Montse Ferrer, Amnesty’s interim co-regional director for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said Malaysia is not the only middle power caught in a “double-standard” trap.
“Malaysia has been very supportive of the calls against Israel in the context of Gaza, but quiet or the opposite of supportive on Rohingya deportations or Uyghur deportations,” she said at a press conference in London.
Her comments come in the wake of reports that Malaysia had detained and deported Uyghur American scholar Abdulhakim Idris on March 30.
Ferrer said middle powers, like Malaysia, risk practising double standards by citing policies implemented by major powers.
In 2024, Lubna Sheikh Ghazali, the legal services and solutions manager at Asylum Access Malaysia, questioned the country’s treatment of Rohingya refugees, saying it was in stark contrast to its support for the Palestinians.
Lubna said Malaysia “seems to have collective amnesia and is selective about who deserves protection”.
Ferrer said Malaysia now has more room to improve its human rights record “out of principle rather than pressure from abroad”, including when it comes to press freedom and judicial independence.
“It’s an opportunity to actually comply with and respect human rights for the sake of human rights, not as a response to a geopolitical strategy,” she said.
She said Malaysia has historically been more aligned with human rights than many other countries in the region but still has a lot of room to improve.
Amnesty secretary-general Agnes Callamard also warned that smaller states could not rely on silence or side deals to avoid pressure from more powerful countries.
She said many governments have responded to abuses with “appeasement” and “cowardice”, choosing silence or trying to cut deals instead of speaking up.
Callamard said such an approach will not work in the long run, adding that countries focussed only on protecting their own interests could still end up being targeted.
“There is no protection in being silent. There is no protection in seeking deals,” she said.