Muhyiddin Yassin Controls Permai’s Narration

Muhyiddin Yassin controls the Permai Stimulus Package’s narrative despite the backlashes from the Opposition, calling it as ‘branding exercise’ with lack of innovation.

As seen in the influencers list for the Permai topic on 18th and 19th January, Muhyiddin Yassin tops the list alongside Zafrul Aziz.

Although the government’s RM15 billion stimulus package introduced on 18th January was scrutinized by Subang MP Wong Chen, he did not appear in the influencers list.

Nonetheless, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and UMNO president Zahid Hamidi who have been criticizing the stimulus package appeared on the list after Zafrul Aziz.

On top of that, Muhyiddin Yassin’s news sentiments also showed that there were more positive news sentiments on the day the Permai Stimulas Package was introduced, despite criticisms raised by the Opposition.

However, the negative news sentiments experienced a spike on the 18th January after the negative sentiments died down from its peak on the 12th January following the news on the declaration of emergency.

Previously, Wong Chen further ridiculed the package as too much money for such a short period, as well as requesting the government to lay out the package plan immediately to ensure transparency.

On a side note, the Permai topic received slightly more news exposure as compared to the Prihatin and Penjana topic on the day they were announced.