THE Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has ordered the blog Malaysia Today and its owner Raja Petra Kamarudin to remove three articles claiming Robert Kuok had given cash contributions to DAP with the aim of overthrowing the ruling Barisan Nasional government.

In a letter to the blog admin today, MCMC ordered three articles “Robert Kuok wants Chinese rule in Malaysia”, “Malaysian Insight funder fingered” and “Robert Kuok’s last chance at changing the government” published on February 21 and 23 to be taken down.

The letter said after receiving complaints regarding the articles, MCMC found them to be in violation of Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act, which criminalises use of the Internet for communications that are “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person”.

The blog must delete the articles by 10am tomorrow (Tuesday).

A check on the blog found the articles have been removed. 

The post on the Hong Kong-based billionaire had created a storm after Raja Petra claimed Kuok is funding DAP to topple the BN government at the next general election.

Kuok and DAP denied the allegations, which also triggered a series of attacks on Kuok by some Umno leaders including its secretary general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and Umno supreme council member Nazri Aziz.

Nazri’s harsh language created a spat between him and the largest ethnic Chinese party MCA.

He had called Kuok a “pondan” (effeminate) and “ayam betina” (hen) for “hiding in Hong Kong”.

MCA leaders and several Chinese newspapers criticised the minister for his rude comments, saying they undermined communal relations and affected Chinese support towards BN.

Following the criticism, Nazri said MCA no longer represented the Chinese community, going by its disastrous performance in the 13th general election.

MCA president Liow Tiong Lai called Nazri an “opposition collaborator” for his remarks while several party members held a protest demanding that the minister apologise. 

But not everyone in Umno saw it fit to criticise Kuok.

Over the weekend Rafidah Aziz said Kuok is a man of integrity, honesty and ethics.

The former minister and Umno veteran said she has known the Malaysian tycoon dubbed the Sugar King since the early 1980s.

In a post on Facebook, she said she often discussed those principles with him, and even got the billionaire to speak to her children about ethics when they were younger.

“I never saw him in any light other than as a person whose principles and values the younger generation should emulate,” said Rafidah, who was international trade minister under former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. – March 5, 2018.