KOTA KINABALU: Communications and Multimedia Minister (MCMC) Gobind Singh Deo said it is up to the police to investigate a report by a news portal here of alleged power abuse by a Sabah minister and whether it is fake news.
“MCMC will give them assistance as far as the technical information is concerned — that’s how it works,” he said to a question whether his ministry had received a request from the police to help in the probe over the portal’s report.
Speaking to reporters here today after presenting MyFreeView decoders to B40 and handicapped people, Gobind said MCMC’s role was simply to assist police if there was a request on postings made on social media.
“The root of it is whether what’s published is something that is offensive. People who are offended by posts have the right to lodge reports.
“But if an offence is committed, it is up to the police to complete the probe and send the investigation papers to the attorney-general who will then decide on the next action,” he said.
It was reported recently that Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony is planning to sue a local news portal over allegations on contracts awarded by the Sabah Public Works Department (JKR).
Anthony said the ministry had lodged a police report and urged the MCMC to take action against the portal as well.
The portal had reported that Anthony was involved in awarding contracts worth RM1.5 billion from Sabah JKR without tenders.
Anthony claimed the portal was making baseless allegations as his ministry was not involved in direct negotiations with any contractor in Sabah.
Meanwhile, Gobind said his ministry had been studying the issue of fake news for over a year now, with several proposals on handling it being discussed.
“I’m not going into that now but, yes, discussions have taken place within my ministry. We are in the process of getting different opinions on how to deal with this. This is not a problem that affects Malaysia alone — it exists in many countries,” he said.
He added the government viewed seriously social media postings on religion and race that impacted national security and public order.
However, Gobind said there were existing laws to deal with those responsible for spreading fake and unverified news.
“Just yesterday we saw a particular post involving the finance minister (Lim Guan Eng) where allegations had been made against him on the sale of the four Tabung Haji hotels.
“You and I know the finance minister has got nothing to do with that. It’s something that comes solely under the purview of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa,” he said.
He added a police report had been lodged over the posting.
“We have to be very careful with the use of social media. If there is evidence to suggest an offence has been committed, action will be taken.”
Meanwhile, Gobind said about 170,000 free decoders had been distributed in Sabah from the 228,767 units allocated to the state.
He said the government had so far allocated two million such decoders, with 1.8 million already distributed. - FMT
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