As mainstream media fails, BN takes on Pakatan in ceramahs

By Shannon Teoh

June 15, 2011

Khairy established BN Youth’s public speaking team in 2009. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — With the young ignoring mainstream media, Barisan Nasional (BN) is now penetrating the ceramah circuit to vie for support among the urban youth — a key demographic in the next general election.

Bypassing the print and broadcast media it controls and admitting that “online media cannot be controlled,” Umno Youth leaders told The Malaysian Insider it has been trying to break Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) stranglehold on public speaking events.

“These new voters don’t get mainstream media. They don’t watch Warta Perdana or Buletin Utama,” said Lokman Noor Adam, BN Youth’s Unit Pidato (public speaking unit) chief, referring to the primetime news programmes on RTM1 and TV3.

He said that the unit, established by Khairy Jamaluddin after he became Umno Youth chief in March 2009, was an effort to address BN’s poor performance and response when holding ceramahs, forums and debates.

“We didn’t have anyone who can convince the public and break down the claims of opposition speakers. We also failed when it came to organising these programmes and mobilising large crowds to attend,” the Umno Youth executive council member said.

He told The Malaysian Insider that those under 40 make up 80 per cent of newly registered voters. Between Election 2008 to the next GE, they will grow from 41 to 49 per cent of the electorate.

Alternative media channels have chipped away at the advantage BN holds from its control of both print and broadcast media.

The latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures for the year ended June 30, 2010 showed that the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia lost 5.9 per cent of its circulation from the previous year, dropping from 181,346 to just 170,558 copies.

The ABC report also showed The Star’s circulation dropping from 295,479 to 286,409 (-3.1 per cent), the New Straits Times from 120,770 to 109,341 (-9.5 per cent), and Berita Harian from 183,187 to 160,597 (-12.3 per cent).

Meanwhile, social media networks usage among Malaysians has grown exponentially, with 9.5 million Facebook accounts registered as of January 2011. Both PKR and DAP have also set up websites to cater for the Facebook generation that will vote for the first time in the next general election.

In response, the Unit Pidato has organised courses for its grassroots leaders and a total of 415 speaking events since May 2009, which it claims has seen crowds triple in size over the past two years.

Lokman added that the number of ceramah will increase from next month, as BN Youth gears up for a general election expected within the year.

He said the courses were on how to engage different audiences, from large ceramahs, dinners, debates and even at demonstrations.

“We also give basic training like how to print effective banners where important information like who the speakers are, time and place can be seen in five seconds. Sometimes our members have no imagination or low IQ and can’t do the publicity well,” he added.