Utusan dangerous and silly, says PSM

Arutchelvan denounces the paper as a national security threat and describes its reporting as “bullshit”.

TAIPING:  Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), currently a favourite target of Utusan Malaysia’s stridently pro-Umno reporting, has hit back with a denunciation of the daily as both dangerous and silly.

“It is the real threat to national security and its reporting is bullshit,” said PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan.

Referring to an article that appeared in Utusan yesterday, he said the paper made the “illogical and comical” inference that a communist and an agent for the American right wing would work together to topple the Malaysian government.

The Utusan report, which carried the headline “National security threatened”, mentioned the arrest of Filipino Romeo Castillo, 56, and South Korean Min Young Song, 24, and quoted an unnamed source as saying that the two were out to “create chaos in the country.

The two were arrested in Ledang, Johor, together with PSM members who were distributing leaflets as part of a national campaign that the party says is aimed at creating voter awareness.

They were at the event only as observers, Arutchelvan said.

Castillo is deputy secretary of the Party of the Labour Masses and PSM had invited him to participate in its national congress early this month and for a month-long working visit. Song is an intern with the May 18 Foundation, a South Korean human rights organisation. She is in Malaysia for a stint with the National Institute for Democracy and Electoral Integrity.

Arutchelvan lodged a police report against Utusan in Kepala Batas yesterday, alleging that the paper had threatened national security through false claims.