Over the past 24 hours, two new Facebook pages have to protest against the alleged RM1.8 million Tourism Malaysia campaign has garnered more than 23,000 followers.

NONE Rasah MP Anthony Loke (left) said that this shows that it cost literally nothing to run a successful Facebook campaign, disproving claims by the Tourism Ministry.

The two Facebook pages called 1 Million Malaysians Say No To RM1.8 Million FB Page and Curi-curi Wang Malaysia were established yesterday soon after the news broke.

"These are very creative. Within 18 hours the Curi-curi Wang Malaysia page already has 11,380 ‘likes’ - half of the amount of Tourism Malaysia's Facebook site. And it is free!" Loke told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

At the time of writing, the Curi-curi Wang Malaysia page has 22,811 followers and is closing in on the Tourism Malaysia page which has 26,554 followers.

Loke said that Ng should cancel the RM1.8 million contract with campaign administrator Impact Creations Sdn Bhd and demand for a refund.

"The online community is very angry that the tax payer's money is being spent on something that can be gotten for free,” he said.

azlan Today, The Star reported Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen insisting that the RM1.8 million campaign was justified because the ministry needs to develop a Facebook page professionally as part of its social media campaign.

She said that the amount was small compared to that spent by other countries such as Philippines and Australia.

At a press conference today, Ng clarified that the RM1.8 million allocation was for “full social media branding campaign” and not just for a Facebook page.

"(The money) is for responding, informing, interaction and monitoring (work on the Facebook page), evaluation, data collecting, content development and advertising on Google , Facebook , etc...,” she said.

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