The State's Management of Religious Hate Speech in the Context of Religious Diversity in Malaysia

Abstract

The present research project on the state's management of religious hate speech in the context of religious diversity in Malaysia is a qualitative research project in which interviews and documentary research comprise the primary and secondary sources of data collection. The results are as follows: 1) The situations of freedom of religion in Malaysia do not correspond to the principles of freedom of expression that are considered universal ethical standards. That is due to the country’s dualistic legal and bureaucratic structures which emphasize the stability of Islam as the official religion of the nation. Precisely, the laws and state agencies that govern and restrict religious practices and propagation discriminate against the adherents of other religions. 2) Given Malaysia’s approach of hate speech restriction by laws, any proposal to apply similar restrictive measures to Muslim communities in Thailand seems to be conceptually and practically problematic. On one hand, it is the imposition of measures that are contradictory to the principles of religious freedom and discriminatory against the religious minorities. On the other hand, the legal and bureaucratic structures of Thailand are not fit for such imposition. 3) In the efforts to prevent and restrict interreligious hate speech, this research has concluded to propose that universal principles of rights and liberty should be the common platform where all parties play on equal terms.