KUALA LUMPUR – Senator Mohd Apandi Mohamad today urged the government to develop entrepreneur initiatives for youth surrounding the globally popular video-sharing application, TikTok.
According to Apandi, the government will not need to fork out a large budget for the programme since TikTok already has a massive following among youngsters in the country.
“Youths swiftly reacted to TikTok so I hope that the government will not be too quick to block it,” the PAS man said during the debate of the Mini Budget and Consolidated Fund Bill 2022 in the Dewan Negara today.
He added that the youth had successfully utilised TikTok to grow their businesses and urged the government to look into the matter.
“The government must fine-tune and introduce catalytic programmes with regards to TikTok utilisation.”
He added that TikTok has become a technological means that the youth are most fond of at the moment, having utilised the social media app to become successful and accumulate wealth.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said that the government had no issue with TikTok’s utilisation to spread information, but it will not tolerate the medium being used to spread slander.
“For example, the accusation that the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) pocketed RM15 million for his role as the Selangor economic adviser, even though he didn’t.
“And this was uploaded to TikTok, which garnered over 1.1 million views. So the prime minister had to sue for defamation. As a leader, don’t use TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram or other social media to slander others.
Ahmad was referring to Anwar’s legal action against Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin after the Pagoh MP failed to apologise and retract his statements made during a ceramah in conjunction with the Padang Serai by-election.
During his speech, the eighth prime minister had allegedly claimed that Anwar had abused his power as an MP, and was a liar and unethical individual who had betrayed the people’s mandate and collected RM15 million in salary as Selangor’s economic adviser.
His speech was uploaded onto TikTok by user @beritakini8, and has since gone viral. – The Vibes, December 21, 2022
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