Press Statements

MACSA Welcomes Strengthening of Anti-Hate Laws

The Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process or MACSA notes that the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs in the new Pakatan Harapan government, Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa has proposed the tabling of three Bills, namely the Anti-Discrimination Bill, the National Harmony and Reconciliation Commission Bill and the Racial and Religious Hatred Act for the Parliamentary Session this October or February next year.[1] The new government has yet to publish a draft of these three proposed Bills. All we know from news reports are that these laws, in particular the proposed Racial and Religious Hatred Bill aim to curb racial and religious hatred. In short, the proposed Bills seek to criminalise hate speech. The proposed penalties a...

Read More
Press Statements

The Sun Still Shines Strong on National Sovereignty

Many of us in the Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations in the UPR Process (MACSA) are lawyers and leading academicians, and the recent article by Eric Paulsen titled ‘The sun has set on Victorian-era laws’ gives us all pause. Eric would have us believe that our nation of Malaysia having freed herself from the shackles of British colonialism must now rid herself of sundry so-called ‘oppressive’ laws enacted during the time our ancestors had to endure the same. These include sections of the ‘archaic’ Penal Code on sodomy (sections 377A and 377B), enticement of a married woman (section 498), insulting modesty (section 509) and of course, the enactment he is currently being charged under for wantonly accusing Jakim of promoting extremism by the preparation of Friday sermons,

Read More