MALAYSIANS want their leaders to stand up for them against racial rhetoric, said lawyer cum activist Ambiga Sreenivasan.

Speaking at the Perdana Forum: Whither Maruah Malaysia 2.0 today, she said she expects elected leaders to show courage in the face of the rising racist and religious rhetoric which is proliferating through various mediums.

“When you have extreme racial rhetoric and religious extremism that seem to be taking root, what are we expecting our leaders to do?

“I am expecting our leaders to show courage. I am expecting our leaders to actually put their foot down and say that this is unacceptable rhetoric.

“Because, let me tell you, we have come to a point where hate speech is being freely and liberally disseminated online and of course we have a new challenge that is social media,” she told a crowd of 200.

Ambiga also reiterated her call for a bipartisan committee on race relations to be set up.

The forum was organised in response to the Malay Dignity Congress held last month.

“If they are not going to do it, we will have to do it,” she said, adding that it is timely to have such conversations and it will need the involvement of all parties.

She said the Pakatan Harapan government, which has been sidetracked from Day 1, must stand firm in its core values and principles.

Touching on the about turn on the ratification of ICERD, which was blown into a racial issue, Ambiga said the government succumbed to pressure instead of standing its ground.

“That is what happens when you give in once. You will carry on giving in,” she said.

“So what is our policy in relation to things like this, what is our game plan?”

Ambiga said the 14th general election represents the beginning of democracy in Malaysia and no one can take that away from the Malaysian people.

“What happened on May 9 for me, was the beginning of democracy and no one can take that away from the people of Malaysia.  

“We brought change and not just that, we brought change peacefully through a very flawed ballot box.

“We did it because we came out in huge numbers. That is our victory actually. We don’t want to take anything away from the people on that.

“This new government is the people’s hope for real change and I think it is critical that this government works and this Malaysian experiment after 60 years works because it is important to show the world that we can, and are capable of establishing a democracy.

“We cannot be sidetracked,” Ambiga added.

Besides Ambiga, other speakers at the forum included academician Lim Teck Ghee, former MP Tawfik Ismail, architecture professor Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi, MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker, Bar Council orang asli committee chairman Siti Kassim, columnist Johan Arriffin Samad and PKR Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How. – October 25, 2019.