I call upon Attorney General Tan Sri Idrus Harun to state if it is legally proper for the police to be probing allegations made by Meta over troll farming against PDRM.
On 6th August this year, it was reported that PDRM was allegedly linked to a troll farm promoting the government and criticising its detractors. It was also reported that Meta had in its Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report, claimed that about 1,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as Facebook groups and pages, were removed for violating its policy against coordinated inauthentic behaviour.
The allegations made by Meta are serious in nature and of public interest. Although PDRM has come out to openly deny the allegations, it went on to state that it would probe the matter further.
On 13th September, the IGP Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said that although Bukit Aman had denied the allegation initially, it was still probing the matter.
Whilst we welcome a probe into the matter, the question is whether it is proper for the police to probe matters in which they themselves are said to be involved. It is also perhaps important to ask if there is a delay in the investigation and if so whether it has to do with an internal probe
which may be contaminated with conflict.
It is also important to note that PDRM has already denied the allegation even before the probe was completed. Would there not in these circumstances be a conflict on part of PDRM to probe the matter?
The Attorney General must set matters right and direct that an independent probe be launched into the allegations. It would be best if persons not directly connected to PDRM and the allegations decide if there is basis to it.
As the matter is one of public interest involving the integrity of the police force, it would be best if any such probe also be made public so as to enhance its transparency and credibility.