THE people of Malaysia will once again decide the future of the nation in the upcoming 15th general election. We, the Harmony Cluster of the CSO Platform for Reform, urge all Malaysians to come out and vote to reject leaders who use racial and religious rhetoric to seize and maintain power.
Race and religion have been used as an effective tool by politicians and political parties to advance their political agenda. In fact, for the past five years, race and religion were used by politicians and political parties to gain political mileage.
Several instances documented include the following:
1. August 27 – After establishing a new party, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad propagated race-based politics by stating that a Malay-dominant government is needed because the “non-Malays have always been a step ahead to the point that the Malays are left behind”.
2. September 3 – Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang of PAS claimed that the root cause of corruption in the country was the influence non-Malays wielded over the economy and politics.
3. September 27 – A survey by Index Mundi revealed that Malaysia is listed as the second most racist country in the world. Some Malaysians have directed blame at politicians.
4. October 20 – Even though members of Barisan Nasional had mentioned that they will not champion only the rights of a particular race but will be inclusive, this excerpt on August 16, 2022 demonstrated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s intentions to continue Mara Digital, a mall designed specifically for Bumiputera entrepreneurs despite the project being regarded as a failure, rebutting the notion of inclusivity that his party preaches.
5. October 22 – A statement by Hadi mentioned that there is a demon (“iblis”) within the Pakatan Harapan coalition, linking its component party DAP to communism.
6. November 1 – Statement made by Hadi published in Harakahdaily highlighted that Islam should be used as a measurement tool to vote for representatives.’
7. November 2 – Hadi accused DAP of misleading Malay and used Islam as political tool.
The use of race and religion was found to be effective, especially in creating traction during the elections.
Based on Pusat Komas’ social media monitoring in Johor and Melaka, we found that approximately 4,400 engagements out of 53,000 engagements (comments, shares, and reposts) were related to the topic of race and religion.
Besides that, political parties have also resorted to inciting racism subtly through “neutral” issues such as the economy and healthcare by projecting themselves as heroes for their respective communities.
It is far too long that Malaysia has continued to be bogged down by race and religion. Malaysians should be reminded that a leader should be elected based on their calibre and ability to lead the country, and not solely on race, creed or descent.
Malaysia, in her preparation for the next general election, should pay heed to the progress of other countries and should also embody the spirit of inclusivity.
We should learn from the appointment of Rishi Sunak, who was the United Kingdom’s first British Asian and youngest prime minister to be elected in 200 years as well as US President Barack Obama when he was first elected into office.
As such, we sternly remind all politicians to stop the use of racial and religious rhetoric for their political mileage. We call upon the people to reject any political figures who play the race and religion card.
We also call upon the Election Commission and the relevant statutory agencies to take swift and necessary action to reprimand any individual or parties found inciting hate and fear during the election processes.
Let us all reject leaders who use race and religion for their own benefit for a better Malaysia.
In the meantime, we will continue to monitor various social media spaces as well as public forums to keep politicians in check. – The Vibes, November 4, 2022
The Harmony Cluster is part of the CSO Platform for Reform, a coalition of 100 CSOs, based in Malaysia, focusing on institutional reforms
