JOHOR BARU: Malaysians, especially the young, are using the Internet and social media for up to eight hours and 17 minutes per day.
Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism director of research and publication Kennimrod Sariburaja said this made Malaysians the most active Internet users in Southeast Asia.
Globally, Malaysia ranks third behind the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
He said Malaysia outranked other countries with higher populations, such as the Philippines and Thailand, which are ranked second and third, respectively
He said this at a discourse on the Sustainability of National Security, Unity and Harmony during the national-level Unity Week 2024 celebration here on Friday.
The panel included Bukit Aman special branch planning and strategic studies officer Assistant Commissioner Ridzuan Abdul Aziz and Johor State Security Council deputy director Junaid Izuddin Abdul Aziz.
Ridzuan said issues involving religion, race and royalty (3R) on social media surged when the country enforced the Movement Control Order in 2020.
He said this led to the establishment of the Royal Malaysia Police's 3R Special Team to deal with issues that disrupt national harmony and unity last year.
"The establishment of a special team under the Prosecution and Legal Division of the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department was on the initiative of former inspector general of police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani.
"Through this team, social media users who are spreading 3R issues to the point of causing public annoyance will be arrested and prosecuted, and their content will be downloaded or deleted with the help of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission," he said.
Ridzuan said 62 cases involving 3R issue were detected on social media between Jan 1 and May 15.
Meanwhile, Junaid asked Malaysians to focus on aspects of commonalities instead of looking for their differences to provoke others.
"There are many similarities between us, as a multiracial community in Malaysia. However, some Netizens prefer to share negative issues (on social media) despite there being many positive content that can be highlighted.
"We eat the same food, watch
the same sport, go to the same market. We forget that we have similarities. So don't focus on the differences, focus instead on the similarities."
