A CNET Blogger to get elected into Malaysia Parliament, and not because of dead voters too!
In case you’ve not heard, a tsunami seems to be overtaking Malaysia, in the state of Penang where our counterpart from Malaysia Jeff Ooi has apparently been elected into the Malaysia Parliament!
A desperate search for information through the internet brought me only to Wikipediafor the most updated results of the elections updated on an almost live basis.
What happened to mainstream media? Are they on an embargo as the National Front tries to rig withold the results?
Which brings me to the question : how much did new media play a part in the results of this Malaysian elections?
Can other governments take away some critical lessons from it?
Let’s take a look :
Snapshot from Wikipedia 9th March 2008 3pm:
Part of the opposition campaign will take place in cyberspace
and new media, utilising new technologies such as blogs, SMS' andYouTube.
Currently major newspapers and television stations, which are partly owned by parties in the government coalition, barely mention the opposition.[18] On March 2, PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang challenged Abdullah Badawi to hold a televised debate similar to those held by U.S. presidential candidates. But government leaders stated there was no place for such debates in Malaysia, claiming the focus should be on debating with locals concerning local issues affecting them.[19]
In terms of raising funds, the Opposition has appealed to the public through websites and blogs for supporters to contribute funds through credit cards and bank transfers to help them print campaign posters and hold public forums. The Opposition has pointed out that they cannot match the ruling coalition's massive spending power.[19]
It is public knowledge that mainstream media is tightly controlled by the Malaysian government. So the opposition had to rely heavily on new media and even recruit popular blogger Jeff Ooi to join their cause. Jeff used his blog to raise funds and now a landslide victory over the incumbents in Penang is looming with even a remote possibility of Jeff becoming the next governor of one of Malaysia’s most powerful states, regional base to tech giants like Intel, Dell, and Motorola
Another example on Wikipedia, something which you’ll hardly read on mainstream Malaysian media :
Allegations of fraud
The General Elections have fueled complaints that a subservientElection Commission, gerrymandering, vote fraud, a compliant media, misuse of government resources and massive vote buying gives the National Front or Barisan Nasional an unfair advantage.[21] It has been highlighted to the Election Commission of Malaysia that its electoral role has been suspect, because of the discovery that it contains nearly 9,000 people aged more than 100. This raises the suspicions that the books are contaminated with dead voters which leaves the election vulnerable to fraud.[22]
Further discoveries of people who have been born in the same year with having different identity cards (IC) and living in many different localities, where done by Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel) who have been registered to vote in various places throughout the country. These issues brought up would lead to whether the elections were fair or not.[23]
Although I know Wikipedia is not exactly a reliable knowledge base that can be cited in academic research, still in this case it is the only source that I’ve found enough information on what I want to know about the Malaysian elections as an outsider. Not much information could be found on mainstream media sites. An award-winning Malaysian alternative news site Malaysiakini that seems to have the latest scoop cannot be accessed. Internet censorship? Overloading of bandwidth? From one of theblogs I found :
(8 Mar 2008, 11.15pm) It's a bit of disappointment .... no, make that a BIG disappointment .... not being able to get the news fast from the mainstream media. In fact, news continue to trickle in at snail's pace from that source so much so that I have to resort to looking at Malaysiakini which has done a great job with their reports from the ground. However, Malaysiakini's server seems to have crashed and it is now inaccessible. I hope they can go online again fast because we are starved of the latest developments. Really starved. BTW, before it crashed, I did read that Dr Koh has conceded defeat and has formally informed the Penang Governor. He has also promised a smooth transition of power. The DAP is delighted with this win and I congratulate them. I especially congratulate Jeff Ooi. It's tremendous that a blogger has managed to get himself into Parliament. But I wonder who'll be Penang's next Chief Minister?
Exposing fraud through blogs and Wikipedia, fund raising online through blogs, Youtube, SMS, to counter a mainstream media tightly-controlled by the incumbents, using new media seemed to have been the only way against an opponent with a huge warchest and control of the mainstream media.
And did the opposition use it effectively to demolish the 2/3 majority of the incumbents indeed, far surpassing most expectations.
While the results are still streaming in and may be subjected to
some things are for sure:
Malaysia will never be the same again.
Campaigning will never be the same again.
Reaching the masses will never be the same again.
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