Pusat Komas 2025 racism report: A decade of lessons on discrimination and reform

 

After a decade of documenting racial discrimination, Pusat Komas is set to return with its 11th edition of the Malaysian Racism Report, introducing a series of refinements.

Due for release on Monday (March 30), the publication is set to feature sharper insights and more robust recommendations, drawing on years of refining how racism is understood against an increasingly complex social and political backdrop.

First published in 2015, the Malaysian Racism Report became a key civil society effort to systematically record cases ranging from everyday discrimination to rhetoric entrenched in Malaysia’s political and institutional spaces.

Over the years, the report has recorded incidents spanning education, employment, politics, and everyday social interactions, highlighting how racism manifests at an interpersonal and institutional level.

As it enters its 2025 edition, Pusat Komas director Jerald Joseph said the report reflects continuity and change.

While the core principles remain consistent, the methodology has evolved to better reflect how racial and religious discrimination manifests in society.

“As racial and religious discrimination evolves in form, language, and setting, our reporting, filtering, and categorisation processes must also evolve to remain relevant and accurate.

“In that sense, this year’s approach is not a departure from the report’s foundations, but part of a longer process of improving how we document racism in Malaysia,” Jerald told Malaysiakini.

A feature that will be strengthened this year is the monitoring of racist rhetoric in Parliament through Hansard records - an approach that was first exercised in the 2024 edition.

The move, Jerald noted, is part of a broader push for greater accountability in the legislative body, particularly how lawmakers engage with hate speech and racism.

Persistent gaps in addressing discrimination

A decade into serving as one of the nation’s watchdogs, Pusat Komas continues to face challenges in documenting incidents and capturing how racism has evolved in complexity and reach.

Preliminary insights from the 2025 edition point to a concerning trend: racial and religious issues are increasingly evident in institutional and political spaces.

This includes how such issues are debated and amplified in Parliament, public discourse, and through organised rhetoric by political or social actors.

According to Jerald, racial discrimination today often overlaps with religious tensions, nationalism, and questions of belonging, making it more complex than earlier, narrower understandings of racism.

He said while such issues are now more openly contested in public, responses remain uneven, with some harmful rhetoric quickly challenged and others being normalised or excused depending on who is targeted.

Even after 10 years of monitoring, the slew of challenges faced in addressing racism in the country never falls short, he said.

He added that though the government, through the National Unity Ministry, has made some effort, there has yet to be a firm commitment to establishing a comprehensive national mechanism to address racial and religious discrimination.

The normalisation of strong emotional reactions was also said to make it harder to see and address real problems.

The 2025 report aims to address these challenges by continuing to document incidents systematically, while also identifying patterns, recurring themes, and institutional gaps.

From documentation to reform

Beyond documentation, the Malaysian Racism Report continues to serve as an advocacy tool, backing longstanding calls for structural reforms.

Among them is the establishment of an independent National Harmony Commission and the introduction of a Code of Conduct on Hate Speech in Parliament.

By mapping patterns across sectors and institutions, Jerald pointed out that the report underscores that racism in Malaysia is “systemic and recurring”, rather than just isolated incidents.

“At the same time, the report not only highlights harmful incidents. It also recognises commendable efforts and positive interventions by individuals, institutions, and communities that help push back against racism.

“Hence, it serves as grounded evidence of gaps in our national systems and attitudes towards social cohesion for policymakers, and for the public to understand that reactionary words and actions are detrimental to society at large,” he added.

As the 2025 report gears up for release, Pusat Komas hopes Malaysians will use it not just as a record of incidents but as a tool for reflection, advocacy, and accountability.

Through its ongoing grassroots initiatives, such as the Bengkel Bangsa Malaysia workshops, the organisation aims to bring these conversations beyond reports and into communities, particularly among students and young people.

“We hope our report is used as a tool for government stakeholders in addressing racism, (as well as) racial and religious discrimination.

“Overall, the report is both a record of what is happening and a reminder that Malaysia still lacks sufficient long-term safeguards against racism,” Jerald said. - Mkini