AN analysis released by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has discovered that race-based narratives topped the list of local social media posts in the month leading up to last year’s general election, with most of them posted by politicians and political parties.
According to the analysis which was published in collaboration with the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 66,933 posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok between Oct 20 and Nov 26, 2022, were on racial issues.
This is followed by other narratives such as 24,484 posts related to religion, 14,320 posts related to royalty, 7,596 posts related to gender and LGBT, and 3,819 posts related to refugees and migrants.
According to their findings, the most posts concerning race were made by political groups and politicians, with the top three target being then-prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, then-opposition chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and PAS.
It said that PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang and his Islamic party were the most prominent race amplifiers, gaining massive popularity among social media users despite Hadi having a substantially lower amount of social media posts than others.
“For example, Hadi’s TikTok feed claiming the DAP was merely using Malay candidates to gain voter traction had 2.5 million engagements counts on TikTok, the highest across all social media platforms,” the analysis stated.
Anti-Chinese sentiments, Malay supremacy, and the May 13 racial riot were among the key racial issues noticed to have been carried out during the 15th General Election (GE15) period, with the claim that there appeared to be a “well-coordinated and paid attempt” on social media to generate anti-DAP and anti-Chinese fear and hatred, especially on polling day.
The monitoring research observed that religion-based narratives became the primary divisive and polarising weapon during the election time.
“Islam was weaponised to fan Malay-Muslim insecurities. The focus was often on the need for Syariah, and in relation to that, the Hudud law, and the push for the controversial Act 355 Amendment Bill (RUU355) as key to upholding Islamic principles in Malaysia,” noted the analysis.
“These went hand in hand with attacks against the DAP being atheist and anti-Islam.”
It also said that issues on religion had largely intersected with race and became the basis for attacks against LGBT persons.
Hate speech against the LGBT community had also been used as a political tool, and was largely employed to discredit Pakatan Harapan, DAP, and Anwar.
The analysis also included a video of former prime minister and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claiming that a group of Jews and Christians were planning to bring PH to rule Malaysia, however CIJ indicated that engagement on the video was low, and there was no spike in the severity levels as GE15 neared its end.
“In fact, social media users, including those from Sabah and Sarawak, called him out for his disinformation,” it stated. – May 30, 2023
Main pic credit: Malay Mail
