Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob made this announcement along with the names of seven other commissioners who will serve the commission for the next three years.
The announcement comes more than two months after the term of Suhakam’s nine previous commissioners expired on April 27.
Rahmat had served as the secretary-general of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization from 2008 to 2016. The legal expert is also the chairman of the National Sports Institute.
Of the seven other commissioners named today, Noor Aziah Mohd Awal is the only one to be reappointed after having become Suhakam’s first child commissioner in 2019.
The other six are former Malaysian Bar president Ragunath Kesavan, Nordin Ibrahim, Dr Chew Chee Ming, Mary @ Mariati Robert, Hasnal Rezua Merican Habib Merican, and Nazira Abdul Rahim.
Their appointments were effective June 22.
In a statement, Ismail said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had consented to their appointments to Suhakam.
On Wednesday, retired Court of Appeal judge Mah Weng Kwai urged Putrajaya to appoint the new Suhakam commissioners promptly or Malaysia would risk losing its seat on the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.
It was the third time that Suhakam was left without commissioners, which Mah warned would affect the commission’s advocacy work.
Mah, a former Suhakam commissioner, had questioned why it was taking the government so long to make the appointments, saying Suhakam could not function without its commissioners.
The former judge had served two terms as a commissioner, the maximum allowed under the Suhakam Act.
In May, eight NGOs issued a statement urging Putrajaya to appoint new commissioners to Suhakam immediately.
They asked for the right people to be appointed to ensure the commission remained vocal and not “pro-government”, in order to uphold human rights in Malaysia.
In 2016, under Najib Razak’s administration, Suhakam was also left without commissioners for almost two months. The same thing happened three years later under the Pakatan Harapan government.
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