Ku Li Sambut Suara Akar Umbi

... demi menyelamatkan Melayu dan UMNO.

Sila baca Rocky Bru di sini dan sini.

Pasquale pula dengan teori pakatan Mahathir-Ku Li-Najib di sini. Hishamuddin telah melakukan sesuatu pada masa saat penentuan terhadap kepimpinannya. Bila pula Najib?

We are here at SoPo, Shabery!

In an interview with The Star yesterday, March 20th, 2008, the new Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek acknowledged blogs as an avenue for the people to express themselves. BigDog has a posting on this here. The snippet is provided below:

Q: The new media has exploded. Are you going to engage the bloggers at all?

A: Well, I wish I could see them. But I don't know how many there are. Bloggers can be local and global. They can be everywhere and they emerge every day. They are important. In this explosion of information technology, everywhere is the centre of information. And people are free to express what they think. There is the good and bad about that. I wish we can sit down and talk to them and think openly what's best for the country. That's the bottom line.

First and foremost, congratulation to YB Ahmad Shabery Chik for your appointment as Information Minister. I hope you will bring a new life and be more receptive to the more open and new reality of the virtual side of Malaysia.

The archaic method of the past to block information is long gone. Gone are the days where newspaper is the most reliable source of news and information. Gaining influence is about winning the heart and mind of the people and it is now about winning their intellect too. I hope you are more eloquent and clear in both English and Malay than the last Information Minister:).

To answer your comment, where are we?

Let me tell you. We, the Socio-political bloggers, are agglomorated at my SoPo Sentral of Malaysia ("SoPo Sentral") blog. I can lay claim as the largest list of Malaysian socio-political bloggers (sopo).

In addition, I believe the blog's name and image reflects itself as the "Sentral Station" that is the meeting point of all "train" to take us to the sopo, including the directory of non English and non Malay blogs. Due to my limitation in languages other than English and Malay, I did not include the non English and non Malay language blogs. Nevertheless, links to the Chinese and Indian bloggers directory are provided.

SoPo Sentral attempts to list all Malaysian blogs that covers the area of politics, economics and society. Despite being an "orang UMNO", I have no biasness and am not selective in my listing against any particular political party, race, or ideology.

Generally, there are far more political blogs than dedicated blogs on economics, social, public interest, human rights, law, and other issues. While it reflects the Malaysian bloggers conciousness on politics, more dedicated blogs with a niche area of coverage should certainly be welcomed.

Since political parties, particularly the Federal level oppositions, are big users of Internet portals and blogs, a dedicated section was recently created for the websites and blogs of politicians, political parties, and their division and branches. Barisan Nasional parties are clearly far behind in this area of communication. They should buck up and not be overwhelmed in the Internet.

Since some blogs are partially sopo, meaning it covers religion, film, education and other areas but touch base on national issues, these blogs are categorised under p-SoPo.

SoPo Sentral attempts to list also websites and blogs related to NGOs, Government and other organisation relevant to socio-politics. It agglomorate the various sites and blogs of free tools for bloggers to spruce up their blog and pointers for bloggers to commercialise their blog.

SoPo Sentral is periodically updated for new addition, recategorisation and announcements of activities, petition, survey, and etc.

The current announcement is the Petition to support Mukhriz. However, please do not conclude of political biasness because this is the first time anything related to UMNO is announced. Anyone can make their announcement. Just leave your message and link on the comment section.

Updating the blog is a onerous affair and getting others to help will be great. I welcome volunteers. My condition for the volunteer, who will be included as team blog, is SoPo Sentral should be free from any biasness.

Apart from a Directory for blogs, there is a lot of room to develop the blogs into a more powerful media tool. The talk by David Sasaki to All Blogs last year during Ramadhan should open our mind to a lot more approach and new ideas to further develop blogs into a powerful and effective media to spur nation building. Search for it in the blogs of All Blogs President, Rocky and Vice President, YB Jeff Ooi.

A new approach is needed to develop the blog into another media platform that promote a more objective, mature and factually rich media platform.

I strongly believed that before we can be idealistic in our practise of democrasy, we must develop the level of education, knowledge, understand the working of the various branches of Government, develop socio-political consciousness, intellectual capacity of the populace, and the right democratic attitude. The Internet can help to play that role but more need to be done to increase the Internet penetration and IT literacy throughout the country.

