PN govt drops national harmony commission, opts for action plan

PARLIAMENT | The Perikatan Nasional government will not proceed with Pakatan Harapan's plans to establish a national harmony and reconciliation commission.

Instead, Unity Minister Halimah Mohamed Sadique said the spirit of the bill to form the commission will be inserted into a national unity action plan.

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat, Halimah said the commission was dropped because there were already sufficient laws to safeguard national unity.

This includes the Sedition Act, the Penal Code, and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act.

"Creating this commission would have too much overlap with existing laws," she explained.

In 2018, the Harapan government proposed three new bills to curb racial and religious hatred in the country – the Anti-Discrimination Act, National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Act and the Religious and Racial Hatred Act.

This was amid a rise in racial tensions after Harapan took over, with critics blaming Umno and PAS for fanning racial sentiments.

However, in April last year, Putrajaya decided it would only consider setting up the national harmony and reconciliation commission, as the three laws overlapped with existing legislation.

Details of the national unity action plan were unclear, but Halimah told Parliament that there will be five strategies and an emphasis on the Rukun Negara as a national ideology.

She said the plan will be presented in a roadshow to get public feedback, be it suggestions to improve or objections.

"The era of government knows all is over, now is the era of the people's aspirations," she added.

Halimah stated that the idea is for the people themselves to be responsible for upholding the national unity plan.

Previously she had said that the roadshow would begin in August. - Mkini