Research: Hadi a 'key amplifier' of race-based narratives

Research: Hadi a 'key amplifier' of race-based narratives


GE15 | PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has been identified as one of the "key amplifiers" of inflammatory language during the ongoing election campaign.

According to the preliminary findings of a social media monitoring initiative led by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Hadi was described as amplifying "divisive, racist, intolerant, and hate-based narratives".

CIJ also identified Sik PAS Youth chief Shahiful Nasir, singer Jamal Abdillah, and actor Zul Huzaimy as creating "fear-triggering Muslim voters".

"Hadi and PAS have also resorted to 'red-tagging' in recent weeks, with the continued accusation of DAP being communist as they are allegedly atheist and promote LGBTIQ practices," said CIJ.

CIJ also accused Pakatan Harapan's Nga Kor Ming of making inflammatory remarks.

"While not at the same level of intensity, Harapan has also played the race card by claiming that voting for Perikatan Nasional (PN) will be like having Taliban rule the country," said CIJ.

CIJ's social media monitoring initiative monitors the severity of hate speech during the 15th general election (GE15).

The project is supported by the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).

52,012 social media posts studied

The research kicked off on Oct 20 when election dates were announced and as of Nov 15, a total of 52,012 social media posts were studied by the monitors.

"Race-based narratives topped the chart with 32,066 posts. This was followed by religion with 13,338," said CIJ.

The research identified another main trend in hate speech to be the use of negative stereotypes around sexual orientation and gender.

The research found that Harapan was branded as "liberal" and promoting an "LGBTIQ agenda".

"Out of 5,161 posts on gender and those directed at the LGBTIQ community, 2,533 were posts with sexist and gender-based derogatory terms, slurs and vulgarism, and eight reached the level of being hostile and dehumanising," said CIJ.