Politics 101 Malaysia

Raja Petra Kamarudin has agreed to post bail after meeting his wife Marina Lee Abdullah at the Sungai Buloh prison this morning.

Marina is expected to arrive in the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court soon to post bail.

Raja Petra, who has been charged for sedition, had opted to go to prison instead of paying the RM5,000 bail two days ago, which he said he could not afford.

Hearing has been fixed from Oct 6 to 10 and Raja Petra would have to remain in custody until the hearing date in five months’ time should he decide not to post bail. ”Continued”

by Soon Li Tsin, malaysiakini, Apr 14.

Selangor state executive councillor Teresa Kok is not pleased with Malay daily Utusan Malaysia for making her an ‘easy target’ over the modern pig farm project fiasco.

She criticised the paper for taking her blog comments out of context and making the modern pig farm issue in Selangor “ugly and distasteful to the Malay community.”

“I am now reluctant to take interviews from Utusan. On one hand we wish we could reach out to the Malay readers but on the other, our comments are being twisted and turned by them. I think whatever I say now will be used against me,” she said.

The proposed RM100 million hi-tech pig farm in Selangor at Ladang Tumbuk in the Kuala Langat district received massive coverage in the local Malay newspapers. ”Continued”

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said his “biggest mistake” in disastrous elections was to ignore cyber-campaigning on the Internet which was seized by the opposition.

The powerful Barisan Nasional coalition suffered its worst-ever results in March 8 polls that left five states and a third of parliamentary seats in opposition hands.

The opposition, which was largely ignored by government-linked mainstream media, instead waged an enormously successful online campaign using blogs, news websites and SMS text messages.

“We certainly lost the Internet war, the cyber-war,” Abdullah said in in a speech to an investment conference, reports AFP. ”Continued”

Malaysia’s new information minister has pledged not to impose curbs on bloggers, who have been accused by other government officials of spreading lies and undermining public stability.

Internet commentators played a key role in recent general elections by catering to voters who wanted an alternative source of news besides television and newspapers, Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek told AP late on Friday.

‘If there is something newsworthy, I don’t see anything wrong in them posting it,’ the national news agency Bernama and New Straits Times daily quoted Ahmad Shabery as saying. ‘Everyone has the freedom to use the blogs as an information distribution centre.’ ”Continued”

by Dean Johns, malaysiakini, Mar 12.

Congratulations to the parties, candidates and supporters of Barisan Rakyat on the results of the 12th general election. The outcome was more exciting and encouraging than even the most optimistic of us could have dared hope for.

election voter 2008 vote ballot boxIt was a stunning moral victory against seemingly impossible odds. And it was only these outrageous odds in Barisan Nasional’s favour - from massive gerrymandering of electorates to its manipulation of the mainstream media - that denied the nation the change of government it sorely needs and has now shown that it dearly desires.

BN may have kept its grip on power for now, but five years of government by a long-ruling regime that knows it needs to reform itself or die, with a resurgent opposition that’s increasingly ready to put it out of its misery, may prove a salutory transitional stage in Malaysia’s political evolution. ”Continued”

 by Lee Siew Lian, NST.

ON Saturday night, as he flew over the Indian subcontinent, a Malaysia Airlines pilot asked for the regular update on weather conditions at home. What he received from Malaysian air traffic control included unexpected news — that three states had swung to the opposition.

The updates had obviously been culled from Internet news websites, as official results had yet to be released at the time.

So great was the demand for news of the results that online news portals such as Malaysiakini and the new Malaysian Insider, were overwhelmed and crashed on Saturday night.

A bit player in the 2004 elections, the Internet in Malaysia came of age with the 12th general election. ”Continued”

Kit Siang’s blog has been down for awhile, not from cyber attacks but from traffic exceeding the hosting quota. 

On elections night, traffic peaked at nearly 40,000 unique visitors b4 it went down.

Steps are being taken to get the blog online again. May take 2-3 days.

By Bill Tarrant, Reuters.

Malaysia’s weak opposition was up against a hostile mainstream media and restrictive campaign rules, but it can chalk up much of its stunning success in Saturday’s election to the power of cyberspace.

Voters exasperated with the unvarnished support of the mainstream media for the ruling National Front furiously clicked on YouTube and posted comments with popular bloggers about tales of sex, lies and videotapes in the run-up to Saturday’s election.

Jeff Ooi, a 52-year-old former advertising copywriter who made his name writing a political blog, “Screenshots” (www.jeffooi.com) won a seat in northern Penang state for the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). ”Continued”

Malaysia goes to the polls next month and this time the campaign is going online, as opposition parties turn to blogs, SMS and YouTube to dodge a virtual blackout on mainstream media.

Major newspapers and television stations — many partly owned by parties in the ruling coalition — are awash with flattering stories on the government and its achievements ahead of March 8 general elections.

The opposition parties rate barely a mention, but thanks to the Internet they have begun campaigning feverishly in cyberspace with the aim of reaching young, urban, educated voters.

"They control the television but we’ve got YouTube now," said 31-year-old Lee Sean Li, an accountant who avidly surfs the Net for alternative news and complains there are only negative glimpses of the opposition in the main media. ”Continued”