COMMUNICATIONS Minister Fahmi Fadzil today said Malaysians have been warned against spreading fake or slanderous news on social media. 

Fahmi said this following rumours that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah did not have an audience with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday and that Perikatan Nasional (PN) had paid RM1 billion in bribes to MPs to topple the federal government.  

“I think the home minister (Saifuddin Nasution Ismail) will touch on this (the allegation of bribery) in his press conference later, but there have been several police reports on this asking the police to investigate. 

“Accusations, for example the one making rounds on social media yesterday that the prime minister didn’t actually meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong were done by cybertroopers who make wild claims. 

“I want to say here that I was with the agong together with the housing and local government minister (Nga Kor Ming) and works minister (Alexander Nanta Linggi) during an investiture ceremony. 

“Tuanku is in Malaysia. They already have enough on their plate, so these types of accusations need to stop,” Fahmi told reporters today.  

Anwar’s political secretary Azman Abidin called for an investigation into the allegation that a PN leader was involved in offering bribes to influential figures and members of parliament to topple the unity government. 

The claims, which were posted on a blog, said the PN leader, who is an MP, had set aside some RM1 billion in funds to bribe government MPs into retracting their support for the prime minister. 

Bersatu had since refuted such claims. – January 10, 2024.