Malaysian Elections:
On the Cyber Campaign Trail
December 10th, 1999
By Julian Matthews
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia had its first elections ever in which there
was finally a medium beyond government control--the Internet. But did the
Net play any part in helping people decide who to vote for?
When the results of Malaysia's 10th general elections were coming in
on the night of November 29, one stunning outcome that appeared on the
Internet even before results were announced by the mainstream media was
the defeat of opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in Penang.
It was ironic that the Internet was to be bearer of news sounding the
death knell for the parliamentary career of the long-time Democratic Action
Party stalwart. Lim is an ardent advocate of the medium and frequent poster
to his party's Web site and various newsgroups.
The DAP called its campaign an "e-campaign" and urged supporters to
download party material from its Web site, photocopy and circulate them
to friends and neighbors, and even solicited for desperately needed funding
online--believed to be a first for any political party in Malaysia.
But all the party's cyber-campaigning seemed to have come to nought
on polling day. Lim lost both his parliamentary and state seats and, along
with party chairman Chen Man Hin and deputy chairman Karpal Singh, found
himself without a mandate or platform to voice dissent.
DAP's loss paved the way for Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), another early
Internet adopter, to emerge as the dominant opposition party when it won
27 seats in parliament, retaining the northeastern state of Kelantan as
well as capturing neighboring Terengganu.
"Technology is seen as a panacea for a weak or indifferent organization.
That came through starkly in this general election," said veteran journalist
and political observer MGG Pillai. "The opposition parties were into information
technology in a big way, but the only party to use it well was PAS. It
is not enough to be seen to be IT savvy. You must use it as part of your
overall plan," said Pillai who runs popular discussion list Sang Kancil.
Indeed, the elections was Malaysia's first in which the Internet, computers
and technology made an impact on the campaign trail.
The Election Commission sold CD-ROMs of the list of voters instead of
hard copies, and offered a Web-based checking service. Various political
parties on both sides offered their manifestos, candidate lists and news
updates on their Web sites.
One candidate on a Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) ticket handed
out about 3,000 VCDs of himself, interspersed with scenes of how he had
improved his constituency. The novel idea seemed to have worked for incumbent
assemblyman Freddie Long Hoo Hin who retained his Stulang state seat in
Johore, beating a DAP candidate.
The online editions of newspapers Utusan Malaysia and The Star devoted
whole sections for the elections with scorecards and special news coverage,
while alternative media Web sites and various discussion lists filled with
a flurry of postings.
The Star Online, one the largest Malaysian online publications, claimed
one million pageviews on the day after the elections when it posted the
most updated official election results. Compared to its usual monthly pageview
count of about 10 million, the spike was telling.
The fact that the newpaper's editors decided to upload some stories
prior to the next day's print edition, and even posted an audio excerpt
of National Front chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad's victory speech, suggested
a willingness to explore the real-time and multimedia value of the medium.
Need for online media watch
Alternative news sites also came to fore, pulling in readers hungry
for differing views.
Fledgling news site, Malaysiakini.com, registered 250,000 cumulative
hits in its first 10 days leading up the polls, with a high of 75,000 hits
on polling day.
Editor Steven Gan said he sees a day when alternative Internet media
may eventually become a mainstay in influencing public opinion. "As more
and more people go online, the Internet will become one of the main mediums
of public discourse. Politicians ignore it at their own peril. Cyber-campaigning
will be one of the many tools which politicians must adopt if they are
to survive in the digital age," he said.
Malaysiakini.com even took on its print rivals--often cited for being
too compliant and pro-government--when it broke election stories questioning
their stance.
One story showed how Malaysia's biggest Chinese language newspaper Sin
Chew Jit Poh had altered a 1995 group picture of National Front leaders
by replacing the head of then deputy chairman Anwar Ibrahim with that of
current deputy chairman Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Another showed how The Star demanded amendments to advertisements in
support of opposition Alternative Front, and rejected one with a photo
of Anwar sporting the now-famous black eye.
