BANGI: Desperado politics that harp on the 3R issues of race, religion and royalty should not be tolerated in the country.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the authorities should weigh forming a special unit to monitor the prevalence of the 3Rs used by politicians as the six state polls near.
He said it was disappointing that some politicians disregarded the decree by Malay Rulers that campaigning should not involve the 3Rs.
"The police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will have to assess the necessity to set up a special unit.
"This is given that when we looked at some of the figures presented by the Centre of Independent Journalism on the 15th General Election, the speed and huge number of 3R contents put up in that short period of time are extremely worrying.
"So this kind of desperado politics that employ the 3Rs during the campaign period cannot be allowed to persist," he said after the launch of the 2023 Global Conference on Communication, Culture and Contemporary Media.
Fahmi said the repeated advice to refrain from the 3Rs had been issued by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and even Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.
"They had said that those who continue to play up the 3R issues would bear the brunt of the law.
"Sufficient warning has been given. So that is why last night, during a campaign trail, I said if you dare to do it, be ready to face the consequences," said Fahmi.
He also welcomed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said's proposal of a new act to impose civil penalties on those who played up the 3Rs.
Azalina had said the new act, which may be called the 'State and Nation Act', was like the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act in Singapore but in the Malaysian context.
The proposed act, she said, was punitive, and one would be fined for violation compared to using the Sedition Act 1948, which is more geared towards elements of criminal offences and prosecution would take a long time due to legal procedures.
Fahmi said punitive measures were needed based on some findings presented to him by the police and the MCMC.
"A lot of laws, as they are, have questions on the burden of proof, and there's the matter of profiling because sometimes people use fake accounts.
"So we have to have lacuna in the law in the interest of ensuring that the peace and security is preserved.
"I believe there is room for us to look at all of the laws that are currently there and to see what we can do to enhance," he said.