Blogscapes

In earlier posts, I’d talked about how politicians have been jumping on the new media wagon and exploiting it to get a feel of the ground and further their popularity.  For instance, there was a Facebook standoff between Hillary, Obama and McCain some months back.

The politicians in neighbouring Malaysia have also realised the impact of new media, and the ruling party has taken an about turn on its view on new media. From disregarding it, they are now encouraging party members to keep blogs. Of course, by now, everyone has probably heard of and/or read Mahathir’s blog.

In Singapore, our local politicians have also started to use new media to reach out to the public. First there was George Yeo who was the face of PAP’s new media user, who blogged about his experiences. Now, more and more of the PAP’s members have started to adopt new media as part of their communications strategy. Teo Ser Luck is on Facebook and Vivian Balakhrishnan keeps his own blog.

According to the Today article, PAP MP Lam Pin Min (Ang Mio Kio GRC) said that, “The power of the Internet as a political tool must not be underestimated as demonstrated by the experience of the recent elections in our neighbouring countries. The party understands this and takes the feedback from netizens very seriously.”

Of course, new media shouldn’t just be used for the sake of using it. To be meaningful, it should serve as a platform for open discussion and feedback, and not a channel for propaganda.

Well, do share your thoughts about what you hope to see being used and done in new media by our local politicians.

Yesterday, I wrote about Malaysian blogger, Raja Petra being jailed for sedition. Anyway, to follow-up on that post, he’s now agreed to post bail.

And it’s none other than his 54 year-old wife, Marina Lee Abdullah’s words, “I want you back” that helped Raja Petra change his mind. No doubt, his wife is concerned about his welfare and deteriorating health in jail especially when he’s embarked on a hunger strike.

Well, looks like there won’t be a need for any more candle light vigils for him.

Key Malaysian blogger, Raja Petra has been charged for sedition after he wrote an article that suggested that key Malaysian politician, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, is linked to the killing of a Mongolian woman.  The Malaysian blogger has been jailed and has gone on a hunger strike!

According to the article in Today, on April 2001, “Raja Petra and about 10 other opposition activists were rounded up under the Internal Security Act — which allows for detention without trial — for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He was detained for 52 days, during which he refused food and water”.

Raja Petra is the editor of the Malaysia Today news portal and he was jailed on Tuesday after being charged with sedition over his online article, and his portal is a popular news blog that promotes discussion about Malaysia’s political and social scenes.

He is the first blogger to be charged under the Sedition Act and he has refused to post bail set at RM5,000 ($2,150), choosing to go behind bars till his trial begins on Oct 6, and using his jail time to make a statement. 

This case will be closely watched, especially at a time when society is starting to come to grips with the use of the law on the blogospehere.

Everyone seems to have a blog these days.

Celebrities and politicians know that it’s one way to keep in touch with the public and let their views be heard.

Malaysia’s ex-PM has just started Dr Mahathir’s blog. In his blog preface, he writes, this site is dedicated to publishing my writings as and when I am able to pen my thoughts and opinion.

Interested parties, including the Press, are welcomed to reproduce or quote materials published here with the condition that they are credited to chedet.com.

Comments and feedbacks accompanied by names or pseudonyms are welcomed. Anonymous postings and those containing profanities and obscenities will be rejected.
- Che Det

He used Che Det, which is his nickname from before. Dr M mentions that  he would like to ”allow a healthy debate and to gauge points of view which differ from [his] own”. I guess he’s not content with just letting his daughter’s views be expressed on Marina’s blog, but wants in on letting the people know what’s on his mind as well.

Well, in a way, Dr M’s blog is the latest in a series of blogs Malaysian politician’s both current and past are racing to set up.

Well, if local opposition politician from WP, Low Thia Khiang had a blog, then perhaps he could give us his side of the story, as to why he responded with deafening silence to PM Lee’s question in Parliament recently on the Mas Salamat issue.

The blogosphere is thriving! This is especially so with the number of China’s Internet users hitting new highs. Even in the rurul areas of China,  the numbers surged 127.7% in 2007.

In fact, China has become the fastest-growing Internet population with 221 million online users. This makes it a tie with the number of users in the US. The number has exploded despite the Chinese government’s efforts to curb access to materials they deem as offensive or pornographic. Remember the cute policeman and policewoman policing the Internet and screens of the Chinese online users? Perhaps, it is because of the imposed curbs and censorship that has caused the surge in online use.

This growing number of Internet users is seen as a cause of concern for Chinese officials who feel that users would turn to the Internet for their subversive activities and discussions.

Or perhaps they need not worry so much as many Chinese have turned to the Internet to rally support amongst the Chinese against the pro-Tibet acitivists during the Olympic Torch Relay through the various countries.

Perhaps, the Chinese government would like to take a leaf from the Malaysian government in its about turn in moving from ignoring and criticising the Internet to embracing it. It’s now calling all its members to write blogs and use new media to connect with the electorate and general public. It’s learnt its mistake of not using new media, thus leaving a void for other online discussions to take place without it.

