Youtube: The New Political Arena for the Young

 

Think tank Political Studies for Change (KPRU) holds the view that the new method of attracting the technocrats in Malaysia is through Youtube. It is free to see that Youtube users are an untapped source of voters for the poltical parties of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN) and Barisan Nasional (BN) during this run up to the 13th General Election (GE13).

Table 1: A Pool Sample of Chosen Video Clips involving Political Parties and Political Leaders

No	Video	Views	Likes	Dislikes
1.	Guan Eng di mata mereka…. “Kari Kepala Ikan & Seluar Pendek”	125,826	1,687	77
2.	1马工作团队 – Love Is In The Air	79,301	202	2,536
3.	Mendaki Politik Baru – Zairil Khir Johari dan Steven Sim Chee Keong	3,379	64	3
4.	颜骏任 Frankie Gan Joon Zin – 我问天	12,509	21	294
5.	Mat Taib sah sertai PAS	32,786	340	11
6.	PRU-13 : Wajib Undi Barisan Nasional pada Pilihan Raya Umum ini	492	5	13
7.	Bajet 2013 Khas: Tanya Najib [Secara Langsung]	129,336	627	15,153
8.	Borak bersama Anwar 17 August 2012 #BorakAnwar (English)	30,451	175	64
9.	Borak bersama Anwar 17 August 2012 #BorakAnwar (BM)	23,152	132	18
10	Anwar Ibrahim: Saya Yakin Akan Ada Perubahan Besar Dalam Masa Singkat	4,949	66	4
11	Najib dimalukan penonton Psy di Pulau Pinang?	264,061	592	86
12	Najib: Are You Ready For BN? People: Nooo! – CNY @ Penang , PSY- Gangnam	185,635	933	78
13	#SoalJawabTunMahathir TV3 FULL	13,832	191	16
14	Ubah Rocket Style	347,112	2884	357
15	UBAH Rocket Style (Malaysian Gangnam Parody) English Version	227,141	2374	154
16	Video Kempen Wanita PRU13: Tangan Mu	27,705	307	10
17	PRU-13 : BN Lancar Manifesto 6 April 2013 Untuk Rakyat Nilai	1,948	14	31
18	Vote for us and get more cash, BN tells Malaysia	13,851	16	507
19	Manifesto: Menepati Janji, Membawa Harapan	3,050	30	48
20	BN ciplak manifesto Pakatan dengan ketara	8,067	99	10
21	Inside Story – Is it time for change in Malaysia?	72,895	402	63
22	Mixed reviews for Najib’s CNY video	28,769	76	343
23	Malaysian opposition leader speaks to Al Jazeera	45,093	492	85
24	Najib Razak interviewed about BERSIH 2.0 (CNN)	36,537	41	580
25	Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak – Interview with Australia Network’s N	11,269	27	124
26	Terbaru! Video Zulkifli [PERKASA] Hina Kaum India Pada 06-03-2013	35,669	50	65

Table 2: Top Ten Most Popular Political Parties and Political Leaders Clips

No	Video	Views
1	Ubah Rocket Style	347,112
2	Najib dimalukan penonton Psy di Pulau Pinang?	264,061
3	UBAH Rocket Style (Malaysian Gangnam Parody) English Version	227,141
4	Najib: Are You Ready For BN? People: Nooo! – CNY @ Penang , PSY- Gangnam	185,635
5	Bajet 2013 Khas: Tanya Najib [Secara Langsung]	129,336
6	Guan Eng di mata mereka…. “Kari Kepala Ikan & Seluar Pendek”	125,826
7	1马工作团队 – Love Is In The Air	79,301
8	Inside Story – Is it time for change in Malaysia?	72,895
9	Malaysian opposition leader speaks to Al Jazeera	45,093
10	Najib Razak interviewed about BERSIH 2.0 (CNN)	36,537

