Tag: Elections / Democracy
Myanmar’s democracy is still immature—UN human rights rep
Myanmar’s political situation has little possibility of regressing, but its democratic process is still in an immature state and requires special care, United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana says in a report that was released on Wednesday (March 12).
During his six-year tenure as the...
CAMBODIA: Hun Sen has a choice. What will he choose?
Regular readers know I have a penchant for peppering my writing with relevant quotations from well-known figures. As a student I found these succinct expressions to be inspirational and it's my hope that every now and then I'll illustrate a point with a quotation that will impact my readers.
I...
Komnas HAM declines to judge presidential hopefuls
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will refrain from assessing the human rights records of presidential candidates in the 2014 election despite calls from activists for the body to do its job as a rights defender.
Newly elected Komnas HAM chairman Hafid Abbas insisted that ranking the human...
Parties pledge to get real in campaigns
Acknowledging that voters may become overwhelmed by outdoor political campaigning, some political parties have said they are considering cutting back on entertainment and public speeches to focus on the dissemination of their platforms.
Lawyer and human rights campaigner Ifdhal Kasim, a member of the legal team that advises Indonesian Democratic...
Indonesia: Presidential Candidates Given Forum on Rights
Candidates for Indonesia's July 2014 presidential election will have an opportunity in a new survey to explain to voters their positions on major human rights issues, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch distributed a questionnaire on March 21, 2014, to likely presidential candidates posing nine questions on the...
Contenders asked to outline views on human rights
The New York-based international NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has distributed questionnaires to all contenders in Indonesia’s presidential election, slated for July 9, in its attempt to highlight the candidates’ commitment to mending the nation’s human rights record.
HRW’s Andreas Harsono told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the...
Anwar’s verdict and Malaysia’s democratic future
Ever since Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister in 1998, the government has continuously misused state institutions especially the police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the judiciary to persecute him on what were clearly politically motivated and trumped up charges. Anwar was beaten to within an inch of...
Concerns raised over Indonesian presidential candidate with ties to rights abuses
JAKARTA — Former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto kicked off his party’s campaign for legislative elections with a rally last weekend that the local media characterised as “military-style”. He had ridden into a Jakarta stadium in a Jeep to greet the party faithful, mounted a horse to circle the...
Cambodian opposition cancels rally, avoids clashes
The government ban was criticized by local human rights groups and Amnesty International, which called on authorities Saturday “to end their suppression of human rights and fully respect the right to peaceful assembly.”
Cambodia’s opposition party held a symbolic march Sunday to avoid possible clashes with authorities, after...
Burma: ASEAN activist meet-up raises worrying parallels with Cambodia
Three thousand members of civil society from across ASEAN met in Burma earlier this month to discuss human rights and development, including the record of the host country.
Not so long ago such a gathering would have been unthinkable and the event marked another symbolic step in the country’s reform...
