We, the Working Group for the Ratification of International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD-WG)[1], call upon leaders, candidates, members and supporters of all political parties to refrain and immediately stop the use of race and religion as a political tool in their campaign for the 14th General Election.
As the 14th General Elections approaches, there is an increasing number of members of political parties who have used race and religion as a political tool to garner votes from the members of their constituency. We are deeply concerned and alarmed with the usage of racial and religious politics in the campaign as it would erode the social fabric that binds us Malaysians together.
We would like to remind all leaders of political parties and candidates of the 14th General Election that any statements that promotes feeling of ill-well between different races is an offense under the Election Offences Act, Section 4a (1) which states that:
Any person who, before, during or after an election, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, does any act or makes any statement with a view or with a tendency to promote feelings of ill-will, discontent or hostility between persons of the same race or different races or of the same class or different classes of the population of Malaysia in order to induce any elector or voter to vote or refrain from voting at an election or to procure or endeavour to procure the election of any person shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding ten thousand ringgit or to both such imprisonment and fine.
Therefore, we urge all politicians to stop the usage of racial and religious politics and call upon relevant statutory agencies such as the Elections Commission (EC) and the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) to take swift and appropriate action to reprimand any individual or party that were found inciting hate and fear during the elections.
With more than 60 years of nationhood with the tradition of embracing cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, Malaysians must reject cheap and guttered politic based on race and religion in the coming election.
We urge all Malaysians to report incidences of racial and religious politics to Pemantau or through the Raport Racism application and further encourage to also report such incidences to relevant statutory institutions.
[1] ICERD-WG consists of Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), Lawyers for Liberty, The Malaysian Bar Council, Projek Dialog, Pusat KOMAS, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (PROHAM) and Tenaganita.
Released by:
ICERD-WG