Similar posts also appeared elsewhere on Facebook here, here And here.
But Sim was actually talking about a social contract between states, not the political system in Malaysia.
‘Global social contract’
Keyword search found the corresponding one article published by Astro Awani on June 13 has since been removed (archived link).
In response to a post on X criticizing the headline, an Astro Awani reporter said explained the article was removed as soon as the news channel received a call from the minister’s office about the error (archived link).
Astro Awani included Sim’s comments in another report on Malaysia’s participation in the International Labor Conference, published on 16 June (archived link).
On June 14, Sim uploaded the full recording of his speech at the International Labor Organization (ILO) event in Geneva two days earlier to his official X account (archived link).
“Please, friends, judge for yourself my entire speech to the ILO on the ‘social contract’ being distorted by irresponsible parties. Let us fight slander and slanderers together,” he wrote in the post.
Mohon kawan-kawan menilai Stuuriri ucapan penuh say that the ILO tentang “contrak sosial” can be used as one of the most important things out there.
Kita sama-sama melawan fitnah and pemfitnah.
Note: Theme ILO tahun ini ialah “Towards a renewed social contract”. pic.twitter.com/ypzMHJ678N
— Steven Sim (@scheekeong) June 14, 2024
He also uploaded excerpts of the speech to his Facebook And TikTok accounts (archived links here And here).
Nowhere in his speech does he mention the Malaysian social contract and it is clear that he is talking about global power structures.
The portion of his speech can be seen in a transcript shared by the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources on its official Facebook page here (archived link).
“The current growth model nationalizes profits in the hands of the few superpowers while imposing the burden of regulations, responsibilities, costs and even skewed morality on the rest of the world – this is the systematic disenfranchisement that the world must dismantle if we want to renew our social contract,” Sim said.
A full recording of Sim’s talk can also be viewed on the official conference website here (archived link).