US told to butt out: What happened to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: A body like the United Nations and not the United States should reprimand a country on its internal affairs, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

Strongly asking the United States not to meddle in Malaysia’s internal affairs anymore, he said even the UN secretary-general has not said anything about how Malaysia is handling its legal matters.

Responding to a statement by former US Vice-President Al Gore that the Malaysian Government was involved in “character assassination to silence an effective leader of the political opposition,” Dr Rais said he would like to see US’ discriminatory approach being scrutinised by others.

He added that the UN should play the role of the world policeman and not the US.

“The UN secretary-general had not uttered a word meaning that he respects our law and justice system; why should a lesser mortal from the US air it out in clarion call to say that Malaysia is not up to their standards.

“Why should Gore and the former US Vice-President give judgment of evaluation of a country; does he not know the meaning for the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and the UN Charter – respect for the internal affairs of a country,” [more]

Note from freeanwar.org: So, does the universal declaration of human rights only apply when one’s actions are being criticized?

Stop making statements on Anwar

SINGAPORE: Kuala Lumpur wants Washington to abstain from making further statements pertaining to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the country’s rule of law set-up.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim said he had informed United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of this during their bilateral talks Thursday.

Rais said he had informed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he would meet Rice while attending the Asean Ministerial Meeting and would take the opportunity to talk to her on this issue.

“I had explained to Rice that investigations against Anwar over sodomy allegations were not politically motivated whatsoever. [more]

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US urges Malaysia to follow rule of law in dealing with Anwar sodomy case

SINGAPORE (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday urged Malaysia to be transparent and follow the rule of law in dealing with the sodomy accusation against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The comment is likely to irk the Malaysian government, which earlier this month accused the U.S. of meddling in its domestic affairs when a State Department spokesman made similar comments on Anwar’s case.

«The United States has long spoken and will continue to speak up about cases that we think need to be thought about in terms of the political circumstances,» said Rice, who is here to attend a regional security conference.

«We want to see transparency and for rule of law to be completely followed here,» she told reporters just before going into the 27-nation meeting. «We are always going to speak up on human rights cases, political cases, but we do so in a spirit of respect for Malaysia.” [more]

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