KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM), a coalition of 28 non-governmental organisations and civil society groups, warned that the coming elections would be the “most hostile ever.”
“In recent times, our national public space has been defiled with racial and religious hate speech, with hardly any censure from the authorities,” said coalition chairman Zaid Kamaruddin.
“If left unchecked, this threatens our national unity and social cohesion.”
Zaid also urged all political parties to reject all forms of fear politics designed to instigate anxiety, distrust and animosity among the electorate.
He said that in the past, emotions had run high and this time round, there is the possibility that some parties or candidates would go overboard.
“We are asking those contesting to please keep it clean.
“Do not ruin the peace and harmony that is Malaysia’s greatest strength for political mileage,” he said.
“We also ask that all parties refuse to engage in gutter politics which abuse race, religion and incites bigotry, hatred and discord,” he added.
Zaid said that to do otherwise would be to throw away all the progress the country had made since becoming an independent nation.
Responding to a question on the #UndiRosak social media campaign, Zaid who is also the head of Ikram urged Malaysians to exercise their democratic right.
“If you are going to avoid voting or damage your vote deliberately, you are making an ideological statement but your actions will not have any impact in the real world.
“By spoiling your vote, you are saying you don’t care who comes to power. Please be a responsible participant of our democracy, built with the effort and sacrifices of our nation’s founders,” he said.
GBM outlined several policy points for parties to pick up including forming a National Unity Committee at the ministerial level to oversee implementation of national unity programmes and a review of the Biro Tata Negara to ensure its operations are transparent, accountable and in line with its objective of promoting national unity.
Also present were representatives from some of the coalitions members including Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia, ENGAGE, Merdeka Uni Bhd, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.
