October 14, 2012
Barisan Nasional is now Social Media and Internet savvy
by Mohd Farhan Darwis@http://www.themalaysianinsider.com
Content by Barisan Nasional cybertroopers and across social media platforms will determine the ruling coalition’s success in the next general elections, says UMNO supreme council member Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
The popular Deputy Minister of Higher Education said Barisan Nasional had learned an important lesson from its worst electoral performance in Election 2008 due to its failure to conquer the cyber-world which was then dominated by parties that eventually formed Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
“We were not there (cyber world) in 2008… we handicap. We lost at that time, because of that we lost young voters.But now Barisan Nasional is prepared, we have a team of bloggers and new media known as “BN cybertroopers”, the difference now is the content of the media,” the Temerloh MP told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview.
Barisan Nasional lost its customary two-thirds majority in Parliament and lost four states PR before Perak fell back into its fold in 2009. Part of the defeat was attributed to Barisan Nasional snubbing social media websites in 2008 when a growing number of voters were internet-savvy.
Saifuddin, who often comes out with views which differ from other UMNO leaders, explained that the Barisan Nasional and UMNO’s top leadership are now seen to be active in social websites such as Twitter and Facebook.
“We look at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, he’s very active with the
new media as general elections draw near, compared to previous Barisan Nasional leaders.It can be said that the majority of leaders now are active in using the new media,” said the Deputy Higher Education Minister.
He stressed that Barisan Nasional and PR’s new media unit are equally matched in strength, and they only differed in the contents of their blogs and websites.
“We are equally strong…but the contents will determine voters’ choice.If they (voters) feel our content is good, they choose us; but if PR is good, they choose PR,” he said, adding that Barisan Nasional is now starting to realise that the great influence of social media would determine polls result.
Saifuddin said that 90 per cent of the youth learn about the country’s political developments from the new media, in reference to a study by a Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia (UiTM) political science lecturer.
According to the study by Prof Dr Shaharuddin Badaruddin, 60 per cent obtain information from alternative media, 25 per cent from the mainstream media such as television, and only 15 per cent obtain political information through newspapers.
This proves that the contents of alternative media, which are more convincing and more “persuasive” in nature, will enable political parties to win votes and support, Saifuddin said.
With young voters and middle-class voters making up 30 per cent of the electoral roll, they are likely to determine the victory of political parties that contest in the general elections.
He said that with the changes and access to social media, the “rural” and “urban” terms are merely physical differences.
“Rural and urban are just physical differences, but there’s no ‘rural’ term for social media…the difference is only the speed and access to internet facilities only.”
Saifuddin said the demands made by middle-class voters are getting more and more complicated.“Key issues such as basic infrastructure is no longer the main issue for them, because of that Fardhu Ain. The issues that they raised are fardhu Kifayah issues, every ruler will give basic facilities to the people, but how many are prepared to give media freedom, give attention to basic human rights and clean and fair elections.”
He said that various schemes announced by Najib during the tabling of the Budget 2013 such as the Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia and book vouchers are not adequate to gain the support of this group.
“They receive the government handouts, but they want more than that because they think such actions would be carried out by any party in power. Their demands are more towards basic human rights, freedom of speech and so on.”
Saifuddin saw Najib’s reforms in matters of freedom of speech, right to peaceful assembly and the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) would potentially draw support from this group of voters.
“The transformation carried out by Najib does not normally come from UNNO leaders.But he is more progressive and is a reformist.”
That makes the next GE exciting and challenging. It will be a battle of ideas, programmes, personalities, and communications. UMNO-Barisan still controls the airwaves and the mainstream media. This will be an added advantage to Najib because their message can reach the rural heartland, which will determine the final outcome of GE-13.
Will GE-13 be clean, fair and transparent? No, there will be massive cheating as SPRM will close one eye. Still, I think, Najib won’t get his 2/3rd majority in Parliament. That means he can be replaced by UMNO membership.
