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Kiss social media anonymity goodbye
PM's latest boo boo
Perlis exco reshuffled again
Kiss social media anonymity goodbye
Putrajaya is seeking to amend the Communications and Multimedia Act so it can compel social media platform providers into revealing data about their users upon police request.
Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said the government also wants to compel social media platforms to require new users to provide their phone numbers when registering an account.
The goal is ostensibly to allow law enforcement to trace those hiding behind fake accounts spreading fake news and doing other bad things.
However, it also means that if the state wants to target you, using a cat profile photo and a made-up username may not protect you.
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PM's latest boo boo
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is again fending off criticism stemming from a communication faux pas.
Speaking in Parliament last week, Anwar had said that 70 to 80 percent of the flight costs of his recent five country trip was paid for by private companies.
He did not elaborate further, leading to criticism that private firms were subsidising his travels.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil had tried to douse the fire by explaining that the private companies only paid for their share of travel expenses, while the government paid for itself.
However, this did not seem to catch widespread attention, forcing Anwar to also clarify that he did not use private funds.
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Perlis exco reshuffled again
The Perlis exco line-up was given a shake-up almost one year after changes were last made.
This time, two Bersatu exco members were dropped to make way for state party leaders.
One of the dropped exco members, Wan Zikri Afthar Ishak, lamented how Menteri Besar Mohd Shukri Ramli didn’t have the courage to give him an early warning.
Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin said the reshuffle was aimed at fixing an error last year when Shukri made appointments without consulting the party.
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