Jasa for propaganda? That era is over - Wan Saiful

The Special Affairs Department (Jasa) under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government was no longer a propaganda unit, said Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan.

"That era has passed," he wrote on his Facebook page today.

Wan Saiful explained that Jasa's role has changed according to the times.

"I am made to understand that the government's intention is to ensure the government listens and understands the rakyat while the rakyat can receive information from the government (through Jasa)," he said.

The politician was responding to an outcry after the Federal Expenditure Report 2021 revealed that the government wanted to allocate RM81.55 million to Jasa, which is under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

This unit was shut down by the previous Pakatan Harapan government. During the time of the BN administration, 222 Jasa personnel were deployed in every Parliamentary constituency.

Critics claimed that Jasa personnel were mere local propagandists.

Wan Saiful said that the technology needed to listen in the social media era is not cheap and therefore it should not be strange that the government will allocate enough funds for Jasa.

"We're not even talking about the cost to tackle fake news... Perhaps that is why the allocation for emoluments was around RM4 million from the total allocation. Tak besar pun, sebenarnya (It's not a lot, actually).

"The rest is for procuring the necessary technology," he added.

Wan Saiful accused the opposition of trying to exploit the Jasa allocation but the PN government cannot be the previous Harapan administration.

"The previous government never listened to the public, leading to Harapan's failure in understanding people who needed help in welfare, business, jobs and other initiatives.

"PN will not be the same. If we need to invest in new technology to serve the people, then it is necessary in order to ensure that government initiatives meet the needs of the public," he said.