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Net Value: Cyber Wars
By Lee Wei Lian and Toh Mei Ling
The Edge, 25 February 2008
Just as there is a saying that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, illustrating the importance of events away from the actual theatre of war, one wonders if the election of 2008 will be won or lost on the blogs of cyberspace. Since the last election, many Malaysians have since found their political selves on the Internet, thanks largely to the humble and deceptively simply innovation called the blog.
It began when one Jeff Ooi, who was already active in community forums, started blogging in 2003, then a new concept. Things really started to sizzle when Raja Petra Kamarudin started Malaysia Today, his sensational blog-news-website hybrid in 2004. True to its tagline, "no holds barred", it broke not only political scandals but also taboos on what could be discussed in public. For many Malaysians, forced for years to endure the tame, self-censored fare offered by mainstream media, there was no going back. The number of politically inclined bloggers who fell outside the government's sphere of influence started rising and the establishment sat up and took notice.
While dismissing bloggers as irrelevant on the one hand, politicians and government-linked companies have made police reports and filed lawsuits against bloggers, on the other. Umno also maintains its creatively monikered "cybertrooper" initiative to combat the anti-establishment bloggers and their posse of fiery comment-leaving readers. At stake — the hearts and minds of Malaysia's growing wired community. In a snap poll conducted by
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for this story, out of 32 respondents, 68.8% said that information obtained from the Internet will influence their vote.
Internet boosted by media deficit
Anyone familiar with Malaysia's top blog destinations, which are, to some degree, critical of the incumbent government, will know that the prevailing mood of those who frequent these sites is unusually cynical and bitter. This is something that has not escaped the notice of academic Ooi Kee Beng, author of last year's widely acclaimed biography on Tun Dr Ismail and a fellow at the Institute of South East Asian studies in Singapore. "In Malaysia, there is so much anger on the Internet," he observes. "In Sweden, a country which I am also familiar with, there are no angry bloggers." And the reason? "In Sweden, the media is not so tightly controlled. There is more room for discussion." That is also the reason why Kee Beng thinks political discussion and activism has taken a life of its own in cyberspace. "Politics has taken over the Internet in Malaysia because of constraints on the mainstream media." Virtually all 32 of our poll respondents said they use the Internet to obtain news and while some mentioned reasons such as convenience and accessibility of the Internet, a number of others expressed sentiments like "the Internet allows me to get a balanced point of view" and "to get both sides to a story". However, they also made the observation that not everything they read on the Internet is to be believed, saying that the source of the information needs to be verified and that they do have concerns over the variable degree of reliability of different websites. But it's not just readers — even journalists are being driven to the online world. The most famous of them is Ahirudin Attan, the former executive editor of Malay Mail, who started up the popular Rocky's Bru blog after his resignation from that publication. In the next few months, two ex-assistant news editors from theSun will debut a new online news website. "We feel that we have to go online to continue to practise good journalism away from the influence of business and politics," says co-founder Jacqueline Ann Surin. "It's a good thing that more people are turning to the Internet," says Steven Gan, editor-in-chief of online news provider Malaysiakini. "When bloggers came into the picture, we were worried that our subscription would be affected but it actually increased due to the increased awareness. We can help each other."
Blurring lines
Most pundits, including those we interviewed for this story, agree that the Internet's impact on the upcoming elections will be confined largely to the urban, educated and connected segment of the voting population. "You can't be influenced by something that doesn't reach you," points out Kee Beng. And given that the majority of constituencies are classified as rural, the impact of the Internet on the outcome of the election will be minimal. Nevertheless, some note that the influence is not as limited as might seem obvious as a popular Malaysian pastime is talking and gossiping and many urban voters might still be registered to vote in their original rural constituencies. The Internet has also morphed from just a place to chat to an important platform for mobilising citizens. Jeff Ooi, for instance, is using it to help raise funds for his election campaign. Lawyer-turned-activist Haris Ibrahim uses his blog to move readers into action such as writing letters to their MP. "While it's true that ranting on the Internet may not translate into votes, it's also true that many use the Internet to help stage events, with last year's Bersih rally as an example. In politics, it is hard to remain in virtual reality. Somewhere down the line, action will be demanded," says Kee Beng.
