HOW IS THE MALAYSIAN PUBLIC TO TRUST FAKE NEWS LEGISLATION IN THE HANDS OF PURPORTED FAKE NEWS PERPETRATORS IN THE WAKE OF CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL?
Malaysia’s parliament has set a new record in bulldozing anti-democratic legislation through next week’s introduction of anti-fake news legislation, as announced today by Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Dato Seri Azalina Othman.
Clearly, the BN regime is resorting to desperation to cover all their misdeeds and electoral shenanigans since the 13th General Election, at the expense of Malaysians’ actual voting rights through free and fair elections.
This sudden decision to force the anti-fake news bill through Parliament next week comes in the wake of the outburst by Deputy Communication And Multimedia Minister Jailani Johari, in response to more than 50 international publications highlighting the investigations, seizure of stolen assets, illegal exploits and perpetrators behind the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal.
What’s worse is also the recent revelations and legal inquiries regarding potentially criminal political activities of the US-owned British political strategy firm Cambridge Analytica (“CA”) – with apparent evidence of their involvement in the past Malaysian elections.
If found to be true, how are Malaysians to trust a kleptocratic government whose claim to electoral fame might have come through unlawful manipulative tactics, utilising fake news and illegally obtained voter data – to legislate an anti-fake news law?
Whither fake news perpetrators legislating against fake news production?
Have we succumbed to an era where only thieves are expected to prevent future thefts?
India has moved to suspend a Cambridge Analytica partner website amid the Facebook data scandal.
At the least, the Malaysian parliament must be accorded a full investigation and hearing on the matter pertaining to the actions of managing director of CA Political Global, Mark Turnbull, Cambridge Analytica and his Malaysian counterparts after the recent British Channel 4’s expose through a bipartisan Parliamentary committee.
Malaysian citizens must immediately be assured of protection from any manipulation by CA or any of its affiliates, or of any other illegal interference, in our media and election process.
In addition, we strongly urge Facebook Inc. to ensure that their recently-announced ban on Cambridge Analytica extends to any and all of their affiliates located in Malaysia, or working on politically related campaigns in Malaysia. This is critical to prevent any illegal interference or involvement in social media campaigns leveraging Facebook’s platforms in Malaysia. The cessation of their involvement must be maintained until key questions about potential illegal activities can be investigated and resolved for Malaysian citizens.
The issue at hand is not the legitimate use of social media and strategy consultants for political campaigning, if that is what will be proven to have occurred.
The issue is that compelling evidence has been reported by Facebook and presented in international media that this specific firm, Cambridge Analytica, and their affiliates may have engaged in illegal, unethical or manipulative activities to achieve their goals for clients worldwide. Also, questions have been raised regarding the use of public funds in Malaysia to pay for CA’s activities in the political interest of the ruling party.
The truth of these allegations deserves independent investigation and discovery in the interest of our democracy and to prevent further loss of confidence of Malaysian citizens in the legitimacy of the 14th General Elections.
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NURUL IZZAH ANWAR
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, LEMBAH PANTAI
VICE PRESIDENT AND ELECTION DIRECTOR, KEADILAN
