ANGKATAN Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) has recently launched a campaign to combat the spread of racism and hatred on social media, which has been gaining traction as of late and has generated more than 11,000 retweets on the first day of the campaign in November.
In a brief interview with FocusM, ABIM vice president Zairudin Hashim said the #KitaKawan campaign went viral on TikTok and Twitter because of support from various influencers, civil society organisations (CSOs) and Malaysians from different background.
Launched on Nov 22, 2022, the campaign was launched to reflect ABIM’s concern about racial sentiments that have taken root following the recent 15th General Election (GE15).
“We started first with ABIM members and then, following the joint efforts of our colleagues from Projek Wawasan Rakyat (PoWR), we manage to make it viral (the hashtags got 11.3k retweets from Twitter on the first day,” Zairudin remarked.
He said the campaign is ongoing and ABIM aims to address the Bangsa Malaysia agenda and harmony through values, social cohesion and peaceful coexistence.
Since 2014, ABIM has set in motion the Preventing and/or Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) agenda together with the Youth & Sports Ministry, the Anti-Terrorism Division (E8) of the Bukit Aman Special Branch and the Foreign Affairs Ministry through the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for the Prevention of Terrorism (SEARCCT).
“The #KitaKawan campaign started because people were concerned about racial sentiments that have flourished following the recent general election,” said Zairudin.
“It is a reminder of Malaysia’s long standing harmony that needs to be defended from racial incitement by parties with narrow interests.”
Zairudin also invited interested parties to check out the on-going campaign by visiting ABIM on social media. Netizens are also encouraged to use the hashtags #KitaKawan #SebarkanSalam #TolakKebencian and #SayangiMalaysiaku. – Dec 14, 2022
Main photo credit: iStockPhoto
