Survey shows bigger Twitter firestorm over Muhyiddin’s Cabinet removal than WSJ report on Najib

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — More Twitter users are discussing Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s removal as deputy prime minister today, social media research firm Politweet has said.

Politweet also said the axing of Muhyiddin from Cabinet sparked more discussion when compared to the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) report on an alleged US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) money trail to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s purported bank accounts.

“Replacing Muhyiddin triggered higher response than WSJ allegations against Najib,” the firm said in a tweet today, just hours after Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad was picked to replace Muhyiddin.

Together with the tweet, the research firm posted a chart analysing the number of tweets per day that included the words “1MDB”, “Najib” and “Muhyiddin” for the period stretching from June 28 to July 28.

The chart showed the number of tweets per day containing the word “Najib” peaking at over 30,000 tweets and over 40,000 tweets for July 3 and July 7, while the highest figure for “1MDB” tweets during the one-month period was slightly over 10,000 on July 8.

For tweets with the word “Muhyiddin”, the chart showed a sudden spike today to over 50,000 from below 10,000, while tweets with the word “Najib” followed closely behind with 50,000 tweets.

When explaining the chart, Politweet research Ahmed Kamal Nava explained that the previous peaks for the “Najib” tweets were due to the WSJ’s July 2 report on the money trail and the WSJ’s July 7 release of redacted documents to back up its claims.

“I guess Muhyiddin supporters have done their part. The big jump is only from within two hours. By tomorrow, it should be much higher,” he said when speaking of the “Muhyiddin” tweet spike, pointing to reports in newspapers tomorrow as possibly spurring further discussion on his removal.

The researcher also told Malay Mail Online that the number of “Najib” tweets in the chart may not reflect the actual number of tweets referring to the prime minister as it was a more generic name, while most of the tweets on Muhyiddin should be referring to the Umno deputy president as it was a more unique name.

Muhyiddin had during the weekend urged Najib to satisfactorily explain the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, claiming that he and other ministers were unaware of the “real facts”.

This resulted in a rare public rebuke from the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday, which urged Muhyiddin and other members of the administration not to pre-judge the ongoing investigations on 1MDB.

Just hours after being dropped from Cabinet, Muhyiddin said this afternoon that he has his own principles in defending the rights of the public, Umno’s reputation and the country’s interest when speaking on the 1MDB issue.

“If my stand in this issue has caused me to be dropped from the Cabinet then (so) be it,” he said, amid rumours earlier that 1MDB critics would be removed from Najib’s administration in the Cabinet reshuffle.

But the Pagoh MP said he accepted Najib’s decision with an open heart and respected the prime minister’s prerogative authority to appoint and sack any Cabinet members.

Muhyiddin also lost his position today as Education Minister, with the portfolio split into two: Education and Higher Education, taken by Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid and Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh respectively.