Malaysian PM wooing voters online

Najib Abdul Razak now has over 70,000 fans on Facebook

DIGITAL PLANET
BBC World Service

"Just finished recording a video message," begins the tweet.

"Now having chicken rice for lunch."

An uninspiring snippet of information, maybe, but in context it represents a seismic shift in Malaysian political culture: the Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak, is on Twitter. And Facebook. And even YouTube./

Until recently, the ruling government had always communicated their policies via traditional media outlets, and when much of the mainstream press is either directly or in-directly linked with the government, there was little room for public debate.

It is a matter of catching the eyeballs of your constituents. Jeff Ooi

But when 2008's elections saw the ruling coalition lose key seats to the opposition, then-Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted his government had underestimated the power of the internet.

So now, members of parliament from all over the country are using Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their voters.

"Everybody followed [the prime minister] because they wanted to see how badly he was twittering, and then after a few months he started responding," said Nikki Cheong, a journalist, blogger and social media analyst.

The prime minister now personally manages his profile across various social networks including Facebook - his status updates spanning issues of policy as well as personal information. He currently has over 70,000 fans to go along with over 9,000 followers on Twitter.

Political taboo

Politicians can no longer rely on carefully-staged media appearances to attract voters now that the internet plays such an important role in democracy.

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The government made a pledge in 1996 that the internet would stay free from censorship - spurring the launch of independent news publishers online.

However, an opposing act means bloggers and opposition members can be detained without trial.

The biggest of these online news sites is Malaysiakini, which launched in 1999. Its creators claim to cover issues that are politically taboo, and say they are constantly harassed.

"The mainstream media were out to attack us all the time," said Steven Gan, co-founder.

"We were raided by the police once - 19 of our computers were taken away."

Only 30% of the country has broadband access - mostly in Kuala Lumpur - but content from Malaysiakini has also been printed and distributed in rural communities.

Detaining bloggers

Jeff Ooi, a pioneer in social-political blogging in Malaysia, was investigated many times for defamation. His blog Screenshots covered Malaysian political issues - and was named by Malaysiakini as the most influential blog in the country.

So influential, in fact, that Mr Ooi himself became an elected member of parliament in 2008.

He says not all bloggers will have the ways and means to amass the support of good lawyers and advisors.

"That I would take as a form of oppression against freedom of speech," he added.

However Mr Ooi is supportive of the prime minister, and other elected individuals, having conversations online.

"It is a matter of catching the eyeballs of your constituents.

"It is something that is good because a lot of things are being debated so publicly, and so intensely, that the veil of opaqueness when it comes to governance has been prised open."