The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 is a guide to the minimal standards of promoting human rights in Malaysia, which are enshrined under the Part II of its Federal Constitution. To place the contents of this book within a historical framework, the author summarizes several of the early theoretical perspectives and debates circulated in the West and East that were applied for an undertanding of the term "right" and "human rights". Some of the concepts may seem overlapped with specific Malaysia's experience as Malaysian Laws are coalition of both influences. The author does not negate the fact that Shariah, which are the laws of the land, and Western influnces have given Malaysian human rights a distinct character.

Along with the critism about Malaysia's commitment towards eliminating gender inequality, however, one of the important issues among Shariah and legal scholars is to know whether the women legal protections in Malaysia underpinned by English common law and Shariah are harmonised with the Women's Convention. In Malaysia, the Shariah has absorbed the principles of common law which are not contradictory to Islamic principles. This book examines the important question of whether or not Shariah and international human rights of women are compatible and whether Malaysia can comply with international human rights law while they still adhere to Shariah, to mean specifically in this analysis as the law that is not un-Islamic. The tradition arguments on the subject are examined and responded from both international human rights of women and Islamic legal perspectives.