Fight racism at home, too, govt urged

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has been active in global calls to eliminate racism, but it continues to struggle with issues of racism and racial discrimination in the local context, according to a sociologist.

“The Malaysian government made many international commitments to eliminate racism, such as signing various resolutions against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

“Those international commitments should also be applied at the local level,” Denison Jayasooria said.

He said the government should not portray itself as an ardent supporter of the fight against racism at the international level if it refused to provide a similar commitment at the local level.

Jayasooria was speaking at a webinar titled, “20 Years Post Durban Declaration: Is Malaysia spearheaded in the right direction?” organised by human rights group Pusat Komas and the Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham) today.


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