It seems that there are so many hacking activities going on lately in the Malaysian websphere.

First, a hacker group known as “Anonymous Hacker” has threatened to hack  into the Malaysian government portal (www.malaysia.gov.my) early today.

And the outcome? No one can be sure if it is being hacked right now, but the portal seems to be down since early this morning.

Could this be a measure by the team behind the Malaysian government portal to prevent the hacking activity?

Meanwhile, blogging community Gengblogger.com has also been hacked this morning as well.

The homepage of Gengblogger.com claims that the hacker is not “anonymous”. By “anonymous” I suppose it refers to the “Anonymous Hacker” group who has threatened to hack into the Malaysian government portal.

The hacker tells Gengblogger not to “focus on popular bloggers only”, advising the blogging community to also promote a list of (less popular?) blogs here.

It seems that this isn’t the first time Gengblogger.com has been hacked. The hacked page asks, “I’ve been here before. Remember me?”

Well, impossible is indeed nothing.

The Malaysian Tourism Ministry came under fire today for having spent a staggering amount of close to RM1.8 million to create its official “Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia” Facebook page.

The RM1.8 million spent on this social branding project includes creating 6 Tourism Malaysia Facebook pages and application:

• Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia
• Citrawarna 1Malaysia
• Karnival Jualan Mega 1Malaysia and Karnival Jualan Akhir Tahun
• Festival Pelancongan Seni Kontemporari 1Malaysia
• Kempen 1Malaysia Bersih 1Malaysia
• Fabulous Food 1Malaysia

DAP’s Rasah MP Anthony Loke slammed the ministry’s decision to have spent so much money when Facebook fan pages can be created free of charge.

In response to the critics lashed at the Tourism Ministry, immediately in a media statement found in its Facebook page, it explains that the scope of the RM1.8 million social media project includes the following:

1. Technical
1.1 Dedicated hardware deployment
1.2 Software licensing
1.3 Front end applications
1.4 Application Server engine

2. Development of six (6) campaigns which requires:
2.1 Flash games engine
2.2 Flash programming & coding
2.3 Creative Development and Design
2.4 Campaigns Ideas and Concept
2.5 Front-end Flash Design
2.6 Testing and Debugging

3. Campaign Promotions
3.1 Digital advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook
3.2 Contest, Page Wall and Tourism Fanpage Content Management
3.3 Collection and management of Database

Currently, Tourism Ministry’s “Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia” Facebook page has generated a total of 28,516 fans as I’m typing this.

Shamefully, a Facebook protest page called “Curi-Curi Wang Malaysia” (stealing Malaysia’s money) has now overtaken Tourism Ministry’s official “Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia” Facebook page in terms of the number of fans.

“Curi-Curi Wang Malaysia” now has 29,364 fans.