VERNACULARISING HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Abstract

What is the everyday practice of human rights? Drawing on vernacularisation theory and with grounded insights from the field, this chapter captures human rights as a lived experience for lawyers in Southeast Asia. Exploring the practice of ‘doing’ human rights, the authors examine how Malaysian lawyers empowered by the 1998-1999 Reformasi subsequently set out to increase Malaysians’ internalisation of human rights. Through the primary case study of a civil society group, LoyarBurok (and its subsequent manifestation, the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights), the chapter discusses the process of appropriation and the local adoption of global human rights ideas, focusing on context and agency. Comparison with the Indonesian legal aid organisation Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) reveals that despite different political conditions, legal systems, and social make-up, cause lawyers responded similarly to political crises in Malaysia and Indonesia by championing human rights. The conclusion outlines lessons from these lawyers’ foray into civil society activism in their efforts to vernacularise international human rights norms.