THREE private member’s bills aimed at reducing the tide of hate crimes and promoting harmony among Malaysians have been submitted for the next parliamentary session.

Parit Buntar MP Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa submitted a motion to the government to table the three bills last week.

The Dewan Rakyat is scheduled to sit for the last meeting of the year from October 23 to November 30.

Mujahid’s motion to introduce the Racial and Religious Hate Crimes Bill, National Harmony and Reconciliation Bill, and National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Bill was submitted to Dewan Rakyat secretary Roosme Hamzah on Thursday.

“The time has come for there to be a law to ensure that harmony is a national priority. My proposal does not stop the freedom of speech, but ensures that this freedom is not used as an excuse to insult other races and religions,” said Mujahid in a statement today.

“Although there are laws such as the Sedition Act, Multimedia Act and Penal Code, there are no laws to preserve the harmony between races in the country.”

The three bills, which criminalise discrimination, were proposed by the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) in 2014 to the government, along with two other bills, but nothing came of it.

Mujahid, who is also Amanah vice-president, was the only opposition MP appointed to the 30-member NUCC when it was launched in 2013. He was a PAS member at the time.

The NUCC was launched by Prime Minister Najib Razak to address issues like racial and religious polarisation, disunity and discrimination in an effort to achieve national unity.

The council, however, was dissolved in mid-2016. None of the bills, which were aimed at replacing the Sedition Act, was made into law.

The Najib administration fortified the Sedition Act instead. – October 8, 2017.