Money and infighting in Umno: Even the cyber-troopers have to play it 'smart'

Umno blogger Papa Gomo, who stirred up a ruckus with his Christian prime minister accusations against the DAP last year, lamented that while Umno has allocated RM300,000 a month to its official 'cyber-trooper' team, it has not been effective in getting more readers or convincing the people that Umno is the 'good guy' and Pakatan Rakyat the 'bad uns'.

It is not clear how many cyber troopers are on board the Unit Media Baru Umno, but it is placed under Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin's charge. Despite the huge sum of money - which again looks suspiciously like coming from taxpayers' pockets rather than Umno's own coffers - and the training plus red t-shirt uniforms, the 'poor' and under-resourced Pakatan Rakyat still holds the upper hand in cyberspace.

Within the BN sphere of influence, Papa Gomo also said that independent Umno bloggers like Gerakan Anti-PKR, Parpu Kari, RBF Online, The Unspineer, Dr Novandri and Pisau have managed to reach out to more readers, despite being limited by having to dig into their own resources.

Papa Gomo suspected that the Unit Media Baru Umno has been formed to serve the interests of only certain Umno leaders. Well, Papa Gomo must be implying self-aggrandizing party president Najib Razak and Khairy himself.

Need to 'work smarter'

There have also been earlier news reports that Rocky Bru @ Akhiruddin Atan was the captain of the Umno cyber-trooper team. If so, he must be making tons of money now.

Yes, Papa Gomo is frustrated that maybe he and those 'independents' that he mentioned should be the ones who should get the RM300,000 per month instead of the freshies under Khairy.

Whoever is right, the entire episode again points to the fact that Umno is about money and only those who get the benefits by supporting certain leaders gain. They are the 'clever ones' while those who get nothing for what they do out of sheer loyalty to the party are simply 'stupid'.

Even Rocky at one time lamented that he found it difficult to make ends meet after leaving the Malay Mail. And while at the Malay Mail, he said the fee was 'puny'.

So it does look like Papa Gomo will have to be more clever if he wants to get more money from Umno.

Malaysia Chronicle