The Government should accept it's presence, rather than be at war with it. Believe me, it can be beneficial to UMNO if properly used. It can transform UMNO into a more dynamic political party and even enhanced its root in the Malay culture and struggle.

For the national purpose, I trust the new Information Minister can do it.

For UMNO, it falls under the purview of Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib. Before he can formulate any Internet communication strategy, he must learn English, usage of e-mail, surfing the Internet and then read my posting Cyber Denial.

Again, we are almost all here at SoPo Sentral of Malaysia!

Private Letter on Khairy believed cause for Rafidah exclusion

The expected announcement to resign by the 24-years Ketua Wanita UMNO, Dato Seri Rafidah Aziz did not materialised. Although words are she was ready to resign after heated Wanita UMNO exco meeting yesterday evening, she may have changed her mind at the request of Wanita UMNO committee members.

Wanita UMNO in their meeting had expressed their disappointment for the exclusion of Wanita UMNO members from the new cabinet. The presence of Dato Azalina as Tourism Minister was not acknowledge as representative of Wanita UMNO. Dato Shahrizat's appointment as Minister status adviser was taken as insult.

Talk in the coffeehouses and cafes today speculated that her exclusion is related to a private letter written to the party President immediately after UMNO and Barisan Nasional's recent dismal performance in the General Election.

It is widely believed that Khairy was mentioned in the letter as one of the major reason for the poor showing. Taking the cue from past negative reaction of Abdullah whenever Khairy is raised in any discussion, briefing and reports, political pundits view this reaction from Abdullah to exclude Rafidah from the cabinet as not surprising.

Rafidah acknowledged the existence of the private 16 page letter in the press conference but refused to comment on the content of the letter.

Mukhriz Mahathir, who had earlier written a private letter requesting Abdullah's resignation, was relieved from any action by the Pemuda UMNO yesterday. His letter to the President and top party officials was photocopied and distributed to party officials. It reached the hands of bloggers and was widely distributed online.

There are many other reasons for Rafidah's exclusion. One view it as an Abdullah's attempt to purge the party of leaders from the old guard like Rafidah. She has been Ketua Wanita and Trade and Industry Minister (later International Trade and Industry Minister) since 1986.

Dato Azalina Osman, a political ally to Khairy, and Dato Dr Mashitah has been set up to take this post of Ketua and Naib Ketua Wanita UMNO. She is expected to have an uphill task to takeover the Wanita UMNO leadership. Azalina was elected on the Wanita exco as a former Ketua Puteri but has not been in camaraderie with the Wanita movement.

Abdullah's recent denial and the allegation surrounding this latest episode confirms he remain defensive on Khairy. Many insiders still believed he is in-denial of the fact that himself and Khairy were the leading factors to UMNO and BN worst showing ever.

The longer he remains in such state of denial, the longer it is for BN to recover. Many believed it will not be any longer. Abdullah is expected to have a tough time defending his Presidency in the upcoming UMNO party election.

Umno Youth decides not to take action against Mukhriz

Report taken fron The Star dated March 19th, 2008 and pictures from Jinggo:

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Youth has unanimously decided not to take action against Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir for calling on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to step down.

Its chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the movement made the decision after Mukhriz explained that his call was made in his personal letter to the Prime Minister.

The letter, which was sent to several Umno leaders, was later leaked to the public.

Happy outcome: Mukhriz speaking to a horde of newsmen after attending the Umno Youth executive council meeting at Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday.

“If the Prime Minister leaves it to us to settle the matter, we will not take any action against him.

“At this juncture, we want to move forward. It is one of the hundreds or thousands of issues that we are facing. We will take it as a lesson for us to rebuild the party,” he told reporters after the movement’s special exco meeting to discuss the general election post mortem at Menara Datuk Onn here yesterday.

On whether the letter was damaging to the Prime Minister, he said it was because of the way it was brought out in the open.

“Mukhriz has explained that it was not he who made it public. We gave him the benefit of the doubt.

“What’s important was that it was not him who made it public. It was reflecting the voice on the ground. We are more than willing to listen.”

Mukhriz expressed his relief about the decision saying that he was happy that there was space in the movement to agree to disagree on some issues.

