SHAH ALAM, Dec 8 — A Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) central leadership member urged his party to give the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government the benefit of the doubt and not to trust negative news about it without hesitation.

Datuk Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli made the call in his winding-up speech today, after a delegate criticised the Entrepreneur Development Ministry’s so-called "flying car” project as among the most useless programmes for the people.

Dr Mohd Hatta is the deputy minister of entrepreneur development and said the project was a victim of miscommunication.

"We sometimes are fooled by this social media. Of course, they (enemies) want to topple our government, and we too play along, spread (the information), as some say, help viral it. It will destroy us, ladies and gentlemen.

"Ask first, whether you want to know if it’s true or not. But by default, all this news, bad news, negative news about PH, is fake, is wrong. Slander. Reject it first, do not accept.

"If we accept it, sorry, we are just killing ourselves,” Dr Mohd Hatta said.

In his speech, he also spoke about the potential of the drone manufacturing sector, adding that Malaysia is a frontrunner in the industry.

He said the market was worth an estimated RM127 billion and should not be ignored simply because of negativity on social media.

Yesterday, Pahang delegate Mohd Fadzli Mohd Ramly said it was embarrassing for Amanah’s grassroots leaders to have to defend the "most useless” project.

The project is for an aerial mobility drone but remains saddled with the comical "flying car” image due to Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof’s choice of words when announcing the project to the country.

Redzuan later claimed he did this intentionally to increase attention for the project despite regularly being tight-lipped about it.

The project is also under additional criticism after what was billed as a "Malaysian flying car” is increasingly appearing to be an adaptation of a Chinese-made drone.