Waste of time to appeal over blocked post, says Rafidah

Rafidah Aziz defended her post on the alleged ‘unfair’ discharge of government pensioners from IJN.

PETALING JAYA: Former minister Rafidah Aziz says she has no intention to appeal to Facebook over a recent post which had been blocked from being viewed in Malaysia.

She was referring to a suggestion on X by communications minister Fahmi Fadzil’s special functions officer, Farhan Zulkefly, that she submit an appeal to Facebook, Malaysiakini reported.

“There’s no need for me to appeal (to Facebook), it’s a waste of time,” the former international trade and industry minister was quoted as saying.

Rafidah’s post criticising the discharge of retirees and civil servants from the National Heart Institute (IJN) by the health ministry was widely shared when it first came out a few days ago.

On Friday, she took to Facebook to complain that her post had been blocked.

She said her post remained accessible to the rest of the world, but was unavailable to anyone accessing the internet in Malaysia.

“I feel so disappointed at this disgusting turn of events. Now, we can’t even air ‘our valid views’ that affect our rakyat (and), in this case, the retirees,” she said.

“We speak for the sake of our society and beloved nation, Malaysia, with no political agenda.”

She also demanded that Fahmi clarify the law she is alleged to have violated, which led to her post being blocked.

The communications minister has since clarified that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission did not make any request for the social media platform to block the post.

Rafidah defended her post on the alleged “unfair” discharge of government pensioners from IJN, even if they still needed specialised care that only the hospital could provide.

“It is not fake news. There are facts and figures on those removed from the IJN heart patients’ list. That cannot be denied,” she said.

Meanwhile, Rafidah’s original post five days ago and subsequent posts remain visible on her Facebook page.