KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 ― Formed deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today denied having any knowledge of Barisan Nasional engaging big data firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) during the 2013 general election.
Muhyiddin, who was BN’s election director back then, said he had not heard of the firm prior to the recent claims that it had helped influence elections in Malaysia back in 2013.
“This is the first time I’m hearing of them. I have no knowledge,” Muhyiddin, who is now president of the Opposition party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), said after the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting today.
PPBM chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also denied that his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, who was Kedah mentri besar previously, had knowledge of any involvement with the firm.
He said that CA’s dealings were directly with Putrajaya and not with the state leadership.
In its website, CA claimed that it helped BN in the state of Kedah in the last general election.
“The federal government dealt in such matters. The Kedah government never had outside interference,” he said.
Dr Mahathir, however, criticised CA’s involvement in the elections, saying that their methods as reported were “not good”.
“They use tactics to influence people’s thoughts, including using women. That is not good,” he said.
The firm was in the spotlight this week after UK’s Channel 4 News reported, based on secretly recorded video, that the firm’s executives claimed to have secretly stage-managed Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaigns in the hotly contested 2013 and 2017 elections.
CA executives were also recorded claiming they could use bribes, former spies and Ukrainian sex workers to entrap politicians around the world.
It is also accused of using deception to access the data of over 50 million Facebook users.
The firm, which also worked on US President Donald Trump’s election campaign, denied the allegations.
CA claims a presence in five locations worldwide including Malaysia.
