THE THIRD FORCE
It has been brought to my attention that a 17th of April 2018 entry by Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz (hereinafter referred to as “Rafidah”) in her Facebook account, titled, UMNO TIDAK SAH BERTANDING DI PRU14, KERANA AUTOMATIK , PARTI UMNO DAH HARAM SELEPAS 19 APRIL 2018 (hereinafter referred to as “the entry”) alleged that UMNO lacked the legal basis to contest the 14th general election (GE14).
The Third Force is of the opinion that the entry was male fide given that the former Minister of International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI), herself a member of UMNO, failed to seek clarification from the secretary-general of UMNO prior to making the entry. As such, it is my contention that the entry qualifies as “fake news maliciously created and circulated” pursuant to terms stipulated under the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 and principles of general conduct expected of a person of her stature.
It follows, that not only is the entry defamatory against the secretary-general of UMNO, it bears elements of sedition given the sensibilities abound, sensibilities that threaten to precipitate unrest should the entry be misconstrued by the public at large to mean a conspiracy by the Government of Malaysia to subvert the 14th general election.
In light of the above, I hereby give Rafidah 24 hours (by 9.30 am tomorrow, the 21st of April 2018) to issue a public apology and retraction of the entry, failing which The Third Force will proceed to lodge a police report against the former MITI minister at the Bayan Baru police station at 6 pm for the spread of fake news.
The press will be updated of the matter.
Rafidah’s Facebook entry:
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Note: article was edited at 10.31 am to include in paragraph 2 the words “maliciously created and circulated”