Asked whether he would retract his call to the Prime Minister to step down, Muhkriz said:

“I have my own opinion about that. I’ve made my stand quite clearly before. I will not change my mind.”

On who had possibly made the letter public, he said: “I am not sure. What’s certain is that I’ve explained to the movement that it was not me.”

Asked whether the movement did not dare take action against Mukhriz in view of Barisan Nasional’s setback in the general election, Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the question did not arise but that there were more pressing matters.

“Mukhriz has stated his position. He has written a private letter, which was leaked, and the majority of the members of the meeting just now conveyed the message.

“In a nutshell we said it was wrong the way it was done but we have to move forward. We cannot just be stuck in this problem. Our main challenge in front of us is the Opposition, not Mukhriz,” said Khairy.

On Mukhriz refusing to retract the letter and claim that the view was not only his but also that of certain other leaders, Khairy said:

“Well that’s his view. Let him have his view. We’ll have to move on. We cannot get stuck in this because it’s counterproductive.”

Yeah ... sure, Khairy.

BigDog was there at PWTC. His blog posting here.

Kabinet Baru Pak Lah Bagaikan Titanic

Kabinet semalam, seperti dikata seorang rakan yang menalipon pagi tadi, sebagai Kabinet OKU. Nampak gaya kabinet baru ini lebih tepat digelar "Sinking Ship" Cabinet.

Susunan kabinet begitu jelas menunjukkan Pak Lah enggan bersungguh dalam memperbaiki keadaan dan masih membiarkan agenda Khairy berleluasa tanpa mengira tua dan muda. Kapal yang dikemudi Pak Lah jelas akan menghala gunong air batu tetapi enggan dilecungkan.

Berikut dipetik sepenuhnya dari blog Tangents: Restless Musings Of A Malay Mind:

Benarkah Sudah Berakhir Riwayat Politik Khairy?

Sudah pun dikemukakan petanda kekalnya pengaruh Khairy dari analisa Pak Lah akan sebab kekalahan BN. Pak Lah memberi gambaran ini kerana golongan muda Melayu menolak DEB/DPB, apabila sebenarnya Khairy dan pemesong DEB/DPB lain yang ditolak; lagi pun sudah lama disyaki Khairylah hipokrit pembenci serta musuh dalam selimut DEB/DPB. Di sini ingin diajukan sedikit 'bukti' kekalnya Khairy sebagai pengemudi pentadbiran Pak Lah berdasarkan susunan kabinet.

Melihat prestasi buruk BN pada PRU-12 dan berdasarkan desakan lantang menggesa perletakan jawatan beliau, Pak Lah beraksi dengan begitu licik sekali. Sudah kembali ahli politik yang berjaya hidup begitu lama dalam UMNO walaupun dikelilingi musuh yang berkuku-taring lebih tajam. Malang sekali yang kepintaran tersebut agak kurang dalam menangani pentadbiran negara, mahupun menguruskan pilihanraya umum, tetapi di dalam UMNO, Pak Lah tetap gagah.

Setelah menerima maklumat jelas bahawa perlindungan dan kuasa tidak rasmi yang dikurniakan beliau kepada Khairy merupakan antara tunas kekalahan BN, Pak Lah mengambil kesempatan terdekat untuk:

• Mengelak dari melantik Khairy ke jawatan kabinet.


• Membenarkan propaganda menular yang nyawa politik Khairy sudah hampir hilang di media perdana serta halaman web pro-kerajaan seperti Malaysian Insider.


• Membenarkan Pemuda UMNO memutuskan supaya Mukhriz Mahathir tidak dikenakan tindakan disiplin atas tindakan beliau menulis surat memohon perletakan jawatan Pak Lah sendiri.

Ini menunjukan seolah-olah Khairy bukan faktor dalam pentadbiran kerajaannya sekarang. Tambah pula:

• Menteri yang kurang popular seperti Rafidah Aziz dan Radzi Sheikh Ahmad digugurkan.


• General-general setia Pak Lah seperti Noh Omar diberi pangkat menteri sebagai persediaan perhimpunan agung UMNO.


• Panglima-panglima pemimpin lain seperti Shabery Cheek diberikan kedudukan menteri dalam usaha menarik sokongan mereka.


