CH A PT E R 1
Roundtable with Parliamentarian Aligning National Legislation with
International Standards on FOI Access to Information and Press Freedom
There were four discussion panels:
i.
Session one, on the interplay between international standards, national laws, and
the Federal Constitution, was moderated by Dr. Lim Ming Kuok. The panellists were
Mr. Amos Toh, legal advisor to the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of
Opinion and Expression; Ms. Jennifer Jokstad, Human Rights Officer at the Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Bangkok; and Emeritus
Professor Datuk Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi, the holder of the Tun Razak Chair in Universiti
Malaya.
ii. Session two on access to information, a pre-requisite for a functioning democracy
was moderated by Ms. Masjaliza Hamzah. The three panellists were Ms. Kishali
Pinto-Jayawardena, the Right to Information (RTI) Commissioner of Sri Lanka;
Mr. Toby Mandel, the founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Law and
Democracy, a Canadian-based international human rights NGO and Mr. Steven
Sim Chee Keong, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport.
iii. Session three, Proportionate, Necessary, Legitimate, and Prescribed by Law:
Considerations to Defamation and Hate Speech - was moderated by Commissioner
Mr. Jerald Joseph. The panellists were Ms. Barbora Bukovska, Legal Director of
Article 19; and Mr. Edmund Bon, the Malaysian Representative to the ASEAN
Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).
iv. Session four which was a collaboration between Parliament and other stakeholders,
was moderated by Dr. Lim Ming Kuok. The panellists here were Mr. Bambang
Harymurti, a former member of the Indonesian Press Council and CEO of TEMPO;
Mr. Pieter Knapen, Secretary-General of the Belgium Press Council; and Datuk A.
Kadir Jasin, Media and Communications Adviser to the Prime Minister.
SUHAKAM
ANNUAL REPORT 2018
25