On last day of GE13 campaign, fake propaganda sprouts

By Zurairi AR

KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Fake documents and stories targeting Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties have been circulating since yesterday, as the battle to win Putrajaya heats up on the last official day of campaigning.
Last night, copies of a letter purportedly signed by PAS’ secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali was spread through text messages and on social networks, claiming a directive from the Islamist party’s Syura Council asking PAS members not to vote for PKR and DAP candidates.
“I strongly deny the existence of such letter and describe it as a measure of a desperate individual,” said Datuk Dr Haron Din, deputy spiritual adviser of PAS, in a statement here.

“The Syura Council’s task in its working agenda is not to question the ‘tahaluf siyasi’ that has been neatly created by PAS with PR,” he said. The term ‘tahaluf siyasi’ means “political consensus”, and is used to describe PAS’ working arrangement with its ally in PR: PKR and DAP.
In the fake letter dated May 2, the Syura Council was also said to urge PAS to leave PR immediately since the alliance has brought disunity instead of benefits for the party.
In Putrajaya, several fake pamphlets and copies of PAS’ publication Harakah have been distributed to stir voters’ anger towards PR and PAS’ candidate for the federal seat, Datuk Husam Musa.
One pamphlet asked for Muslim voters to “not be emotional” towards the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims which is allegedly part of PR’s campaigning points for the polls.
The Election 2013 campaign in the past two weeks has also been marred with billboards that paint churches as the usurpers of “Allah”, as well as pamphlets that warn Malays about other religious groups using the word “Allah”.
In various parts of Putrajaya, banners in Barisan Nasional (BN) colours were seen promoting a “Grand Dhuha Prayers” session organised by Husam on the day after the polls, to “celebrate the results of 13th general elections”.
Husam has denied organising such event, stressing that even if PR does win Election 2013, the proper celebration should be a “solat kesyukuran” (thanksgiving prayers), instead of the “dhuha”.
Meanwhile, a fake story claiming that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s approval rating has soared to an “all-time high” of 73 per cent is being circulated via email, using the bylines of two The Malaysian Insider journalists plus the news portal’s masthead.
The article, headlined “Najib’s rating up to 73%, leads Anwar by 32% as M’sians top choice for PM”, cites the results of a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center as its alleged source and said Najib’s ratings rose due to concerns among voters over hudud and economic stability under a PR government.
It glossed over the results of an actual survey and borrowed lines from some of The Malaysian Insider’s previous stories, tweaking a few facts to match its claim of BN’s popularity soaring.
Today marks the last day of Election 2013 campaigning, and parties have until midnight tonight to convince voters before Malaysia goes to the polls tomorrow.

Source themalaysianinsider