• Panglima-panglima yang sudah pasti tidak akan dapat ditarik kesetiaan kepada Pak Lah, seperti Tengku Adnan dan Jamaluddin Jarjis telah digugurkan, walaupun prestasi mereka yang lepas boleh tahan juga.


• Pemimpin UMNO yang sering lantang mengkritik dari luar seperti Shahrir Samad dan Zaid Ibrahim pula cuba didiamkan dengan kedudukan baru.


• Dibawa masuk juga sepahi upahan Muhamad Muhamad Taib sebagai menteri yang terjamin setia kerana kembalinya ke tampuk kuasa atas jasa Pak Lah.

Pemilihan kabinet Pak Lah tepat dengan tujuan mempertahankan kedudukan beliau dalam UMNO. Namun, Pak Lah mungkin terlalu sayangkan Khairy hingga tidak upaya beliau menidakkan pengaruh Khairy sama sekali. Contohnya:

• Wan Ahmad Farid, teman setia Khairy yang melicinkan pengagihan projek di Terengganu suatu masa dahulu kini dilantik menjadi Timbalan Menteri.

• Azalina, rakan sejawat Khairy semasa beliau menjadi pengacara TV dahulu, menonjol sebagai satu-satunya wakil Wanita UMNO di kabinet. Adakah ini petanda beliau bakal merampas kuasa kepimpinan wanita kelak? Khairy masih terhutang budi kepada Azalina yang lebih berhak menjadi wakil rakyat di Rembau, kampung asal-usul bapanya.

Perlantikan kabinet menunjukkan Pak Lah, dalam usaha mempertahankan hidup politiknya, sedia mengenepikan sedikit Khairy. Namun pengaruh Khairy terlihat kekal walaupun hanya ala-kadar. Mungkin perlantikan pada peringkat agensi-agensi kelak akan menonjolkan lagi tahap pengaruh Khairy pasca PRU-12; benarkah sudah dikekang, atau hanya sekadar wayang kulit sahaja beliau diketepikan dari kabinet.

Peristiwa semalam selepas pengumumman Kabinet mencetuskan peristiwa-peristiwa besar. Radzi Sheikh Ahmad sudah umum meletak jawatan Setiausaha Agong UMNO. Rafidah Aziz dijangka akan mengumumkan perletakkan jawatan sekejap masa lagi. Kemarahan Wanita UMNO begitu jelas dalam mesyuarat malam tadi.

Tengku Azlan dan Anifah Aman enggan menerima tawaran jawatan. Yang layak naik, tidak dinaikkan. Kemarahan Sabah pun begitu jelas dengan Shafie Apdal dikatakan akan menolak juga bila sampai masanya. Mereka dijanjikan lebih banyak jawatan Menteri tetapi pembohong besar Islam Hadhari tidak megkotakan.

Semalam Mukhriz terlepas dari sebarang tindakan oleh Pemuda UMNO, walaupun bertubi-tubi kritikan dan hangat perdebatan di dalam mesyuarat Pemuda UMNO. Semasa Hishamuddin mengumumkan, begitu jelas di TV, bunyi orang ramai bertepok tangan. Boleh dikata, Mukhriz adalah Leonard De Caprio bagi adegan filem ini. Hanya diharap politiknya tidak menemui nasib yang sama.

Balaci Pak Lah sudah menunjukkan usaha untuk mengetepikan usaha Tengku Razaleigh yang menulis 18,000 surat kepada pemegang-pemegang jawatan UMNO untuk mengadakan Mesyuarat Luar Biasa bagi membincangkan kekalahan terok UMNO di PRU12. Akar umbi mahukan Mesyuarat ini.

Nampak gaya, tidak mahu ia mendengar isi hati rakyat dan ahli grassroot UMNO. Teringat penumpang dek kapal bawah yang tidak dibenarkan naik ke atas. Namun, satu acara menyambut kepulangan Tengku Razaleigh sedang diatur dan akar umbi UMNO Kelantan sudah melaungkan Bakal Perdana Menteri Malaysia.

Sementara itu, barbarian sedang menunggu dipintu luar kerana Anwar sudah umum akan bertanding Parlimen Bandar Tun Abdul Razak menggantikan Khalid Ibrahim. Dia bercita-cita dan mengaku dialah Perdana Menteri yang menunggu. Apa kata Senator Muhammad Muhammad Taib dicalonkan melawan Anwar?

