Proof of the pudding

The Malaysian Insider is trying to manipulate again, based on skewed information many amongst the minority consider as ‘facts’. This time, about the impact of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak’s tweets before and during the 13GE.

MALAYSIA

Najib’s GE13 tweets lacked impact, bounced between cybertroopers, research shows

BY V. ANBALAGAN, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
JULY 24, 2013
LATEST UPDATE: JULY 24, 2013 08:42 PM

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s (pic) election tweets and retweets between nomination day and polling day to woo voters failed to produce the desired effect in the May 5 general elections, according to a local researcher.

Dr Surinderpal Kaur, who ran a study on the impact of the Twitter microblogging service before and after the election, said the prime minister’s tweets had a high volume but lacked impact as it bounced only between his followers and likely cybertroopers or paid social media practitioners.

The study was based on about 900,000 tweets on the election. Tweeting became popular for GE13, a change from the 2008 general elections when the social network scene was dominated by bloggers.

“His tweets were mainly circulated among those who followed him. His followers in turn were only tweeting and retweeting to those within their network,” she told a seminar on post 13th general election in Kuala Lumpur today.

The seminar was organised by Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Election (UMCEDEL), which had conducted several survey before, during and after Election 2013.

Najib’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) won the general elections with 133 federal seats, down seven from the 140 gained in Election 2008 when Tun Abdullah Badawi was the prime minister.

Surinderpal said to have an impact, Najib’s followers should have been linked to those outside their own network. (Retweet is a process of repeating of the original tweet.)

“This did not happen. One of the reasons could be that some of the followers may be cybertroopers,” said the senior lecturer at  UM and a fellow of UMCEDEL.

To put it simply, she said the Twitter exercise reflected limited communication that was confined to Najib and those within his network.

“This is one of the reasons why BN lost the cyberwar against the opposition because tweets must generate chain reaction,” she added.

According to socialbakers.com which measures social network statistics, Najib has 1.67 million followers on Twitter since he began the account four years and 10 months ago. The prime minister has only tweeted some 4,500 times

But his main political foe, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibraim, has only 359,007 followers although his account started six years and four months ago. Anwar has tweeted nearly 30,000 times.

Surinderpal said in comparison the network of pro-Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and impartial Malaysians may not have high volume but the impact was present because they were linked to other networks.

She noted that PR’s Black 505 rallies after the election were widely known due to information from Twitter despite lack of coverage about the event in the mainstream media.

She also said Anwar had gained more currency as a household name after the election due to the microblogging service. – July 24, 2013

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The fact that the analysis is not open for public view and TMI only reported about the essence of the analysis, based on the quotation of the Dr Surinderpal Kaur on the paper presented in a seminar held by UMCEDEL. Whether or not Dr Surinderpal study and analysis is accurate, it is open for debate.

The party which Prime Minister Najib lead as the President, obtained 11% more seats in the Parliament and two extra State Governments previously won by the Oppositions in the 13GE on 5 May 2013 as compared to the 12GE on 8 March 2008. Thus the Oppositions were reduced to controlling only three State Governments.

The Malay support for UMNO haas been strengthened further when UMNO’s candidate for N01 Kuala Besut by-election Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman won with an increased majority last night.

PM: Kemenangan di Kuala Besut bukti Umno masih menyerlah

JULY 24, 2013

Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (gambar) berkata, kemenangan Barisan Nasional (BN) pada Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Kuala Besut hari ini membuktikan kekuatan Umno masih menyerlah.

Maka, beliau berkata, usaha untuk memperkukuh Umno akan terus diperkasa supaya mampu menambah keyakinan rakyat terhadap Barisan Nasional (BN).

“Alhamdulillah, BN menang di Kuala Besut dan terima kasih kepada semua pengundi di Kuala Besut yang menyokong BN.

“InsyaAllah kita akan tunaikan semua janji pilihan raya kita ,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas majlis berbuka puasa Perdana Menteri dan isteri, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor bersama sahabat, ketua bahagian, Puteri, Pemuda dan Wanita Umno di Seri Perdana.

Najib berkata demikian ketika mengulas kemenangan calon BN Tengku Zaihan Che Ku Abd Rahman dengan majoriti 2,592 undi ke atas calon PAS, Endot@Azlan Yusof pada PRK Kuala Besut.

Beliau melahirkan keyakinan dengan kredibiliti Tengku Zaihan, 37, untuk terus berkhidmat kepada masyarakat setempat.

“Saya yakin beliau tokoh muda yang berkebolehan. Ini petanda baik sokongan rakyat terhadap BN.

“Pertambahan majoriti kemenangan menunjukkan prestasi yang menggalakkan dan semoga ia dapat memberikan semangat yang lebih kepada semua anggota BN untuk menambah sumbangan dan daya juang,” katanya. – Bernama, 24 Julai, 2013.

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Whether or not the tweets are being retweeted and circulated back and forth between BN cybertroopers as Dr Surinderpal claimed, they must have some degree of escalating effect. The impact should be measured by the increased in support Prime Minister Najib and UMNO got.

It is undeniable that the majority of this nation, the Malays and their party, UMNO, which is the backbone of BN prevailed in the 13GE.

It is defective to state that Anwar Ibrahim’s currency improved by the traffic of micro-blogging. The fact is that the Opposition faired in slightly more Parliamentary seats in the 13GE is due to the ‘Chinese Tsunami’.

Considering the ‘political sabotage’ by the Chinese of the BN’s concept of power-share since the 1955 Federal Consultative Election, UMNO did very well in Johor, Sabah and Pahang and managed to recapture the Kedah and Perak State Governments.

The fact is that 62.09% of BN votes for Parliamentary seats actually went to UMNO candidates.

The majority of  those who attended the failed Oppositions’ held ‘Black 505′ rallies to get the snowball effect for the rakyat to rise for the “Malaysian Spring” and topple the BN controlled Federal Government, are the Chinese. As the leading minority, they would not get the desired effect if the majority are not with them despite whether or not there were so-called ‘substantial increase in micro-blogging and social networking’ messages.

As they say, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. ‘Impact’, must be translated in realisable effect of support and power. Not just theoretical. - bigdogdotcom