Gov’t leaders often made victims of slander, says Shahrizat

Wanita Umno chief urges public to use technology in a beneficial way and not to slander others.

KUALA LUMPUR: Government leaders are often targets of false accusations and slander in social media, lamented Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil today.

“Not only Najib (prime minister) but other leaders in government always end up as victims of slander in social media,” she said.

Speaking at a press conference, Shahrizat urged the public to utilise social media and technology appropriately so society would benefit from it.

“Actually, innovation and connectivity can be used for the benefit of the people, and we must educate the public to do so,” she said, adding that to abuse technology by making false allegations about others was deemed a sin in Islam.

“We must educate ourselves and everyone not to abuse ICT, because false allegations and slander is a big sin and is also against the law,” she said.

She made these comments after an image of Prime Minister Najib Razak shaking hands with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu went viral recently, sparking harsh criticism from netizens and those angered by the recent Israeli desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Najib however denied having had a meeting with Netanyahu, but said the two had bumped into each other at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Meanwhile, Shahrizat announced that Wanita Barisan Nasional would be organising the “Asean conference on Women in Politics: Promoting Representation Through Connectivity and Innovation” on October 17-18 at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).

“We made the decision to organise the Asean conference because we took into account that Malaysia is this year’s Asean chairman.

“We want to stress that women are a crucial component in the success of a government,” she said.

Shahrizat added that the objectives of the conference was to increase women’s participation in politics besides emphasising the importance of utilising technology in today’s political terrain.

She added that 18 representatives across Asean would attend the conference, and an estimated 2,000 women leaders from political parties, NGOs, and public figures would be present at the conference.