A YOUTH-led campaign has expressed dismay at the political strategies used by certain election candidates in their 15th General Election (GE15) campaigns, which it said had used conflict rhetoric that incited race and religious issues on social media.
According to #KamiNampak – a campaign by non-governmental organisation Architects of Diversity (AOD) – these political strategies, which employ the race and religious card, are “counterintuitive towards nation-building” and goes against “truly embracing multiculturalism and celebrating differences”.
#KamiNampak is a youth-led campaign to monitor the use of the conflict rhetoric that incite race and religion issues on social media by election candidates.
It is part of the Rapid Response Team of Centre for Independent Journalism’s 15th General Elections Social Media Monitoring campaign.
Among the instances of party leaders instigating the use of race and religion in their social media that were highlighted by #KamiNampak include:
- Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS-PN candidate for P037 Marang and PAS president: A Twitter post on Nov 15, 2022 by PAS Pusat’s account displayed a quote from Hadi Awang saying “Only Allah the Almighty can determine the time of death of a race, when it’s time for that race to be punished by Him.”
“Alongside with the title ‘Allah Creates Race, Allah Erases Race Too’, #KamiNampak decries this rhetoric as a dog whistle for violence against certain racial groups,” the NGO said.
#KamiNampak categorised this as public incitement to genocide as it contains elements that justify the erasure of individuals based on identity-based characteristics.
- Nga Kor Ming, DAP-PH candidate for P076 Teluk Intan and DAP national vice chairman: In a Mandarin statement quoted by Malaysiakini, Nga is quoted saying Malaysia would become “another Afghanistan” should PN come into power.
#KamiNampak categorises this as motivated use of negative stereotypes of a racial or religious group.
- Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, UMNO-BN candidate for P090 Bera and UMNO vice president: In a campaign speech circulating on TV3, Sabri has been quoted as saying “While PH was ruling, the Prime Minister was also Malay. However then, the country was controlled by DAP, not Bersatu. Although the Ayer Hitam PH candidate is Malay, behind him is DAP. One vote for the PH candidate is a vote for DAP.”
#KamiNampak categorises this as falsely manufacturing or associating a political, economic or social threat with a racial or religious group.
“The continued use of race and religion has escalated to dangerous levels, especially with a party leader sowing the seeds for future violence,” commented AOD co-founder and #KamiNampak coordinator Jason Wee.
“Meanwhile, party leaders provoking each other with generalised, inflammatory remarks is simply irresponsible and fuels further conflict.”
#KamiNampak further highlighted several election candidates who have been flagged for using race and religion conflict rhetoric in their campaigns:
- Quek Tai Seong, MCA-BN candidate for P082 Indera Mahkota: An Instagram post was uploaded by the MCA candidate stating that Chinese voters in Indera Mahkota should support and vote for him for the chance to serve because he was the only Chinese candidate whilst the three other contesting candidates were Malay.
#KamiNampak categorises this as an emphasised use of one’s own race or religion to garner support.
- Auzaie Fadzlan, PEJUANG candidate for P056 Larut: In a TikTok post on Nov 13, 2022 Larut candidate Auzaie Fadzlan posted a video of himself interacting with a civilian. The TikTok caption read, “The Malays are already pawns. Other races unite, why not us?”. The civilian is recorded stating that “Chinese have their own country, Indians have their own country” with Auzaie Fadzlan nodding in agreement and asking, “Where are we going to run?”
#KamiNampak categorises this as falsely manufacturing or associating a political, economic or social threat with a racial or religious group.
- Chong Zhemin, DAP-PH candidate for P070 Kampar: In a Facebook post on Nov 13, Chong concurred with DAP leader Nga Kor Ming who stated that if Perikatan Nasional were to win, Malaysia would become “another Afghanistan”.
#KamiNampak categorises this as a motivated use of negative stereotypes of a racial or religious group.
On this matter, AOD programme associate Adnan Yunus said it is time for racial and religious sentiment in Malaysian politics to be a “thing of the past”.
“This is necessary for our democracy to experience a more healthy and mature practice in election campaigning and governance,” he stressed.
Over 60 youth volunteers are involved in monitoring social media accounts of election candidates in all 222 parliamentary contests across Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
The race or religious card is characterised as “disinformation, misinformation and mal-information of a racial or religious group, falsely manufacturing or associating a political, economic or social threat, and emphasised use of one’s own race or religion to garner support”.
“Such political rhetoric is employed to highlight differences between people and opposition towards groups and ideas,” the NGO said in a statement.
“These narratives blame various groups for social problems, reinforcing negative stereotypes, and may create demand for policies that harm a specific racial or religious group.” – Nov 16, 2022
