KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang today said former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may have finally found his calling when he prided himself on becoming the “king of trolls” on social media.
Lim said Najib, when campaigning for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the Cameron Highlands by-election on Friday, claimed to have been crowned as the “king of trolls” as he fought the ruling government every day with facts, and not lies.
“Yes, Najib does not tell ordinary lies, but only gargantuan ones,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said in a statement.
He pointed out that in the internet age, a troll has been defined as “a person who starts quarrels or upsets people online to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous or off-topic messages in an online community with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses, normalising tangential discussion, whether for the troll’s amusement or a specific gain”.
“Media attention in recent years has equated trolling with online harassment,” said Lim, adding: “Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is ignoring, as responding would encourage the trolls to continue disruptive post and added, hence the often-seen warning: ‘Please do not feed the trolls’.”
“I do not know whether Malaysians should lament and rue that the former prime minister of Malaysia prides himself on becoming the ‘king of trolls’. May be Najib has finally found his best vocation.”
