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High time Malaysia bans ‘Fesbuk’, aide of Najib’s wife says on Facebook

KUALA LUMPUR — Mr Rizal Mansor, the aide to the prime minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor, called on Putrajaya yesterday (Aug 21) to ban social media sites like Facebook, claiming they are now platforms inciting hatred and lies.

Screencapture of Mr Rizal Mansor’s Facebook post in which he suggested Facebook should be banned. Photo: Malay Mail Online

Screencapture of Mr Rizal Mansor’s Facebook post in which he suggested Facebook should be banned. Photo: Malay Mail Online

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KUALA LUMPUR — Mr Rizal Mansor, the aide to the prime minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor, called on Putrajaya yesterday (Aug 21) 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.

“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,” the personal aide to Rosmah wrote in colloquial Bahasa Malaysia, ironically on his Facebook page. “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 Mr Rizal.

The remarks from Rosmah’s aide follows Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement on Thursday that the government has plans to follow international standards to regulate the Internet in a bid to curb criminal defamation.

The Najib adminstration 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. MALAY MAIL ONLINE

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