The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) today urged the government to fulfil its pledge to enact a racial, religion and hate crimes act to outlaw hate speech.

The government must also fulfil its promise to enact a National Harmony and Reconciliation Act to outlaw discrimination, Suhakam chairperson Hasmy Agam said in a statement.

“Malaysia continues to be confronted with evidence that it is still far from realising the goal of inter-ethnic, racial and religious harmony that our founding fathers had strived to achieve,” he said.

Hasmy said this to mark International Day Against Racial Discrimination Today.

He said while the federal constitution protects against racial discrimination, the government must do more to ensure this by acceding to the The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and eliminating all forms of racial discrimination.

“By so doing, it demonstrates (the government’s) commitment to the basic principle of the inherent dignity of the human person,” he said.

Hasmy said there is urgency to do this in light of a recent survey that found a third of Malaysians have racist tendencies, even though they may not admit to or realise it.

The National Unity Consultative Council had in 2014 mooted three Bills, which, among others, outlaw bigotry.

According to the National Unity Bill , offences include espousing propaganda or ideas promoting “racial superiority” or “exclusivity based on religion, belief, race, descent or place of birth”.

The bills were not tabled in Parliament.

However, the government said it is including an element dealing with hate speech and racial instigation in the National Harmony Bill, which is to replace the Sedition Act.

The National Harmony Bill is in the process of being refined, it said.