Malaysia has fallen "far short" of upholding its pledges to allow civil liberties ahead of elections widely expected to be held soon, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has promised to grant greater civil rights by revising or abolishing several security laws, including the Internal Security Act which allows for detention without trial of those deemed security threats.
But activists and opposition leaders in the Southeast Asian nation have dismissed his vows as ploys to regain votes lost in the last election, where Najib's Barisan Nasional had its most narrow win, at polls expected this year.
In its annual world report HRW said Malaysia last year had "arbitrarily" detained critics, broken up a peaceful march for electoral reforms and replaced restrictions on free assembly "with even more draconian controls".
"Malaysia's leaders are fooling themselves by thinking they can backtrack on public promises to respect the rights to demonstrate peacefully and criticise the government without fear," said Phil Robertson, HRW's deputy Asia director.
"The more Prime Minister Najib and government politicians play their game of big talk, little action on rights, the more they should expect popular pushback," Robertson said in a release. A government spokesman insisted it was "committed to a far-reaching programme of reforms that will... continue to transform our country into a mature, progressive nation."
"Under Prime Minister Najib Razak... bold steps have been taken to scrap outdated laws, make elections cleaner and increase freedom and democracy for all Malaysians," he said in a statement via text message.
But in its report, the New York-based group said despite government promises, human rights in Malaysia "remain tightly constrained." It also criticised the trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was acquitted by a high court earlier this month of having sex with a male former aide. Government lawyers are appealing the verdict.
Human Rights Watch said the law, which makes sodomy a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, should be repealed, and Anwar should never have been tried.
Najib's Barisan Nasional has ruled Malaysia since independence in 1957 but suffered unprecedented losses to Anwar's opposition in the 2008 election amid complaints of economic mismanagement, corruption and racial discrimination.