News Insurgencies Around the World

Malaysia
How an opposition insurgency fueled by the internet and non traditional news outlets, bypassing state run medias and changing Malaysian politics forever.




The Internet and Malaysian Politics

The internet is profoundly revolutionizing politics and the way elections are held, and there are few countries where this is more evident than in Malaysia.
Malaysia is a multiracial country of 24 million in South East Asia consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and other indigenous peoples. Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy modeled on the Westminster parliamentary system, a legacy of British colonial rule and since its independence in 1957 it has been governed by the same party, the ruling Barisan National (BN). Although a democratic country, opposition groups have been largely marginalized by a state run media. But the government was caught by surprise when it suffered its biggest ever election defeat on March 8, losing its two third majority to the opposition party PKR, led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim and powered by an internet driven movement.

Blogs are unusually powerful in Malaysian politics. According to a USINFO state report by Stephen Kaufman released today, “Weblogs (blogs), text messages and copies of
Internet-streamed videos became the most influential information
sources for voters ahead of Malaysia’s March 8 parliamentary elections.” On March 25, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the BN’s strategy of ignoring blogs and online media was responsible for his party’s losses in this election. He states the BN “certainly lost the Internet war” and that is was “a serious misjudgment” to rely only on government controlled newspapers and television to communicate their campaign message. Dr. Abu Hassan Hasbullah, a University of Malay Media Studies Lecturer, reports 70% of voters were influenced by blogs, claiming that the main stream media does not report on pertinent government corruption or on religious and racial tensions. Hasbullah claims that the BN had two websites and one blog in 2004, while the opposition had thousands of blogs. Voice of America reports readership of the country’s independent blogs surpasses that of print media.

War on the Internet

Since the March 8 election defeat, there have been a few instances of the ruling government taking unprecedented steps to censoring the internet and clamping down on bloggers. In August, access to a popular political news website Malaysia Today was blocked. The government defended the move, saying it had ignored warnings against publishing "slanderous" articles. Two weeks later, the websites owner, a prominent anti-government internet campaigner was arrested amid a crackdown on dissent. Raja Petra Kamarudin was held under the majority Muslim country's controversial Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.
The latest moves by the government have put bloggers on edge. But many Malaysians are outraged, and with the internet they have found unique and creative ways for changing the country, and it may result in change that even the government could be powerless to stop.