Fahmi: Public should know about past govts’ RM700m publicity expenses

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said people should know the details behind the RM700 million expenditure on advertising and publicity spent by the previous two governments.

In a response to a user on X, he agreed that the RM700 million was a significant expenditure.

“The people have the right to know how this RM700 million was spent, whether everything was recorded properly or if there were any legal violations,” he said.

In November, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed that the RM700 million was spent between 2020 and 2022 to showcase the administrative achievements of the government.

Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat that RM500 million was spent during the Muhyiddin Yassin administration from 2020 to 2021, with the balance of RM200 million spent during Ismail Sabri Yaakob's administration (2021 to 2022).

“This means that, on average, over RM300 million per year was expended on advertising, promotion and publicity to publicise the government’s efforts. I believe this breaches rules and regulations, showing excessive spending,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that the spending during Muhyiddin's administration was focused on promoting the prime minister and the government and was directly managed by the Prime Minister's Office.

Anwar added that the present government did not allocate publicity funds for 2023 but continued with contracts inked during the previous administration.

He said the Finance Ministry has been instructed to not spend above RM100 million for government announcements and expenditures in 2024.

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