KUALA LUMPUR: The seven new Suhakam commissioners are committed to protect and promote human rights, although the team has been more than halved to seven from the previous 16.

Chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam, for one, is giving up his post as Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations executive chairman to commit to Suhakam full-time.

Asked whether the seven could handle the tasks dealt with by 16 commissioners before, Hasmy said they could always ask for more commissioners if the need arose.

The commissioners who at­­tended the first meeting are Uni­­versiti Malaya’s Prof Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee; Fomca secretary-general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah, Shelter executive director James Nayagam, International Islamic University’s Prof Datuk Dr Mah­mood Zuhdi A. Majid, and Dayak Bidayuh National Associa­tion exe­cutive director Detta Sa­men.

Asia Indigenous Peoples’ Pact secretary-general Jannie Lasim­bang did not attend as she had another engagement in Sabah.

The following were appointed chair of the various working groups/committees — Education and Promotion (Dr Mahmood Zuhdi), Complaints and Inquiries (Sha’ani), Law Reform and Inter­national Treaties (Dr Khaw), Eco­nomic, Social, Cultural & Civil and Political Rights (Nayagam) and International Issues and Coope­ration (Hasmy).

Hasmy said they decided that Jannie and Detta would focus on matters in Sabah and Sarawak.

Asked who was Suhakam’s deputy chairman, Hasmy said they had deferred the election.

“The deputy is an elected post so it’s only fair we wait for Jannie.”

Asked whether the public could trust his commitment to human rights when his previous United Nations appointments involved presenting the Government view, he replied:

“I’ve been in the Government the last 42 years. So now I try to orientate myself and my thinking – (I tell myself) I am not a government officer anymore... but part of the process of government.”

He pledged that Suhakam would provide balance in dealing with human rights and neutrality vis-a-vis the Government, pressure groups and civil society.