Internet a game-changer in politics

There are no more probables and perhaps about it -- the election results on May 5 have shown once and for all that social media is a powerful and effective platform in canvassing for votes.

It's not just cheap, easy and convenient; most importantly, it has shown that online popularity that is cultivated by social media does translate to actual votes on polling day.

To social media expert Dr Adrian Budiman, a senior lecturer at the School of Multimedia Technology and Communications at Universiti Utara Malaysia, this is never more apparent than when it comes to young voters, whom he regards as "digital natives" -- people who are born into a world where the Internet already exists and consume information differently from the older generation.

"There are three traits among digital natives that I find relevant in this election: First, they work best when they're networked with their peers -- they share everything. Second, they have a very short attention span; third, they are much more open to differences and are multicultured and globalised."

This makes social media a very effective tool, if not the most effective, in trying to get their attention and sending a political message or propaganda across.

"In 2008, the ruling coalition didn't participate in social media, so the opposition had the platform all to themselves. GE13 was a different ball game with both playing the social media game," he adds.

Despite the considerable resources and efforts poured by Barisan Nasional to play catch up online right after the March 8, 2008 political tsunami, Pakatan is still perceived by both Adrian and political analyst Dr Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani of Universiti Utara Malaysia, to have gained the upper hand in the social media war online.

This, they both believe, was what enabled Pakatan to make significant inroads at the polls in many urban seats.

Adrian thinks it's because they have managed to gain the "empathy" of the online populace, or netizens as they are often called now.

Whether it was a strategic manoeuvre or an inadvertent one, Pakatan has somehow managed to portray themselves as the underdog.

"It's basic human nature to protect the weaker guy and social media highlights this. Any perceived bullying would be magnified and amplified," says Adrian.

And this effect is never more clearly felt than among young voters under 25 years old, who make up about a quarter of the 13-plus million registered voters this time around.

Site censorship is often as effective as preventing illegal digital downloads of songs online -- which is not at all.

Young digital natives are clever enough to find ways to bypass any attempt to block a site or video, unlike "digital immigrants", whom Adrian defines as the older generation, who have to learn the language and tools in order to function and communicate in the new digital realm, and are often not as fluent as the digital natives.

"It's like when you a ban a book, everybody is even more curious to know what's inside the book now," says Adrian.

Adrian thinks it would be more effective to ignore "bad" information by simply advocating the positive and gain a following who would be more amenable to support your efforts.

However, how information is presented is equally important. In this aspect, Adrian and Azizuddin both feel that the opposition's use of videos, theme songs and parodies to spread their political propaganda was effective.

"People are always looking for something different online -- something that goes against the grain, like little acts of kindness of an incumbent which highlights his humanity or sincerity. That kind of stuff tends to get shared more. So be different to stand out," he says.

"They (opposition) managed to create content that could be easily related to by their target audience -- issues that were relevant and close to the heart of many educated, middle-class, urban Malaysians," is how Azizuddin, who is also the Dean of the School of International Studies at UUM's College of Law, Government and International Studies, sums it up.

Because of the Internet and the influence of social media, he notes that the voting pattern between rural and urban voters was now increasingly different, as evidenced in the recent election.

"There's a huge gap between rural and urban voters, a distinction that has been moulded by the channel or avenues of information that they have access to.

"In rural areas, the populace is still largely dependent on traditional media, with very little to non-existent Wifi coverage. So it's very difficult to access the Internet, unlike in the urban areas."

With Wifi available in almost every restaurant and cafe, together with the proliferation of 3G, broadband and smart devices, new media influence on urban voters can be strongly felt even in a short kopitiam chat.

"When you talk to people in the urban areas, their issues of concern and the ideas they embrace clearly show an influence of new media in their perception. This shows that the information transferred through new media has been easily accepted and shaped their perception," adds Azizuddin.

Having dissected the here and now, what will we see if we fast-forward to 2018?

Two things are for sure: Azizuddin says there'll be more leaders actively engaging with people directly, online, while Adrian firmly believes that cybertroopers will also increase.

The average Malaysian will also likely be more connected, have better access to more information and will be more savvy and mature in filtering what is fact and what is misinformation.

"Those speaking falsehoods will find that their deception cannot be sustained in the online media because people can check whether it's true or not. It won't be easy to lie," says Azizuddin.

It is also not hard to believe that there may be an emergence of what Azizuddin calls deliberative democracy.

"Whenever they want to impose a new law or policy, besides discussing and debating it in Parliament, they would first debate it online for the people to decide what's the best policies for them."

Although the trend of engagement is moving towards more universal issues such as the economy, good governance and security, Azizuddin thinks because of Malaysia's uniqueness, in that race-based politics have been acceptable for the people here for so long, coupled with the continued existence of mono-ethnic based parties, elements of race-based politics will still be dominant in the next five years.

"Unless something very drastic happens, like (component parties of) BN suddenly dissolving to become one huge multicultural and multi-ethnic party, then race-based politics will still be around."

- New Straits Times