Viralled audio: Zahid Hamidi calls on UMNO members to mobilise social media

KUALA LUMPUR: UMNO President, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has called on all UMNO members to strengthen the social media movement to repel accusations and slander aimed at weakening the party.

In an upload on his Facebook account last night, Ahmad Zahid said, if UMNO members do not do so, then the opposition will continue to play a negative perception to stop UMNO from rising.

"I call on UMNO members. Mobilise our social media. Currently, only loyalty and sincerity can be demanded. We need to move forward to repel accusations and slander.

"If we do not repel it, negative perspectives will continue to be played by the opposition to stop UMNO from rising.

"UMNO members are very understanding. In today's digital world, everything can be made up. Videos, photos and voice calls can be designed because there are applications for that.

"What I am asking for is to refute accusations with accurate facts and not to spread slander. The UMNO leadership is not like them," he said.

Previously, the audio of a four-minute, 17-second conversation that had gone viral since Tuesday, was said to resemble the voices of Ahmad Zahid and PKR President, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The recording of the conversation focuses on the conclusion of the 2020 UMNO General Assembly at the end of last month.

Commenting further, Ahmad Zahid claimed that Barisan Nasional (BN) lost the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018 due to various propaganda, slander and negative perceptions spread by opponents through social media.

"(It) is to make the people hate UMNO and BN. It continues to this day.

"So much so that at that time a political party even offered job opportunities to cybertroopers for thousands of ringgit a month. They advertised employees using Jobstreet. Their mission was to tarnish UMNO and spread slander.

"It is still going on until now. Even though UMNO only formed the government and has no absolute governing power, they are still doing the same thing.

“Because of what? They don't want us to rise up, want to weaken us and want to continue to make sure the people hate us," he claimed.