State Polls: 3R Monitoring Cooperation To Be Strengthened - Fahmi

KOTA BHARU, June 16 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and Election Commission (EC) will strengthen existing cooperation to monitor and address any attempts to exploit 3R (religion, royalty and race) issues during the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections.

Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the integrated enforcement effort would cover both physical campaign events and the dissemination of digital content on social media platforms.

He said that the division of enforcement responsibilities among the agencies has been clearly defined to ensure the smooth conduct of the state elections.

“If any violation or offence involving 3R issues occurs physically during the official campaign period, action will be taken by the police or the EC.

“Any provocation or physical offence detected before the commencement of the official campaign period falls entirely under the jurisdiction of the police,” he told reporters after the presentation of letters of appointment to chairpersons of the National Information Dissemination Centre (NADI) Advisory panels for Kelantan today.

For the dissemination of 3R-related content online, whether through live broadcasts or recorded videos, MCMC will take firm action under existing laws upon receiving complaints.

“I would like to take this opportunity to remind all parties contesting in the elections to conduct healthy and responsible campaigns,” he said, adding that cooperation among the EC, MCMC and the police has long been in place to ensure public harmony is maintained,” he said.

The EC has set June 27 as nomination day for the Johor state election, with early voting on July 7 and polling on July 11.

For Negri Sembilan, nomination day has been set for July 18, while early voting and polling day will be held on July 28 and Aug 1 respectively.

-- BERNAMA