Human Rights First | Workers Rights

PROGRAMS

ABOUT US

CONTRIBUTE

MEDIA ROOM

SEARCH:

Release of jailed Malaysian workers rights activist Tian Chua (06/03/03)

Tian Chua: more than two years in detention

Human Rights First Letter Marking Second Anniversary of Labor Activist's Arrest (4/09/03)

Human Rights First Letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Demanding Release of Labor Activist (2/12/02)

Malaysia

South East Asia

Workers Rights

Tian Chua - Fighting for Workers Rights after Two Years' Detention

Vice President of the opposition Keadilan party, and longtime workers’ rights activist, Tian Chua was detained on April 10, 2001. He was arrested in the lead up to a planned demonstration marking the second anniversary of the

sentencing of Anwar Ibrahim, along with nine other government critics. Mr. Chua was subject to indefinite detention under the Internal Security Act. On June 1, 2003, the Malaysian authorities released Mr. Chua.

This national security legislation empowers the Home Minister to make a two year detention order where he suspects an individual to pose a threat to national security. The detainee has no right to a criminal trial. The ministerial order, which is infinitely renewable, is not subject to judicial review. Instead, an Internal Security Advisory Board has

statutory authority to make non-binding recommendations to the government. Even though in 2002 the Federal Court of Malaysia, Malaysia’s highest court, had declared the five detainees’ arrests illegal and the Internal Security Advisory Board had twice recommended their immediate release, the Home Minister has refused to lift the detention orders until June 2003.

“Our economy will never be on a healthy footing until and unless we establish a strong democratic institution to root out corruption, cronyism and nepotism. Democracy is not merely about voting once every four to five years. There must be mechanisms of check and balance in the society. In an industrialising country like Malaysia, trade union rights are not only fundamental human rights, but an essential component of a sustainable economy.

Sadly, the Malaysian government continues to take a hostile attitude towards trade unionism. Unionisation has been severely curtailed by various repressive laws. Strikes are virtually outlawed & unionists constantly harassed & intimidated. The lack of strong workers representation was one of the key reason for today’s rampant corruption & abuses of power in our political & economic system.
Although my imprisonment prevents me from directly participating in the movement, my spirit is always united with the struggle.”

Statement by Tian Chua from Kamunting Detention Centre on May Day, 2002.

Tian Chua has long sought to combine labor activism with the promotion of basic human rights in Malaysia. Prior to his detention, as director of the Labour Resource Centre in Malaysia, Mr. Chua conducted workshops on human rights and basic labor standards in factories across the country. Before completing a Masters in labor studies at the Institute for Social Studies in Den Hague, in the Netherlands, he worked with the prominent Malaysian human rights group, Suaram, and with the Hong Kong-based labor organization, Asian Monitor Resource Centre, and was associated with Asia Pacific Workers’ Solidarity Links. Later, Mr. Chua joined the Parti Keadlian Nasional (National Justice Party), formed in 1999, to fight for the rights of workers, for democracy and the elimination of corruption in government. He was arrested several times in connection with protests and demonstrations and suffered police brutality on various occasions, such as in August 2000 when police officers fractured part of his vertebrae.

Human Rights First calls for the immediate repeal of the ISA, which Malaysia uses to regularly violate core human rights standards such as the right to be free from arbitrary detention, the right to a fair trial, the right to be free from torture and inhuman treatment and the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. We have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Chua and other labor and pro-democracy activists who have been detained under the guise of national security concerns.