Is The Information Ministry Part Of The BN Election Apparatus?

Without batting an eye, Deputy Minister of Information Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi shamelessly and obviously unafraid of the consequences, confirmed that his ministry is considered as nothing more than being Barisan Nasional's errand boy. He did this in the typical style of the intolerant Umno warlord by pronouncing on high that the Information Ministry will "counter all issues, including personal matters of national, state and local leaders, raised by the Opposition in the run-up to the Machap by-election."

No pretence or attempt to couch that statement in diplomatic language; just a straight-forward, "we will fight on behalf of the BN!" The arrogance of these politicians. The Information Ministry at least on paper is supposed to be neutral in political matters and in the Malaysian context is at best, a mouthpiece of the government, highlighting achievements of the kerajaan while downplaying opposition complaints and comments. But nowhere does it state that the ministry or its officials should support or defend BN party leaders.

According to Zahid, the ministry's responsibility is to explain the truth to the voters on issues highlighted so that they would not be swayed by the baseless allegations of the pembangkang. I have no doubt that Zahid's boss, Zainuddin Maidin shares his opinion when he says that "personal issues and allegations on certain leaders are disheartening. I advise Machap voters not to be taken in by DAP speakers harping on personal and private matters."

So in a nutshell the DAP is fighting the BN, the government and the full propaganda disinformation the executive can muster. How will the BN justify to the people of Machap the frittering away of the constitutional rights pertaining to religion of non-Muslims, the laissez-faire attitude to crime and corrupt acts by ruling party politicians and senior civil servants, the nonchalant manner in which the NEP is resurrected and kept alive apparently in perpetuity and a host of other misdeeds committed by those in power? One way is to unleash the masters of misinformation and spin currently sitting pretty at the information ministry. Another would be what the BN does in every election and that is (apart from spreading around a lot of 'gifts' ala Santa Claus) to totally censor the opposition campaign. Of course the other would be to find a way to shut down all political blogs or at least 'curtail' them as one dunce said in Parliament a few days ago. Oh that would be wonderful news for the BN big boys. With the pesky blogs which lie, spread false rumours and publish 'malicious' reports about the angelic BN leaders, being pushed out of the way, truly semuanya will then be OK!

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