I want to issue a challenge to all political parties, whether in government or opposition, whether at the national or the state level – to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in Malaysia.
Fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation is the greatest threat to Malaysia becoming a united, successful and top world-class nation where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, can feel proud as a Malaysian.
When DAP was in the Opposition – and we were in Opposition in the federal level for 52 years – DAP would have immediately responded positively to any such proposal by any government party to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in the country – without any hesitation whatsoever.
Let us see whether the Opposition today, whether at national or state levels, would be equally forthcoming and patriotic to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in the country.
Are the Opposition parties, whether at national or state level, prepared to attend a roundtable conference to combat fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation, and if so, the DAP is prepared to host such a roundtable conference.
Recently, the country was flooded with fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in the country – especially on the social media.
Even on Malaysia Day, when we should be exhorting all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, to unite as one people, there are political parties and political leaders who used the occasion to disseminate fake news and hate speech to incite greater division and disunity among Malaysians.
A good example was the Malaysia Day speech of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, whose first task after celebrating the PAS-UMNO alliance of klepto-theocracy last Saturday, was to disseminate fake news and hate speech in Bintulu – that DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam and that DAP wanted the Chinese to dominate Sarawak and Malaysia.
These are all lies, which had been spread by DAP’s enemies in the past, but which had failed to check the DAP’s progress and success in the past five decades.
In fact, there is not a single party in the Opposition, whether at the national or state level, which has registered greater success as a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious political movement as the DAP.
If the Opposition parties do not agree, I challenge them to name names and prove me wrong.
DAP MP for Kepong, Lim Lip Eng in his speech just now has made reference to some of the fake news and hate speech which had battered the country recently, for example the fake news and hate speech that the DAP was involved in a major operation to provide fake citizenship and identity cards to Chinese nationals to create fear and hate among the Malays against the Chinese in Malaysia – when there is completely no basis for such fake news and hate speech.
Last month, when there was a three-day system breakdown at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), there was the vile and pernicious fake news and hate speech to create fear and hatred among the Malays against the Chinese on the ground that three million Chinese nationals had entered the country through KLIA.
If three million Chinese nationals had entered in the three days of the KLIA system breakdown, it would mean an average of one million Chinese national passengers landing in KLIA a day – making the KLIA the busiest airport in the world!
This is an impossibility! This would mean over 10,000 aircrafts landing in one day – a fact which could not be hidden from the public.
In actual fact, although there was a systems breakdown in KLIA for three days, the process of inspecting the entry of foreigners was conducted by the Immigration Department manually, and all visitors had to follow terms according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
Fake news and hate speech is no respector of truth or fact and this is why Malaysians should develop greater social media literacy so that they can differentiate between facts and untruths, truth and lies, right and wrong, moral and immoral. Malaysians should be among the top countries in the world with high social media literacy where they do not easily succumb to lies and falsehoods of the pedlars of fake news and hate speech.
(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at a Sibu DAP Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019 at 9 pm)