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KUALA LUMPUR – Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil has panned Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin for mentioning Italian site Agenzia Nova in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, saying the opposition leader should not “scam” the public by citing non-credible sources.
“What website is Agenzia Nova (which is based in Italy) that Hamzah Zainudin cited? Is it credible?
“Guess what? Agenzia Nova is not even on this list!”
Fahmi was referring to a most-read list of Italian news sites collated by Reuters Institute for The Study of Journalism.
“La… I thought that Hamzah cited a website that is similar to Bernama, BBC, or the New York Times. It turned out to be a dubious website. Even the name of the reporter who wrote the article is not listed,” he said in a Facebook post late last night.
“Don’t try to scam (us), Hamzah!”
Yesterday, Hamzah cited Agenzia Nova’s article that labelled Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Malaysia’s “first full-blown homosexual” prime minister.
A check by The Vibes revealed that a dozen mobile broadband and internet users were unable to access the italian site’s articles.
During a debate in Dewan Rakyat, Hamzah (Larut-PN) had sarcastically urged Anwar to take stern action against international media companies who spread “disrespectful” news about the latter’s sexual orientation.
Another check by The Vibes also found that the article, titled “First full-blown Homosexual Elected Prime Minister in an Islamic (Nation)” published on November 24 after Anwar assumed office, could be viewed with the use of a virtual private network, an online service that helps protect user privacy and circumvent website blockades.
However, it was not immediately clear whether access to the site was deliberately blocked off to Malaysians and users from other countries.
Anwar was imprisoned over sodomy charges in 1998 and again in 2015. He was subsequently granted a royal pardon and released from prison in 2018. – The Vibes, December 20, 2022