On 21 April The Malaysian-Swedish Business Association (MASBA), together with the Embassy of Sweden in Kuala Lumpur, had the honour of listening to a prominent guest speaker on the topic ‘Malaysia today – Do Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties mean anything in Malaysia?’
Held at the Banquet Hall of Royal Selangor Golf Club, Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan shared her insights from being an advocate of human rights issues and the promotion of the rule of law.
She is currently the President of the Human Rights Organisation of Malaysia (HAKAM) and also a patron of Negara-Ku, a people’s movement to reclaim Malaysia focusing on the agenda of unity, peace and harmony.
Among the rewards Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan is a recipient of the United States Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award for the year 2009 and was in 2011 awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) from the University of Exeter for her work in advancing human rights, as well as the “Chevalier” of the French Order of the “Légion d’Honneur”, also for her work in human rights. She was also en engaged as a Co-chairperson of Bersih 2.0 from 2011 to 2013, a civil society movement for free and fair elections. As well, she is a mediator on the Panel of the Bar Council, Malaysian Mediation Centre.
Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan is a litigation lawyer and is also actively involved in public interest litigation. .
Introducing the event Sweden’s H.E. Ambassador Bengt G Carlsson welcomed MASBA members and other guests and Mr Hans Bjornered, Chairman of MASBA said a few words about MASBA’s upcoming programme
After the event MASBA stated with three successful events held together with the Embassy of Sweden this had become a tradition. MASBA thanked all its members and other guests for once more coming to the RSGC for a very special function.
“The Nordic Ambassadors continue to honour us with their presence, and we are always pleased to see also colleagues from the other Nordic business councils at our functions,“ MASBA added.
The speech by Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan encouraged the audience to some direct and open questions during the Q&A session, followed by lively discussions between the guests all through the cocktail buffet and mingle, which went on until late hours.
MASBA also thanks its event sponsor, Mr Peter Karlsson from Asian Tigers.
