Criminalise hate speech, MP says after Seafield fiasco, transgender deaths

PETALING JAYA: Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto has called on the government to regulate and criminalise hate speech, following the Seafield temple fiasco and the recent death of a transgender woman in Klang.

Kasthuri, who is a member of the parliamentary special select committee on rights and gender equality, asked how many deaths would be necessary before hate speech is considered a crime.

“In Malaysia, we do not have a specific law to regulate or criminalise hate speech, especially against ethnicities and religious groups or even gender,” the DAP leader said in a statement today.

“The recent saga that unfolded over the Seafield Mariamman temple land dispute and its quick escalation into a racial and religious matter is evidence of how easily a matter can morph and transgress into a racial and religious (issue) in a violent manner.”

The Seafield temple issue, which Putrajaya says was not a racial one, saw the death of fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim, who was severely injured during the fracas outside the Hindu temple in USJ 25.

On Tuesday, a transgender woman was found dead in Bukit Tinggi, Klang, a month after the murder of another transgender in the same area. The police ruled out hate crime in both cases but said they were murders.

Kasthuri pointed to Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which grants citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. But the international secretary for DAP’s women’s wing said this “norm” was not “absolute character”.

“Like other countries, there are several restrictions on this freedom in order to protect minorities and people of different ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation and others who suffer from other forms of discrimination and aggression.”

In Malaysia, she said, words are sometimes deemed as weapons, especially with the Sedition Act 1948 which she said was used “against voices of dissent” under the former administration to silence political critics.

She added that racism was one of the main “scourges” affecting both the Malaysian and international communities.

She referred to Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo’s call to push for laws which regulate hate speech, and Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s three private member’s bills to be tabled in Parliament.

Mujahid, who is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had said in July that three new bills on anti-discrimination, national harmony and reconciliation, and religious and racial hatred would be tabled this year.

“At the end of the day, the spirit and character of the law is to promote peace, respect, and with the backbone of co-existence keeping the doctrines of the Rukunegara at heart.

“Therefore, a legal regime on anti-hate speech is needed and must be complemented with education and awareness on equal treatment, mutual respect, and compassion paired with striking a balance between freedom of speech and the repression of hate speech.

“In this Malaysia Baru, it is up to every Malaysian to demolish and destroy negative myths concocted and built up by hate speech and in the gravest of cases, the application of criminal sanctions.” - FMT