THE new government must enact a law to stop the spreading of racial and religious hatred to safeguard unity and harmony among the citizens, a civil society group said.

Global Human Rights Foundation president S. Shashi Kumar said such legislation is vital to protect all races and religions from insults and slurs in a multireligious and multiethnic country

“If they want to see Malaysia progress, develop and be united, the new government must table an anti-race and religion hatred bill. 

 “It must be tabled to preserve the unity and harmony of Malaysians,” Shashi told The Malaysian Insight. 

Despite legislative protections in Malaysia, namely article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution which prohibits discrimination based on religion, race, descent, place of birth and gender, Shashi said systemic discrimination against minorities persists.

it has not prevented people from making insensitive comments about race and religion, he said. 

He said the minorities in Malaysia were the people mostly affected by insensitive remarks. 

Shashi said preachers were also inciting hate and getting away scot-free. 

“Introduce the anti-race and religious hatred bill to stop everyone, especially preachers, from talking badly about other religions. 

“Regardless of who the preacher is, it is not their business to talk about other religions in the country. Just stick to their own religion. No need to talk about others or compare them,” the activist said. 

Among the preacher’s names mentioned by Shashi were Syakir Nasoha, Idris Sulaiman, Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu and Firdaus Wong Wai Hung. 

In June, the Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) decided not to prosecute controversial preacher Syakir for his inflammatory remarks.

Idris, meanwhile, had denounced Muslims for cleaning other places of worship as well as insulted Hindus after the floods that occurred last year. 

Even though videos of Idris were widely shared, then de facto law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said in August that the AGC was still deciding if there was enough evidence to prosecute the preacher.

Firdaus had insulted non-Islamic religions, particularly the Hindu faith, on his Facebook and YouTube posts.

Shashi had filed a police report against Zamri, a freelance preacher, in June 2020 for allegedly insulting the rituals and practices of Hinduism on Facebook.

Both cases were brought to court, where they were let-off. 

Shashi said some preachers were taking advantage of a system that does not encourage punitive action against hate speech.

“Despite their clearly insulting other religions, no actions are taken against them. 

“But if other people had spoken about Islam like that, imagine what would have happened to them. I’m sure the police would have arrested the person within 24 hours. 

“But these preachers are untouchable. It’s as though they are allowed to say those things. They are clearly taking advantage of the system that is giving them the freedom,” Shashi said. – December 8, 2022.