Business unusual
"The last four years have seen drastic changes," says Shahrul Zaman Datuk Yahya, Umno Youth's executive secretary. "For example, all Umno Youth exco members now carry BlackBerries or BlackBerry services-enabled devices. We are always on Yahoo! Messenger. We realize that the Internet is the channel to reach youth and we will continue to enhance our Internet efforts." This admission can be taken as a sign that even the establishment realises that the status quo can no longer hold. However, not all the Barisan National component parties seem to be on the ball. The MIC, MCA and Gerakan did not respond by the time we went to press while Parti Bersatu Sabah did not want to disclose its cyber strategy. "We prefer to work quietly, especially in context of cyber warfare," says a party leader.
On the opposition front, efforts to reach PAS were unsuccessful. We present an overview of the various players in cyberspace what they have to say about the impact of the Internet on the election.
Umno — ready to rumble
Umno's key weapon in the fight for hearts and minds on the Internet is its cybertroopers. Cybertroopers are volunteers who roam blogs and forums and counter negative comments made about the government. Shahrul Zaman says the number of cybertroopers is confidential but reveals that they are organised in a similar fashion to multilevel networks, with team leaders and down lines. He says the initiative, started in 2004, was quite effective and while there is no formal training, they are equipped with informational bullets with which to use as ammunition against anti-establishment forces. "If you remember back in 1999, we were outnumbered in cyberspace, but at least now, we are represented," he says. And the mission of a cybertrooper is not limited to just doing battle but also includes reconnaissance. The knowledge is then summarised and sent via SMS to subscribers. In addition to its cybertroopers, Umno Youth has an election-focused website — www.sediagempur.net — which hosts election news in addition to countering opposition claims. Shahrul says Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin is very involved in crafting Umno's Internet strategy.
As for Shahrir Samad, the Umno MP for Johor Baru, who has had a web presence since 1999 and was one of the first to put up a blogsite ( www.shahrirsamad.blogspot.com ), he says he is going to turn his blog into an election blog with regular election activity updates. He sees the Internet as "just another delivery channel" to reach the electorate. "I have a multichannel approach," he explains. "The Internet is an additional channel together with television, radio and newspapers. We should all be as available as possible to everyone." He says the Internet has made it easier for people to find him and contact him. "For example, there was a student who recently asked me for help. Other than my website, the student may have had no other way to reach me."
DAP — blogger power and fundraising
For the upcoming election, DAP is going to use the Internet for three things: raise funds, recruit volunteers and disseminate information. There will be a national site (www.dap_elections.com) and various microsites run by candidates. "We anticipate a media blackout of the opposition, especially when it comes to criticisms of the government," says star blogger and DAP candidate for parliament, Jeff Ooi ( www.jeffooi.com ). "But we are not just going to disseminate news. We also published our proposal for an alternative 2008 budget online. We want to show that we have the brains and are not just rabble rousers." Ooi and fellow blogger-cum-DAP candidate Tony Pua ( www.tonypua.blogspot.com ) are among those trying to raise campaign funds through the Internet. As of Feb 19, Ooi had raised about 25% of the target he set for his blogsite — RM100,000 — which is half the limit set for a candidate. The rest of the funds he hopes to raise via personal sources. Pua also has a campaign fund donation link on his election microsite ( www.dapforpj.com ). DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang also has a blog but is not using it to raise funds.
