Architects of Diversity Malaysia (AOD Malaysia) said its #KamiNampak initiative had detected disinformation, misinformation and the false manufacturing of political, economic or social threats involving racial or religious groups.

“The offenders included both the candidates taking part in the Melaka state election as well as the official social media pages of their parties,” it said in a statement.

The #KamiNampak initiative was launched to monitor the use of the race and religion card by Melaka state election candidates on social media.

AOD Malaysia said its 30 youth volunteers had been tracking the social media pages of the candidates and their parties.

One instance it gave was when Umno’s Paya Rumput candidate Rais Yasin reshared a TikTok video of Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki saying: “Only Umno and Barisan Nasional can protect and defend our religion … it can ensure the dignity and pride of our race is protected.”

The group said the race or religion card was used as political rhetoric to highlight differences among the people.

“These narratives blame various groups for social problems, reinforcing negative stereotypes.

“These may create demand for policies that harm a specific racial or religious group,” it said.

AOD Malaysia senior associate Mayna Patel said it was high time politicians stopped exploiting race and religion to gather votes.

“Focus on policies and how they can uplift the lives of people instead,” she said.

Its co-founder Jason Wee said Malaysia cannot move forward with its national unity if its own leaders still use polarising strategies to win votes.

The full list of offences can be found at www.hackathonpolitik.xyz and reports can be found live on its Twitter page: https://twitter.com/KamiNampak.