‘Information War’ erupting in Selangor (UPDATED with Chinese Translation)
An ‘information war’ is soon going to erupt in Selangor, a state run by Pakatan Rakyat. But while Pakatan Rakyat is going to ensure that the people are ‘better informed’, Umno is using the Selangor Sultan to brainwash the members of the Royal Family and the Malays into believing that the Malays have lost political power and that the Chinese have now taken over the country.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
WHAT PAKATAN RAKYAT IS PLANNING
RM15mil for ‘information war’ in Selangor
The Selangor government has allocated RM15 million to enhance the delivery of information in the state, to counter ‘BN propaganda and biased news coverage’ by the print and electronic media.
“If we consider the population of 5.2 million in Selangor, this amount is equal to RM3 from every person,” revealed Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim this morning when opening the 2010 stage budget dialogue.
He said the move is intended to provide people in Selangor with information that will enable them to make wise decisions.
The fund will be used to spread information through the state-owned media including TVSelangor, the Selangor Kini portal and Selangor Kini newspaper.
“We will explore the potential of creating Radio Selangor to expand the spread of information,” he said.
Khalid said he had consulted the state treasury which had agreed that the allocation is acceptable based on its importance.
Some 300 state government officers and representatives of GLCs and NGOs are attending the dialogue alongside parliamentarians and state assemblypersons.
Khalid claimed that news reports on the state government have not been balanced.
“What we (read about) is always action to smear the state government. It is understood that this is a politically-motivated and partisan attempt to give the impression that Pakatan Rakyat doesn’t have the ability to govern,” he said.
He cited several examples to back his assertion that many in the state are not aware of assistance provided by the state government.
“Some have said the 20 cubic metres of free water (a month) is from the federal government.”
Even worse, during Hulu Selangor by-election, there were people there who didn’t know that the state government had changed (in March 2008). Some said (Muhammad) Muhammad Taib (right) is still the menteri besar.”
Malaysiakini: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/138310
WHAT UMNO IS PLANNING
Translated into Chinese at: http://ccliew.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-post_942.html
