Subject: Facebook fiasco earns Yen Yen Cabinet colleagues’ ire

Facebook fiasco earns Yen Yen Cabinet colleagues’ ire

By Clara Chooi

June 17, 2011

Ng provided scant details on how the RM1.8 million was spent, said the source. —
file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Already facing growing public discontent, Datuk Seri Dr
Ng Yen Yen was confronted with a hostile Cabinet today when she tried to explain
her ministry’s controversial RM1.8 million outlay on six Facebook pages and was
even told by some colleagues not to waste their time.

The Malaysian Insider understands several ministers also insisted against
announcing that Cabinet had officially accepted Ng’s explanation, preferring
instead to say they had taken note of it.

A source who was familiar with what transpired said this was because the
ministers did not want Ng to publicly declare that she had been cleared of guilt
by the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

The source told The Malaysian Insider that rather than addressing the root cause
of the allegations against her, the tourism minister had chosen to beat around
the bush in defending herself.

Ng, who is also MCA vice-president, was scheduled to explain to the Cabinet
today her ministry’s RM1.8 million expense bill for developing six Facebook
pages to promote tourism in Malaysia.

“She did not explain [the] cost, not the cost or bill. Only the importance of
cyber advertising and other [nonsense],” said the source.

The source said when it grew clear that Ng had no plans to divulge further
details or provide a breakdown of her expenses, several ministers cut her short.

“She was trying to explain but she did not finish because people asked her to
stop. They said she was just wasting their time. She was not talking about the
main thing — the cost and why she spent so much,” said the source.

But the source noted that it was unclear if the prime minister considered Ng’s
explanation satisfactory or planned to pursue the matter further.

“The PM was silent on that part. What is clear is that the ministers only want
to say that Cabinet has taken note of her explanation and that she should not go
and say that Cabinet has accepted it,” said the source.

The debacle over the Tourism Ministry’s Facebook expenses first began on Tuesday
when Ng’s deputy, James Dawos Mamit, revealed in Parliament that RM1,758,432 was
spent on developing six Facebook pages for Malaysia’s tourism.

He had said each of the six pages — Cuti-Cuti 1 Malaysia, Citrawarna 1Malaysia,
Karnival Jualan Mega 1 Malaysia, Festival Pelancongan Seni Kontemporari 1
Malaysia, Kempen 1 Malaysia Bersih and Fabulous Food 1 Malaysia — cost RM293,072

The announcement drew condemnation from the online community and a spontaneous
campaign was kicked off on Tuesday evening, inviting thousands to condemn Ng’s
exorbitant spending.

Her ministry first entered the spotlight late last year when it was revealed in
Parliament that while Ng had slashed her tourism promotional budget, she had
spent more for her official trips abroad.

Ng again came under fire after Tourism Malaysia’s former advertising agency
alleged that the ministry had asked for bribes in exchange for a promotion
contract.

Following the latest complaint against Ng, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that the Cabinet would seek an explanation from
her over the matter and that an investigation would be mooted if she failed to
do so satisfactorily.

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