Analisis Tematik Penulisan Tentang Hak Kebebasan Beragama di Portal Berita Online Malaysiakini

Thematic Analysis of Reports About Freedom of Religious Rights on Malaysiakini News Portal

Abstract

The right to freedom of religion (HKB) in Malaysia is an issue that often becomes a polemic not only at the national but international level. Among the HKB issues that are frequently debated in Malaysia include the issue of apostasy, the ‘Allah’ word and deviant group. Therefore, the media plays an important role in portraying HKB issues to the public. The delivery of this news also shaped the public's perception of the HKB issue in Malaysia. There are several online news portals that serve as a medium for presenting HKB issues. One of the news portals that often report HKB issues is Malaysiakini.com. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the content of HKB news on Malaysiakini.com. The methodology used is a content analysis of HKB-related news from 2019 to 2023. The study found that Malaysiakini.com news portal has published the highest HKB news in 2019 and the lowest in 2023 until May. The article has also identified as many as 12 HKB themes from the writings that have been published, namely; (1) International, (2) Dialogue and religious tolerance, (3) Human rights, (4) The right to spread non-Islamic religions, foreign teachings and ideologies, (5) The right to spread Islam, (6) The ‘Allah’ word, (7) Freedom to commit sins and insult Islam, (8) Embracing Islam and apostacy, (9) Nationality, (10) Criticism of Islamic religious institutions, (11) Preservation of Islamic traditions and (12) Politics. In order to balance the reporting and writing of HKB news in the form of polemic or issue, online news portals such as Malaysiakini.com are also recommended to write about the attitude of religious tolerance and harmonious life that the Malaysian plural community has experienced. This can also reduce the negative perception of the practice of HKB in Malaysia either among the Malaysian community or news reporting
at the global level.

Abstrak

Hak Kebebasan Beragama (HKB) di Malaysia sering menjadi isu yang sering menjadi polemik bukan sahaja di peringkat negara namun antarabangsa. Antara isu HKB yang hangat diperdebatkan di Malaysia termasuk isu murtad, kalimah Allah dan ajaran sesat. Oleh itu, media memainkan peranan penting dalam menyampaikan isu HKB kepada orang awam. Penyampaian berita ini turut membentuk persepsi masyarakat terhadap isu HKB di Malaysia. Terdapat beberapa portal berita online yang menjadi medium penyampaian isu HKB. Salah satu portal berita yang sering melaporkan isu HKB daripanya ialah portal berita Malaysiakini.com. Oleh yang demikian, kertas kerja ini bertujuan menganalisis kandungan berita HKB di portal berita Malaysiakini.com. Metodologi yang digunakan adalah analisis kandungan berita berkaitan HKB bermula tahun 2019 hingga 2023. Kajian mendapati bahawa portal berita Malaysiakini.com telah menerbitkan berita HKB tertinggi pada tahun 2019 dan terendah pada tahun 2023 sehingga Mei. Penulis juga telah mengenalpasti sebanyak 12 tema HKB dari penulisan-penulisan yang telah diterbitkan iaitu; 1. Antarabangsa, 2. Dialog dan toleransi beragama, 3. Hak asasi manusia, 4. Hak penyebaran agama bukan Islam, ajaran dan ideologi asing, 5. Hak penyebaran agama Islam, 6. Kalimah Allah, 7. Kebebasan melakukan dosa dan menghina Islam, 8. Keluar masuk Islam, 9. Kenegaraan, 10. Kritik insittusi agama Islam, 11. Pemeliharaan tradisi Islam dan 12. Politik. Bagi menyeimbangkan pelaporan dan penulisan berita HKB yang bersifat masalah atau isu, portal berita atas talian seperti Malaysiakini juga disarankan untuk menulis tentang sikap toleransi beragama dan kehidupan yang harmoni yang telah dikecapi oleh masyarakat Malaysia.