LETTER | National mediation council needed to deal with inflammatory issues

LETTER | Considering the incendiary incidents on commercial entities as well as the controversial and inflammatory remarks by various persons in the last few weeks, it is time to institute a mediation set-up - parallel to the National Unity Ministry.

This set-up is necessary to address the hot issues before they are circulated, creating tensions and threatening the various racial and religious groups in the country.

Malaysia is going down the slippery path of hate speech and inflammatory communal remarks, which could cause a rift and split in the erstwhile harmonious and peaceful communities.

The self-titled unity government needs to nip the problems in the bud through tough and appropriate punitive steps and not let things deteriorate and fester to the point where it threatens the coexistence of the various communities.

I am sure 99 percent of Malaysians value our diversity and act accordingly but the one percent is enough to poison the country. The disintegration must be halted. The coalition government has been too slow in understanding the seriousness of the situation and acting to prevent a snowballing of emotions and anger among the various groups.

The past BN governments, though not perfect, were more daring to tackle the problems head-on.

Politicians at fault

As it is the socio-economic situation is getting worse with the cost of living spikes causing enough hardship to the people, and preaching hatred and making inflammatory statements is the least the people want right now.

The government and the opposition should be faulted for allowing provocative remarks on social media, hate statements, commercial boycotts, protests, vigilantism, doxxing, mob rule and lynching to be done without severe counteraction.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the home minister must take firm action now before circumstances get out of control and threaten the multi-party government.

One of the reasons for the deterioration is that there are hardly any strong leaders able to rein in troublemakers or able to resolve the various crises that have plagued the government since its formation in November 2022.

Since then there has been a geometrical progression of problems and not a day goes by without someone somewhere creating a problem for the country’s beleaguered leadership.

There is no problem in Malaysia that cannot be resolved through the unique time-tested spirit of muhibbah (goodwill). The National Unity Ministry is not proactive and is unable to act or even issue critical statements about recent episodes of hate speeches, fear-mongering and anti-nationalistic behaviour.

It is time to initiate a national mediation council to speedily act on this kind of errant behaviour that threatens the country’s harmony, core values and social cohesion. As soon as racial, religious or other problems crop up which, if left unchecked could cause a rift in society, the council should act promptly.

The council should comprise capable and uncompromising leaders not afraid to tackle any person or issue. Upon deliberation and discussion of the issue, the council must quickly come up with a fair and equitable decision that needs to be acted upon by the government and the enforcement authorities.

The council should be allowed to act on its own initiative whenever it senses trouble brewing should the problem be left unresolved. The decision should be fair and just to win the trust of the people who will ultimately look upon the council for its equitable decisions to calm the situation.

Malaysia needs a national mediation council urgently and the coalition government should not allow things to fester further to the point it becomes a source of ridicule and helplessness.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.