Salleh: Sarawak Report’s aim is to slander leaders

Minister says the news portal intends to undermine the reputation of the country’s leaders and asks people not to trust its reports.

(FMT) – Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak today advised the people not to trust reports released by Sarawak Report, saying the news portal harboured a specific motive to topple the country’s leadership.

He added that the news portal aimed to spread slander to undermine the reputation of the country’s leaders.

“Sarawak Report is an online paper which has only one goal: to slander our leaders.

“As such, the people cannot accept its reports outright because their motive is to topple the country’s leadership,” he said to reporters at the Kembara Negaraku bubur lambuk distribution event at KL Sentral here.

Salleh was asked to comment on a report in the news portal that Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the chief prosecutor in the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy case, was paid a sum of money channelled through an account of the prime minister and allegedly from 1MDB.

Salleh said Lester Melanyi, the former editor of the portal, had admitted that 90% of its news reports were false and had been manipulated.

“We are aware that some of the documents released by Sarawak Report had been tampered with and their authenticity is questionable.

“As such, we Malaysians should not rush into accepting these reports because they are not true at all.”