Earlier yesterday, Malaysia’s Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar retweeted a tweet by Dr. Syed Azman, fellow Malaysia Member of State Assembly, which stated that an AirAsia plane had crashed.
The retweet sent a wave of panic over social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
Moments after the first tweet, the netizens in Malaysia started talking and questioning about the authenticity of the tweet. Those who were at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport reported that there were no such “crash” and that the Member of the Terengganu state assembly was simply trying to get some fame.
The tweet was met by a response by the AirAsia Twitter page that read, “@syedazman hi, we have checked and can confirm that this is not true. TQ”.
True enough, the alleged crash never happened at all.
Malaysia’s government officials seemed to have a knack for making headlines for the wrong reasons. One month before this, the country’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a comment referencing the price hike in Malaysia to the price of Kangkung, also known as water spinach. The comment made international news, and drew flaks from netizens around the world.
And now, Dr. Syed Azman tweeted an unfounded tweet on a crash, something that shouldn’t be taken lightly and joked about. Even when the rumour was denied by AirAsia, no apologies were given by the Member of State Assembly.
Also read: Is the Malaysia government trying to censor the kangkung story?