Press release: Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia show incremental progress amid systemic challenges
- New data reveals that despite Singapore outperforming Vietnam, both countries scored poorly in civil and political rights, highlighting significant ongoing human rights issues and urgent need for improvement across Southeast Asia.
- Singapore emerged among the worst globally on the right to assembly and association, with a score comparable to Saudi Arabia.
- Thailand has shown notable improvements in its civil and political rights since 2021. Neighbouring Malaysia has also made gradual improvements in the rights to free expression, assembly, and political participation since 2020, although scores remain below pre-pandemic levels.
- Indonesia has made substantial progress in the rights to work and housing over the past two decades, yet HRMI data indicate the potential to lift 61.3 million people out of absolute poverty if existing resources were fully utilised, underscoring the need for continued economic and labour reforms.
- Latest data measuring up to 14 rights across 203 countries and territories, and identifying 41 groups of people particularly at risk of rights violations, are now available on the Rights Tracker.
New research shows that Singapore performed better than Vietnam across nine rights measuring civil and political rights in 2023. In the latest data published by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), up to 14 internationally recognised human rights were measured in 203 countries.
“Despite performing better than Vietnam, Singapore’s scores of 4.2 out of 10 in Empowerment Rights, and 7.3 out of 10 in Safety from the State, set the bar low for Southeast Asia. A significant number of people are not safe from a range of violations including arbitrary arrest and the death penalty. Meanwhile, many people still face impediments to exercising their political freedoms,” said Thalia Kehoe Rowden, HRMI Co-Executive Director.
Singapore scored particularly low on the right to assembly and association. Its score of 3.1 out of 10 is among the worst in the sample of 28 countries in the study, nearly identical to the scores for Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
“Our network of human rights experts unanimously identified people who protest or engage in peaceful political activity as being particularly vulnerable to having their right to freedom of assembly and association curtailed. This group is also at heightened risk of arbitrary arrest and detention. Experts highlighted that the Protection of Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) places everyone at risk, effectively stifling dissent and restricting civil liberties,” said Kehoe Rowden.
Vietnam also performed poorly on Empowerment rights, with a score of only 2.3 out of 10 indicating that many people are not enjoying their civil liberties. Across all four rights in this category — the rights to participate in government, freedom assembly and association, expression and opinion, and religion and belief — Vietnam’s scores fall categorically within the ‘very bad’ range.
Glimmers of hope
Thailand’s civil and political rights scores have demonstrated an upward trend since 2021. Its Safety from the State score climbed from 5.4 to 6.7 out of 10 over two years. Its Empowerment scores also rose from 3.7 to 4.8 out of 10.
“Thailand’s score on Empowerment rights is the highest in Southeast Asia, even though it falls within the ‘bad’ range. This shows us that there is substantial room for improvement not only in Thailand but across the region. Southeast Asia’s low scores highlight the urgent need for robust legal reforms and stronger protections around civil liberties,” said Phoenix Yeo, HRMI East and Southeast Asia Lead.
Since 2020, Malaysia has had gradual improvements in freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly and association, and the right to participate in government. This progress comes after the country experienced a steep decline across Empowerment scores in the face of Covid-19 measures and political instability. However, most of Malaysia’s scores still remain below pre-pandemic levels.
“While Malaysia’s efforts to enhance political freedoms are notable, the country must address underlying issues, including restrictive laws and inconsistent enforcement, to ensure these gains are not only preserved but advanced. Malaysia’s scores on Empowerment and Safety from the State, which fall within the ‘bad’ range, suggest that the country still has a long way to go,” said Yeo.
Indonesia’s right to work scores steadily improved from 19.8% in 2000 to 73.4% in 2021, nearly quadrupling its score over two decades. Its right to housing score also increased by 24.2% compared to 2000 levels. However, Indonesia’s income-adjusted 100% benchmark is what the country should be achieving with its existing resources. HRMI’s Quality of Life data consider a country’s income and any score below a 100% indicates that the country is not meeting its current economic and social rights duty.
“Indonesia has made strides in improving their right to housing and right to work over the past two decades but significant challenges remain. According to HRMI’s latest data, the government has the potential to lift 61.3 million Indonesians out of absolute poverty by using its existing resources to fulfil its immediate economic and social rights duty under international law,” said Yeo.
“The country’s improvement in its right to work score since 2000 reflects broader economic and labour market reforms. Recent demands from the 2024 May Day protests reflect ongoing concerns about job security, wages, and labour rights. This suggests that while progress has been made, prioritising fair labour practices remains crucial for sustainable economic growth,” said Yeo.
HRMI’s robust research methods track the progress of countries over time, and demonstrate any improvement or deterioration in governments’ respect for human rights.
“Systematic and accessible data are essential for understanding and improving human rights globally. We have the evidence to support civil society’s calls for Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia to do better in fulfilling their international economic and social rights obligations, and respecting civil and political rights,” said Melissa del Aguila, HRMI Co-Executive Director.
The full set of HRMI’s latest data is now available on the Rights Tracker.
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About the Rights Tracker: The Rights Tracker is a global project to measure the human rights performance of countries systematically. The 2024 data set launched today includes annual data on nine civil and political rights for more than 40 countries from the years 2017 to 2023, with Singapore and Sri Lanka added this year. The data also includes new measures of freedom of religion and belief in 29 countries. Annual data on five economic and social rights for 195 countries (depending on the right) from 2000 to 2021, based on the award-winning SERF Index methodology, is also available. Please visit rightstracker.org for the freely available data set.
About HRMI: The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) is an independent non-profit organisation part of a global movement building a world where all people can flourish. Since 2017, have used a range of award-winning, peer-reviewed, robust methodologies to produce human rights data for the common good. HRMI’s data are used by a wide range of people and organisations. We believe that what gets measured gets improved. www.humanrightsmeasurement.org
For media inquiries, please contact: Waed Nimri, Communications Lead, at waed.nimri@hrmi.ngo