Chua: Not all news is true

By Sylvia Looi, TheStar

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: People should be critical enough not to accept everything that is reported online as all the information need not necessarily be true, said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

“It is important for people to differentiate the truths, half-truths and what is a complete lie,” he said.

Dr Chua, who is Perak MCA chairman, was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement that the public should trust the mainstream media as its reports are based on facts compared to the alternative media that is based on opinions.

Dr Chua was speaking to reporters after closing a cadre training for Perak MCA members and division leaders yesterday.

On claims by opposition parties that the Government was practising double standards in handling the issues of two principals who made racists remarks on students and the subsequent controversial video clip by Namewee on YouTube, Dr Chua said police should investigate the principals on whether they had committed sedition.

“Only then will the Government be seen as acting fairly and impartially. There should not be a dichotomy system. Civil servants are equally liable and subject to the same law,” he added.

Dr Chua, however, admitted that the case of the principals was complicated as they are government servants.

The Education Ministry had on Thursday announced that the matter had been

passed to the Public Service Department to handle.

On the cadre training, Dr Chua said it was the first training for party members and it would continue until the general election.

“The model used to train members is new as the old model is no longer relevant in the current political climate,” he said.