Event Summary
In early January 2026, the Home Ministry (KDN) circulated a 15-question survey to selected civil society organisations (CSOs) identified as “having expertise in human rights, criminal law, national security, public order and riot-related issues.” The survey sought input on riots and the effectiveness of existing Malaysian laws in responding to them.
The questionnaire asked CSOs to assess the likelihood of riots in Malaysia, alongside whether riot-driven changes of government could occur in the country or be considered as necessary/legitimate/appropriate under human rights or legal standards, with explicit comparisons to Bangladesh and Nepal. Views were sought on the adequacy and effectiveness of existing laws and penalties in dealing with riots, whether the government should actively prevent riots through early intervention and whether a new preventive law or mechanism is needed, alongside requests for broader recommendations on handling riots. One question introduced “rusuhan maya” (online riots), defined as large-scale disorderly behaviour online, and asked whether and how it should be controlled. Several questions also conflated peaceful assemblies with riots: seeking input on whether assemblies that “lead to” riots comply with human rights standards, the key human rights issues in managing assemblies, and what additional protections are needed both for protesters and for enforcement officers tasked with handling assemblies or riots.
The survey forms part of KDN’s study on laws related to addressing riots in Malaysia, initiated on 24 October 2025 in collaboration with the Institute for Public Security of Malaysia (IPSOM) and researchers from the National University of Malaysia (UKM). The survey was shared with CSOs after a mid-December 2025 in-person stakeholder consultation, where the sole CSO representative requested that the questions be circulated to organisations that could not attend.