National Unity Deputy Minister Ti Lian Ker has clarified that a tweet he posted falsely linking Microsoft billionaire founder Bill Gates to the spread of Covid-19 and claiming that the pandemic might have been planned, was not an endorsement of the conspiracy theory on his part.
Instead, Ti said that he was merely questioning it after a post titled "Covid-19 planned?" appeared on his Twitter account.
"Bill Gates organised a coronavirus pandemic exercise, right before it happened!
"This pandemic exercise was called Event201 and took place in October 2019, literally right before the outbreak.
"Their conclusion was that all of humanity must be vaccinated," the tweet read.
However, Ti told Malaysiakini that his intention was misread.
"I am merely highlighting that these articles are incorrect and continue to be shared. The only statement I added to it was to put the title and question mark.
"It was done in a tongue in cheek way as another means of tackling the matter," he said.
Last night, Ti was criticised for apparently spreading misleading information, especially as it would be a possible violation of the Emergency Ordinance on fake news.
Former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman shared many tweets blasting Ti on the matter.
In the early hours of this morning, Ti explained that he had reproduced the quotes from an article by conspiracy theorist James Fetzer and was pointing out that the news was being shared despite having been debunked.
Ti said that he had copied the quote on Gates from the article but titled his Twitter post with a question mark that referred to the said quotes.
He also appended Fetzer's article - “Proof that the pandemic was planned and with purpose”.
The article by Felzer was emphatically debunked as it was established by the Reuters Fact Check to have numerous false claims.
The article claimed that a group of 500 German doctors called Doctors for Education declared that the pandemic was planned, yet German fact-checking organisation Correctiv has debunked multiple claims made by the group on a range of topics such as PCR tests, face masks and vaccines.
The article also made several false claims that were linked to the World Bank, alleging that a World Bank document was proof that the pandemic was a “project” that is planned to continue for the next five years.
However, the original document revealed that the aim of the project was to: “Prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by Covid-19 and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness.” - Mkini
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