(April 22): What have Malaysians done to deserve the stifling of their various freedoms, activist and lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan asked Putrajaya today.

She said that Malaysians on the whole were a peace-loving lot and did not deserve their freedom of speech, assembly and others curtailed through the passing of the new Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) and the recent amendments to the Sedition Act.

"I have asked myself what have Malaysians done to deserve this? What have we done to deserve such stifling of our freedoms?" she asked in a forum at the Asean People's Conference at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur today.

"We are quite peace-loving. So, what is it?"

The former president of the Malaysian Bar said she later came to the conclusion that it was power, or the perceived losing of power that drove Putrajaya to clampdown on its people.

"In the last one month, we have seen the passing of legislation that is a crude assault on human rights.

"Just when we thought things were getting better since the dark days where political opponents were locked up, we have slipped again, and very badly so," she told the crowd of about 1,500 participants from Asean countries.

Ambiga, who is now the patron of people's movement Negara-ku, said that Putrajaya had began feeling the heat back in 2008 following the 12th general election, where, for the first time, there was unprecedented challenge to the political status quo from the opposition.

"For the first time, the two-thirds majority in Parliament enjoyed by the ruling coalition was denied to them?," she said.

"Things started to change since then. Then, in the 2013 GE, they lost the popular vote.

"And then our human rights record went further south."

Besides its human rights record, the former co-chair of Bersih – an electoral watchdog – also cited the findings of a study carried out by the Electoral Integrity Project which ranked Malaysia 114 out of 127 countries surveyed in terms of the country's polling system.

"It is an utter disgrace. Indonesia was ranked 51, Thailand 88 and the Philippines 91 while Malaysia is 114 out of the 127 surveyed.

"The report actually held that our polling boundaries are the worst in the world.

"Now, I don't know how we can just ignore a report like that but we are. The EC (Election Commission) is ignoring it. As we speak, they are carrying on the redelineation exercise," she said.

Ambiga noted that on the international front, Malaysia has done well in the human rights area.

"We were on the human rights council twice. We now have a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

"You have seen how rich we are – our culture, our diversity, our talent, our natural resources, our cultural heritage. So really, we should be enjoying all of these together," she added.

Race and religion, she told the crowd, are two elements constantly being used as a divisive tool in the country.

"We see religion and race constantly being used. Race and religion are easy to use as a divisive factor in this country.

"We have race-based parties and we have irresponsible politicians who are happy to create tensions," she said.

However, Ambiga said the very human rights, moderation and freedom to speak up championed by Malaysia on the international stage eluded its people at home.

"Yet, instead of celebrating our diversity, we appear to have lost our way. Today, we are a nation deeply divided along racial and religious lines, as well as socio-economic balance." – The Malaysian Insider