KUALA LUMPUR: Live streams of Dewan Rakyat sittings are being hijacked by online agitators, turning parliamentary broadcasts into a hotbed of abuse, racism and disinformation that could threaten national harmony.
The New Sunday Times‘ months-long investigation found that on average, these hostile accounts made up to at least 20 per cent of about 30,000 comments during nine parliamentary sitting days in July and August last year.
The dates were July 21, July 22, July 29, July 30, Aug 11, Aug 21, Aug 25, Aug 27 and Aug 28.
NST’s investigation found that on the Dewan Rakyat live feed, at least 12 social media accounts operated full-time — from 10am to 7pm — systematically spreading hate and disinformation.
Experts said that if left unchecked, these comments could lead to violence and physical harm against targeted communities.
Many used common and generic names, faceless profile pictures, frequently swapping them to pose as ordinary users. Most accounts posted no personal videos, further concealing their identities.
These comments were usually riddled with grammatical errors, poorly structured and barely coherent.
Although live stream comments on YouTube are not clickable, their associated channel URLs can be accessed through alternative means.
On July 29, for example, nearly half of the 2,651 comments on the Dewan Rakyat live stream came from these hostile accounts.
One user posted 426 times — almost 20 per cent of the total number of comments that day — while others contributed 207 comments (eight per cent) and 99 comments (four per cent).
SOWING RACIAL TENSION
A significant number of these accounts appeared to exploit racial politics.
“Melayu kena rasis baru Melayu boleh maju dan kuat. Jgn jadi barua kapiaq. (Malays must be racist, only then Malays can advance and be strong. Don’t be an evil middleman for non-Muslims),” said one commenter.
“Tolak URA cominis, (reject the communist Urban Renewal Bill)” it added.
The Madani government was not spared and subjected to racist taunts, with Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming among the hardest hit, repeatedly being labelled a communist during the initial tabling of the Urban Renewal Bill.
“Komunis ni akan bentang URA hari ni (The communist will table the bill today),” one comment read.
Nga was subjected to similar comments earlier, including one read: “Nga Kor Ming is nothing but a two-faced communist.”
Another user on July 22 posted three similar comments against Nga. Also in the line of fire was Jelutong member of parliament R.S.N. Rayer, with one user posting a crude comment about the vibhuti — the sacred ash applied on his forehead.
On Aug 25, a user wrote that Malaysia was only for Malays, Orang Asli, Sabahans and Sarawakians, and that other races should be “sent back”.
Malay and Bumiputera politicians were spared from this racial hate.
SPREADING FAKE NEWS
Another worrying trend is the spread of fake information, largely aimed at undermining the government.
A user, claiming to be a supporter of Perikatan Nasional, used algospeak — coded or altered language designed to evade social media moderation — and posted misleading comments to hoodwink readers.
“Tentu ada Hudud. Khalwat pun ada kat Trengganu. Hudud ada di Kelantan tapi fed dimansuhkan dgn Nik Azleena,” wrote a user, who claimed that hudud laws in Kelantan were abolished by the Federal Court.
“Fed” refers to the Federal Court, and “Nik Azleena” is a reference to Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid, the lawyer who filed a court application to review the constitutionality of syariah law provisions.
However, hudud Islamic laws had never been implemented in Kelantan.
These accounts also launched an attack on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, falsely linking him to Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISB), which is allegedly involvement in deviant teachings.
“Media luar negara kecoh ttg berita bang non amik stock dari GISB (Overseas media is going on about Anwar having a share in GISB),” one comment reads.
Another account escalated the attacks with allegations that Anwar had “stolen 700 registered children” from GISB.
There were also allegations that the government had handed over the Ambalat block — an area in southeast Sabah that contains 62 million to 762 million barrels of oil and more than 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — to Indonesia.
“Orang sabah jgn undi madanon sbb derang nak bagi hasil sabah kat indon nama riza calid (Sabahans, don’t vote for the Madani government because they want to give Sabah’s revenues to Indonesian Riza Chalid),” the commenter wrote.
The comment was likely referring to Mohammad Riza Chalid, nicknamed the “gasoline godfather”, who is wanted in Indonesia for his alleged involvement in corruption at state-owned oil company Pertamina between 2018 and 2023, including money laundering and manipulating a lease agreement.
Interpol has issued a red notice for the arrest of the oil tycoon over a US$17 billion corruption scandal.
In a written parliamentary reply dated July 22, the Foreign Ministry said the Ambalat block fell within Malaysian sovereign territory under international law.
There were also smear campaigns against opposition leaders.
On Aug 25, a user claiming to be a unity government supporter alleged that Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang supported the banned Syiah sect.
“PMX anak angkat Palestin, Hadi Awang anak angkah Syiah (PMX is an adoptee of Palestine, Hadi is an adoptee of Syiah),” the user said.
A user also hurled accusations of a sexual nature at Hadi.
XENOPHOBIC SENTIMENTS
Besides spreading racial and false information, many of these accounts propagated xenophobic sentiments against foreigners, especially refugees.
These accounts often referred to them as “Indo”, “Indon”, “Bangla” or “Rohingya”, with most of the comments carrying negative and aggressive tones.
“Dan salam merdeka . .ramai2 ke putra jaya 31 ogos nanti. (And Happy Independence.. Let us all go to Putrajaya on Aug 31 later),” said one commenter.
“Hanum, hang rohingya refugees pi jauh2. tak perlu sibuk hari merdeka kami rakyat mlaysia, (Hanum, you Rohingya refugee should go far away. Don’t need to take part in our National Day celebrations),” said another.
A commenter also shared a similar xenophobic sentiment.
“Indon, bangla, myanmar, viet cong yg suka buang sampah tak ada displin sbb tak sekolah (Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Myanmars, Viet Congs like to litter,
they don’t have discipline because they didn’t go to school),” they said.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has yet to respond to the NST’s enquiry if it monitors, moderates or has taken action against such accounts or comments.
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