COMMENT | Thou shall not spread hate speech? Modified21 Jan 2021, 11:46 pm A - COMMENT | At the Asean Digital Ministers' Meeting, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin suggested that Asean should take a tougher stance against hate speech, including, but not limited to, harassment and threats against a person or persons based on their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. Well, you got to be living under a rock if you think that Malaysia, having its PM call for such a benevolent gesture, is free from hate speech. In fact, much like potholes, hate speech has unfortunately become so normalised in our lives that we tend to shrug it off. The only time it becomes a big deal is when some politicians get their egos damaged and feelings hurt by what the rest of us have to deal with on a daily basis - again, much like potholes.