Ministry to have more frequent weather forecast announcements

KUALA LUMPUR: The Communications and Multimedia Ministry is to increase the frequency of announcements of weather forecasts to enable the people to be better prepared for the floods.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said today the announcements would be made via the ministry’s platform as well as the mainstream media and social media with the collaboration of the Meteorological Department.

“We may have to increase the frequency of the announcements because the weather is unpredictable. In the past, we knew when the floods will occur, but now they can happen at any time,” he said to reporters after launching a book, entitled ‘New Media Political Engagement and Participation in Malaysia’ at Parliament House.

Salleh also said that the ministry had been asked to identify and take the appropriate measures in the case of disruption of communications in the flood-hit areas in Penang and Kedah.

However, he said, the ministry did not receive any complaint on the disruption of communications.

On the book, written by Dr Saraswathy Chinnasamy, Salleh expressed pride that it had received international attention after being launched in the United Kingdom and United States on Oct 6.

Saraswathy, who is a Fellow of the Institute of Journalism Studies, Faculty of Communications and Media Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara ( UiTM), said the book, published by renowned publisher Routledge, related the direction of the mainstream media and social media in Malaysia.

“The book also looks at how the people receive information, whether the information is published without checking the validity or it had been spun,” she said.

She said the book, which sells for RM560.00, had good reviews abroad, especially from among academics, as there was a shortage of reference material on current issues and politics in Malaysia. — Bernama