Human Rights Act 1998

The Human Rights Act 1998 protected the fundamental rights and freedoms, including some rights which are absolute that cannot be interfered with by the state, as well as other rights which governments might derogate if necessary under Section 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (Genn 2014, p. 19). Absolute rights are where the government can never take away or withhold these rights. For example, the right to protection of life under Article 2, the right to freedom from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment under Article 3, the right to freedom from slavery under Article 4, as well as the right to freedom from retrospective criminal liability under Article 7. Limited rights are where these rights might be limited under explicit and finite circumstances,

Therefore in safeguarding fundamental liberties, the fundamental liberties are entrenched. This entrenchment is against infringement by parliament. This is because by ordinary process of legislation, the fundamental liberties are thus not at the mercy of legislative majorities (Pettagan Swadesh Randika De Silva

It gave the courts the right of judicial review and the task of interpreting the Federal Constitution (Wan Arfah Hamzah 2009, p. 43). As the protector of the Federal Constitution, the Malaysian courts have a role to play, which is to protect the rights of the individual in relation to the State and between the States and the Federation. It ensures that State actions are within their allocated authority which includes ensuring the rights and freedoms provided under the Federal Constitution are not infringed (Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria