Its chairman, Razali Ismail, said they must not be selected purely due to the positions they hold in the political parties in the coalition.
He said this was because the country’s ministers needed to deal with important national needs and international demands.
“Malaysia has not had an illustrious set of ministers who met the criteria. Suhakam wants this situation to improve,” he said in a statement.
He also said the national human rights body had not enjoyed a “mutually reinforcing” relationship with the previous government.
Suhakam wanted a functioning relationship with Parliament, which included having its annual reports debated in the legislative houses, he added.
On the 14th general election (GE14), which saw Pakatan Harapan (PH) ousting Barisan Nasional (BN) from Putrajaya, Razali said Suhakam proposed to examine the shortcomings and discrepancies in the polls.
The “narrow and rigid controls” by the Election Commission needed to be revamped in keeping with practices in other democratic countries, he said.
On April 27, Razali had said the Election Commission had denied Suhakam’s application to monitor GE14, barring its representatives from entering polling stations.
On May 8, a day before polling day, Razali had added that the agency was concerned about the disqualification of candidates, reports of vote-buying and the redrawing of electoral boundaries.
He said the playing field had been affected by the “questionable disqualification” of candidates and the distribution of money and gifts.
Razali today also said Suhakam would remind Mahathir of PH’s electoral promises, that included commitment to human rights, democracy and rule of law.
Suhakam condemns disqualification, vote buying and redelineation