UK is ready to help and to support the efforts in prison reform. 1.4. YB. Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Law and Human Rights6 in her introductory remarks quoted Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that, “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Therefore, the power to deprive someone of their freedom and rights for a period of time is one of the more significant powers accorded to the State. As such, this power must be exercised cautiously and with utmost respect to human rights law. Among the points of her remarks are as below: i. The advocacy of prison reform in the early 19th century by Winston Churchill in relation to material improvements of the prison environment, nutrition and access to health care and that these improvements must remain even after a convict is deprived of his freedom. the last fortnight on attachment to a UK prison. They will be attending a senior leadership course at Sheffield University run by HMPPS. On the other hand, a team of prison officers from the UK will be attached to the Malaysian Prison Department beginning January 2022 for three months to work on ethical standards and to help reforms strategy to the next level of detail as well as to work with the Prison Department of Malaysia. 4 There is a whole raft of other issues going on across the region where they are looking to help strengthen freedom, good governance, and rule of law as part of their wider work with ASEAN to the sharing of experience and best practice. The High Commission of UK in Malaysia is delighted that these are the whole UK government efforts, and the Foreign Service of UK is working closely with the Ministry of Justice, UK who oversees the Prison Service and judiciary in the UK. The High Commission of UK in Malaysia believes that its colleagues in respect of ASEAN countries will be interested to talking to ASEAN governments on how they can support their work on the rule of law. 5 The British High Commissioner observed that removing someone’s liberty is one of the most important powers that any state probably possesses next to waging war. He admitted that there is always a need to lock-up dangerous individuals to protect wider society. However, there is always a very difficult balance to be struck between rehabilitation and retribution and between the safety of wider society and the need to deter about balance is one that everyone seeks to get right. 6 YB Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman Said is also the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) on Prison and Detention Centre Reforms and the Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Women, Children and Social Development. 5