'Umno/BN do not want to lose the GE14 cyber war'

Umno and BN do not want to lose the cyber war to the opposition during the 14th general election.

Chairperson of Umno’s information technology (IT) bureau Ahmad Maslan said as such, the IT and social media personnel appointed at each of the 191 parliamentary constituencies must play an active role in combating attacks from the opposition.

“Barisan Nasional has been accused of losing out to the 'Red Bean Army' in the cyber world. Umno and BN do not want to lose in the cyber world anymore. So we want our machinery to expose the lies and defamatory stories and combat the untrue accusations,” he said after attending a briefing given to the IT bureaus of the Umno Permatang Pauh, Bagan and Bukit Mertajam divisions yesterday. 

Ahmad who is also deputy minister of international trade and industry said the IT bureaus which were set up about 18 months ago will be able to handle these wild accusations.

“During the 13th general election, one of the biggest accusations was that 40,000 Bangladeshis were brought in to vote for BN. Keadilan Daily said this and then the news went viral on the social media. Another lie was that the dye used on the fingers (of voters) could be washed off, whereas it is a permanent dye.

“With these bureaus, we can fight in the cyber world during GE14 and explain the true situation,” he said.

Ahmad also said that Umno and BN fully supported the bill on fake news which will be tabled in Parliament in March.

“We fully support the fake news bill as Umno and BN are not bankrupt of issues. Only people who are bankrupt of issues and spread lies do not like the bill. We (BN) have a lot of stories to share.”

-- Bernama