About Us Committees Human Rights “Legal Eagles” on Lite-FM continues with session on “Basic Rights” 
| “Legal Eagles” on Lite-FM continues with session on “Basic Rights” |
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| Contributed by Rajen Devaraj (Director) | |
| Wednesday, 14 February 2007 08:54am | |
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Hosted by deejay Kevin, Edmund Bon, a member of the Human Rights Committee, introduced the subject of rights from the perspective of human rights law and constitutional freedoms. In the aftermath of the atrocities of World War II, the world community in 1945 vowed to end discrimination and formulated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was followed by two key treaties known as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Fundamental liberties like freedom of speech, expression, association and religion and the right to property are also found in the Malaysian Constitution drafted almost 50 years ago. A caller, Cheah asked whether the issue of his apartment management company disconnecting his water supply was a violation of human rights. He said that he was not happy with the services provided and did not pay maintenance. Edmund replied to say that one would have to look at details of the contract between Cheah and the company to decide if what the company did was right. Water is a basic right, which the Government is obliged to provide without imposing high charges. If the Government makes water inaccessible through high rates for example, then action may be taken in accordance with rights law. However where there is an agreement between a private citizen and a private company, the relations between them are governed by the contract. If there has been a breach of the agreement by the company, then Cheah may take civil action. On the query as to the availability of legal assistance, Edmund said that the Malaysian Bar has Legal Aid Centers in each State. The Centers would provide free legal assistance to those persons who satisfied the means test. If someone did not satisfy the test, then he would have to engage his own lawyer. A list of lawyers could be found by checking the online directory of the Malaysian Bar website www.malaysianbar.org.my. In the wrap-up, Kevin asked if there is a feeling of unity on rights issues in Malaysia. Edmund replied that awareness is important for this to take place. He said that awareness on human rights used to be rather limited but in recent times there seems to be a greater consciousness of issues affecting the rights of the people. He said that in order to develop a caring society more people needed to speak out, write about human rights issues and highlight abuses. More information on legal issues such as human rights, corporate, criminal, civil and conveyancing law could be obtained from the Bar website. Comments (1)
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KUALA LUMPUR: The “Legal Eagles” series on Lite-FM
continued on 10 February 2007 with a discussion on “Basic Rights”. 
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Generally, human rights is a set of inalienable right. It is a right that can not be taken away from any individual. There is the "hard" or civil set of human rights and there is the "soft" or economic set of human rights.
The "hard" or civil set of rights - such as the right against wrongful arrest and detention - is inalienable. But, are we getting there? With so many statutes such as the Internal Security Act, the Restricted Residence Act and so on, are we getting there?