Monday 24 March 2008

Bloggers have changed the face of Malaysian politics


Bloggers have changed the face of Malaysian politics and become a vocal group that the government has to deal with, says media analyst and blogger Nuraina Samad.

"Many bloggers who turned to opposition politics before the last elections won the seats they contested,” she said.

Many of these bloggers took up the issues people were talking about before and during the elections which were totally ignored by he mainstream media.

“Despite this, the points raised became major issues among the people during the election campaign, with the government parties forced to address these issues that had been blacked out in their media.”

Nuraina, was among the bloggers interviewed by AFP in reponse to the statement of the new information minister, Shabery Cheek , who said he wanted to reach out to bloggers.

Ahmad Shabery said he is "trying to build a bridge between the government and the people so that we can have a two-way dialogue — and bloggers are a key part of this."

Wellknown blogger Ahirudin Attan of rocky'sbru, who met with Ahmad Shabery on Friday, said the offer of talks with bloggers needed to reflect the political will of the government.

“We welcome the government’s move to engage bloggers but we are not in any hurry to meet them,” said Ahirudin, who is National Alliance of Bloggers president.

“The success of the talks will depend on what kind of mandate he has from the cabinet,” he said of Cheek’s proposal.

“He is going to be acting against the popular stand of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that bloggers are a nuisance.”

Read the AFP report In shift, Malaysia reaches out to bloggers here.

1 comment:

.. said...

kak ton, way to go Rocky...FINALLY, the Govt recognises the power of bloggers - way long overdue. With MSM printing loads of rubbish, who doesnt turn to blogs or the net for alternative information. Even Anwar has friendster, myspace, etc.. which is more than an average person in profiling. Unless and untill MSM stops rubbish printing, the net will remain stronger by the day. AND, yes, no one should be in hurry to talk to the gomen, not after the poor treatment given earlier. The dinosaurs are finally waking, but I think they have tons to catch up, dont you?