Malaysia Elections 2008: Old Media versus New Media

Never has the battle lines being more distinct than this current elections campaign in Malaysia.

Unlike the U.S. presidential elections this year where all candidates have equal access to old media and new media alike, Malaysian politicians are easily recognizable by the media they use.

The ruling party controls old media – newspapers, television stations and radio stations. During an election campaign, journalists’ fairness is conveniently set aside to follow the dictates of the ruling incumbents. Challengers are given scant and mostly negative coverage. If you are a first-time visitor to this country, you probably assume Malaysia is an authoritarian regime.

With hardly any access to the traditional media, the challengers, the People’s Front (Barisan Rakyat), turned to internet and cyberspace. E-mails, YouTube, forums, SMS, blogs are the media of necessity. One of the components of the People’s Front, PAS (Islamic Party), has an internet television channel.

With an internet penetration of just under 20%, these challengers relish on the challenge. Videos, slide-shows, articles, news are downloaded, burned onto VCD’s and DVD’s and subsequently distributed in the old-fashioned way.

Jeff Ooi, a member of the opposition Democratic Action Party, aspires to be the first blogger to be elected to the Malaysian Parliament.

Another newcomer, Gwo-Burne Loh from the People’s Justice Party, set up his blog site days before campaigning began. Within days, his traffic shot to the thousands when his volunteers filled his site with articles, news, rebuttals, video clips and slide-shows.

Loh is the man responsible for recording the infamous VK Lingam video. Because of his video clip, a Royal Commission of Inquiry was set up to look into allegations of corruption within Malaysia’s judiciary.

“I try to provide materials for Malaysian voters to make an informed choice. These information will never see the light of day in the incumbents-controlled media” said one of Loh’s volunteer.

“Authorities routinely reject our applications to hold political rallies in public places. Incumbents have no such problem – they used public facilities as if these are part of their own backyard” complained another of Loh’s volunteer.The incumbents, flushed with resources, also embraced cyberspace. Though not lacking in technology and money, they were heavily outnumbered and outmaneuvered by the hordes of young volunteers with their fresh ideas and enthusiasm, spurred on by the ideals of bringing change to a divided Malaysia.

The elections results should be out in the early hours of March 9. Incumbents may rue their sluggishness and their failure to heed the warnings from this article of three years ago.

LINKS

PAS - http://www.parti-pas.org
JeffOoi – http://www.jeffooi.com
Gwo-Burne Loh – http://lohgwoburne.blogspot.com
This article of three years ago - http://www.seecrets.biz/main/content/view/26/2/

Will Anwar Ibrahim be the next Prime Minister of Malaysia

The motion picture "Hero" where Jet Li played the lead role as an assassin who tried to kill Qin Shi Huang just years before the eventual unification of China. This assassin had a change of heart at the last moment, subjugating his personal needs of revenge to the noble goal of unification and eventual peace. Is Anwar Ibrahim a modern version of Qin Shi Huang in a divided country like Malaysia?

Last night I attended a political rally in Subang Jaya, a modern town in the heart of Selangor, Malaysia. The event started at 9p.m. but, it was more than two and a half hours later that Anwar appeared due to two other speaking engagements in that evening alone.

Upon his arrival, I saw several people quickly reaching for their cell phones and within minutes the crowd tripled in size. What amazed me was the composition of the audience – there were roughly one-third Indian Malaysians, one third Chinese Malaysians and the remaining third, Malays. It was Malaysia in microcosm, people of all ages and backgrounds.

Uniquely Malaysian, Anwar could speak the native Malaysian language, English and a smattering of Chinese and Tamil. So far as I know, there is no politician in the world that can glide effortlessly from one language to another with such fluency, elegance and relevance. Perhaps, the current Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who could speak English and Chinese would come closest.

The audience gamely responded with cries of "korek-korek-korek" – a local term that sounds like "correct", alluding to the widespread looting of Malaysia’s wealth by the ruling elite.

Here he was, in the style of Frank Sinatra, effortlessly speaking instead of crooning. The crowd was mesmerized by his charm, wit, humility, intellect and vision. There are many who claimed that Malaysia does not have the equivalent of Senators Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I say we have a better version, the audience would certainly not disagree with me.

This is a man tempered from the days of a student activist in the 1970’s. His rise to be number two in Malaysian government was phenomenal. So was his fall to the depths in 1998 where he was imprisoned on trumped-up charges for six years. His recent teaching experience at the prestigious Georgetown University honed his oratorical skills. Here is a person who experienced a wide spectrum of ordeals and accomplishments

No wonder the incumbents are running scared – they called for an early election in their attempts to neutralize the Anwar factor. He is prevented by law to contest in this current elections because of his six years imprisonment on fabricated charges. The moratorium will expire next month.

On March 8 next week, Malaysian voters may just cast their votes to the Anwar-led People’s Front (Barisan Rakyat) judging from the response from last night’s performance.

Perhaps, Malaysians have to endure fifty years for the emergence of a Qin Shi Huang-equivalent to unite a divided nation torn apart by the avarice of the feudalistic elite. By the early hours of March 9, 2008, Malaysians will know if they are fortunate enough, or wise enough, courageous perhaps, to elect a true son of Malaysia.

V.K. Lingam and Malaysia’s Judiciary Scandal: The Video, The Man, The Candidate for Political Office

What is it like to be a "whistle-blower" behind the recent Royal Commission of Inquiry into a Malaysian judiciary scandal that appeared incredulous to the rest of the world? The allegations of a senior lawyer, V.K. Lingam, having a telephone conversation with the Chief Justice to broker judicial appointments were recorded on video.

To those that are familiar with the conditions in Malaysia, it was a bone-chilling experience. To Gwo-Burne Loh and his family, the experience must have been harrowing, to say the least.

I have just met this young man as he was busy setting up his operations center to run for a seat in Malaysia’s parliament, similar to Britain. The voting date is less than two weeks away on March 8, 2008.

Here was this law graduate from Britain’s Hull University and China University of Political Science bowing deferentially in typical Asian fashion, as he greeted me.

In my conversation with him, one cannot but notice his humility and steely calmness. Here is a political novice taking on the might of the ruling party’s juggernaut in his stride while exuding a quiet confidence.

In his own words, he talks about "moving forward" his firm beliefs about "justice and integrity" and the manifesto of his Malaysian People’s Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat Malaysia). This is a candidate, strengthened by his recent trials of fire, determined and committed to bring a change to Malaysia’s political landscape.

Perhaps, in the words of Senator Barrack Obama, a U.S. presidential candidate, change may be coming to Malaysia first.

You can visit Loh’s website at
http://lohgwoburne.blogspot.com