Police denial of “troll farm link” weak and unconvincing – call for public inquiry headed by a judge or former judge to investigate the serious allegation

The police denial of a claim by social media giant Meta that implicated it in attempts to manipulate public discourse by setting up a “troll farm” is weak and unconvincing.

I call for a public inquiry headed by a judge or former judge to investigate the serious allegation by Meta.

The statement by the Police secretary Noorsiah Binti Mohd Saaduddin that the police viewed the allegation seriously and are getting more information about the matter is inadequate.

The police must state whether it would co-operate in a public inquiry headed by a judge or former judge into the Meta allegation that the Police is implicated in attempts to manipulate public discourse by setting up a “troll farm”, where Meta will be invited to disclose all its evidence that the Malaysian police is running a “troll farm” to manipulate public discourse.

We must make sure that the information age in Malaysia does not deteriorate into a disinformation age, where the Police and the Government instead of cleaning up the cyberspace of fake news, false allegations and all forms of disinformation, take part in the spread of disinformation.

While the deliberate spread of misinformation has been around a long time, there is a major difference in the Internet era – with modern technology giving fraudsters the reach to instantly access millions of people and be rewarded for those minimal efforts.

It would be a serious abuse and misuse of trust of the people if a government or a government department is involved in such a disinformation campaign.

The government as the trustees of the people should not be involved in such disinformation programmes and this is why the Meta allegation must be taken seriously.

Malaysia believes in the doctrine of separation of powers among the executive, legislature and the judiciary.

In the first half of a century of the nation’s existence, there had been a powerful Executive at the expense of both the legislature and the judiciary, with the country losing out to one country after another in various fields of human endeavour.

It would appear the country needs the Judiciary to save Malaysia to fulfil its potential to become a world-class great nation by ending all forms of abuses and misuses of power in Malaysia.