LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND – SDGS FOUNDATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL REFORM
By Prof Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria
Yesterday on May 28, 2018, six
CSO leaders from the ‘CSO Platform for Reform’ met up with the Institutional
Reform Committee (IRC) at Menara Ilham, Kuala Lumpur. The team members were Mr
Adli Zakuan (Pusat KOMAS), Ms Rozana Isa (Sisters in Islam), Mr Jeffery Phang
(MyPJ & Friends of Kota Damansara), Mr Euguene yapp (GBM - Gabungan
Bertindak Malaysia), Mr Mansor Saat (Bar Council Human Rights Committee) and
myself on behalf of PROHAM and the Malaysian CSO-SDG Alliance.
We had a fruitful discussion with
the five IRC members with Datuk KC Vohrah Chairing the meeting. Our
presentations were on three main themes namely National Unity & Ethnic
Relations, Addressing Poverty & inequality & National Human Rights
Action Plan.
We did note that while the theme
of institutional reform and the focus could be on major institutions such as
parliament and judiciary, we hoped that these three themes that we highlighted
have key significance to institutional reform from the point of view of
everyday living in Malaysian society such as ethnic relations and delivery of
services to the most vulnerable sections of our society.
We made twelve major
recommendations in our 78 page document which we submitted to the IRC.
1 Needs
based development
We highlighted the need to shift
from race and ethnicity to needs based in our policy and delivery priorities.
This is especially needed in all poverty and inequality addressing initiatives
of the government. While ethnicity, gender, disability, age and location will
be indicators to monitor the theme of leaving no one behind responses to human
need. Therefore all the agencies of the government must reach out to all groups
and be sensitive to the needs of all.
2 National
Unity & Social cohesion a key policy goal.
We called for the Federal
government to release the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC)
consolidated report and all the attachments for public review and study. This
report was submitted to the Federal government on June 19, 2015. These
recommendations and plan of action would become a useful reference point for
strengthening ethnic relations in Malaysian society
3 National
Harmony Act
We reiterated the need to abolish
the Sedition act and enact the National Harmony Act. A draft bill was prepared earlier
could be strengthened for consistency with the Federal Constitution.
4 National
Unity Commission & the community mediation centres
We proposed in line with the NUCC
recommendations the establishment of a National Unity Commission. In this
context we indicated that the PH Manifesto promise of a National Unity Council
should be strengthened with an independent commission with power to handle
community conflict and strengthening ethnic & religious understanding among
the various communities. The establishment of community mediation centres is
also a key vehicle to address inter-ethnic and religious conflict through a
non-judicial mechanism
5 The
Ratification of ICERD
The ratification of ICERD-
International Convention on the elimination of Racial Discrimination is a must
as we are among only 14 countries in the world which have not ratified this
convention. We believe that ratification will not contradict the affirmative
action of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution but will ensure no abuse of
these provisions will take place in the future.
6 Code
of Conduct
We called for the adoption of the
code of conduct for the Promotion of equal opportunities recommended the
elimination of racial discrimination especially in the work place. This code
was formulated by KOMAS and the Penang Institute
7 Equal
Opportunity Commission
We called for the establishment
of the Equal Opportunity Commission which was originally recommend by the National
Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) in 2010 with a focus on both the public and
private sector work place discrimination.
8 Review
all cash outs & foster self-reliance
We called for an in-depth review
of all the cash handouts and assistance programs provided by various agencies
in assisting the poor and needy especially in the Bottom 40 category by means
of direct cash transfers or subsidies including BRIM. We feel that all these
are more politically motivated rather than seeking to empower the poor towards
self-reliance and self help
9 Foster
Multi-dimensional poverty measurements & monitoring unit
We called for a multi-dimensional
understanding of poverty and addressing inequality. We noted the numerous
initiatives and agencies and called for a well-coordinated approach in terms of
poverty measurement, data base on all assistance provided and ensuring all
groups including women, informal sector, rural and forest based communities,
urban poor have access to all these provisions. There must be effective monitoring
of delivery as well as social mobility of the poor
10 Review the Social Inclusion Act & Social Workers Act
We highlighted a private members
bill namely the Social Inclusion Act which provided the legal protection and
mandate for delivery of services and ensuring access. We called for its review
and adoption in ensuring all irrespective of ethnicity, religion, gender, age,
location, disability have access to all public sector provisions for human
wellbeing and participation in the prosperity of our land.
Qualified and well trained social
workers are needed to work with families in addressing the multi-dimensional
and complex nature of inequality. In this context we called the IRC to speed up
the already drafted Social Workers Bill to be tabled in Parliament in the first
sitting of Parliament in June 2018 so as to enhance empower workers to
undertake this multi-dimensional task effectively.
11 Strengthen compliance to SDGs by localising implementation
We noted that the Sustainable
development Goals (SDGs) with 17 goals, 169 targets and 230 indicators provide
a comprehensive framework for adoption. This is a good development framework as
it draws a commitment to economic, social and sustainability aspects in line
with a human rights commitment. The theme of leaving no one behind is the key
tag line and imperative for monitoring and impact assessment.
12 National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP)
We called for the withdrawal of
the NHRAP as the framework and action plans are not consistent with the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the Federal Constitution. We recommended
that SUHAKAM be entrusted with the reformulation by convening a new committee
composed of government, Bar Council, CSO-NGOs & academics to formulate one
consistent with UDHR and the Federal Constitution.
The IRC welcomed these views,
interacted with us on these and in a number of matters asked for supporting
data which have promised to pass to them. It was a very fruitful and educative
session and it was really a great privilege to participate in this discussion
with some eminent personalities in the IRC. The climate for change especially
in strengthening institutional reforms is now possible. We can make Malaysia
great again. It gives me great confidence in Malaysia that we can truly build a
nation which is better for all Malaysians
----------------------------
Prof Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria
is the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, UKM and
the Co-chair of the Malaysian CSO-SDG Alliance.
May 29, 2018
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