Increased allocation for J-KOM is unreasonable- Gerakan

SHAH ALAM - The allocation increase of up to 39 percent for the Community Communications Department's (J-KOM) has been deemed illogical by Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan).

Its Information chief, Wendy Subramaniam, has urged the government to immediately halt the irrational spending.

Wendy claims that the measure not only puts an unnecessary burden on the nation's resources but also is unfair to taxpayers who are now being affected by the rising costs of essentials.

She said J-KOM's objective is mainly to offer the public high-quality, equitable, balanced, and diversified community communication services.

"If we look into J-KOM under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's leadership, we discover that it has sort of evolved more into a propaganda machine rather than a government's communication representative.

"J-KOM mostly produces and broadcasts content that extols government leaders and policies.The opposition's suggestions and ideas are rejected and obstructed.” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This means that J-KOM is not playing its role or the work it should be doing.

Wendy said, when Pakatan Harapan (PH) was the opposition, the coalition described J-KOM as a 'waste of public funds'.

However after PH assumed power, it did not obstruct its formation and instead gave J-KOM additional funding under the substantial remuneration category.

"PH's blatantly hypocritical actions are evident," she said.

Wendy therefore demanded that the government immediately cease J-KOM's absurd emolument allocation and carry out an exhaustive audit as well as an honest and fair investigation.