Many unfounded rumours are making their rounds on cyberspace. And, despite popular belief, the information on Wikipedia may not necessarily be true either.

BRO, can you check this? I read on Facebook that a PKR campaign bus was attacked or something like that. It seems somebody burnt the bus,” said a PAS Supporters Club member via Whatsapp on Sunday.

“As far as I know I’ve not heard about a PKR campaign bus being torched this week. Are you sure that it happened?” I replied.

“Yes, as it is reported on Face­book,” the 40-something businessman from Shah Alam replied.

I made a few phone calls and I found that the Facebook posting was a hoax.

Yesterday, my friend called again, asking whether it had really happened. So I called PKR communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

“Not that I know of,” said the incumbent Seri Setia assemblyman.

“Why is there such a posting?” I asked him.

“People post all sorts of things on social media,” he said.

“Why do the public believe rumours on social media?” I asked.

The mainsteam media appears to be too one-sided, Nik Nazmi said.

“That is why people tend to believe what is posted on social media,” he said.

Since Nomination Day, I’ve been receiving Whatsapp messages and SMS from family and friends asking me to confirm outrageous postings on Facebook.

On Monday, I received an SMS sta­ting: “Apparently Putrajaya is­­sued an order that with effect from Monday, all staff (members) are not allowed OT (overtime) and only au­­thorised staff are allowed into the Prime Minister’s Depart­ment!!!”

“They saw the revolt at the Pu­­trajaya ceramah!! Prime Minister’s office clearing documents before hand­over. Sign of BN (Barisan Nasional) preparing for defeat.”

“No truth in it,” I replied.

At 11.45pm that day, Star Online ran a story about the office of the Chief Security Officer to the Government issuing a statement advising government officers not to believe the SMS.

Chief Secretary to the Govern­ment Datuk Seri Dr Ali Hamsa urged government officers and members of the public not to believe the rumour or other unfounded allegations spread by irresponsible parties via SMS, Facebook, Twitter, blogs or other social media.

Don’t even believe tweets from the official Twitter account of Malaysiakini. Its account was hacked by a group calling itself Sarkas Siber.

Yesterday around 3.25pm, @MalaysiaKini tweeted: “Phew! We’ve recovered our Twitter account. It was hijacked a few days ago. We’ll try to get our RSS feeds working again. Stay tuned!”

I’m not sure whether it is Sarkas Siber who was tweeting or Malaysiakini. But from the tweets, it looks like the online portal has retaken control of its Twitter account.

Not a stranger to having his cyber identity hijacked is Twitter sensation @TanKengLiang (Kedah Gera­kan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang). Someone opened a Twitter account with a @1TanKengLiang handle.

“There were people who thought that I was crazy enough to change my Twitter handle to put a 1 in front of my name,” said Keng Liang, a huge fan of the 1Malaysia concept.

“Why do people believe that you own that fake account?” I asked him.

“People like to hear what they want to hear. But they should not simply believe what they read in social media,” he said.

If you thought that some of the social media postings were outrageous, Wikipedia – which most people think is an authoritative online encyclopaedia – is filled with inaccurate information which many take as the gospel truth.

Check out this SMS: “Wikipedia reported Dr M is the second richest among retired leaders in the world, after Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. His wealth is estimated to be US$44bil (RM160bil). Should we allow him to plunder our country’s wealth? If Pakatan (Rakyat) is voted in on May 5, this wealth can be frozen and returned to the rakyat. As long as BN is in power, no one can touch him. Forward to at least 10 people.”

Believing “according to Wikipe­dia” is dangerous as the entries are “written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay”.

“Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipe­dia articles,” according to wikipedia.com, “except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or, if they choose to, with their real identity.”

The fake fact on Dr Mahathir has been removed by Wikipedia.

Want more proof that some facts in Wikipedia is more fiction?

Check out the Wikipedia entry on former Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng.

It states: “Tan Tee Beng has a sister (Jocelyn Tan) who writes for The Star.”

“That is not true,” said Joceline Tan, my colleague. “We happen to have the same surname.”

I told a colleague that according to Wikipedia, Tee Beng was Joce­line’s brother and he replied cynically: “Must be true as it is on Wikipedia.”

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