Human Rights Watch Malaysia

Memo to #Malaysia police & PM Muhyiddin. Mao Tse-tung is dead. A long time ago. You should be laughing at Mao wallpaper, not tearing it down like it's some sort of serious threat. Attacking free speech like this just makes you look silly. https://coconuts.co//police-probe-penang-restaurant-for-a/

Meanwhile, next door in Singapore... Statement by Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch on Singapore’s #TraceTogether Covid-19 app data being available to #Singaporean law enforcement personnel. Singapore’s betrayal of its solemn promises to limit use of TraceTogether information to public health matters exposes how the government has been covertly exploiting the pandemic to deepen its surveillance and control over the population, and undermine the righ...t to privacy. #Singapore is engaged in double standards in asserting it knows the ‘truth’ and attacking opponents’ criticism as ‘fake news’, but then blatantly lying to the Singaporean people until the ministers’ manipulations are outed during question time in Parliament. The government owes its people an apology for making false assurances and should protect the right to privacy by immediately firewalling the data collected from the app away from the police, prosecutors and other law enforcement personnel. Simply adding a sentence long disclaimer on the TraceTogether website and claiming to be ‘transparent’ is far from sufficient to mitigate the loss of trust that many #Singaporeans surely feel today. #Covid19 #HRW #HumanRightsWatch #PeoplesActionParty #covid_19 #Covid #coronavirus2020 #Coronavirus

Human Rights Watch speaks to Vice News about the disastrous situation at Top Glove, both in terms of workers' rights, and the #Covid19 disastrous outbreak there. Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch, accused the company of ruthlessly exploiting migrant workers from South Asia. He alleged that thousands of workers fell sick in crowded and unsanitary living conditions. https://www.vice.com//rubber-glove-makers-forced-to-work-d... #TopGlove #Malaysia #COVID19outbreak #TopGloveCovid19 #HRW #HumanRightsWatch

More on #Singapore's ridiculous case next door vs. Jolovan Wham. Speaking to The Guardian on Jolovan Wham's case in #Singapore. Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch said the cases against Wham were absurd. You would think that the Singaporean authorities would be smart enough to not take on such a ridiculous case that will make them a laughing stock around the world, but they are blinded by their command-and-control mindset that prefers maximum response to the slightest ...provocation, he said. He added: Singapore’s government should grow up and recognise it needs to have a national conversation about what its people want in the 21st century, and that requires respecting people’s civil and political rights. https://www.theguardian.com//singapore-smiley-face-activis

Human Rights Watch speaks out against Asian governments' continued support for the death penalty. It’s no surprise the governments that voted against a death penalty moratorium include some of the most serious rights violators in the world, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The fact that 11 Asian and Pacific governments voted against the UN resolution, including many that still carry out executions, shows how far the region needs to go to de...velop justice systems that respect human rights. The shocking number of people sitting on death row in Asia make the region an aberration in the global move towards abolition of the death penalty, Robertson said. UN member states that supported the moratorium should band together to put concerted pressure on countries to get rid of the death penalty and commute all death sentences. https://www.hrw.org//asian-nations-reject-un-vote-against-