MALAYSIAN PM’S WIFE BEHIND ONLINE CLAMPDOWN?

KUALA LUMPUR — Datuk Rizal Mansor, the aide to the prime minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, called on Putrajaya today to ban social media sites like Facebook, claiming they are now platforms inciting hatred and lies.

He added that social media is now a threat to national security as people were abusing its original intent as a social networking tool to spread division and disunity.

“Media Sosial sepatutnya menjadi pengerat silaturrahim.. tapi banyak diguna untuk sebar kebencian.. perkara yang tidak benar.. fitnah dsb.. boleh mengundang keruntuhan bangsa dan negara…

• “Sudah sampai masanya fesbuk dan yang sewaktu dengannya di haramkan di Malaysia...” the personal aide to Rosmah wrote in colloquial Bahasa Malaysia, ironically on his Facebook page.
• [Translation: “Social media is supposed to make us closer... but it's mostly used to spread hatred.. falsehood... slander and others.. this can bring about the collapse of the race and country...
• “It is high time Facebook and its like be banned from Malaysia.”]
• The post drew 125 “likes” at the time of writing, with one Facebook user also voicing agreement with Rizal.
• The remarks from Rosmah’s aide follows Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak’s announcement yesterday that the government has plans to follow international standards to regulate the Internet in a bid to curb criminal defamation.

The Najib administration has been under intense pressure from critics both within its Barisan Nasional coalition and without, over its running of the country that has seen a near daily slide of the ringgit against a basket of currencies, including the US dollar, and shrinking external reserves.

However, the prime minister stressed that the move was not aimed to “restrict” social media freedom. 

Source: Malay Mail