BN realised a bit too late the significance & effective power of the AM mainly because it was lulled by its control over the MSM. It was not that the PR was more savvy on AM but rather it had no other alternative. Now that the BN has wakened up to the importance of the AM, it should counter all the lies & half-truths spread in the AM. True, Najib is progressive but all his transformation policies need time to bear fruits and tangible benefits. Hence, BN should not rush to go for GE13 – have it in March 2013 and all the PR controlled states will join in unles they are so desparate now to force for earlier GE by dissolving their own DUNs well before that date.
Talking about two top leaders in Malaysia, Najib and Muhyiddin. Najib is anytime better than Muhyiddin. The problem is when Malaysian lessen the majority of UMNO of winning the next GE, Najib gets the kick on the butt. Hence, we are replaced by the second man, Muhyiddin, which would the worst leader that Malaysia is going to have. Either way, Malaysian are going to be sodomised big time. Most children by then will know how to spell s.o.d.o.m.y.
Now, how to kick both out of the game? Beats me.
Najib, has been making a lot of popular moves and political gains in the scene with a lot of goodies. But… sadly, Najib still do not know what is the baggage that he is carrying. If Najib would have dump his baggage, that would gives him some extra political mileage. I am taking about his spouse. Sigh… every “successful” man has a women behind. Najib achieve PM status because of his sparring partner since day one. Since Najib has reach the peak of Mount Everest, the same sparring partner will “accidentally” push him over the cliff. Will Najib call for “talak” before the accident happen.
What a sad ending… Good script for a movie.
To be fair I have tried reading some of umno blogs and FB They are terrible with nothing but slander of personalities and some are outright lies Some of the lesser known umno blogs even advocate hatred and violence against pakatan peopleRecently I read one blog asking people to throw rotten eggs at anwar if he comes into town on one of his jelajah tours!
I ll just stick to din Merican,Sak,Aspan and the occasional PAS blog like Sallehudin and Ameno
Saifuddin is up the creek by his cheek, if he really wants to know the efficacy of UMNO war in cyberspace. Social Media? Like FB and Twitter? Only for good for trumpeting up Book of Records by using bots. Hey, we’re talking about a low-class, already expired by dates sort of informatics and media propaganda here. They are about as sophisticated as the folks talking to their favorite kampong kerbau.
Get real, the trash by Establishment hacks, like some here, read like fairy tales and the opposite of Aesop’s fables. We call it CyberTrash.
In an internet savvy environment, issues can be seen in a more transparent manner. Facts are more easily accessible to the public. The party that can argue and present its case based on facts will be able to convince the people. This is where UMNO/BN lose out as they can only be rhetorical but will never be able to ‘menegakkan benang basah’.
Sorry lah… if Dato Saifuddin Abdullah thinks the likes of @papagomo @macfaisal @tankengliang etc will win votes, I think he better think again and again… these people are actually liabilities to UMNO/BN spurting out wild stories, allegations, fitnah and four-letter-words… people don’t fall for such rubbish and people are not so stupid either!
I am really shocked at the amount of slanderous tales and wild stories churned out everyday by these UMNO/BN cybertroopers…
I dare say they are more of a liability than an asset to UMNO/BN in winning votes!
Hussin and Hamid inside Dato’s Din Merican’s blog will win votes or swing voters to BN? Sorrylah Dato Saifuddin, it only solidify our negative opinion of people associated with Putrajaya…. errr Putarjaya…. only if UMNO/BN has 3-4 of Walla, CL Familiaris, Tok Cik, Frank, Mr Bean, then I would vouch for Dato Saifuddin’s POV, otherwise keep on dreamin’ Dato…
Here is for intent & purpose, a BN member that has some clarity interms of intent & purpose… Alas, they are an endangered species within BN ecosystem…
I have seen a number of debates between BN and PR (KJ, u are tryin too hard – RR wasn’t even tryin hard and hands down, he thump ya twice) and credit due – this dato was by far, the best from BN camp, by a long mile. So good (respective of the other BN rep incl KJ) that the PR camp offer him outright to join PR camp upfront. Yup – an endagered species, indeed.
Now if you have the money there are many Media Consultants who are ready to spin for you.