PN leaders: J-Kom should be overhauled, even dissolved

 

Opposition leaders have backed the call for the Community Communications Department (J-Kom) to be overhauled, or even dissolved.

Bersatu information chief Razali Idris said the department serves no other purpose than a government propaganda tool.

According to him, the remark by a senior J-Kom official about the Dubai Move should be investigated for raising 3R sentiments (race, religion, and royalty) as it could alienate investors, harm the country, and create public unrest.

“If this is how the government’s propaganda unit functions, then I think it would be fine if it doesn’t exist,” Razali (above) told Malaysiakini.

The so-called Dubai Move is a plot to overthrow the government allegedly involving Perikatan Nasional leaders and government backbenchers which arose during their recent vacation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Razali went on to emphasise that he did not know of any move to topple the government by the opposition, especially by his party Bersatu.

“Many PN leaders were in the country. Only a few people went on holiday (overseas), so we do not know about this move at all,” he said.

Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden

Meanwhile, PAS’ Alor Setar MP Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden opined that if J-Kom were to be retained, the role of its director-general should be filled by someone from DAP as only they understood the government’s agenda.

“If they want to keep J-Kom, I propose appointing (a member of) DAP as director-general, only then will all the government’s ‘real agenda’ be implemented,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Gerakan president Dominic Lau said overhauling J-Kom would do no good as the agency had allegedly “strayed from its original goal”.

“If J-Kom’s main function is to help PMX (Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim), it’s better to close it down and save taxpayers’ money.”

Dominic Lau

Dubai Move debacle

Last Saturday, J-Kom deputy director-general Ismail Yusop claimed there was a plot to topple the federal government.

He also claimed a meeting took place in UAE to assign specific tasks to “agents” responsible for identifying MPs who might switch their support to the opposition with inducements.

Following that, Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi - who is former director of the Special Affairs Department, J-Kom’s predecessor - yesterday called for the department’s overhaul, dismissing Ismail’s analysis of the situation as “shallow”.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has since agreed with Puad’s call for a J-Kom overhaul, saying that he had wished to review the department’s functions even before the Dubai Move exposé. - Mkini