COMMUNICATIONS Minister Fahmi Fadzil said he will discuss with his cabinet colleague Nga Kor Ming on the latter’s appointment of 200 “online ambassadors” to disseminate information and combat fake news online.
Fahmi said he was open-minded about the initiative announced by the housing and local government minister last week.
“I haven’t received a full briefing from the Housing and Local Government Ministry on this initiative.
“However, I do not perceive it as necessarily overlapping the roles of other existing entities,” he told reporters after a programme in his Lembah Pantai constituency, reported Free Malaysia Today.
“We certainly want coordination in the dissemination of information to the people. I will review this matter with the minister (Nga),” he added.
The initiative has come under criticism as the new appointments allegedly overlap with other government channels for the same purpose.
Critics like former director-general of the now-defunct Special Affairs Department (Jasa) Puad Zarkashi said the government already has entities such as the Community Communications Department (J-Kom) and Komuniti Madani, both of which are under the Communications Ministry.
Former housing and local government minister Zuraida Kamaruddin had commented on the appointment of “online ambassadors”, calling it “wasteful and unethical”. – June 17, 2024.
