Malaysian perspective on human rights

The international law has developed and recognised minimum international standards on human rights. It is however important to consider how they actually affect the lives of the human beings in question. Hence, protection under international law includes the issue of States taking the action necessa...

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Main Author: Rohaida Nordin
Format: Article
Published: Fakulti Undang - Undang 2010
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1700/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1700/
id ukm-1700
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-17002019-05-14T04:43:55Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1700/ Malaysian perspective on human rights Rohaida Nordin, The international law has developed and recognised minimum international standards on human rights. It is however important to consider how they actually affect the lives of the human beings in question. Hence, protection under international law includes the issue of States taking the action necessary to implement the law at the domestic level. However, is there any legal obligation for Malaysia to implement international standards? This article will address the issue of whether the Malaysian government could argue that there is nothing to compel the State to comply with the minimum international standards on human rights, argument of which is rooted to its perspective on human rights. This article will demonstrate the Malaysian government’s perspective on human rights that involves the rejection of universal human rights as a Western concept, and the adoption of Asian values. The Malaysian government has also argued that international standards of human rights are not applicable to Malaysia because of the over-emphasis on the rights of the individual as opposed to the rights of the community. International standards of human rights, for example the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, also givegreater priority to civil and political human rights, and are thus alien to Malaysian traditions and cultures. Thus, rights and freedoms of individual in Malaysia will be protected or violated because of what exists or what is lacking within the State and not because of what is said or done within international law and international institutions. An international regime on the nature of human rights can offer no more than guiding principles concerning the protection of individual in Malaysia Fakulti Undang - Undang 2010 Article PeerReviewed Rohaida Nordin, (2010) Malaysian perspective on human rights. Jurnal Undang-undang, 14 . ISSN 1394-7729 http://ejournal.ukm.my/juum
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The international law has developed and recognised minimum international standards on human rights. It is however important to consider how they actually affect the lives of the human beings in question. Hence, protection under international law includes the issue of States taking the action necessary to implement the law at the domestic level. However, is there any legal obligation for Malaysia to implement international standards? This article will address the issue of whether the Malaysian government could argue that there is nothing to compel the State to comply with the minimum international standards on human rights, argument of which is rooted to its perspective on human rights. This article will demonstrate the Malaysian government’s perspective on human rights that involves the rejection of universal human rights as a Western concept, and the adoption of Asian values. The Malaysian government has also argued that international standards of human rights are not applicable to Malaysia because of the over-emphasis on the rights of the individual as opposed to the rights of the community. International standards of human rights, for example the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, also givegreater priority to civil and political human rights, and are thus alien to Malaysian traditions and cultures. Thus, rights and freedoms of individual in Malaysia will be protected or violated because of what exists or what is lacking within the State and not because of what is said or done within international law and international institutions. An international regime on the nature of human rights can offer no more than guiding principles concerning the protection of individual in Malaysia
format Article
author Rohaida Nordin,
spellingShingle Rohaida Nordin,
Malaysian perspective on human rights
author_facet Rohaida Nordin,
author_sort Rohaida Nordin,
title Malaysian perspective on human rights
title_short Malaysian perspective on human rights
title_full Malaysian perspective on human rights
title_fullStr Malaysian perspective on human rights
title_full_unstemmed Malaysian perspective on human rights
title_sort malaysian perspective on human rights
publisher Fakulti Undang - Undang
publishDate 2010
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1700/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1700/
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:34:04Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:34:04Z
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