As funding dries up, Umno cybertroopers fade away or switch sides

Radzi Razak Radzi Razak Updated 5 years ago · Published on 11 Jun 2018 7:00AM · 11 Comments

THEY used to earn tens of thousands a month, with some pulling in several million ringgit to slander Pakatan Harapan and trumpet the virtues of Barisan Nasional.

But on May 9‎, the gravy train stopped.‎

Now, the keyboards of the legion of cybertroopers who were on Umno’s payroll are largely untouched, after their political paymasters were thrown out of Putrajaya.

It is learnt that a number of these online activists were paid by the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) under the Prime Minister’s Office. Jasa has since been disbanded by the PH government.

Others were paid by businessmen connected to Najib Razak or other Umno leaders.

With their “masters” on the ropes, some of these armchair warriors are now attempting to cosy up to PH.

“Now, our coordinators have all gone missing. There has been no word from the headquarters since GE14. Some have gone to PH, some (of us), we were just freelancers during the elections,” one Umno online activist, who requested anonymity, told The Malaysian Insight.

“But, there are still some who are being paid by their divisions or branches, or by a senior leader with deep pockets.”

Ever since social media became a powerful medium of information, Umno has aggressively gone out to court an army of cybertroopers.

In 2012, the party formally organised these online activists under its information technology bureau and new media unit. The bureau was headed by Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan. BN deputy strategic communications director Eric See-To also oversaw the social media operatives.

Another big name tied to the online activists was Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, who was on Jasa’s panel of experts.

The cybertroopers’ mission was to explain BN’s policies, counter PH’s criticism and wage psychological warfare through the internet.

On November 4, Umno’s IT bureau held its biggest rally of cybertroopers at the Putra World Trade Centre, which attracted more than 3,500 people.

Although the party has never acknowledged paying these online activists, it is an open secret that they were amply compensated.

One cybertrooper said they were grouped into informal teams with coordinators who determined the issues or trends they wrote about, which were decided by senior Umno leaders.

The activist said they were paid according to a scale set by the IT bureau.

“Umno cybertroopers have gotten tens, and even hundreds, of thousands,” said former party blogger Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah, also known as Ratu Naga, in an interview with Sinar Harian.

“There are some who received millions. One received RM3 million for a project related to the elections,” said Syarul Ema Rena, who switched to PH in 2014.

The payment depended on each activist’s specialty, with bloggers and website owners paid a different amount than a social media provocateur.

Now that the cash flow has stopped, Umno’s online mercenaries are giving up whatever territory they managed to carve out when the gravy train was going full steam ahead. – June 11, 2018.

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Comments

  • the Jabatan Hasil Dalam Negeri should go after all these cybertroopers and ensure they declared their income from the work done and money received and pay their income tax for the work done since it is alleged that the payments are from JASA and the government has all the records on JASA

    Posted 5 years ago by Ken Toh · Reply

  • Wow, did not realise that millions of ringgit were paid out to these cybertroopers willing to lie or bend the truth. Yet they lost. Goes to show that one cannot hide the truth forever. Please prosecute these chaps if possible, or at least pay back some of their ill-gotten gains by way of tax, foreign or local. All these need to be documented so that we can properly tell the history of Malaysia's second independence, against all odds.

    Posted 5 years ago by Insightful Malaysian · Reply

  • Rocky road ahead!! Rocky Bru and his machai looking for new masters. Pandai2 tupai jatuh ke tanah jua.

    Posted 5 years ago by Da Hi · Reply

  • It goes without saying as mostly join not for tje sake of defending or protecting Rakyat interest is for their personal to support their lavish life style and immunity. So when party fund run dry or got freeze whatsoever for sure they will.jump ship looking for greener pasture do u think they want tk us their own fund which they ripped fm.Rakyat guess that won't happen as their money evem fm rakyat is theirs , Rakyat money also tbeirs so since they are n longer in power so they tend to jump ship where they smell money to be made.

    They hv no intergity doesn't care even if their reputation is at stake this what we cl joining party for own benefits .













    Posted 5 years ago by Abdul Rahman Abdul Razak · Reply

  • The gravy train derailed and spill the load. Maybe those cyber troopers could start learning how to make their own gravy.

    Posted 5 years ago by Henry Mancini Jr · Reply

  • Some of these thousands of Umno cypertroopers have switched side, some as early as 2014, as revealed in this report. The question is: who among the component parties of PH is the new paymaster? Does this explain the wave of cyber-attacks against Anwar, Rafizi and even PKR recently?
    Reform-minded citizens have to exercise some critical thinking to avoid falling victims to such malicious campaign.
    The best way citizens can help the current reforms to succeed is to judge the deeds of this nascent reformasi movement based on facts and rationale, not motivated by emotions and personalities. Support when it is doing right and oppose when it is doing wrong. The worst is to idolise leaders and praise and defend them uncritically.
    Nation building is the responsibility of all citizens. Clean and competent leadership is no doubt absolutely essential, but without a well-informed and sensible electorate supporting an electoral democracy like ours, all efforts may come to naught.


    Posted 5 years ago by Kim quek · Reply

    • Anwar, Azmin, Rafizi and lots of PKR leaders are power crazy, manipulative, Machiavellian politicians who (if you analyze their histories and actions) put their self interests first ........ Rakyat way down! They cannot be trusted fully. For example, the "Kajang Fiasco". Now we have the "Selangor MB Crisis 2.0" in which each faction is trying to promote their loyalists ........ the most competent, capable, honest, smart Adun be damned! ............ also now they are planning to heist the PM and DPM posts!




      Posted 5 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply

  • What happen ya to tun faisal doggie and eric see buntut?

    Posted 5 years ago by Leslie Chan · Reply

  • Pity. R.I.P

    Posted 5 years ago by Former Diplomat - NAZRUL IMRAN · Reply

  • Mana Gang Pencuri JIB, nama Mohd Aziz, lama tak jumpa. Dah habis semua beras dalam periuk kut!

    Posted 5 years ago by Vib wis · Reply

  • No, they are still very alive and kicking, my guess they have a new sponsor, you just have to read the comments on Mkini lately.

    Posted 5 years ago by Richard Chapbell · Reply