KUALA LUMPUR – According to the Malaysia Racial Discrimination Report of 2022 launched by Pusat Komas, the number of racial discrimination incidents reported in the media and social media rose to 82 in 2022 from 53 incidents in 2021.
Marking 57 years since March 21 was declared International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the human rights organisation launched the Malaysia Racial Discrimination Report of 2022 in the 11th National Conference on Non-Discrimination today.
Pusat Komas organised the conference themed “Impacts of the Internet on Racism and Racial Discrimination” at Connexion Nexus here.
Ashwini K.P., a social activist and special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council took part in this conference.
In her keynote speech, she said that racism and hate speech on the internet have spread widely as technology has evolved and private speech has become public.
According to experts, more individuals adhering to extreme, far-right ideologies – mostly racist, casteist, gender-insensitive, misogynist, and homophobic – have tried to explore the Internet space, she said.
“To receive validation for their perceptions or opinions translates into different kinds of violent acts in personal spaces.
“Online hate speech has intensified in terms of the spread of misinformation, disinformation about marginalised communities, putting them at serious risk,” said Ashwini in her speech.
Apart from that, she also said that proceeding with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination would be a progressive move the Malaysian government could make in this multicultural nation, as the recent political climate here has been dangerous for the marginalised community.
Compared with the report of 2021, the racial trends also added up one more sector that makes a total of eight trends which are politics, prejudice, education, employment, government incentives and policies, rental market, sports, and xenophobia.
The report cited that a high number of racism reports could be attributed to the 15th general election (GE15), as politicians and political parties made use of race and religion as political tools to earn votes and the people’s support.
As specified in the report, Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional recorded nine and eight incidents respectively as the political coalitions that recorded the most number of racial and religious rhetoric statements during GE15, while PH only recorded one incident.
Pusat Komas advised the politicians to stop using racial rhetoric to sustain their political power.
The NGO also suggested the government enact the National Reconciliation Commission Bill to provide proper rectification to victims of racial discrimination, since most of them are unaware of any other alternatives to posting these incidents on social media.
Pusat Komas said that it hopes the Madani government will engage diversity with the global standards and norms from the human rights aspect, which does not affect any legal provisions. – The Vibes, March 23, 2023
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