Amnesty Calls Out Malaysia’s Human Rights Hypocrisy In Annual Global Report

Amnesty’s verdict: progress exists but is being outpaced by regression, and announcements of reform mean nothing while arrests continue.

Fernando Fong/UNHCR

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Malaysia has been vocal in condemning human rights abuses abroad — but when it comes to its own citizens, refugees and foreign nationals on its soil, the record tells a different story, claims Amnesty International.

In its annual State of the World’s Human Rights report covering 144 countries, the rights group accused Malaysia of a pattern of double standards — outspoken on Palestinian rights and Israel’s actions in Gaza, yet silent or actively complicit when it comes to Rohingya deportations and the removal of Uyghur nationals at Beijing’s behest.

“Malaysia has been very supportive of the calls against Israel in the context of Gaza, but quiet — or the opposite of supportive — on Rohingya deportations or Uyghur deportations,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty’s interim co-regional director for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, at a press conference in London.

Her remarks came weeks after Malaysia detained and deported Uyghur American scholar Abdulhakim Idris on 30 March — a case that drew sharp criticism from rights groups and the Uyghur diaspora community.

The government has not publicly explained the basis for his removal.

Amnesty International Malaysia spokesperson Divya Shesshsan Balakrishnan said the country stood at a critical crossroads — it could either demonstrate genuine leadership by upholding rights at home, or risk aligning itself with the very trends of repression it publicly opposes.

The Arrests Kept Coming, The Reforms Did Not

Amnesty pointed to two court rulings as evidence that restrictive laws are being entrenched rather than dismantled.

In March 2025, the High Court dismissed a challenge by the makers of the film Mentega Terbang to Section 298 of the Penal Code, which criminalises speech deemed offensive to religious sensitivities, and upheld the provision as constitutional.

A legal battle over Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) offered a brief reprieve when the Court of Appeal struck down the terms “offensive” and “annoy” — but in February 2026, the Federal Court reinstated them, restoring broad powers to prosecute online expression.

Arrests under the Sedition Act, the CMA and the Penal Code continued throughout the year, contributing to what Amnesty described as a climate of fear and self-censorship.

The double standard was on clearest display in October 2025, when peaceful demonstrators protested Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla — a move the Malaysian government itself had publicly criticised — only to be met with arrests, force, and at least one subsequent charge.

In Sabah, student activists were investigated and charged over anti-corruption protests in May 2025, and three more anti-corruption activists were arrested earlier this month.

Although a Federal Court ruling had previously declared a provision of the Peaceful Assembly Act unconstitutional, Amnesty said no substantive reform had followed for more than a year.

“Announcements of reform alone are not enough, as people are still being arrested, investigated, and intimidated for speaking out,” said Divya Shesshsan.

Boats Turned Away, Children Detained, Activists Missing

On refugees and migrants, Amnesty said Malaysia’s 2025 record was defined by pushbacks, arbitrary detention and opacity — Rohingya boats were turned away, immigration enforcement intensified, and by August, more than 20,000 people, including over 2,000 children, were held in detention facilities nationwide.

The criticism echoed concerns raised in 2024 by Lubna Sheikh Ghazali of Asylum Access Malaysia, who said the country “seems to have collective amnesia and is selective about who deserves protection.”

The report raised the case of activist Thuzar Maung, believed to have been abducted with her family in Malaysia and returned to Myanmar, and called on the government to reopen the investigation.

In a separate but significant legal finding, the High Court ruled the government and police responsible for the enforced disappearances of Pastor Raymond Koh and activist Amri Che Mat — though Amnesty noted accountability remained incomplete.

A government-announced national refugee registration process for 2026 was acknowledged, but Amnesty said there has been little transparency on how it would protect asylum seekers or reform existing detention practices.

On the death penalty, Amnesty said momentum toward abolition has stalled — courts continue to hand down death sentences, including for drug offences, and a government-commissioned study has yet to produce a clear path forward.

Amnesty urged the government to amend the Peaceful Assembly Act, repeal laws criminalising expression, abolish the death penalty, and address systemic abuses in detention and law enforcement.

Divya Shesshsan’s closing charge was direct: “Human rights cannot be selective, and they cannot be postponed.”