PETALING JAYA: Officials of a television channel under probe over a broadcast about job cut recommendations in the civil service met with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission yesterday to give an explanation.
Awesome TV believed its Berita 757 report had been misinterpreted and that communications and digital minister Fahmi Fadzil had been misled in the matter, the company said in a statement.
“The matter became more complicated after the minister was influenced by irresponsible social media users who had manipulated the report.
“This includes Lokman Noor Adam who linked Awesome TV to Astro and (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad,” it said, referring to the Umno Supreme Council member and former prime minister, respectively.
Awesome TV denied any link to Astro or any political party.
“We strongly deny the claim by Lokman that the report was attempting to fan racial sentiments. This is a provocation.”
A video clip of the broadcast posted online shows two presenters discussing the need for civil service job cuts, with one presenter saying: “It’s not just that the government needs to reduce the number of civil servants from 1.6 million to 800,000 people as reported by Berita 757 many times” while going on to suggest reductions to the wage bill.
In a tweet on Friday, Fahmi said Berita 757 had reported that “observers” had supposedly made recommendations to reduce the number of civil servants. He then responded: “The government strongly denies allegations that (the number of civil servants) will be reduced.”
Fahmi also said the channel had been reprimanded several times over material that breached rules and regulations.
Awesome TV had also faced criticism in the past for reports that were allegedly racially-tinged. - FMT
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