THE humongous 1Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal has seen several half-truths and disinformation being crafted and disseminated as The Truth for the consumption of the Malaysian public.

Equally noteworthy is how the financial mess has shown the huge potential of certain politicians from the ruling party to be stand-up comics if or when they are voted out of power – much to the chagrin of concerned Malaysians and giggles of the rest of the world.

The latest from this group of politicians ever eager to grab the headlines around the world for the wrong reasons is no less than Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Jailani Johari.

Very much spirited by the professed desire of the Najib administration to stem “fake news” recently, Jailani – as reported by Sinar Harian – claimed that foreign media were spreading “fake news” about 1MDB as part of a sinister plot to cast aspersions at Prime Minister Najib Razak before the next general election.

Lo and behold, Jailani has taken to task reputable international media such as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), The New York Times, The Economist, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the latest, MSNBC for having addressed the gigantic elephant in the room.

Demonising international media institutions generally known to jealously guard their public reputation and journalistic ethics – unlike much of our mainstream media – is a herculean task at best and laughable at worst.

These media’s investigative journalism often entails working on leads, clues, and nuggets of information – not being merely dependent on what ministers claim and pronounce, or a given PR kit.

If one were to follow Jailani’s claim to its logical conclusion, it would mean that local media – mainstream and news portals alike – should not be the conduit of “fake news” coming from outside the country.

In other words, local media should erect a strong blockade against incoming information that concerned Malaysians are looking for. Those that do not do so would probably be punished.

As a deputy minister in the area of communication, Jailani should know very well that his desperate endeavour to coax the Malaysian public into burying its head in the sand, in this age of the Internet and social media, is as preposterous as insisting that being cooped up under the proverbial coconut shell would help dispel the threat of a Martian invasion!

It is irksome to know that our intelligence is often subjected to ridicule by the very people supposed to help raise the bar in terms of public discussion of issues that matter to all of us – especially after having achieved independence for so many years.

The Najib administration should have more faith in the people’s intelligence, so that the foreign media’s so-called allegations about 1MDB can be discussed and dissected for all to see the kernel of truth.

This, of course, would also mean that any findings of an investigation into the 1MDB case should not be wrapped in secrecy under the rubric of official secrets.

After all, the financial scandal does not only drag the reputation of the nation’s ruling leaders into the muck. It also has wide financial and economic repercussions to the entire nation.

At this juncture in the nation’s history, such attempts at suppressing vital information only reinforces the suspicion among right-thinking Malaysians about the true intentions of the recent endeavour of the Najib administration to introduce a new law to supposedly combat “fake news”.

We now wonder aloud as to whose “fake news” that the government is trying to curb, especially at a time when the 1MDB controversy, among others, is often mentioned at political gatherings prior to the 14th general election.

For heaven’s sake, we also hope that there won’t be another minister who will try to, for lack of a better term, outsmart Jailani. – March 13, 2018.