SIBU, Jan 28 — Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Datuk Michael Tiang has set up a new Facebook page named ‘Pusat Khidmat N54 Pelawan’ after his page named ‘Michael Tiang’ was hacked.

Tiang, who is also Pelawan assemblyman, said he discovered that his Facebook page which has 26,000 followers was hacked on December 16 last year after he lost control of the account.

According to him, the hacker took over the account and started uploading weird videos and obscene postings which prompted his social media followers to ask why did he upload such postings.

"So after a few days working on the issue by contacting Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Authority (MCMC) as well as Meta headquarters in Singapore, they offered me assistance and I managed to regain control of the Facebook page.

"My team and I were delighted that we managed to resume control of the page and deleted all the posts uploaded by the hacker. We also geared up our security but somehow the hacker took control of the page again after a few days.

"They continued to hack my Facebook page account four times until I lost control of both the Facebook page and my personal Facebook account. I could not log in and now I am a stranger to my Facebook page and personal Facebook account,” he said during a press conference at Pelawan Service Centre here today.

Tiang, who was saddened by the act, suspected that the hacking of his account was politically motivated, as it prevented him from reaching out to his constituents.

"My constituents have been using the page to bring up issues to my attention so my team can respond and act swiftly to address the issues.

"It was a very effective platform for me to serve the people,” he said.

He also advised social media users not to accept invitations from the hacked account to follow a Facebook page named ‘Susmita Kumari’.

"This is serious and I need to alert the public on the matter because I am afraid the hacker will use my name to illicit illegal activities and to lure my social media followers to fall into their online scam.

"As we know online scams are very rampant. I am worried and very concerned for my followers. I really do not know the consequences behind this so it is better not to accept the invitation,”

Tiang also urged his social media page followers to report the hacked account to Facebook. — Borneo Post