BN, PRO-GOVT MEDIA WILL NOT SOW HATRED - MINISTER

JELEBU (Malaysia), May 25 (Bernama) -- United Malays National Organisation
(Umno) and ruling Barisan Nasional's (BN) response to the opposition's baseless
accusations and lies will be done the civil way, and not by sowing hatred in the
people towards the opposition parties.

Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim said although
the BN government was taking steps to rebut all the opposition's lies and
appeared to be defensive, the strategy of "attacking" the opposition was made in
the context of telling the truth to the people and in the nation's interests.

"We don't want to sow hatred, but to build a spirit of valuing truth and
accuracy," he told reporters in this southern town Sunday.

He said bloggers and official media which were trying to present the truth
were encouraged to be proactive in exposing the opposition's lies.

"As this is a legitimate government, it is normal for the mainstream media
to protect national interests," he added.

Rais also dismissed an opposition claim as dubious that 70 per cent of
students at the local universities were pro-opposition.

He said the statistic was purposely created and did not reflect the real
situation as many students had started to realise the importance of keeping the
present government in power.

"We have to look at the matter carefully. It's easy for them (opposition) to
say this university is 70 per cent (pro-opposition), that university is 60 per
cent. Who is collecting the data? We have our own data to state otherwise."

Rais said suitable programmes would be organised at the universities in the
context of nation building.

He also announced that his ministry would organise various programmes
related to the 1Malaysia concept in every state from June to the end of August.
-- BERNAMA


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