Menarik melihat kedua-dua mereka membuka pekong lawannya nanti. Masaalahnya sudah telah terlebih character assisination terhadap Anwar. Orang hendak tengok bukti - audio, video, dan gambar - untuk percaya sebarang tuduhan. Macam mana pun, media Pak lah suka overdo. Kemungkinan masuk wakil kedua "all seeing eye" ke dalam Parlimen Malaysia.

Dengan begitu besar kesilapan langkah Pak Lah mahu membolot kuasa seorang, tidak tolak kemungkinan akan ada MP yang tidak berpuas hati lompat kapal ke PKR. Walaupun Anwar kaki temberang yang besar dan ini mungkin psy-op sahaja, ianya tidak harus diketepikan begitu sahaja dengan majoriti Parlimen dalam keadaan di hujung tanduk.

Masaalahnya pembodek dan pengampu yang perasan diri mereka pejuang bangsa dan khayal di dalam dunia awang-awang konon mempertahankan khalifah. Terimalah kenyataan jemaah sudah tidak mahu bermakmumkan Imam Hadhari, walau bagaimana cemerlang, gemilang dan terbilang sekalipun. Kepimpinan itu berdasarkan pilihan ramai. Mempertahankan kepimpinan yang bercanggah dengan intipati Al Quran yang menyuruh amar makruf nahi mungkar itu haram.

Jawapan logik yang boleh difikirkan hanyalah mereka ini ingin merasa pengalaman tenggelam dalam kapal mewah semacam filem Hollywood, Titanic. Mungkin juga mereka mahu melihat dan melukis sendiri Kate Winslett dalam keadaan telanjang. Sekarang pun kecurangan Pak Lah sekeluarga telah telanjang bulat bagaikan Maharaja yang tidak memakai pakaian.

Denial Will Be Fatal ...

Novus Ordo Seclorum and The All Seeing Eye

By Afterdark
MyKMU

In 1999, I fight for Tun Mahathir through my AnwarGate website because I was at that time worried that the event unfolding was part of the Freemasons plan under their global strategy to create "The World of Antichrist" or better known as "New World Order".

At the age 0f 24 then and having read too much about the Freemasons and the Illuminati, I was glad to see that the Reformasi Movement finally defeated and we had survived unlike some of our Asian neighbors especially Indonesia. Despite the wave of protests against Tun Mahathir, BN still secure more than 2/3 of the Parliamentary seats and no one had died in any riot.

When Pak Lah takes over the number one post, I have bad feeling in my gut that the Freemasons might come back with another plan. But as I look around the people next to him my suspicion gradually diminished because I told myself there was no one around Pak Lah's cabinet who had similar "signs" of being a recruit of the Freemasons.


All political figures in the cabinet have a profile which makes them highly unlikely to be the representative of the 'the eye of Horus' (the Illuminati Symbol which I found no surprise to see the exact resemblance to the Keadilan logo).

So I closed down AnwarGate and get myself a rest. No worry there. I mean, if they want to create another ‘Anwar’ then it'll probably take a lifetime for another ‘fake politician’ to position himself as the 2nd man of UMNO like what Anwar had done..

Then came Khairy Jamaluddin.. Spending most of his life in outside Malaysia and only been here for a couple of years.

I have to tell you though, I have to give credit where credit is due. Where Anwar has failed in a slim margin, Khairy has succeed in flying colors. Who would think that simply by marrying a PM's daughter will provide a speedier and simpler way to put his self 2nd to the highest office in this nation?


It took almost like a lifetime for Anwar to place himself as major player in the government, but it only took only a few years for Khairy to virtually put himself as the ‘ruler by proxy’ in Putrajaya.

If any Freemasons out there reading this, then I do say my hat off to you guys. You guys have done your homework studying the strongest and weakest point of our Prime Minister and your million dollars investment in studying Human Science is finally paying off in Malaysia.

But whereas I do admire the way you have extensively study our Malay’s mind for the purpose of bringing us to our knees, please bear in mind that the fat lady hasn’t sung yet because with Allah as our guide, you haven’t seen the best of us united especially when stood together against those who try to take over our rights.

