Malaysians and the power of new media

Malaysians were recently jolted with the "Muslims-only launderette" episode in Muar, Johor that most felt highlighted the insensitivity of some to the feelings of the country's plural society. 

The launderette owner was at the receiving end, particularly from the netizens, with many taking a stand that the owner's policy was racist and discriminatory in nature. 

Yet many also begged to differ. Some asked what racism were they talking about? They felt it was the right of the business owners to decide on their clientele and questioned whether it was wrong to promote cleanliness as prescribed by their religion? Also, why it is not seen as an act of racism when the other races do the same?

The matter did not end with the launderette. A beauty saloon in Seremban 2 with a banner that read “Bumiputera Owned” and “Waiting Room available for Muslim women” also courted unwarranted attention as well from netizens, but to a lesser extent. 

The power of the new media 

One thing that can be observed from both episodes is that the public's fast and furious reaction over the cyber realm adds to the strain in the community that is diverse in race, religion, and culture. The reaction is seen as the collective opinion of the people; justified or otherwise. And all these are happening because of the new forms of media that are now seen as indispensable by the newer generation. 

Dr Mohd Khairie Ahmad, a multimedia and communication technology expert, noted that racial issues were nothing new in the country that is diverse in its racial composition. What is new is that new media on many occasions has helped create a storm-in-a-teacup or blow matters out of proportion.

“New media could easily make a molehill into a mountain. New media is more personal in nature, and interactive whereby people could exchange comments and debate, and is enriched with features like video or even ‘live streaming’. It reaches out to a large audience within a short span of time, thus drawing reactions in big numbers,” said the lecturer and a fellow at Universiti Utara Malaysia's Advanced Communication Research Unit to Bernama recently. 

He added though all everyone received the same information that became viral in the social media, their understanding and interpretation of the content is varied and often in a different context. 

“While we cannot stop the community from having different views and interpretations, social media users have to be media literate and adopt self-regulation and self-censorship. When one receives a message or a post that has gone viral, one has to think over the information rationally. 

“To be media literate, the community needs maturity in evaluating the information at hand whether it is reliable and is worth sharing to avoid negative implications to the society as not everyone could comprehend information the same way,” he explained.

Niche market 

Elaborating further, Mohd Khairie gave the example of the launderette business that was meant for a specific clienteles and does not pose a problem to anyone. However, the way the matter was played up and made viral has successfully created public consternation and scorn.

The launderette owner may want to serve a group or has plans to carve out a niche market for himself. This was his business strategy and it is not meant to discriminate others, he explained.

He also drew an analogy with many job adverts in local dailies that reserved jobs for people from certain ethnic groups. He pointed out that that they are more discreet in their approach, where instead of stating the desired ethnicity of the applicant, they state the ability to converse in the language identified with a particular ethnic group. 

“This is often done by business owners who want to cater for a market segment or be creative in surviving within a highly competitive market. Real estate advertisements too state certain portion of the properties are ‘reserved for Bumiputera’, but they are not viewed with dismay as they are gazetted under the laws,” he said. 

"The same goes for Muslim friendly launderette. Maybe there is demand from Muslims for a launderette that caters for their needs.

“Hence, in a multiracial and religious community, we have to be more open and positive and avoid talking of discrimination and racism without appreciating the genuine reasons behind the stories that had gone viral…Issues like this have been cropping up especially with the 14th general election getting closer. We have to be wiser in differentiating between business strategy and sensitive issues relating to race, religion, culture and etc,” he said adding that any sensitive subjects should be reported to the authorities to ensure the issue is not blown out of proportion or taken out of context. 

Dwelling into the truth

On the efficiency of sebenarnya.my portal created to counter false news, Mohd Khairie, while agreeing it was a good initiative, felt the portal needs to cover more grounds encompassing politics, education, social issues, religion, and others. 

“Moreover, the issue of contention today is not fake news but the misinterpretation or misrepresentation of the issues over social media by the public. On how they understand, view and digest the issue… whether it is true or false, that is a different thing altogether. 

“The way I see it today, the information may be genuine but (is) delivered with a slant that leads to varying interpretation and has the potential to cause problems. This is why the public has to be media literate and adopt self-regulation and self-censorship so that they could evaluate the information and the consequences if (it) is shared with others or made viral,“ he said. 

Meanwhile, Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) Vice President Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman noted that the haste to share information without verifying the facts and making use of social media as their sole reference point is worrying. 

“If this continues, I fear that there would be disharmony in the society, especially when it involves issues relating to race, religion and etc.

“As an example, those who own (a) business may have their own target clientele and strategy, but when they are taken out of context and goes viral they will create misunderstanding and apprehension in society,” he said adding that the authorities have to put down their foot down on this matter. 

Mohd Yusof proposed that regulations be introduced to manage the problem and the awareness campaign enhanced to educate the community on the dangers of sharing unverified information that were detrimental to societal harmony and national security.

- Bernama