‘GE14 has started in cyberspace’
(The Star) – The 14th General Election will be the “mother of all elections”, said the Prime Minister.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Barisan Nasional chairman, said that in order for the coalition to win, it must first defeat the Opposition in the cyberwar of public opinion on social media.
Najib said many thought that the previous general election was the big one but actually, GE14 “is the one”.
“We have many ambitions but we must first cross this bridge that is the next general election,” he told the 3,800 members of Umno’s information technology bureau in a speech at the closing of the party’s social media convention yesterday.
Umno must be prepared for the increasing Opposition attacks online, similar to the one before GE13 that claimed Barisan had brought in 40,000 Bangladeshi voters.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who opened the convention, said Umno must be fast and effective when getting its message out on social media.
“Fake news is being spread online and accepted as the truth,” he said, adding that if these lies were not overcome quickly, situations like the court case between PAS and online news portal Sarawak Report would arise.
PAS is suing the portal over an allegation that the Opposition Islamist party received RM90mil from Najib.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said the allegation should have been dealt with as soon as the portal published it and not after the matter goes to court, by which time the damage is done.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who is Youth and Sports Minister, said that “social media is live”.
“We have a maximum of only four hours to respond to any issue. If we do not, the news will be given a fresh narrative by our adversaries,” he said in his address at the convention.
Najib also said he would not stoop to the level of politics that a former national leader was resorting to, an apparent reference to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The former prime minister, now head of an opposition party, allegedly said Malaysia has a leader who descended from “Bugis pirates”, at the “Love Malaysia, End Kleptocracy” rally on Oct 14.
The comment drew the ire of Bugis groups and the Selangor Sultan who responded with a stinging rebuke, calling for Dr Mahathir to be investigated for sedition.
Najib also took a dig at Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.
“I did not give money to PAS. That’s why PAS is suing Sarawak Report. We wait for the (court) decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, a photo being spread online of Dr Mahathir purportedly being hugged by his former bodyguards who had been withdrawn from the duty, has been labelled fake news by Khairy.
He said the photo was taken last year, has nothing to do with the matter, and is a ploy to create sympathy for the ex-premier.
