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KUALA LUMPUR: An opposition MP on Tuesday called on Malaysia to ban online hate speech, accusing authorities of downplaying the seriousness of an issue highlighted by a Reuters investigation into Facebook abuses of Rohingya refugees and migrants. undocumented.
Citing the Reuters report on the rise of online xenophobia in Malaysia in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, DAP’s Chan Foong Hin asked the communications and multimedia ministry last week to state its plans to combat such speech from hate.
In a parliamentary response written last Thursday, the ministry said that hate speech on social media platforms like Facebook was assessed according to the companies’ terms and would be removed if it violated community standards.
The ministry did not directly refer to the Reuters report in its response. But he said he had instructed the state broadcaster RTM and the state news agency Bernama to produce reports that would help correct “misconceptions” and curb “outside elements trying to make Malaysia look bad.”
Chan said authorities appeared to deflect responsibility from Facebook or downplay hate speech as “misconceptions” or “fake news.”
“The ministry appears to deny this and believes that the hate speech reported by Reuters is under control and that there is no need for any additional control by law,” he said.
“It is time that we enact laws that punish the creators of hate speech,” Chan said, adding that current laws were not adequate to control “those who create and spread hate speech” between different communities.
Malaysia has extensive laws against offensive and seditious comments that cover some aspects of hate speech. But some have called for a specific law on hate speech, citing ethnic and religious sensitivities in the multi-ethnic Southeast Asian country.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has long supported the Rohingya, a Muslim minority fleeing persecution in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, but sentiment changed in April amid allegations that refugees and undocumented immigrants were bringing the Covid-19 virus.
Human rights groups have accused the Malaysian government of failing to counter growing anti-migrant sentiment.
