The state government of Pahang in peninsular Malaysia has hired three bloggers to counter inaccurate or slanderous allegations and comments posted on the Internet.
According to Bernama [1], State Information, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman, Datuk Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin announced that the appointed bloggers would be paid allowances and be given computers and Internet access in their homes.
The state government hopes the pensioners can bank on their experience to explain the actual situation to netizens, besides providing feedback and opinions to the government.
Lilian Chan states on her blog [2]:
I don’t know [whether] to laugh or to apply for a job with the Pahang Government. Well….what’s with this craze and paranoia on getting bloggers to do white washing?
With all due respect to pensioners and senior citizens, I think this is really a sign that our ruling political parties are getting paranoid. They can hire a thousand pensioners to write a thousand blogs but will we hear and believe them?
It is possible that this move is because Pahang's Menteri Besar, DatukSeri Adnan Yaakob, had informed the state legislative assembly recently that he was slandered by a blogger.