A/HRC/40/11 Introduction 1. The Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, established in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, held its thirty-first session from 5 to 16 November 2018. The review of Malaysia was held at the 8th meeting, on 8 November 2018. The delegation of Malaysia was headed by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dato’ Seri Ramlan Ibrahim. At its 14th meeting, held on 13 November 2018, the Working Group adopted the report on Malaysia. 2. On 10 January 2018, the Human Rights Council selected the following group of rapporteurs (troika) to facilitate the review of Malaysia: Cuba, Nepal and South Africa. 3. In accordance with paragraph 15 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 and paragraph 5 of the annex to Council resolution 16/21, the following documents were issued for the review of Malaysia: (a) A national report submitted/written presentation made in accordance with paragraph 15 (a) (A/HRC/WG.6/31/MYS/1); (b) A compilation prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in accordance with paragraph 15 (b) (A/HRC/WG.6/31/MYS/2); (c) A summary prepared by OHCHR in accordance with paragraph 15 (c) (A/HRC/WG.6/31/MYS/3). 4. A list of questions prepared in advance by Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Portugal, on behalf of the Group of Friends on national implementation, reporting and follow-up, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was transmitted to Malaysia through the troika. These questions are available on the website of the universal periodic review. I. Summary of the proceedings of the review process A. Presentation by the State under review 5. The head of delegation highlighted the fact that Malaysia had undergone an unprecedented and peaceful transition of power through its recent general elections. A renewed focus on human rights would be firmly espoused at home and in Malaysia’s international engagement. To that end, the theme for the opening statement was related to “Embracing Change”. 6. Since the elections, the Government had placed greater importance and emphasis on cooperating constructively with the relevant stakeholders, including civil society and the national human rights institution, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. The national report had been prepared in close consultation with those stakeholders. 7. Malaysia was committed to acceding to the remaining six international human rights instruments and was considering accession to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Extensive deliberations with stakeholders were already under way. Furthermore, Malaysia had agreed to the requests for country visits by the special procedure mandate holders during the reporting cycle. 8. The decision to abolish the death penalty and to introduce a moratorium on all pending sentences had proven to be a new narrative on human rights. To safeguard freedom of expression and speech, the Government was working to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act and the Sedition Act. Malaysia had established a special committee to review the provisions of other laws, namely the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Communications and Multimedia Act. 9. In the interests of creating a more vibrant and mature democracy, Malaysia had revamped weak institutions and lowered the voting age to 18 years. As part of that change, 2