In Singapore, blogs, websites and other new media abound to supplement and complement the news in mainstream media and serve as alternative forms of engagement. 

I do believe that using new media would in a way help to engage with younger voters and members of the public, but new media in itself would not do much - you would still need good, quality content, and online conversations that would be open to all, and of course, an open mind.

I wrote about the singer and star of WE WILL ROCK YOU, MiG Ayesa and his clever use of new media a couple of weeks back. As mentioned then, MiG is on Facebook, Youtube, MySpace - you name it, he’s on it.

Of course, he’s not alone in this. You look at the Facebook pages, and you will see anyone and everyone from David Beckham to Carrie Underwood having their pages and fansites there.

And of course, no person is more of a whiz at drumming up support than a politician! Take a look at the Facebook pages and you will see more links to their other websites, MySpace pages, and more.

Perhaps, not surprising, Obama’s page is ranked number 1 on Facebook, with 772,905 fans as of 15 minutes ago.

Hillary was a few positions lower with 146,816 fans and much lower down is McCain with 112,940 fans.

Hm… I wonder if these pages and the figures represent a microcosm of the larger voting public of America…

obama-vs-hillary-vs-mccain-on-facebook

Malaysian PM Abdullah Badawi admitted that he underestimated the power of the Internet in garnering political support, in the follow-up to the biggest loss of political power for the ruling party of Malaysia. He felt that this was a costly mistake and that his party had lost the Internet war.

Due to being ignored by mainstream media, the opposition parties took their campaigning online through blogs and websites.

The recent elections in Malaysia show how the Internet could be galvanised as a political tool. “The Internet definitely played a role in getting young people to vote,” said 25-year-old Michelle Gunaselan, a founding member of online electoral education group VotED. Many young people are now generally more hopeful about their political future, and more interested in the politics of the land, given the Internet’s ability to engage them.

The ruling party is now more open to bloggers and also using new media to reach out to the masses. However, some of the opposition members are not convinced and remain sceptical. It remains to be seen how the ruling party will use the Internet and other online means to win back the political war.

Hm…do you think Singaporeans will take to the Internet for political issues, like the Malaysians?

There’s been much talk about how politicians or those aspiring to political positions have been using new media to reach out to the electorate.

 Case in point would of course be Hillary and Obama. Not only have they posted videos of themselves on Youtube, but their supporters have been using the new media engine to further their cause.

Now, I did not watch Obama or Clinton live, and I also missed the telecast of their speeches on CNN, but thanks to Youtube, I can now follow their campaign trail and not just read, but actually watch them in action making their speeches!

Recently, there’s been much talk about Obama’s ‘We Can’ speech, that many are saying is reminiscent of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. In case you missed it, ie Obama’s speech, here it is:

Well, somehow, I don’t think that Obama has captured the same fiery and intense quality of King, but all the same, his speech has managed to re-ignite the interest and reverse the apathy of the youths in America in their country’s politics.

Lest I be accused of being partial, here’s something by Clinton:

Now, one very successful aspiring politician is Jeff Ooi, one of Malaysia’s known bloggers who took part in the Malaysian polls yesterday as a member of the opposition party, the Democratic opposition party. He was able to raise US$32 000 via an online fundraising campaign, and has managed to garner much support from his blog and other online activities that he’s won himself a seat in the Malaysian polls.

I wonder how much more support King would have gotten if he had new media in his day!

Just the other day, I was writing a blogpost on the Malaysian student in Taiwan who has been criticised by many Malaysians as well as Malaysian politicians for spouting racially-provocative messages in his rap posted on Youtube. The student, 24 year-old Wee Meng Chee, has come out to say that he’s only speaking the truth and meant no harm to the people of Malaysia.

Malaysia says that they will not and cannot charge him for sedition, as the act did not take place in Malaysia and so they will not be recalling him back from Taiwan.

Apparently, his father, who is someone well-known in the Chinese music industry in Malaysia has asked for forgiveness on behalf of his son.

While Wee Meng Chee’s rap may be entertaining and even speak his true feelings of his home country, yet, the way he has approached it is lacking in good taste and consideration, going by the backlash he has received from many in his hometown.

In any case, perhaps something good that has come out of this is for the people to explore and seriously consider the true situation of community relations in the land.  

About a week ago, there were reports on cyber attacks on Estonia, the fomer Soviet Republic, presumably by Russia which is angry over Estonia’s relocation of a Soviet war memorial.

The attacks target government websites. By overwhelming them, in an attack known as denial of service attack, the websites are caused to close down, disrupting the crucial services provided. Given that the majority of the people nowadays rely on infocomm technologies to access information, do business and practically run their daily lives, these attacks have great destructive powers.

The attacks also take the form of website defacement and hacking, and data modification, which can lead to confusion. Such attacks are not new. They have happened in the US, in the Indian/Pakistani conflict, etc.

What’s scary is that there are no clear rules of engagement in cyberwars, unlike conventional warfare. NATO has declared the situation in Estonia a security threat.

I’m sure governments around the world are watching how the situation is played out and are probably scrambling to beef up their cyber defences as well.