VOTERS should “boo” lawmakers who ratchet up racially polarising statements to bolster support in the next elections, said a human rights commissioner.

“When politicians are making GE14 speeches laughing at the Orang Murut, or Indians, for example, boo the politician when they say something racist,” Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Jerald Joseph told a forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

“It is time for Malaysians to move away from (politicians) who bank on race and religion (to win),” Joseph said at the launch of Komas Centre’s Malaysia Racial Discrimination Report 2017.

Joseph said he has witnessed voters condoning racial polarisation at political functions.

“Sometimes, I see during ceramah, when there’s a racist joke, people clap.”

He said Suhakam will play its role in the next general election by urging candidates to conduct themselves “professionally” and be mindful of human rights.

“All candidates of all parties, even if you feel you can’t win, please don’t use this desperate tactic of playing up race and religion.

“I’m asking the politicians, for the sake of a future Malaysia, not to do it because what you’re doing has a long-term impact and can set a very dangerous precedent,” he told a press conference after the forum.

On race-based parties, Joseph said: “Our history brought on race-based politics, but that doesn’t mean that the candidate has to ratchet up racial profiling in order to get political support.”

Present at the forum were Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Institute of Ethnic Studies director Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Malaysian Bar Human Rights Committee co-chairman Mansoor Saat and social psychologist Dr Ananthi Al Ramiah.

The 2017 report on racial discrimination noted an increase in such incidents in Malaysia, with racism becoming more “pronounced, and is being increasingly used as a tool to divide and rule”.

The report said the rise of religious extremism “with the notion of protecting one’s religious purity” has led to discriminatory actions that infringe on the rights of other ethnic groups.

Komas noted at least 45 publicised incidents of racial discrimination, including hate speech, last year alone.

They include the seizure of paintbrushes made of pig bristles by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry in February; a series of five racially provocative statements by Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali; and, comments by cabinet minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to the Chinese that the country will be unstable if Barisan Nasional is not voted back into power to defend Bumiputera rights.

Other statements include an offer of RM10,000 by Umno information chief Annuar Musa for an essay that proves DAP parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang is “anti-Islam and racist”, and a speech by PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang envisioning an all-Malay cabinet.

Komas also noted entrenched racism among Malaysians via incidents such as separate drinking cups for students of different religions at a Hulu Langat school; a “Muslim-only” laundromat in Muar, Johor; Watsons’ “blackface” Hari Raya commercial; landlords’ discrimination against tenancy applicants from other ethnic groups; and, xenophobic behaviour against foreign and migrant workers. – March 21, 2018.