KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The National Civics Bureau (BTN) has pulled down a folder on its website which contained several presentation slides that were ridiculed by Malaysians online today.
As of this evening, the folder “PerkongsianDokumen” and its subfolder “Penerbitan” – which contained the slides – are no longer available online.
The whole of the website’s back-end however can still be accessed by the public and has not been secured.
Earlier today, Malay Mail Online reported that independent book publishers have been tarred by the BTN as masterminds of an “anti-establishment” movement to influence youths voting in the 14th general election, in another set of presentation slides.
Another set of slides claimed that racism can unite a race for a “good purpose”, but has instead received a “negative connotation” as the idea is being used by certain parties to achieve their political goals and topple the government.
Despite denials by the government and the agency, sporadic leaks of closed-door events conducted by the BTN or featuring its staff have continued to entrench suspicions that the bureau was a hotbed of racism and “brainwashing”.
A senior BTN official caused an uproar back in 2010 when word leaked that he had used the terms “si mata sepet” and “si botol” at a closed-door Puteri Umno gathering to describe the Chinese and Indians respectively.
The terms are considered derogatory with “si mata sepet” meaning slit-eyed and “si botol”, alcoholic, in Malay.