Like parties in the US, DAP has plans to make extensive use of YouTube ( www.youtube.com/DAPvideo ). However, unlike in the US, none of the videos will be of debates. "We would love to engage in debates but our invitations to debate are always declined." Both acknowledged that the Internet's reach will be stronger in the urban rather than rural areas. They also acknowledge that they lag behind their US counterparts in terms of Internet strategy. "We're still experimenting with tactics," says Ooi. "We're not as efficient as the US political parties." His candidacy, however, will likely benefit from his Internet exposure. "People know me from my blog and know I have a track record of commenting on governance issues. I will leverage that visibility." Pua has seen some success in recruitment of volunteers using the Internet. "So far, we have secured between 50 and 100 volunteers for the PJ campaign via websites," he says.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) — leveraging online social networks
In a bid to connect with the young and Internet savvy, de facto PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been leveraging social networking sites to engage these voters and gain mileage in terms of support. Armed with accounts in three of the most popular social networks — Facebook, Friendster and MySpace — a quick check reveals that Malaysia's former deputy premier has amassed thousands of "friends" on each of the networks. A Singaporean paper reports that Anwar regularly updates his Facebook profile using his BlackBerry device, but is "shy about it". While PKR suffered a severe blow in the 2004 elections, with its parliamentary seats whittled down from five in 1999 to one, the party seems to be revamping its image this time around by fielding several young and well-educated candidates in their late twenties or early thirties. They include Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Nathaniel Tan and Sim Tze Tsin — all educated overseas and previously from professional backgrounds — to better appeal to the young voters. These young people have been actively utilising these social networks to publicise their rallies, gatherings and to recruit a strong following. Aside from the blogs of its "rock-star" candidates, Anwar's speeches during PKR rallies are also uploaded onto YouTube. Moving forward, the party also intends to go into 3G streaming to make these speeches available through the mobile phone, taking advantage of the fact that Malaysia's mobile phone penetration stands above 80%. Attempts to reach Anwar and Tian Chua for comments were unsuccessful.
Raja Petra Kamarudin — time will tell
Famous for his hard-hitting blog and for openly admitting that civil servants "sing like canaries" for a thousand bucks, it is fair to say that Raja Petra Kamarudin, blogger and founder of www.malaysia-today.net , is a household name among the urban and Internet savvy. As one of the few early bloggers, Raja Petra says the alternative media's main target audience is the upper middle-class professionals in urban areas.
"When people talk about the Internet, they often generalise that all voters are one. This is too simplistic a way of looking at things. You need to put the voters in different segments because Malaysians are a diverse lot. Take Felda settlers. As far as they are concerned, they are earning three to four thousand [ringgit] a month now and they look at life in a simple way. They are not affected by 'Western ideals' like human rights or religious freedom. We want to reach working professionals who live in condos and own businesses. They could be 40 or 50 years old, but they have never voted in their lives. I call them virgin voters," he explains. Raja Petra points out that for every one voter, there is a non-voter — and of the non-voters, there are those who register to vote but don't vote, and another group who are not registered. "Through the Internet, we try to explain to these people that there are about 14 million eligible voters out there but only about 10-plus million are registered. Seeing that voter turnout is roughly 70%, we want to educate those seven million who think their one vote doesn't count that there are another seven million who think like that!" While the Internet is widely viewed as the main source for alternative news, the question of how effective it is in influencing voters still remains. Raja Petra says the voter turnout in urban areas is poorer than in the rural areas. Thus, he feels that should the turnout in urban areas reach the high 70s or 80 percentile this time around, it would be safe to claim that the Internet has helped in influencing voters.
It is evident that opposition parties have been leveraging the freedom provided by the Internet ever since the Reformasi in 1998. Raja Petra adds: "Barisan has decided that they lost out the important Internet war and they realise that they are far behind. In 1998, there were only 300,000 Internet subscribers versus eight million registered voters. Today, there are 11 million Internet users. So certainly there should be some effect, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Only time will tell."
