Act against electoral cyber-attacks, DAP MP tells EC
Loke blasted the alteration of the video as “irresponsible” and defamatory. — File picKUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — Modified music videos mocking all three Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties that are making their rounds online has one DAP lawmaker hopping mad.
One such video features the DAP’s official theme song for the 13th general election and depicts parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang astride a green donkey bearing ally PAS’s party symbol on its forehead while Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim operating a fuel filler nozzle.
Calling the act an “attack” against PR, DAP Youth chief Anthony Loke slammed as “irresponsible” the persons who had tampered with “Ubah” song and wants the Election Commission (EC) to remove the offensive music videos, which he called defamatory, from the Internet as well as ensure clean election campaigning both online and in print.
Two modified videos of the DAP’s official election theme song surfaced on YouTube earlier this month. The original, “Ubah”, was launched last April 17 for the 13th general election.
“What is EC’s commitment in ensuring clean election campaign online? If they can have enforcement team on the ground, can’t they also set up team to monitor or enforce campaigning online?” Loke told reporters today.
“Enforcement should apply to all. We want to see a system, a set of rules, a mechanism in place. If they (DAP’s political opponents) think their videos have been misused by our supporters, by all means, take it down,” he added.
He noted that the EC is currently empowered to remove billboards and posters that contain defamatory, false or offensive material during the campaign period.
He asked the EC to also expand their monitoring to campaign materials on the internet.
“Don’t tell us they have no power to control (cyber warfare),” he said, saying the EC has the power to direct the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to act on the cyber attacks, based on Article 115 (2) of the Federal Constitution.
The Rasah MP, a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms set up last year, urged the EC not to waste time on issuing “petty statements” but to act immediately to stamp out future similar attacks on cyberspace, saying such “dirty tricks” are “just beginning; there’s more to come”.
“How many of the 22 recommendations of the PSC have been fulfilled? None. None has been carried out in the last one and a half months,” he said.
“The song has been modified by irresponsible parties, which we can be sure is the work of political opponents of Pakatan Rakyat. All images and changed lyrics are clearly used to make us look bad, to change our message of hope,” Loke told reporters today.
He also called the modified music videos an “infringement of copyright”.
The DAP’s official lyrics for “Ubah” were changed in a video titled “Lagu Tema Pakatan untuk PRU 13 (Pakatan’s GE13 Theme Song)” posted on YouTube by Lensakini. Among the changes include the insertion of “Gadaikan Malaysia (Pawn Malaysia)” instead of the original “Selamatkan Malaysia (Save Malaysia)”.
Other changes to the original song are “Dendam ayahku, tanggungjawab bersama (My father’s vengeance, a responsibility together)” instead of “Negaraku, tanggungjawab bersama (My country, a responsibility together)”.
A second music video titled “Ubah - Lagu Tema Kempen DAP + Bersih 3.0 Yang Kotor (Ubah - DAP’s theme song campaign + The dirty Bersih 3.0)” posted on by user fitsparrow on the video-sharing site last Monday appears to blame Anwar for the violence that erupted in downtown Kuala Lumpur during April 28 rally.
Footage of demonstrators breaching a barricade, vandalising a police patrol car as well as photos of Anwar were interspersed with the words: “Angkara dia... Provokasi. Keganasan. Kekacauan inikah yang kita mahukan? Kerosakan (His act... Provocation. Violence. Is this chaos what we want? Damage)”.
The second video ended with the word: “PRU 13 - Nasib Umno di tangan anda” (13th general elections - Umno’s fate is in your hands).
Loke said the DAP has reported the videos to YouTube and will make a report to the police and the MCMC within the next two days.
