JULY 7 — If you are wondering why you are seeing more and more racial narratives and hate speech over the last few years — the answer is simple.

The government, while flawed, is more representative of Malaysians of all races, genders, religions and regions. The opposition representation is heavily about one race, one religion, one gender, one region. In other words Malay Muslim males from Peninsula Malaysia.

Hence it is the easiest narrative for rabble rousing politicians and affiliated influencers and cybertroopers to play up. All the more since the dominant party in PN — PAS — is clearly courting the dominant party in BN, Umno.

The other day I watched Bad Influence, an investigative video by The Fourth, in which they showed what happens when you try to get influencer agencies to spread racist, divisive content.

Posing as political aides, they exposed how marketing agencies, paid cybertroopers, and influencers systematically weaponise anger, fear, and polarisation to secure virality and votes.

From multi-million-ringgit political budgets to tech algorithms the mechanism are there to boost false stories that cause the layman to hate the other. 

The foundation of segregated political parties and educational systems has led us to this point and the prejudiced pronouncements of leaders like Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Abdul Hadi Awang add fuel to the fire.

Mahathir recently called on Malay voters to only give their votes to Malay-Muslim candidates, making the false and fear/mongering claim that Malays are at risk of being a stateless people.

Hadi has a history of labelling non-Muslims as infidels (kafir) and accusing them of being the root of corruption.

Just over the weekend, Khairy Jamaluddin sang the same tune, urging Malay-Muslim voters in Negeri Sembilan to support BN in the upcoming state polls as only Umno-BN can safeguard the community’s interests.

The great cosmopolitan sage was apparently unhappy at the government of menteri besar Aminuddin Harun and the balanced racial composition of Pakatan Harapan representatives in the state assembly.

No matter how eloquently or bluntly the racial narratives are phrased, there is ample convergence and synergy between the various forces who don’t care about tearing the fabric of the nation as long as their hold on power increases.

When I formally requested the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission corporate communications department for details they revealed that they had issued 13,795 takedown requests to online platforms for “race, religion and royalty” content between January 2022 and May 2026, resulting in the removal of 8,628 items. 

The breakdown of the requests is 8,159 due to race, 4,139 due to religion and 1,497 due to royalty. More telling however is that the number was only 197 in 2022 but jumped to 7,648 by 2024!

You can draw your only conclusions but I feel it is decisive proof that as soon as Pakatan Harapan formed the government, there was a dramatic increase in online racial provocation.

“In 2026, MCMC has observed periods of heightened online activity and stronger public sentiment surrounding issues such as the Rohingya community, religious sensitivities and other matters involving race, religion and the Royal Institution,” said the MCMC.

“There are indications that some of the activity may exhibit characteristics associated with Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour. However, attribution of people behind it requires deeper technical, behavioural and network analysis, on per-case basis,” it added.

This network of right-wing politicians and cybertroopers doesn’t just reinforce the ill-educated and ignorant by harping on identity politics. It also targets the disgruntled and disappointed, who are made to feel that because the government makes mistakes, it is not worth defending.

Indeed in March Deputy National Unity Minister Yuneswaran Ramaraj expressed concern over racist remarks made by members of parliament, after a report identified Parliament as the largest source of recorded incidents last year.

Speaking at the launch of Pusat Komas’ Malaysia Racism Report 2025, he noted that nearly 80 per cent of Parliament-related cases highlighted in the report involved opposition MPs, but stressed that the issue reflected on all lawmakers.

* Martin Vengadesan is a former editor who currently serves as a strategic communications consultant to the Communications Ministry.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.