A few days ago, Sunday Observer of the United Kingdom carried a report entitled “Will fake news wreck the coming general election?” which shows the ubiquity of the problem of fake news in the world.

In fact, in the past two years, one nation after another has been wrestling with the problem and danger posed by fake news.

Indonesia ’s riots in May served as a warning to all democracies with polarised electorates, high social media penetration and institutions labouring under the strain of populist politics.

Indonesia’s unrest was the first time in a democracy that social media-fuelled fake news and disinformation led to election riots.

But what made fake news particularly incendiary and combustible in Malaysia is the country’s diversity of races, languages, religions and cultures resulting in fake news and hate speech designed to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation and conflict doubly explosive and destructive.

Fake news and hate speech can not only destroy plural Malaysia, they can destroy the world. Read the rest of this entry »