A COALITION of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has called on all Malaysians to vote out leaders who use racial and religious rhetoric to seize and maintain power during the Nov 19 polls.
The harmony cluster of the Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Platform for Reform, a coalition of 100 local CSOs focusing on institutional reforms, said race and religion have been used as effective tools by politicians and political parties to advance their political agenda.
“In fact, for the past five years, race and religion were used by politicians and political parties to gain political mileage,” they said in a statement.
They pointed to several instances reported in recent months to prove their point:
- Aug 27, 2022: After establishing a new party, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad propagated race-based politics by stating that a Malay-dominant Government is needed because the “non-Malays have always been a step ahead to the point that the Malays are left behind”.
- Sept 3, 2022: PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang claimed that the root cause of corruption in the country was the influence non-Malays wielded over the economy and politics.
- Sept 27, 2022: A survey by Index Mundi revealed that Malaysia is listed as the second most racist country in the world. Some Malaysians have directed blame at politicians.
- Oct 20, 2022: Even though members of Barisan Nasional (BN) had mentioned that they will not champion only the rights of a particular race but will be inclusive, this excerpt on Aug 16, 2022, demonstrated caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s intentions to continue Mara Digital, a mall designed specifically for Bumiputera entrepreneurs despite the project being regarded as a failure, rebutting the notion of inclusivity that his party preaches.
- Oct 22, 2022: A statement by Hadi mentioned that there is a demon (iblis) within the Pakatan Harapan coalition, linking its component party DAP to communism.
- Nov 1, 2022: A statement made by Hadi and published in Harakahdaily highlighted that Islam should be used as a measurement tool to vote for representatives.
- Nov 2, 2022: Hadi accused DAP of misleading Malay and using Islam as a political tool.
“Effective in creating traction”
The harmony cluster further noted that the use of race and religion was found to be effective, especially in creating traction during the elections.
They pointed to human rights group Pusat Komas’ social media monitoring during the Johor and Melaka state polls recently, which found that 4,400 engagements out of 53,000 engagements (comments, shares, and reposts) were related to the topic of race and religion.
“Besides that, political parties have also resorted to inciting racism subtly through ‘neutral’ issues such as the economy and healthcare by projecting themselves as heroes for their respective communities,” they added.
The harmony cluster said it has been far too long that Malaysia continues to be “bogged down” by race and religion.
Malaysians, they said, should be reminded that a leader should be elected based on their calibre and ability to lead the country, and not solely on race, creed or descent.
“Malaysia, in her preparation for the next general election, should pay heed to the progress of other countries and should also embody the spirit of inclusivity.
“We should learn from the appointment of Rishi Sunak, who was the UK’s first British Asian and youngest prime minister to be elected in 200 years as well as US president Barack Obama when he was first elected into office.
“As such, we sternly remind all politicians to stop the use of racial and religious rhetoric for their political mileage (and) we call upon the people to reject any political figures who play the race and religion card.”
The harmony cluster also called upon the Election Commission (EC) and relevant statutory agencies to take “swift and necessary action” to reprimand any individual or parties found inciting hate and fear during the election processes.
“In the meantime, we will continue to monitor various social media spaces as well as public forums to keep politicians in check,” they said. – Nov 5, 2022
