FB post about M’sian PM Anwar losing support is ‘fake news posing as content’, says Berita Mediacorp AURORATOTO GROUP

SINGAPORE: A fabricated Facebook post was shared on Sept 4, claiming that Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, was losing support. It showed a screenshot that was purportedly from Singapore’s Berita Mediacorp, which has clarified to AFP Fact Check that it is “fake news posing as content”.

This is by no means the first time that the Malaysian leader has been the subject of falsehoods online.

In May, he was included in a deepfake video concerning an investment scheme in Malaysia, wherein it was made to appear that Mr Anwar was talking of guaranteed returns.

Last December, a post was shared on social media alleging that the Prime Minister had arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine. It further claimed that Malaysia intended to send decommissioned weapons and aircraft to that country this year. A fake post from 2024 about Mr Anwar’s daughter and her husband was also shared and then subsequently debunked.

This is also not the first time that fake news about Mr Anwar was spread with Berita Mediacorp falsely credited as the source. In 2018, a claim was shared online concerning a police report that an Indonesian student allegedly filed against Mr Anwar in Singapore. After it was revealed to be false, it was taken down by the Malaysian politician who had posted it. Mr Anwar later shrugged it off, telling journalists he was not affected or bothered by it.

The most recent falsehood that was shared online showed two Singaporean Members of Parliament, a male and a female. However, the headline in Malay says that two prominent political analysts were saying that the Prime Minister had lost public support and that his party was headed towards a major loss in Malaysia’s next general election.

AFP Fact Check clarified that there had been a big protest in July and that Malaysia’s political parties are slowly preparing for the next election, though it will not be held until February 2028. It added that based on a recent survey, Mr Anwar still enjoys a 55 per cent approval rating from voters in his country.

The photo in the doctored screenshot had been taken from an article published by Berita Mediacorp on Sept 3 about what Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi and Hazlina Halim, both first-time MPs from the ruling People’s Action Party, will be focusing on in Parliament.

The article makes no mention at all of Mr Anwar, AFP Fact Check added. /TISG

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