Lip Eng calls for Wan Saiful's apology for spreading misinformation on ringgit exchange rate
Published on: Saturday, March 16, 2024
By: Malay Mail
Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng (pic) said Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan must immediately retract his statement and issue a formal public apology. (Malay Mail pic)
Kuala Lumpur: DAP MP Lim Lip Eng has today slammed Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan over his social media post alleging that the ringgit has dropped to almost RM5 against the US dollar.
The Kepong MP said the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia lawmaker must immediately retract his statement and issue a formal public apology.
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“The seriousness of his action cannot be overstated,” he said in a brief statement in response to Wan Saiful’s Facebook post.
“It has become evident to the public that both he and his political party have engaged in deceitful tactics with the malicious intent of undermining the nation's economy,” he added.
He said Wan Saiful must be held accountable for his actions.
“The gravity of the matter necessitates swift and decisive consequences to uphold the integrity of our democratic principles and restore trust among the populace,” he said.
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Yesterday, Wan Saiful posted an image from Google data showing that the ringgit had dropped to RM4.98 to the US dollar with the caption “A sign of the ringgit strengthening. What?” and the hashtag #salam5ringgit.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has since issued a statement today dismissing the inaccurate ringgit exchange rate data, accusing Google of publishing an erroneous US$/MYR exchange rate on March 15.
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BNM said the US$/MYR was quoted at 4.7015 at 9am and 4.7045 at 5pm, adding that the ringgit has strengthened 0.76 per cent against the US dollar in the past two weeks (between March 1 and 15).
It also pointed out that this is the second incident in which Google published inaccurate US$/MYR exchange rate data in 2024, the first time in February.
BNM said it will be engaging Google for an explanation of how the inaccurate reporting occurred.
Despite BNM's explanation, Wan Saiful has yet to take down his previous post or apologise, instead simply praising the central bank for its speedy statement.
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