Cabinet accepted Ng's explanation, says Liow
The RM1.8 million Facebook campaign launched by the Tourism Ministry is a non-issue as far as the cabinet is concerned, a senior minister said today.
The RM1.8 million Facebook campaign launched by the Tourism Ministry is a non-issue as far as the cabinet is concerned, a senior minister said today.
Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said it is a norm for ministers to present papers to the cabinet to detail whatever has been spent for projects under their respective portfolios.
Liow said the cabinet has “taken note of and accepted” the explanation from Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen, who was said to have come under fire from her cabinet colleagues over the Facebook debacle.
“It’s a paper (she) presented to us. It’s a normal procedure... every minister knows that and the cabinet accepted the explanation,” Liow said when door-stopped in the Parliament lobby.
Ng, an MCA vice-president, has been under siege by the online community and the opposition over the RM1.8 million campaign project, which uses free-to-use social networking site Facebook to launch six campaigns to promote domestic tourism.
Liow, who is MCA deputy president, however, swatted aside the attacks against Ng (right), and attributed them to “some papers and people” who want to create doubt over the government’s good intentions.
But he also declined to give any more details on last week’s cabinet meeting in which Ng presented her paper, saying only that the cabinet did not ask for a further report from Ng and that there is no need to reveal the meeting details.
Liow accused the opposition of misleading the public and riding on the confusion to gain mileage.
“This issue is being manipulated by the opposition. Everyone knows Facebook is free,” he said, repeating that the RM1.8 million budget is for the entire campaign and not for the Facebook page.
Ng has insisted that the RM1.8 million that her ministry had allocated for its Cuti-Cuti Malaysia promotion was for an 'integrated social media campaign' that would encompass online advertising, branding and marketing.
In the Dewan Rakyat last Tuesday, Ng's deputy James Dawos Mamit had said the applications through the social media sites were developed at a cost of RM1,758,432.00.
He also added that the six applications for campaigns and activities cost RM293,072 each.
