Cyber demo against price hikes

Patrick Lee | May 30, 2011

Malaysians set to inundate the Internet with protest messages against Najib Tun Razak's proposed subsidy cuts.

PETALING JAYA: Fed up with the government, Malaysian netizens are taking their grouses into cyberspace.

Entitled “Ops Tak Tahan Lagi”, the online demonstration will be scheduled from 12am on May 31, and will last for 24 hours.

“We want to send a clear message to (Prime Minister) Najib Tun Razak’s administration that price hikes are not acceptable to the public without real reforms,” said the event organiser.

They comprise representatives of the the “1M Malaysians Reject 100-Storey Mega Tower” (NoMegaTower) Facebook community.

They demanded that the government introduce a package deal for Malaysia’s poor, cut ministers’ and top civil servants’ salaries as well as slash government wastage and corruption.

Some of the methods of disapproval planned by the group for cyber protestors include:

• changing their ‘status’ on social media and chat programs (Facebook, Twitter, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, etc) to “Saya Tak Nak Barang Naik! Tak Nak MyEmail! Tak Nak Mega Tower!” or “No price hike! No MyEmail! No Mega Tower!”

• posting the same message on Najib’s Facebook fan page.

• post the same message on Najib’s personal website (http://www.1malaysia.com.my/mari-berjumpa-mari-berhubung/) for two hours from 12pm to 2pm.

At the time of writing, the group has more than 296,000 members. While not against economic reforms, the group was nevertheless opposed to the upcoming subsidy cuts on RON95, diesel and LPG.

Cut pay of politicians

It was also against the power tariff increase, and accused the government of burdening Malaysia’s lower-income households.

“Let us not forget that as many as 228,400 households earn an average of RM800 a month, many of whom live in Sabah and Sarawak,” the group said.

The group said that if the government went ahead with its subsidy cuts, it needed to provide a more efficient public transport system, or at least lower fares.

NoMegaTower added that a pay cut for Malaysia’s politicians needed to precede a subsidy cut.

They argued that other countries, such as Ireland, Spain, Singapore and the United Kingdom had cut their salaries in recent years.

“We call upon the public to join this perfectly safe cyber demonstration,” the group said.

Thumbing its nose at the government, it added: “To our knowledge, the police has not invented any type of water cannon or tear gases applicable on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.”