Photo: Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: There were no fresh allocations for the unity government’s publicity and promotional drive, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Nov 7) that his administration was only using up the remaining funds from the contract signed by his predecessor.
The Prime Minister added that between 2020 and 2022, some RM700mil were spent on advertising, promotions and publicity to highlight the government’s achievements.
“This means close to RM500mil was spent by Pagoh(Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) and the balance was spent by Bera (Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob). But Bera did not spend that much and there were funds remaining,” he said.
Anwar said this during the Prime Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Nov 7).
“I did not have any allocations for 2023 but was just continuing the contract from Bera’s time,” he said.
Anwar said he had instructed the Finance Ministry to allocate not more than RM100mil for 2024 for publicity and promotional activities.
“I do not think the government should be burdened with additional advertisements and publicity in addition to programmes where we go to the ground to meet the people and disseminate information through the mass media, especially social media,” he said.
He was responding to a question by P. Prabakaran (PH-Batu) on the total amount that the government had spent on promotions and publicity through all media platforms.
He said information must be disseminated to the people, primarily on government measures such as the Budget and the Madani economic framework among others.
In addition to government programs, ministers, deputy ministers and members of parliament are also encouraged to go down to the ground, he said.
“I do not think this is a problem as long as we have a clear programme and continue to meet the people,” he said.
“But to spend a lot (on publicity and promotion) I think it is not in line with the efficient management and governance that we have been talking about all along,” he said.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah (PN-Indera Mahkota) asked during a supplementary question if former prime minister Muhyiddin spent more due to the Covid-19 situation during his administration and then asked for a breakdown of the expenditure.
While Anwar did not provide the breakdown of the expenditure, he said some of these promotional activities directly involved the Prime Minister’s Office.
“This includes media buys, advertisements or paying certain media to promote the Prime Minister besides the government. Then there was publicity via billboards and others,” he said.
“A lot of these also promoted the prime minister along the government’s programmes during Covid-19,” added Anwar.
Meanwhile, Datuk Rosol Wahid(PN-Hulu Terengganu) questioned how much was spent by Anwar’s government on promotions of Malaysia Madani, adding that he had seen the premier’s photo on billboards.
Responding to this, Anwar said that former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri’s photo was replaced with his based on a contract for promotions signed in 2022.
“I did not sign a new contract,” he said.
“The billboard simply replaced Bera’s photo with Tambun (Anwar). There was no new allocation for 2023 but it was simply a continuation of the agreement signed during Bera’s administration, for which the allocation was not completely spent,” added Anwar.
