PKR vice-president R Ramanan has called on the party to strengthen its social media presence to effectively counter slander ahead of the next general election.
Ramanan said one of the key issues the party needs to recognise is its weak social media presence.
“This is something we must take seriously. If we don’t address it, we’ll face serious problems in the next general election.
“Our biggest enemy is slander. We must always question what we see and hear,” he told the PKR congress here today.
Ramanan, who is Sungai Buloh MP, said PKR was very active on social media when the party was part of the opposition.
“But once we became part of the government, we became complacent. We took it easy, leading to slander being spread easily,” he said.
He said if the party does not step up its efforts, whatever allegations the opposition throws at the government would be accepted as the truth by the public.
“For example, the government has given a lot of assistance to the Indian community.
“But the message isn’t reaching the grassroots. The information just isn’t getting through.”
Just last week, Ramanan had to issue a clarification that the person he was seen giving money to in a viral video was actually an employee of his.
The video clip, which was circulated widely, showed Ramanan handing over cash to an individual in front of a Pakatan Harapan office, implying it was meant to buy votes in the party election.
He said the incident actually took place after the Selangor state elections in 2023 and criticised the recent circulation of the video as a dirty political tactic by certain parties.
The deputy entrepreneur and cooperatives development minister also did not dismiss the possibility of more dirty tactics being employed by the opposition ahead of PKR’s central leadership election held yesterday.
