The public cannot assume that the so-called 'Red Bean Army' - if they indeed exist - are necessarily bad, said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturer Samsudin Rahman.

 

Speaking at a seminar titled 'Media and the 13th General Election' in Kuala Lumpur today, Samsudin said they group can only be deemed to be bad if they flout the law.

 

NONE "So we can't (simply) fault the Red Bean Army. If they did something wrong, they must face the law.

 

"We don't want this to fester on in our lives. We want people to be ethical. There are limits on what can or cannot be done," he said.

 

The 'Red Bean Army' is allegedly DAP's online propaganda arm. Although Utusan Malaysia and some pro-BN groups believe in its existence, DAP denies it, stressing that no shred of evidence has surfaced thus far.

 

Samsudin said that the existence of the 'Red Bean Army' cannot be discounted because BN, too, has anonymous online propagandists.

 

"BN, too, has a lot of 'troopers' who are anonymous. When we talk about 'troopers', it implies war.  

 

"Whoever that 'kills' their target with a message is considered the victor," he said.

 

'MCA ads didn't highlight policy'

 

Another speaker, Universiti Teknologi Mara's (UiTM) Suhaimee Saahar, said MCA's advertisements during the campaign period had focused on attacking DAP and PAS instead of explaining the party's policies.

 

He said that of the 25 MCA and DAP advertisements published in The Star and Sinar Harian , DAP was more inclined to explain the party's policies effectively.

 

"MCA focussed on attacking DAP and PAS, on how PAS was using DAP and how DAP was using PAS.

 

"PAS had only three advertisements and did not attack (anyone), but instead focused on the party's strengths.

 

"DAP also focused on their strengths, for example, it featured (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng stressing that the party was tough on corruption," he said.

 

The seminar was organised by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and the Communication and Multimedia Ministry.