by Lim Kit Siang

The new Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is the best example of being “own victim” of the lies of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in past six years to employ a 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders.

This is again illustrated by today’s Utusan Malaysia, one of the chief instruments of UMNO/BN propangada in the 13GE, which carried a report headlined “Red Bean Army serang kerajaan – Ekoran DAP gagal peroleh kuasa di Putrajaya”, which states:

“Kuala Lumpur 27 Mei – Kecaman serta penghinaan berterusan yang dihamburkan oleh Red Bean Army terhadap kerajaan jelas membuktikan tentera siber DAP itu gagal menutup rasa kecewa kerana tidak berjaya memperoleh ‘kuasa’ di Putrajaya.

“Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi berkata, walaupun beliau sendiri tidak terlepas daripada serangan tentera siber berkenaan, perkara itu adalah lumrah bagi mereka yang bergelar ahli politik.

“Meskipun tidak menyatakan bentuk tindakan yang akan diambil terhadap pihak terbabit, beliau dengan nada sinis memberitahu, mereka merupakan jenis manusia yang hanya tahu menyalahkan pihak lain berbanding diri sendiri.”

I do not believe Zahid suffers from any hallucination about the DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in the past six years to employ a 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers to demonise him and other Umno/BN leaders.

The kindest thing one can say about Zahid is to regard him as an “own victim” of UMNO/BN 13GE “war room” lies about DAP spending more than a billion ringgit in the past six years to employ 3,000-strong “Red Bean Army” cybertroopers to demonise him and other UMNO/BN leaders.

Zahid is being doubly foolish – firstly, for believing in the lies of the Umno/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists meant to confuse and befuddle the enemy camp and secondly, for being the only Minister on record to be publicly identified with allegations about the DAP’s fictitious “Red Bean Army”.

Clearly, Zahid is not being smart at all – to believe in the lies perpetrated by his own people.

Of course, the UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists have a vested interest to perpetuate the lies they have created in the 13GE about the Pakatan Rakyat in order to justify their abject failure to deliver their boastful prediction that UMNO/BN would win the 13GE with a two-thirds parliamentary majority despite a general election war chest running into hundreds of millions of ringgit directly and indirectly in a massive media campaign that encompasses print, television, billboards, online sites and whole armies of UMNO/BN cybertroopers, whether “Belacan Army”, “Ikan Bakar Army”, “Cincin Army” or “Petai Army”.

Zahid’s continued regurgitation of the lies about the DAP’s fictitious “Red Bean Army” has piqued my curiosity and I have caused a search and I have found that the lies, myth and legend about the DAP’s fictitious “Red Bean Army” of cybertroopers were written extensively in the Umno/BN media, in particular Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times and Star just before polling day on May 5 and in the ensuing weeks.

For instance, days before Polling Day on May 5, New Straits Times carried an article entitled “Beware of DAP’s cyber troopers” which said:

KUALA LUMPUR: Beware of the DAP-sponsored cyber troopers, known as the Red Bean Army, who are ready to wreak havoc in the cyberworld.

The core group was said to comprise of between 2,000 and 3,000 members who could easily reach 60,000 people by sending out postings via social networks.

The members were said to be employed full time with a salary of between RM3,000 and RM8,000 each and they have been told to launch attacks on pro-government websites and social networks, spreading lies about the government and prevent any effort to connect with the people via the net.

Media analysts said the group, which was formed between four to six years ago, were also directed to “kill off” pro-government comments in alternative media and disrupt programmes that lent credit to the government.

They said this “army” would manipulate information and widen their attack on the government.

One of their duties was also to create feelings of hatred towards the government.

I am totally astounded and amazed that a senior Cabinet Minister and UMNO leader who have pretensions to become UMNO President and Prime Minister one day could believe such garbage churned out by the UMNO/BN “War Room” strategists and propagandists.

Taking an average of RM5,000 a month (re the allegation of a monthly salary between RM3,000 and RM8,000 each) for the 3,000 cybertrooper in the so-called DAP “Red Bean Army”, this will come out to a gargantuan expenditure of RM15 million a month or RM180 million a year – and the mind-boggling total of RM1.08 billion in six years!

Zahid believes that DAP is capable of spending RM1.08 billion in six years to employ some 3,000 cybertroopers in the “Red Bean Army” to demonise the UMNO/BN leaders?

Zahid must be nuts to believe such rubbish but he is giving daily credence to such lies about the DAP’s “Red Bean Army” of paid 3,000 cybertroopers as in today’s Utusan Malaysia.

With such senior Cabinet Ministers and UMNO leaders like Zahid exposing himself as an intellectual lightweight who could be so gullible as to believe the lies churned out by the UMNO/BN “war room” strategists and propagandists, what confidence could Malaysians have in the calibre, quality and excellence of the Najib Cabinet to promote genuine national transformation, to effect a national reconciliation or take the country to a higher level of development?