In an about-turn, the government has held off plans to introduce legislation to eliminate hate crimes, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

"It's because we can manage our race relations well," he told reporters when approached on the matter at Parliament yesterday.

NONE The law which was proposed to help root out racial discrimination was to be tabled in the current Dewan Rakyat session, which will end next week.

The de facto law minister, in explaining his reversal on the issue, argued that existing provisions under the Sedition Act 1948, the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and other corresponding laws, are enough to put a lid on racial incitement.

"Whatever offences you may think that may affect race relations have been covered" he said.

The hate crime legislation was mooted in the wake of public outrage over the government's failure to take action against racial insults allegedly perpetrated by school teachers.

The Education Ministry came under heavy criticism in 2010 for failing to take stern measures against two school principals , in Bukit Selambau, Kedah and Kulai, Johor, for their alleged racial slurs levelled against students of minority communities.

In Bukit Selambau, the school head was alleged to have reprimanded several non-Muslim students for eating within the school premises during Ramadan while Muslim students were fasting, telling the students to "go back to China".

Earlier, a principal in Kulai caused a furore when she likened the Hindu prayer strings worn on the wrists of Indians to dog leashes.

In addition, there were also racial threats made by right-wing groups such as Perkasa.

Last December, Nazri was quoted telling Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that the law would effectively tackle discrimination on the grounds of race, colour and ethnicity as well as nationality in employment, provision of goods and services, education and public functions.

Only one law to replace ISA

sedition act 1948 170309 Nazri also clarified that the government intends to only enact the Security Offences (Special Measures) 2012 Bill to replace the archaic Internal Security Act (ISA), instead of two pieces of legislation as stated earlier.

Prime Minister Najib Razak had on the eve of Malaysia Day last year announced that the ISA would be repealed and replaced by two new laws.

Nazri, however, said that the Security Offences Bill and some amendments to the existing Penal Code, CPC and the Evidence Act should cover terrorism and other crimes.

Commenting on the ISA replacement bill, Nazri said it showed that the government is listening.

"We feel that this is the appropriate time to repeal the ISA. Society has matured. Things which would have caused race riots in the past, like racial or religious differences, now do not seem to trigger people into attacking each other.

"Malaysians are more tolerant. In fact, I would like to say it's not question on (being) tolerant, but accepting that we do have differences - but it doesn't mean that we should be divisive," he said.

The new bill, unlike the ISA which allows for indefinite arbitrary imprisonment, limits the detention period to 28 days, after which the suspect is required to be brought before the court.

"This should unite us more because we have accepted each other's differences. We are one, and that is the reason why the government has decided to now repeal the ISA," added Nazri.