The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Communication (MCMC) has been asked to inculcate some discipline among local

bloggers who are disseminating lies about the government and country's leaders.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Ahmad Maslan, who is also Umno information chief, said the MCMC should also take immediate action against those bloggers as lies and baseless allegations had been rampantly disseminated in the cyber world.

"We hope relevant authorities, like the MCMC, will be able to inculcate discipline among these bloggers. MCMC has to react," he told reporters after attending the Fly the Jalur Gemilang flags campaign with the Malaysian Taxi Drivers and Taxi-Limousine and Hired Car Operators Association (Petekma) in Johor Bahru today.

He said if the authorities continued to let the lies and allegations being disseminated in the cyberspace, the public would believe that the lies and allegations were true.

Ahmad said local bloggers should also follow the step taken by Indonesian newspaper Kompas of apologising to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for its defamatory news report about the prime minister and his family.

He also called on the victims of such lies and allegations to file a summons to enable legal action to be taken against the bloggers involved.

Ahmad said all quarters should also emulate the action taken by Felda in suing the opposition parties for accusing that Felda was a bankrupt institution.

Meanwhile, the Fly the Jalur Gemilang flags campaign organised by the Information Department was a part of the ongoing Kembara Merdeka Ramadan convoy.

Johor Information Department director Hamdan Hasnan said the campaign with the taxi and limousine drivers was apt as they were working almost exclusively with the public, especially those using public transportation.

- Bernama