BN weak in cyber warfare, concedes Noh Omar
BN is weak in social media propaganda because its leaders apparently have little inclination to slander their political rivals despite having picked up cyber warfare skills after the pivotal 2008 general elections, claimed Selangor Umno liaison chief Noh Omar.
"I am of the view that the (BN) government are lagging behind. As for Selangor BN, I have to admit that we are still lagging behind in terms of how to use social media to get to the people," he said.
"As an Umno leader, I do not even dare to mention things that are factually incorrect in my speech, (I) have no heart to accuse anyone, even opposition politicians without legitimate proof. I just don't have the heart to do such thing," he told Malaysiakini and KiniTV in an interview on Monday...
BN is weak in social media propaganda because its leaders apparently have little inclination to slander their political rivals despite having picked up cyber warfare skills after the pivotal 2008 general elections, claimed Selangor Umno liaison chief Noh Omar.
"I am of the view that the (BN) government are lagging behind. As for Selangor BN, I have to admit that we are still lagging behind in terms of how to use social media to get to the people," he said.
"As an Umno leader, I do not even dare to mention things that are factually incorrect in my speech, (I) have no heart to accuse anyone, even opposition politicians without legitimate proof. I just don't have the heart to do such thing," he told Malaysiakini and KiniTV in an interview on Monday.
"We in Umno, have been instilled with the culture to speak only the truth - based on evidence," he said, claiming that Umno was not good in 'spinning' either.
This was unlike the opposition, which he said was able to spin a minor mistake into a major conflagration.
He said that Umno and its BN allies were caught off guard at the 2008 general elections, when the opposition had aggressively used social media to reach out to voters.
As a result, for the first time in history, BN was denied two-thirds majority in Parliament. The ruling coalition also lost a number of states including the country’s richest state, Selangor.
Lack of coordination among gov’t bodies
Noh went on to explain BN’s inability to exploit its near-monopoly over the dissemination of information.
"This is not (because of) financial problem. Firstly, we are not as well-coordinated as (DAP's alleged) Red Bean Army is.
“We have many information bodies, we have Jasa (Department of Special Affairs), BNBBC (BN Backbenchers Council) and Selangor Umno, but everyone runs their own (propaganda campaign)," he said.
Jasa, an entity under the Communication and Multimedia Ministry, was set up to increase the awareness and confidence in the government, though the publicly funded body was often criticised for demonising the opposition and civil society movements.
The government department had
distributed booklets
slamming pro-electoral reform rally Bersih while defending the Umno-linked red shirt rally held afterward as non-racist at the ruling party's general assembly last November.
Beside the lack of coordination among the BN and Umno propaganda bodies, Noh Omar said, the culture and attitude of netizens, who often share only negative and slanderous content has worked against the efforts of Umno and BN to address the issue.
"The people just love to read government-bashing content. If I upload a statement on the goodness of the government, only two or three people click 'like'," he said.
To add salt to the wound, Umno members themselves made matters worse by also sharing such negative contents, he said.
"Umno members also share (the negative content via social media) when they got it," he lamented.
"When I slammed the opposition-ruled state government, I have 2,000 to 3,000 (comments), but they were defending the government. (Clearly) Pakatan is more advanced in attacking BN leaders (and responding to attacks against their leaders)," he conceded.
Opposition a noisy chicken
The opposition had taken advantage of the online culture to spread negative content and played up small matters, accused the Tanjung Karang parliamentarian.
He likened the opposition to a chicken that makes a noisy ruckus when it lays a single egg, depicting the BN instead as a turtle that lies low despite having laid many more eggs.
"The opposition even makes it into the daily papers when they go inspect drains," he sniped.
In any case, he claimed that Umno and the BN-led government are limited in their ability to respond as they only react to allegations after they asked for feedback from the relevant authorities and conducted proper research, during which time the allegations would have went viral online.
Citing the scandal involving the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) whereby the court finally acquitted executive chairperson Mohamad Salleh Ismail from financial misappropriation charges, Noh Omar elaborated that this showed how the BN and Umno have to wait for facts and not to indulge in conjecture.
Noh however vowed to change the propaganda strategy of both the BN and Umno to a more aggressive mode in the face of coming national polls.
Part 1: Azmin just as slithery as his mentor, charges Noh Omar
