KOTA KINABALU, Thursday, 28 Aug 2025:
PRN17 is a Sabah State election that should have nothing to do with Malaya because it is an election that is solely about the mandate of Sabah people in electing our own Sabah government. Yet, Sabah is being targeted by organised content campaigns created in Malaya.
This kind of deceptive campaign has been active ever since before the 2013 state election, when online social media began to bloom, initially using manually created fake accounts. In 2018, we detected that 80% of social media attacks against SAPP originated from Johore.
The new danger is that social media has now escalated into sophisticated operations using AI-driven tools alongside coordinated accounts to unduly influence people, including Sabahans.
Swarms of bogus online media targeting Sabah
Our local media teams have detected swarms of bogus social media profiles that are active online, including a few claiming to be from Dubai, yet regularly commenting on Sabah issues and targeting Sabah parties. Another account claims to be from Tawao, Sabah (a deliberate misspelling of Tawau), even some profiles with Malay names have been observed commenting in perfect Chinese language, just to name a few, on top of many from click-farms.
Case against roketkini.com and DAP as reference
As a reference, a legal case against roketkini.com, a DAP-sponsored website, demonstrates the threat of Malaya-origin disinformation content targeting Sabahans. On 10 July 2025, together with historian Stephan Gaimin and activist Asraf Amir, I filed a legal action against the portal, a propaganda mouthpiece of DAP. Roketkini.com was launched by DAP stalwart Lim Guan Eng and several leaders on 24 May 2011. The website is full of DAP propaganda.
DAP in their defence now even has the cheek to claim that their Roketkini.com website has no legal identity and therefore cannot be sued.
Our legal action targeted a 24 February 2013 article that falsely linked an unrelated photo of a full-fledged, well-trained armed force of the MNLF to the 2013 Tanduo, Lahad Datu incursion.
In fact, the image was from a separate, unrelated conflict in the southern Philippines. This image in roketkini.com caused unnecessary fear during a real national crisis. Unfortunately, the same image from roketkini.com was later cited in a recent book published by Penerbit Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) titled Kedaulatan Negara Harga Mati: Pencerobohan Sulu dan Dampaknya Kepada Keselamatan Pantai Timur Sabah.
This shows that even respected institutions and authors can fall victim to content created outside Sabah by either unreliable or irresponsible parties. This is perhaps because DAP is now the biggest ruling partner in the Federal government and, hence, its materials are deemed to be reliable and official.
“Hari Ini Tindak, Esok Turun”
Less than 24 hours after the filing of our legal case against roketkini.com and DAP, the people behind roketkini.com removed the article, leaving only a standard HTTP Error 404 (Not Found).
This round 1 victory for Sabahans is dubbed “Hari ini bertindak, besok turun.”
In their defences, the two defendants (DAP and roketkini.com) show no remorse and no shame of making a serious mistake, as though making such a mistake has no consequences.
If not because of our legal action, the defendants would have continued to publish that misleading photo with impunity, with no fear of action and no fear of retribution.
As plaintiffs, we would have expected an offer of apology and an undertaking not to publish the same or similar mistakes. But we are left with the feeling that the DAP and roketkini.com feel that they can get away with their mistakes.
SAPP urges Sabahans to remain alert to Malaya-origin content targeting PRN17.
Datuk Yong Teck Lee
President, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)