SHAH ALAM, 31 Dec: Less than 24 hours before the 2014 New Year, the Facebook of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, was bombarded by condemnation, criticism and sarcasm from users of the social networking site.
According to the census by Selangor Kini on the first 100 comments on statuses touched on medical education programmes as well as scholarships, 60 Facebook users posted negative comments by expressing dissatisfaction on the government’s move to raise the prices of services and essential goods compared to 14 positive comments.
Eight other comments were deemed as supporting or against the increase in prices of goods that has caused the cost of living to increase and urged the government to increase female medical officers and to overcome the job issue of medical officers by 2015.
The Facebook page also revealed about 14 comments – either babbling or not showing any bias – but can be considered as a loss of respect for the sixth Prime Minister.
Among the babbling comments is a comment from Helmy VII: “Hai Najib, betol ke sisa makanan di celah gusi punca kaviti?” (Hi Najib, is it true that food particles at the gums cause savaties?). Meanwhile, Hershel Tan said: “I smell something around here, not sure what it that smell. My nose sense not strong enough”. And Syed Forza Raha asked: “Adakah benar dakwaan RM14 Juta dibelanjakan untuk sambutan tahun baru malam nanti?” (Is it the claim true that RM14 million was spent on the new year’s celebration tonight?).
About 10 comments on Najib’s Facebook had a cynical tone when asking him to attend the 2014 New Year’s Eve Protest to ‘overthrow’ the price of goods.
Although statistics on Facebook comments cannot be considered a measure of actual rejection or support from the people, Najib has previously been proud of the number of followers he has; over two million.
Selangor Kini’s observations show that Najib’s Facebook is increasingly dominated by those who reject the Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling government by making the social networking site a place to vent anger as of late.
