Analysts: Hate Speech Normalized During Malaysia Elections – VOA News

Bangkok — Hate speech is becoming the new norm in Malaysia, says a media organization that monitored online posts during state elections this month. Based in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) set up teams to monitor social media sites over four weeks. Focusing on key areas of race, religion, royalty, gender, sexual orientation, and migration, the CIJ teams spent hours poring over activity from politicians, political parties, media outlets, government agencies and key opinion leaders. Their preliminary findings: Hate speech has become “normalized.” One aspect the researchers saw consistently was offensive or discriminatory language being used, said CIJ Executive Director Wathshlah Naidu. “That is very worrying because we are now normalizing it, and by normalizing it there is a huge potential for it to escalate,” Naidu told VOA. The month-long monitoring project “Say No To Hate Speech” began on July 24 as six Malaysian states geared up for elections. The vote was seen as a referendum on newly elected Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the strength of Malaysia’s Islamic opposition. Anwar was appointed prime minister in November’s general elections and after a hung parliament formed a unity government. During that election and others, the CIJ had
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