‘Incitement to racial hatred’ under an Equality Act by Kua Kia Soong

Special People

Malaysiakini : So why has the BN and now, Harapan government not drafted an Equality Act? Is it because “equality” itself is a “sensitive” issue in Malaysia today?

It is so sensitive in fact that the ratification of Icerd (International Convention for the Eradication of Racial Discrimination) had to be jettisoned recently. Imagine that!

So, the BN and now the Harapan government has chosen to name their bills with imprecise Orwellian terms like “national harmony” and “national unity” which have been rendered meaningless through decades of government doublespeak.

It is not surprising that Malay supremacists object to legislation framed in terms of “equality” because “incitement to racial hatred” would be considered a criminal offence within the scope of such an Equality Act. 

To take Malaysia out of the dark ages and into 21st century developed status, we need to address the main issues of racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance in our society and to propose appropriate bills and institutions to resolve these problems. As we have seen, failure to do so results in fluffily clad bills which merely serve to glamourise an insincere regime.

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