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.

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?