Malaysiakini — bigger impact than in 2004
If online news provider Malaysiakini's subscription growth is anything to go by, the Internet will have a larger impact this election than the last. Since 2004, the feisty website's subscriber base has grown 150% (Malaysiakini does not disclose subscriber figures) and the number of subscribers who log in each day has doubled to 90,000. It also launched a web TV service last year — malaysiakini.tv. Each day, about 30,000 videos are downloaded — some 100Gb worth. To cope with the predicted explosion of readers during the election, Malaysiakini has already ordered the supply of unlimited bandwidth to minimise chances of service disruption. Nevertheless, its editor-in-chief Steven Gan is cautious about the Internet's impact. "The Internet has a broader reach than before but it will not be a deciding factor in the elections simply because of the way the constituencies have been gerrymandered over the years. It is the large number of rural constituencies, which tend to have low Internet penetration, that will decide the outcome of the election," he surmises. On the other hand, Gan does foresee some trickle-down effect in the sense that some urban voters will return to their rural constituencies to vote. "They will talk to their families," he notes. "And there are also more hot topics being debated over the Internet now than before the last election. So the Internet's impact will be bigger than in 2004."
Farish Noor — important asset for alternative information
Known for his sardonic and sometimes sarcastic articles and commentaries, outspoken political scientist Farish Noor, a senior fellow and director of research at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technical University, Singapore, is no stranger to the use of the Internet as a platform for dissemination of information. While his writings are available on his widely followed website — www.othermalaysia.org — some of them have also been syndicated in several mainstream media as well as two of the country's leading Internet-based alternative media — Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today. "Obviously the Internet is only effective in areas where people have access to it, and thus it does not cover the whole country. Furthermore, interaction on or with cyberspace requires one to remain before the terminal, which does not necessarily help in any campaign. But as a source of alternative information and diverse views, it remains an important asset," says Farish. Even though he has spent years working overseas, Farish consistently commentates on local happenings, particularly in politics and human rights issues. He adds that many of the revelations that Malaysia has seen thus far — from the reports of police abuse at demonstrations to the Lingam video — were all thanks to the Internet. In the long run, he feels that the Internet, as a tool of political education and exposure, still cannot be beaten. Due to the fact that opposition parties are often denied extensive coverage in the mainstream media, many of them have turned to Internet-based platforms to spread their messages and manifestos. On that, Farish says: "Undoubtedly, PAS was the first to ride the cyberspace wave and the party used it well. Its own PAS TV online, the dissemination of the speeches and messages of the party leaders on the Internet were revolutionary when all this started. But PAS' use of the Net was even more effective because of the discipline of the party."
People's Parliament — all talk, all action
While many bloggers epitomise the phrase "all talk and no action", lawyer-turned-activist Haris Ibrahim is just the opposite. Not only does he post commentary on current issues, he also uses it as a platform to mobilise disgruntled citizens into taking action on their grouses. Since its launch in April last year ( www.harismibrahim.blogspot.com ), there has been a flurry of letter-writing and petition-signing initiatives, ranging from campaigns to get MPs to take a stand on a constitutional amendment to a recent campaign to help certain MPs get re-elected. "We started with a get-to-know-your-MP and when we decided we didn't like some of those MPs, we launched a get-an-MP campaign to remove them come this election," explains Haris. "And now we have a keep-your-MP campaign to defend MPs who we feel are worth keeping."
While he has been leveraging the Internet for less than a year, Haris says the experience has "been lovely". He points out that it is easy to hide in the anonymity of cyberspace but people should be brave enough to actually take action. "People are frustrated and want to be pointed in the right direction." He says that the objective of the People's Parliament is to make people realise that they own their constituencies and that the MPs are there to serve them. "People must take back the ownership of the processes," stresses Haris. "An MP's job is more than just ensuring drains are cleaned. It is also to defend his constituents' interest in Parliament." He gave the example of meeting his MP over the issue of the amendment to the Constitution to allow the extension of the election commission chief's tenure. "We met our MP and told him we disagreed with the proposed amendment but he voted in favor of the amendment anyway," reveals Haris. "So obviously we do not want him as our MP." But does the People's Parliament's reach extend to rural areas? While acknowledging the low level of Internet penetration in the latter, Haris does have anecdotal evidence that it has some reach — such as one man he met in Karak, Pahang, who was partaking in the online campaign to boycott mainstream print media every Tuesday. And true to People's Parliament's take-charge approach, it has prepared a collection of articles that migrants to urban areas can print and take back to their hometowns on visits. One benefit of People's Parliament that Haris relishes is meeting new people. "By interacting with readers, I realise that as much as politicians want us to think that the diversity of races is a problem, the average Malaysian actually gets along well with one another. My experience so far tells me that we have a good chance to really become one people and one nation."