Table 3: Top Ten Clips According to Likes and Dislikes

No	Video	Likes	Dislikes
1.	Ubah Rocket Style	2884	357
2.	UBAH Rocket Style (Malaysian Gangnam Parody) English Version	2374	154
3	Guan Eng di mata mereka…. “Kari Kepala Ikan & Seluar Pendek”	1,678	77
4	Najib: Are You Ready For BN? People: Nooo! – CNY @ Penang , PSY- Gangnam	933	78
5	Bajet 2013 Khas: Tanya Najib [Secara Langsung]	637	15,153
6	Najib dimalukan penonton Psy di Pulau Pinang?	592	86
7	Malaysian opposition leader speaks to Al Jazeera	492	85
8	Inside Story – Is it time for change in Malaysia?	402	63
9	Mat Taib sah sertai PAS	340	11
10	Video Kempen Wanita PRU13: Tangan Mu	307	10

Table 1 displays a small pool sample of videos relating to the election and also videos regarding political leaders of KEADILAN and BN. It can be seen that the videos featuring Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will either gain a high volume of views (clip regarding Najib humiliated by Psy audiences in Pulau Pinang) with high volume of ‘dislikes’ or a video clip with low volume of viewers (video GE13: Must vote for Barisan Nasional this GE)  and high volume of ‘dislikes’ (video of 2013 Budget: Ask Najib [Live]).

Meanwhile, it can be seen that the video clips featuring Pakatan Rakyat (PAKATAN) leader, particularly KEADILAN de facto leader Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the videos will receive a high volume of viewers and also a high volume of ‘likes’ (the clip Malaysian opposition leader speaks to Al Jazeera).

Najib’s Google Hangout saw as much as 129,336 views as well as much as 15,153 ‘dislikes’. Meanwhile, the video clip featuring Vice Presiden of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and Secretary General of Democractic Action Party (DAP) Lim Guan Eng garnered as much as 125,826 views with 1,687 ‘likes’ and ‘77’ dislikes. The two video clips featuring Anwar Ibrahim’s Google Hangout that was uploaded by Anwar Ibrahim himself saw as much as 53,603 views, 307 ‘likes’ and 82 ‘dislikes’.

As for Table 2 and 3, the two tables displays the two top ten separate list based on views and ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ clicks. The pattern emerging from the two lists is that the video featuring Najib produced a lot of negative feedback from Youtube users as opposed to the positive feedbacks gained from the videos featuring Lim Guan Eng and Anwar Ibrahim.

Considering the fact that this is just a small pool of samples and does not include the plethora of political and election video clips on Youtube, the lists are opened to be debated.

However, the pattern emerging from the lists cannot be ignored. Youtube has over 1 billion viewers each month. As for Malaysia, 80 percent of internet users watch videos on Youtube and there are more than 51 percent of active Youtube users. One of the most popular video clips relating to politics from Januari to April 2013 is the video clip of Bawani’s Listen that was uploaded by the user, Penguincute33 saw as much as 1,290,835 views, 4,002 ‘likes’ and 1,053 ‘dislikes’. It also generated as much as 8,594 comments from Youtube users.

As for the the individual pages on Youtube, the most popular Malaysian Youtube page belongs to the controversial internet celebrity, Namawee. His page remains as the most watched page of 41,106,780 viewers from 133 video clips. This is the clear power possessed by Youtube in dissemination of ideas and news in Malaysia.

As a whole, BN has failed to garner the support from Youtube users as well as the internet users in Malaysia. Most importantly, the uploaded video of BN’s manifesto launch garnered only 3,050 views, as oppsed to the KEADILAN’s video on the Women’s Campaign in Your Hands garnered as muc has 27,705 views. This is a clear show of disinterest by the Youtube users towards BN’s manifesto. Instead, the small video clip on the women’s campaign by KEADILAN that was uploaded by the user, Media Rakyat had scored major support from Youtube users.

KPRU believes that Malaysian technocrats have chosen Youtube as a main source of information on the poltical and election landscape as opposed to the mainstream media. The warm response towards video clips featuring the opposition parties seem to be more positive as opposed to the video clips featuring BN. KEADILAN may have a lot to lose in this coming GE13, but by analyzing the amount of views on Youtube, KEADILAN has the virtual world in their hands. In other words the technocrats have showed their support towards KEADILAN and not BN.  The final conclusion of the GE13 has the potential to rule in the favour of PAKATAN and disappoint BN.