THE Foreign Ministry should have engaged deeper with the grassroots to explain what the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) means, said its official Murni Abdul Hamid today.

The ministry’s Human Rights and Humanitarian undersecretary said it had underestimated the sentiments on the ground over the issue.

“We should have consulted more with all stakeholders and grassroots on what it means.

“On what kind of obligations we have to undertake once we accede to ICERD and how it is not inconsistent with the Federal Constitution,” she said during the “20 Years Post Durban Declaration: Is Malaysia spearheaded in the right direction?” forum.

Murni said the most important aspect that the ministry had failed to show to the people was that the convention was not against affirmative action, and not against the position of Malays rulers.

In 2018, The Malaysian Insight had reported that 55,000 people had gathered in the capital to protest against the ratification of ICERD.

The anti-ICERD rally was organised by Malay-Muslim groups with the support of Umno and PAS.

Malay groups have said the United Nations convention, if ratified, would erode the special rights of the community and Islam as provided for in the federal constitution.

Murni said that it is crucial that the ICERD issue is not exploited, manipulated or politicised.

“Realising that, now we are working with the United Nations to translate ICERD from English to Malay. We didn’t realise it before, so how were we going to introduce it to the people and explain it, so that they understand?

“That’s what we are trying to do now. This is the first step, learning from our experience.”

She added that it is not just the government’s responsibility, but also civil society groups to convince the people.

“So, what has civil society groups done to change the perception? I know they had many dialogues, but how successful was it in trying to reach out to the people?

“We have to work together on this. It should not be just one party trying to bridge the gap in understanding our human rights obligation.” – September 23, 2021.