SCL rep confirms reporting to Mukhriz

Neither Cambridge Analytica nor its parent company were employed by Govt, says PMO

PETALING JAYA: Cambridge Analytica’s advice on the 2013 general election was provided personally to Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, said the Federal Government.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the SCL Group’s country representative confirmed the matter.

“The SCL representative also confirmed that he reported directly to Mukhriz Mahathir, not Barisan or the Government.

“Neither Cambridge Analytica nor its parent company SCL Group have ever – now or in the past – been contracted, employed or paid in any way by Barisan Nasional, the Prime Minister’s Office or any part of the Government of Malaysia,” the statement read.

When contacted, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia deputy president Mukhriz said the statement was false.

He claimed the PMO’s statement was to divert attention away from a recent statement that Cambridge Analytica worked closely with Barisan for both the 2008 and 2013 general elections.

“The representative that they meant, I assume is this chap by the name of Azrin Zizal.

“He was employed by me personally when I was Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry as a media officer, not as a representative of any company.

“If Azrin or anyone else is trying to imply that they were the ones providing strategies and things like that for Barisan to win over Kedah from the PAS government back then, that will all be false actually,” he said.

When asked if he would take any action against the allegations made, Mukhriz, who was the head of the Kedah Barisan election machinery for GE13, said he would think about it.

Azrin was Mukhriz’s media officer from 2009 to 2013. Mukhriz did not extend his employment when he became Kedah Mentri Besar.

In a separate event, Pribumi president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin denied any knowledge of Cambridge Analytica allegedly influencing votes during GE13.

“I don’t know. I’ve no knowledge and this is the first time I’m hearing about the matter,” he told reporters in Parliament yesterday.

He was Deputy Prime Minister and Umno deputy president from 2009 to 2015 and also Barisan’s elections director during GE13.

On its website, Cambridge Analytica stated in its Malaysia case study that it supported Barisan in Kedah with a targeted messaging campaign highlighting their school improvements since 2008, which resulted in Barisan winning Kedah back from Pakatan Rakyat.

“With wins in 21 out of 36 state seats and 10 out of the 15 parliamentary seats in the state, BN enjoyed a landslide victory,” the case study read.

Pakatan Harapan and Pribumi chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was also present during the press conference, denied that Kedah had engaged Cambridge Analytica in political campaigns.

“Kedah never had outside interference in elections. There is no record of the Kedah government doing such things.

“The Federal Government dealt with them. Not Kedah,” he claimed.

Cambridge Analytica is a Londonbased political consulting firm which has been accused of extracting the personal data of up to 50 million Facebook users without consent to help Donald Trump in his US presidential campaign in 2016.