"I believe the media should be made accountable. Which is why there
is a need for some kind of online media watch. Malaysiakini.com intends
to do just that," said Gan.
He added that though the electoral roll was made available online the
various irregularities that arose suggested that the Election Commission
was not up to mark yet.
There were numerous complaints of discrepancies in the "official" list,
including allegations of "phantom" voters, listings of dead voters, transfers
of voters to different constituencies without their consent and cases of
two voters' names popping up when one identity card number was typed in.
An Election Commission representative blamed the discrepancies on "data
entry errors".
Almost 680,000 voters were also excluded from voting this time, although
they registered in April or May because the commission could not update
the roll in time.
"The commission has been forced to keep up with the times by adopting
new technology. But that has also opened up a new can of worms. Citizens
are now using the same technology to keep an eye on the commission. Many
are asking why, in this age of the Internet, the commission needs more
than eight months to update the electoral roll. Only two words can describe
the performance of the commission: sheer incompetence," said Gan.
Gan, like others, believes that although the opposition took to the
Internet like ducks to water since Anwar's sacking in September last year,
the Net's reach has not been wide enough to make a real difference in this
election. "But in five years' time, there will be a digital generation
and they will definitely be a force to reckon with," he said.
A Web of promises
Malaysia officially has about 650,000 Internet subscribers compared
to 10 million eligible voters, but this ratio is likely to change dramatically
by the next elections.
Internet writer and satirist Sabri Zain believes the influence
of the Net may grow in the next five years, and may change the way the
public would want its government to function. However, he is skeptical
about whether either is ready for the change.
"I do not think the government is ready for that kind of transparency
and accountability. And frankly, I don't think Malaysian society is ready
either. It is not yet the kind of society which sees free flow of information
as essential to good democratic government. We're getting there, but we're
not there yet and I don't know if we will be there in 2004," he said.
Sabri believes PAS was more successful this time around not only
because it used the Net, but that it combined this with its house-to-house
campaigning and wide distribution of party tabloid Harakah.
"You can have the best updated Web sites and pump the mailing
lists with parliamentary speeches all day and night. But just relying on
the Internet alone is not enough. PAS was so successful not only because
it made effective use of each tool it had in hand--the Internet, Harakah,
the grassroots network--but also because it used all three in such a seamless,
integrated manner," he noted.
Sabri, who has built a following with his collection of first-person
accounts and biting satire on the Net which often skewers the government,
doesn't believe that what he does may sway voting decisions.
"But it does make people think. Satire uses humor to drive home
a serious point. In a lot of ways, it is more effective because it doesn't
preach to you or give you a hard sell. And it doesn't pretend to be anything
more than what it is--a laugh with a moral. Someone may want to read something
funny and, hopefully, the actual message gets through."
Pillai, whose discussion lists attracts some 200 postings daily during
peak periods, said technology is a useful tool but not a replacement for
groundwork. "Technology is with us to stay. It is yet another medium candidates
can use to project themselves, and political parties to spread the message.
But I am not one who believes the world is about to change. I shall still
be suspicious of any candidate who tries to impress his electorate by flights
of technological fancy. The process would be more facile, but whether it
would make the message more effective is another matter altogether."
As the post-mortems come in, one election winner has already unveiled
his early plans for his constituency. Chia Kwang Chye, the defeater of
opposition strongman Lim in Bukit Bendera by a razor-thin majority of 104
votes, seems to have taken a leaf from the latter's cyber-campaign book.
Chia now touts the development of an electronic community for his 100,000
constituents. "Everyone can then access it, communicate and answer questions,
or even scold me," Chia was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times.
He said political leaders could not afford to ignore discussion and
chat groups on the Internet, and political parties must encourage e-communities,
even to the extent of being open to public criticism.
Chia's newfound millennium outlook could be a sign of the times--weaving
a Web of promises to net future voters and keeping one in office. But it
may also just be the precursor of the cyber-battle in Malaysia's next elections.
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