Criticisms wake up call for Umno, says Annuar Musa

Criticisms about Umno is a good wake up call for the party especially for those in power, party Information Chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa said today. He said criticisms from the public especially the young people is normal especially in an open society now. "The danger is when everything falls onto deaf ears, the impact will be very dangerous. (But) I think it's okay, we are living in a very open society, let people criticise us, it does not matter, in fact that is what we needed. "When people criticise us, maybe it can wake us up and we can make improvements, because the objective is to be a good government. If you don't listen, you cannot be a good government. So you must listen," he told reporters after a meeting with Johor Umno Liaison Committee today. This is his first visit to Johor after his appointment as Umno Information Chief on January 29. He said the days were gone when knowledge or information was once the prerogative of the government. "Now, (information from) bottom up, top bottom are also important. So, be a government that is sensitive towards the feelings of the rakyat. "You know something may look small to us, the big people up here, but those small things are actually very big thing for the rakyat, so we must be very open, feed the ground (with information) correctly and do things that we are supposed to do," Annuar said. He said this when commenting on whether Umno Information machinery needs to take a different approach in dealing with the public especially in the era of social media that gives more platform for more public criticisms especially among youngsters. "We have to be pragmatic, we have to be realistic. We are now operating in a different kind of environment. We have so many young people out there who have access to information. "Then, we must not do things in anyway that will insult their intelligence because they have access to information. So be truthful, be open with them, let them criticise, let them say something, it's okay." "To a certain extent, we must be very tolerant to listen especially to young people," he added. – Bernama, February 24, 2016.]]>