The 12th Malaysian General Election was held under the power of its curent Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdulla Ahmad Badawi.
In March 8th this year, Malaysians witness the power of the online media in its general election that was likened to a political tsunami. For the first time ever since 1969, the ruling coalition party, Barisan National, lost its two-third majority win and 5 state assemblies to opposition parties. Political analyst observe that a huge factor that contributed to the opposition's victory is the online media.
Lee (2008) states that this time around, candidates from the opposition party such as Jeff Ooi, Hannah Yeoh and Loh Gwo Burne had cleverly and ferociously used their blogs as a means to gain support. The enthusiasm of these bloggers, fuelled by the people's increasing apetite for more open and unbiased news, steered the course of the March 8th elections.
Jeff Ooi, seasoned political blogger.
Malaysia, known to be a semi-democratic nation, has always been criticised for its restriction on freedom of speech and expression (Anuar, 2005). Under the oppression of tight regulations and media control, the opposition parties received little or no coverage during every election. Draconian legislations legislations such as the Internal Securities Act (1960), the Broadcasting Act(1998) and the Printing Presses and Publications Act (1984) are seen as the government’s initiative to tighten its grip over the media (Zaharom, 2002).
Yet, members of the parliament, civil society organizations, activists and the nation’s youth cleverly utilized the online media to their advantage. Youth organizations used mass emails, Facebook, blogs and networking groups to spread awareness about voting. Prior to the election, alternatives news sites offering unbiased information sprung up almost overnight (Koh, 2008). In fact, on the night election results were released, legions of voters relied heavily on these independent news sites because television broadcast was slow to release official results (Lee, 2008).
Political blogs are now seen to be useful tools in election campaigns because its democratic and open discourses often allow readers to relate to them. Schirato and Yell (2000) argues that when we read a text, be it written or spoken, we form a relationshp with that text and the agent who produced it. When we read about the injustice bloggers and democratic advocators face, we tend to sympathyze with them. This is because meaning making is not just a social action but a form of interaction (Schirato and Yell, 2000).
Reference List
Anuar, M.K. 2005, Politics and the media in Malaysia, Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies 2005, Vol.20, No.1, pp. 25-47.
Koh L.C. 2008, Was this election made on the Internet? New Straits Times, March 12, p. 25.
Lee, S.L. 2008, Cyberspace now the new frontline, News Strait Times,
March 12, p. 25.
Schirato, T & S. Yell. 2000, Communication and Cultural Literacy: An Introduction, Allen & Unwin, Australia, Chapter 3, pp. 43-65.
Zaharom, N. and Mutafa K.A. 1998, Ownership and control of the Malaysian
media. Media Development, vol.14, No.4, pp. 9-14.
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