A preacher on TikTok and a politician on Facebook spark concerns over Malaysia’s racial divide

Two social media controversies have highlighted concerns over growing intolerance in the multiracial country

In one, the preacher Syakir Nasoha accuses Buddhists, Hindus and Dayaks of killing Muslims. In the other, Bersatu politician Borhanuddin Che Rahim uses a derogatory term to describe a badminton player of ethnic Indian descent

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Malaysia is a multiracial country. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:30am, 6 Oct 2021Updated: 10:55pm, 6 Oct 2021

Civil society groups in Malaysia have warned of growing racial and religious intolerance in Malaysia following two controversies on social media at the weekend, one involving a Muslim preacher and one involving a senior politician.

In a viral TikTok video that has amassed 17,000 views, the Malaysian Muslim preacher Syakir Nasoha accused Buddhists, Hindus and Dayaks – the indigenous people of the eastern Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah – of killing Muslims, sparking fears that his words would incite violence against those groups.

Meanwhile, even as critics lined up to denounce the preacher’s video, a senior politician from the Bersatu party, Borhanuddin Che Rahim, was making waves on Facebook for a post in which he questioned the role of the badminton player S. Kisona, who is of ethnic Indian descent, in the national team.

In a post that has since been deleted, Borhanuddin asked “which estate” had the Badminton Association of Malaysia recruited the player from, using a derogatory term for ethnic Indians. Critics said the use of the word “estate” appeared to be a reference to the “rubber estates” where some Indian migrant labourers worked during the colonial era.

The politician apologised, but not before his comments were condemned as “unacceptable” by Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu as well as the Badminton Association of Malaysia. The Bersatu party is a constituent of the ruling coalition government led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yakoob.

The two incidents highlighted concerns over growing intolerance in the multiracial country, where a senior counterterrorism official has recently warned that religious and ethnically motivated extremism poses the single biggest threat of a terrorist incident. The incidents have also highlighted claims that this intolerance is being fuelled by politicians seeking to exploit racial divisions.