ASEAN PEOPLES’ FORUM PLATFORM FOR EXPRESSION, AND DIALOGUE BETWEEN CIVIL SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENTS

Aseanpeople | Apr 24, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR. The 1,400 participants of the ASEAN Peoples’ Forum had the opportunity to engage with civil society members from across the region, as well as high-level government officials yesterday.

The third day of the conference started with a plenary address by Senator Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, where he emphasised the need for respect of human rights.

“The duty of the state to promote and protect human rights is fundamental. States cannot absolve themselves of their duty to respect human rights by saying that the rights of the majority need to be respected when this is only a thin veil to promote racism, subjugation, apartheid, slavery, genocide, or even extractive forms of industry,” he said.

Following his address, audience members from Malaysia and other ASEAN countries engaged in an hour-long question and answer session with the minister. Participants who were unable to attend the conference were able to watch the plenary session via live webcast.

Selangor Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Mohamed Azmin Ali also delivered a speech, where he criticised ASEAN’s non-interference principle, noting it did not help in addressing human rights violations in the region like the “systematic expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar, the persecution of Laotian and Hmong dissidents, the dispossession of the Bangsamoro and Patani,” and the disappearance of Sombath Somphone.

After lunch, 40 thematic sessions were organised, giving APF participants the chance to delve deeper into subject matters of their interest. All sessions focused on one of four key themes of the APF 2015: development justice; democratic processes, governance, and fundamental rights and freedoms; peace and security; and discrimination and inequality.

In addition to plenaries and workshops, various exhibitions were set up by APF 2015 participants. The exhibitions highlighted indigenous peoples’ rights, migrant workers rights, freedom of expression, and women’s rights among others.

Jerald Joseph, co-chair of APF 2015, thanked the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) for enabling APF 2015 to rent MCA’s building space for the forum. He noted that the programme and activities of the APF 2015 was solely organised by APF 2015 organisers and participants, and should not be attributed in any way to MCA.

The APF 2015 is organised between 21 to 24 April, immediately preceding the ASEAN Summit.