Pakatan Rakyat has denounced the stance by Umno leaders to ask government-linked companies (GLCs) to advertise in Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

Penang state executive councillor Dr Afif Bahardin said their remarks show the party leaders’ shallowness and a bluntness in their thinking capacity in administration and business strategy.

Dr Afif Bahardin“Profit is important to every company and to increase profits, they need to promote their products; the promotion needs to be strategic and effective, and to use a medium that is popular and acceptable to the consumers,” Afif (left) said.

“The fact that companies which usually have marketing executives do not use Utusan to place their advertisements shows that the paper is no longer accepted by the rakyat and has a poor circulation,” he added.

The Penang PKR Youth vice-chairperson was referring to several Umno leaders including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan who had asked GLCs to place advertisements in Utusan Malaysia.

Afif said that the poor popularity of Utusan is due to its attitude and its own policies - that it consistently reports news that are untrue, spreads slander and often acts as an official organ of Umno.

He added that the newspaper is often the medium used to hammer and attack those who are not aligned with the government.

He stressed that since two decades ago, Utusan has been the newspaper responsible for a culture of slander, and exposes the younger generation to negative elements.

“Utusan also often tries purposely to undermine the harmony among races in Malaysia,” Afif said.

“Utusan’s policy, which is ever willing to report false news and lies, does not qualify them to be called a credible medium as it fails to observe journalistic ethics,” he added.

Afif urged the rakyat to stop buying Utusan and asked the GLCs to ignore Umno’s suggestions as Utusan is an Umno paper that is on its way to destruction.

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