It was recently reported that Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had hired a team of cybertroopers for RM100,000 per month. This was revealed by Datuk Rizal Mansor, who identified himself to the High Court as Rosmah’s “special officer”.
During Rosmah’s graft trial involving a solar hybrid project, Rizal testified that he was hired under the “First Lady of Malaysia” (FLOM) office under the Prime Minister’s department from 2009 to mid-2018. He said he was ordered to form a team of cybertroopers for RM100,000 a month in 2012 with the objective of protecting Rosmah’s image and reputation online.
The team is said to be tasked with monitoring critical content on social and to counter and provide an explanation to every slander, assertion and accusation towards Rosmah. He shared that Rosmah was bombarded with negative perceptions which include being the “real boss” to the former Prime Minister and leading an extravagant lifestyle.
He said “The cybertroopers were operating on funds provided by Datin Seri Rosmah herself. She gave me RM100,000 cash every month to finance the team.”
Apart from managing criticism online, Rizal stated that his responsibilities included arranging media coverage for her events to boost per popularity and image as the wife of the Prime Minister. He said during his tenure, he carried different designations including special officer, special functions officer, assistant special functions officer and his last title was principal assistant director. He also shared that his salary during his tenure was paid for by the government.
It was reported that Rosmah had applied to bar the media from covering Rizal’s testimony but it was rejected by High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan. Her lawyers argued that parts of Rizal’s testimony was nothing but hearsay and pure character assassination.
[ SOURCE 2, IMAGE SOURCE ]
