Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today slammed the alternative media for "false" reporting of alleged electoral roll issues, but will "wait and see" if the news portals will act  responsibly before considering any action.

NONE "I want to see their next move after what the National Registration Department, the Immigration Department, the Bangladeshi High Commission and myself have exposed," said the home minister ( right ) during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur this evening.

Hishammuddin is upset that the alternative media had reported an article claiming that Malaysia was offering citizenship to Bangladeshi workers in exchange for votes, that was posted on an agency's website attached to the Bangladeshi prime minister's office.

However, the Bangladeshi High Commission and several Malaysian agencies have since denied the allegation, while some bloggers have raised suspicion that the posting of the article on the Bangladeshi website was done by a hacker.

The home minister, in his comments, did not cite any news agencies, but mentioned news websites Malaysian Chronicle and The Malaysian Insider in his press statement.

“I’m very concerned that the alternative media has found it important to cover it and now it is shown to be false, (they) have  not even retracted or apologised...

“Based on the laws we have, if they are guilty, they are not exempted from it, even I am not exempted from it,” he said.

Asked if any action would be taken, Hishammuddin said he will wait for the news portals’ reaction.

azlan “We’ll have to wait and see because this is my first time commenting on it,” he said.

On an unrelated matter, Hishammuddin questioned the sincerity of the eight-point electoral reform campaign launched by Bersih 2.0 today.

“That (campaign) is up to them, but with the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform already in progress... I don’t know what more they are fighting. Are they doing it for political mileage, that is another story. But from their demands, all of them can be taken into account in the PSC...

“But people can see whether they are sincere in fighting for their eight-point demands or if they are just using the eight points as an excuse to create chaos,” he said.

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