Women's Candidacy Initiative (WCI) — important discussion ground
One of the greatest advantages of using the Internet as a medium of communication is the fact that it is virtually cost free. Coupled with the fact that it is not governed, the opportunities it presents for information sharing are endless. For the upcoming elections, the Women's Candidacy Initiative (WCI) has in fact been using Facebook to recruit volunteers for its campaign efforts. Even though WCI's candidate, Toni Kasim — who managed to win 43% of votes while running against MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy in Selayang during the 1999 elections — had to withdraw her candidacy due to health reasons, WCI still intends to go ahead with an alternative campaign that will leverage the Internet heavily as a platform to promote its ideas and manifesto. "The Internet has been making an impact on the general election since 1999. If you take into account the events of last year, a lot of impactful discussions have started from the Net, like the Lingam video or blogger Nat Tan's arrest. The great thing about the Internet is that it goes either way — in terms of voices promoting the status quo and voices promoting the opposition. The Internet is such an important ground for discussion as there are no barriers, unlike those that occur face to face. It is a powerful tool for the people to get our voices across and there is nothing stopping us from being creative on the Internet," says Shanon Shah of WCI. While WCI is not the only group that is utilising Facebook or other Internet-based platform to recruit volunteers, Shanon feels that the users' freedom to choose what they want to support and the competition that WCI faces from other political parties in its recruitment drive is exciting and challenging. He adds that WCI has not spent anything just yet on its Internet-based efforts. "We are targeting Malaysians who have lost faith in political parties. We want to tell them that it is okay not to have faith in them and that it is possible to do something without joining political parties. These people are naturally gravitating towards us. For a long time, people think it is either or, but it is not so. What has the party structure actually done for marginalised groups? We think we can create a space where all our dreams can become one without having the need to fit into the manifesto of a party," says Shanon.
Ooi Kee Beng — reformasi generation comes of age
Ooi Kee Beng, a fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore, agrees with the majority view that the Internet's impact during this election will be limited largely to urban areas but he does so with one reservation — that since Malaysians like to talk, the Internet's influence may actually be wider than just the wired communities. And while the number of concerned citizens who leverage the Internet may be relatively small, he thinks it still bodes well for a healthy democracy. "Small groups who are race-blind and who work on ideals are what moves democracy forward," he points out. "It's the coming of age of the reformasi generation."
Malaysiavotes.com — election news from the hot seats
Malaysians hungry for election coverage can look forward to malaysiavotes.com, a website that was launched by three journalists — Jacqueline Ann Surin, Danny Lim and Cindy Tham — two of whom are award winners. Jacqueline, a former writer of The Edge, who was on secondment to theSun as assistant news editor, won an award for excellence in opinion writing at last year's Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), while Danny Lim, a former writer for Off The Edge, an arts and political magazine, got an honorable mention for excellence in feature photography. Cindy Tham is also a former writer of The Edge, who was seconded to theSun as assistant news editor. "We'll focus on election news that will fall off the radar of traditional media such as independent candidates," says Jacqueline. "Unfortunately, due to personnel and resource limitations, we will be limited to reporting from mainly the hot seats but hope to make the coverage broader, fairer and more contextualised." But she adds that the public is welcome to contribute commentaries, videos and pictures. Jacqueline and Tham will later launch a new online news website that is yet unnamed. "We feel that we have to go online if we want to continue practising good journalism," says Surin. "Even within the context of a good print newspaper, there are restrictions. I've had my columns censored. By going online, we are no longer bound by permits and legislation. We want to provide a source of news that is not influenced by political and business pressure." At the same time, she hopes the duo's journalism training will lend credibility to the website, which will carry news and analyses that relate to public policy, social issues and governance. Financing for the venture has been secured and it should debut within the next few months.
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