KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) has lodged a report urging the police to investigate a fake news heading on social media about its president making derogatory remarks about the Dayaks.
PSB Youth information chief, Frankie Junau, who filed the report at 9am at Sungai Maong police station yesterday, said a screenshot of the headline went viral on social media.
The altered screenshot read, “Wong Soon Koh: Dayaks are stupid with low IQ and easy to be manipulated” while the actual heading was “PSB backs Wong Soon Koh on whether to quit Sarawak Cabinet”.
A PSB Gedong member, Abang Mohd Tosen, said the allegation in the altered new heading was serious and slanderous.
“Bearing in mind that the president (Wong) was a senior minister and had held several positions in the state Cabinet the allegation was indeed serious.
“Therefore, a police report was lodged with the police and MCMC to find out who are the perpetrators are so that we can take legal action after that,” he said.
PSB vice-president Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa, who led the party’s delegation to the police station, denied that his chief ever made such a remark.
When asked what the hoo-ha was all about, he did not deny the possibility that the move was politically motivated to bring down the party through unhealthy politics.
Suspecting that the tactic was used by some quarters who felt threatened by PSB’s rapid popularity, Rayong claimed that his party was getting stronger at the grassroots level and was receiving membership applications on a daily basis.
“The response from the people are getting stronger day by day, being accepted by members of different communities — Dayak, Chinese, Malay — who are professionals in their respective fields,” he said to reporters yesterday.
The Engkilili assemblyman also revealed that to date the party had gathered a following of approximately 6,000 people. During a recent ceremony held in his constituency, the party received more than 2,000 membership applications.
