KUALA LUMPUR – Tan Sri Noh Omar has expressed disappointment that Budget 2021’s RM85.5 million allocation for the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) has been slashed by half.
The unit is necessary to ensure the dissemination of accurate information to the public, said Barisan Nasional’s Tg Karang MP after the Dewan Rakyat today passed a motion to reduce the allocation by RM45 million.
“For two years (under Pakatan Harapan rule), the government failed to spread accurate news, because they did not have a body to do so.”
However, Khalid Abdul Samad (PH-Shah Alam) said Jasa was a “political tool” used to promulgate government propaganda.
“The former chairman of Jasa himself said the department was a political tool.”
He cited the Information Department and Radio Television Malaysia, suggesting that these are enough for the government to communicate to the public.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun announced that the motion to cut Jasa’s funding, proposed by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri, was passed by a majority vote after being debated by six MPs – three each from the government and opposition bloc.
Before the vote, Rahim said Putrajaya will rebrand the department, but did not provide details.
Jasa, under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, was abolished by the PH administration.
The massive allocation for the department’s revival in Perikatan Nasional’s maiden Budget had caused an uproar. – The Vibes, December 10, 2020
