Irresponsible and unethical and ‘just forward’

I received a few WhatsApp messages stating that Malaysia’s sovereign rating has been downgraded days ago. Later another friend informed me that she has also received a similar message. The whole message was about how Malaysia’s sovereign rating has been downgraded, thus the exchange rate is going from worse to worst and every other negative news. The fact that it’s continuously forwarded meant NO ONE bothered to verify the authenticity. From earlier report, I knew that the earliest Fitch would decide would be end of June. Thus, I checked online and found no such news, not within Malaysia or out of Malaysia. It’s FAKE.
Another friend then remarked that sooner or later this will happen anyway. I looked at him and told him, these are two very different matters. When it happens, I have no qualms about sharing my views but if it has yet to happen, I would not forward such news. Oh yeah, the final few sentences of the message says this, ‘Diversify your investments now.’ Haha. So, now do you know why was the message forwarded? Yes, it was to create some panic buying of some form of investment products. Just like how some unit trust agents tell you that you better take out all your EPF money and invest in unit trust because EPF’s returns are way too low and all the bad news about EPF having insufficient money etc. Sorry, all my money in EPF remain in EPF. I do have quite a lot in unit trust but all of it are from my extra savings. Please, be very objective.
Coming back to the issue, well, following are the latest statements from the three major international rating agencies.
Moody’s. Senior analyst Christian de Guzman confirmed that the rating agency’s stance on Malaysia remained the same with no downgrade.
Fitch Ratings. Fitch’s Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings head Andrew Colquhoun would make no further comment on the ratings. “We have said we expect to review the ratings again before the end of this month,”
Standard and Poor’s Rating Services in February had affirmed an A- rating with a stable outlook.
If there are changes, I would surely write about it. In the mean time, seriously there are LOTS of things that we can do as a Malaysian. It does not include forwarding fake news. It only shows the world how ‘awesomely’ clever are us, Malaysians. Happy forwarding any future unverified news if you disagree. 
written on 11 June 2015
Next suggested article: A little positives, at 28th May 2015