Maryam Lee, activist and writer, has received a vicious onslaught of online abuse following her public comments on the #UndiRosak Movement, observes Hakam.
The attacks on Lee go far beyond criticism of her political ideas. Rather, they attack and bully her personally.
These online attacks are a breach of Lee’s right to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment and her right to hold and express opinions without interference.
Political disagreements should be addressed through respectful discourse, not through immature, personal attacks. Productive public discourse requires us to respect the humanity of our opponents, even if we strongly disagree with their views. Everyone is entitled to the protections human rights provide, regardless of their political view.
The gendered nature of the abuse Lee received breaches her right to be free from sex-based discrimination. This sends a devastating message to politically active young women. It says that their voices will be silenced and that they will be ridiculed in the most personal ways, with attackers targeting their sexuality, their bodies and ultimately, their humanity.
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Hakam condemns this toxic bullying against Lee and other proponents of #UndiRosak.
Robyn Choi is secretary general of the Human Rights Society of Malaysia (Hakam). This statement was issued on behalf of the Hakam executive committee.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
The language of commentors on the Stop The Lies site is much tamer now but comments to earlier posts were full of swear words by some against others and there were a regular handful of commentors slanging each other.
It looks like the blogger more recently moderates the comments more strictly and appears to have purged his older posts, along with the comments.
In 1980s, a fairly young Hindu neighbour described our dependence on computers and electronic calculators as contributors to the world’s general descent to its nadir in the Age of Kali.
I kind of agreed with him back then but only now in the “era of social media” do I see with greater clarity what he meant.
Perhaps it will take a nuclear World War 3 or for the supreme divine to rain fire a brimstone upon the world or to come down riding on his white horse with sword in hand to slay the evil doers.
This song was played on the radio many times way back in 1969 and 1970 – a time when we were told that science would solve everything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HjCOwHh8QE
A very poignant message for today.