Digital democracy: Use it wisely to help develop country

KUALA LUMPUR: The concept of digital democracy or freedom of speech when using social media platforms exercised by the government should be used wisely by the people in this country.

Crime analyst Kamal Affandi Hashim said social media users should adopt one of the five principles of the Rukun Negara, namely Good Behaviour and Morality on daily basis and avoid abusing the platform.

Kamal Affandi, who is also Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation exco member, said that if the concept was applied, it would create a harmonious social media community that would benefit all.

“Currently there is a tendency by some who use the platforms without any restrictions and abuse it for criminal purposes.

“Apart from crimes such as fraudulent retail business and transactions, cases such as the spread of fake news as well as public security threats such as the modus operandi in recruiting extremists and terrorists online are also threats posed by the social media,” he said when he appeared as a guest on Nine11 programme produced by the Bernama News Channel yesterday.

Kamal Affandi said there were countries that continued to block their people from accessing the social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Hence, he said that freedom should be utilised by making the social site as the medium to help develop the country.