By Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

Malaysians are up in arms about the RM85.5 million allocation to the rejuvenation of JASA as part of the government's 'communication arm' in the Ministry of Communication. Civil society contends that JASA is no more than a propaganda machine that was used by the BN to sow seeds of hatred and implement the divide and conquer rule. It has also been suggested that many of these played the role of unscrupulous cybertroopers that had the job of fighting the opposition with whatever means necessary crossing all bounds of morality and even legal grounds with impunity.

I, however, wish to take a different stand from my civil society friends and concerned Malaysians by arguing that the biggest failure of the PH government in ushering easy reforms was its failure of communication. I think I am standing on solid ground in saying so because I have read the storm of messages in Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube that Malays were passing around to create the idea that the country is overrun by the DAP and the non-Malays.

The PH gave the Ministry of Communication to DAP which controls Bernama and RTM and there was absolutely zero attempt at producing a decent strategy to explain difficult messages like the Rome Statute, ICERD and a host of many religious subjects like the JAWI issue. When I asked, the DAP gave a lot of excuses about civil servants dragging their feet. I said who are your think tank people and how do you overcome the cultural barrier with the Malay civil servants? They said nothing. I give an F to the Ministry under the DAP.

The PH also had Mujahid who controls many ustazs in JAKIM. I wrote and said that the Ministry should retrain these ustazs and create a compensation pathway if they would propagate the moderate Islamic ways and counter the extremist Zakir Naik rhetoric. But Mujahid held intellectual seminars after seminars. I said what the hell for when the issues of Islam were being battled in mosques and madrasas. There is where you should hit. I give a minus F to Mujahid and the Ministry. I even blamed Mat Sabu and Amanah for being the lamest political party that had no strong influence on the Malay Muslim masses.

Then we had Ministry of Education where all the university staff and the teachers totaling half a million strong at its beck and call. These teachers and academics could be used as the PH's 'propaganda' machine, not by lying or inciting, but by explaining and engaging. Of course it is nice to fix roofs and dilapidated schools and give free breakfast to children, but what do you do when the fire is already eating the curtains and table spread? This was the greatest missed opportunity of all.

So, with the lamest of ministries to explain and counter issues, what should you need? Who do you call? JASA-lah! The PH should have retained the 1,000 staff and reorient them towards becoming an effective machine to explain and counter attack the extremist WhatsApp and fake news that was flying around everywhere.

I know the civil servants in this country. I worked with them for 30 years. They are all in comfort zones of waiting for pension and promotion mode. You need an extra team of non-pensionable staff who would work night and day fulfilling KPIs to survive their contract appointment and bonus rewards. You just need them for 4 years at most and then a new team can be hired if need be.

If we, Malaysians, are graced with a government that was mandated by the people again, by God's grace, we definitely need these JASA team to work for us because the fake news and extremist WhatsApp will once again fill the air and micro waves.

The PN government says that the JASA team will be properly used not as a propaganda machine telling lies after lies. Anyway, these people are simply salary workers who simply do what they are told. It was the top management of JASA that masterminded the lies but the workers merely implement the orders. Just like Utusan Malaysia who had immoral leaders listening to immoral politicians to create tensions between societies and people in Malaysia. Who suffered at the end? Over a thousand salary workers were laid off. The immoral leaders simply rode their Mercedes to another project of immorality. PH should not be too quick to judge for it had failed miserably in the 'propaganda' of goodness and decency.

According to the ministry where JASA will be parked, the entity is there to help engage and explain as well as strategized many issues to bring us together as a nation and build bridges between societies, issues and other concerns. I don't think our civil servants are up to the task and firing them is out of the question. If the JASA team fails at their stipulated work, we can fire them anytime because they are not the civil servants.

My hope, therefore, is to allow JASA to survive its existence. Even if the Budget does not survive and the PN falls, I think these fellows are critical for the next government so as to avoid the mistake of the PH government in the art of 'good-propaganda' warfare.

(Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor at a local university.)