Media Statement by Tony Pua, DAP National PublicitySecretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 28 August 2011

Rais Yatim must take responsibility for the most despicable piece ofincendiary false news reporting on national TV and ensure that thoseresponsible for it are sacked immediately.

TV1 last nite reported in its 8pm prime-time newson the existence of “Murtads in Malaysia & Singapore” Facebookgroup. What is most despicable andsickening is TV1 highlighting the alleged association of DAP leaders such asTan Kok Wai, Charles Santiago, Dr Boo Cheng Hau, Ean Yong Hian Wah with theGroup. TV1 even placed the spotlight onthe chairman of Parti Socialis Malaysia (PSM) and ADUN for Kota Damansara DrNasir Hashim insinuating the betrayal of his own faith.

The “news” report is obviously calculated toinflame sentiments and anger among Malays and Muslims in the country,especially towards Pakatan Rakyat whose leaders’ names were “found” to be part of the group.

The problem is those responsible in TV1 obviouslydid not bother to find the truth to the story but went ahead to make the baselessinsinuations above. TV1 either were tooignorant to know, or did not want to know the fact that the “add to group”function in Facebook is such that you cannot prevent a group administrator fromadding you to any group. There is norequirement to secure one’s permission or approval for adding a Facebook memberto a Group.

Therefore all of the accused “supporters” of theFacebook page did not intend to, or never knew they had “joined” the Group. TV1 was completely unethical in its reportingby not first verifying the above information with the relevant people who were “implicated”by the Facebook page, especially since they were Pakatan Rakyat leaders whowere easily accessible.

Hence instead of making a news report to cite theexistence of the “Murtads in Malaysia & Singapore” Facebook page andcriticising the administrators for wantonly adding Pakatan Rakyat leaders tothe page and to cause anger among the people, TV1 chose to emphasize thesupposed support shown by these leaders to the page. TV1 must be charged for making anddisseminating false news to incite hatred among ordinary Malaysians.

The false TV1 news report follows closely anotherfake news aired by TV3 on 21 August which claimed the proselytization by atuition centre in Old Klang Road after complaints by a non-existent “SurauAl-Musyrikin”.

It is absolutely clear that the above incendiaryand seditious false news reports by the Government-owned and UMNO-associatedmedia organisations are part of a systematic and orchestrated campaign todivide the people and retain power for Barisan Nasional in the next generalelections. The desperation of the Najibadministration is so deep that “to win at all cost”, BN is willing to not onlyspread false news, but also to use the highly-charged religious sentiments totear the country apart.

We condemn the actions of the TV stations in the strongestpossible terms and demand that the Minister of Information, Communications andCulture Dato’ Seri Dr Rais Yatim apologise on behalf of the TV stations formaking false and seditious news reports. Dr Rais must also conduct an immediate investigation into the completelylack of professionalism in both TV1 and TV3 and insist that the responsibleparties are removed from the posts.