The Provision of Remedies for Enforcement of Fundamental Rights in Malaysia: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

This article aims at analysing the provision of remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights in Malaysia in respect of the challenges faced and the hope that desired. It is known that where there are rights, there will be a remedy. Rights without remedies are meaningless. So, the relationship between rights and remedies are interrelated of one and another. In Malaysia, when the Constitution drafted by the Reid Commission, the provision of fundamental rights and the provision of remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights has been proposed in the draft Constitution. However, when the proposed draft Constitution was revised by the Working Party, the provision of remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights have been taken away from the draft Constitution on the footing that the said remedies will be best provided under an ordinary law. Hence, in the present Federal Constitution of Malaysia the fundamental rights are enshrined under the Federal Constitution, but the provision of remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights is provided under an ordinary legislation. Under an ordinary law, the provision of the remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights had faced several challenges in terms of protection of the rights, interpretation and judicial attitudes. A possibility to resolve this dilemma could be re-inserting the provision of the remedies for enforcement of fundamental rights in the Constitution as proposed by the Reid Commission in 1957.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2p30