To all my fellow UMNO,

Knowledge is power and as we prepare ourselves to do what we are about to do for the survival of UMNO and BARISAN NASIONAL, we must also equip ourselves with a better understanding of the real enemies who as we speak, are monitoring our every moves and predicting how our mind works for the sake of increasing their victory over us.

All must be told about the external-forces who travel all over the world and spending billions of dollars to recruit and fund those amongst our race to serve their ambition for the “Novus Ordo Seclorum” (translated as: "A new order of the ages"). In the New World Order, Malaysia shall no longer be ruled by Muslims. Absolute secularism and the teachings to worship worldly possession shall be disguised as equality in meritocracy.

The separation of Faith in governance shall be implemented to inflict the same damage upon our Religious Institution similar to what they had done the Churches in the West. When the time has come for them to fulfill their prophecy, deaths and suffering on all human beings shall be inflicted and then followed by a fake promise of peace to those willing to abandon God and kneeling before the one leader of the world (dajal a.k.a antichrist a.k.a “the all seeing eye”).

The Freemason’s symbol of “the all seeing eye” represents the description of the antichrist they are waiting to take the throne and rule all human beings. The ‘eye’ is singular in nature which fits the description of our own Quranic version of “Dajal Bermata Satu”.

Have you heard the popular phrase of “selling your soul to the devil”? Well actually you can’t sell your soul or go to hell on contractual basis because only God shall judge us of our next place in the afterlife. But the phrase itself is a symbolic reference to those who would make a ‘contract’ with the Freemasons to serve them in return of fame, wealth and power.

If you breached your contract with them then you can expect to be dead in a couple of months, and not only will you be dead, the public humiliation that follows will also put your family in shame for generation to come. So you see, the Freemasons really know how to strike fear into one’s heart.

It’s kind of difficult to point finger of which person are now serving the Freemason. However, servants of the Freemason are said compelled to leave blueprints to their plans "hidden in plain view’. From messages delivered to the masses through the media and films, we are repeatedly reminded by the illuminati themselves that they are controlling us and are omnipresent. There were various symbols to choose from – the Goat Head, the Horned Star, Cross upside down, the Hexagram, the Obelisk etc.

But the most powerful symbol of all is the “all seeing eye” which represents the physical manifestation of an Antichrist. Some also said that the eye also represents Lucifer seeing all and is usually atop a pyramid, the symbol for a top-down command and control system of compartmentalization ((mal ochio = this object is regarded by all Satanists as the symbol of Lucifer.”- William J. Schnoebelen).

It kind of eerie to see lots of Muslims proudly displaying and wearing a symbol so similar to the “eye” nowadays. Whether it’s just a coincidence or not, of all other ideas Anwar can come up with while designing the logo, it makes no sense to me that he choose one which has no relation to our religion and historical background. Even PAS and MCA symbol I can easily relate to compared to Keadilan.

To all my fellow friends in UMNO/BARISAN,

Should we decided to support the notion that Pak Lah should step down from cabinet to save what is left of UMNO today, we must make sure that whatever we do must not aggravate the division in UMNO should Pak Lah refuse to step down. We have to make clear the boundaries of which our conduct and manners shall be dictated.

Since we had already agreed that the roots of the problem is Pak Lah and his son in law Khairy. Then we should avoid hurting too many people which shall caused further division amongst us.

Our top priority at the time being is to politely request Pak Lah to step down voluntarily and not the whole administration. If we bash too many people at the same time then we will risk a “civil war” between all UMNO members and possibly causing division amongst all BN party components.

If we failed to observe our manners, this movement which is now intended to save UMNO will instead act as a catalyst in destroying UMNO. And if we don’t watch our mouth, then we might accidentally touches others sensitivities which can lead to racial tensions.

So please practice proper ethics when discussing or promoting our ideas to others. The idea behind this movement is noble. Should we be able to use our brain rather than our brawn, God willing then that no Freemasons can manipulate us to serve their own agenda.

Cyber Denial: A Time For Honest Reevaluation IV

Barisan Nasional refused to acknowledge the power of the Internet and this has come at it's own peril.

There are those that claim that this is the first time the Internet has affected national election. With Internet penetration and usage in the rural and non urban area still relatively low, it is could not be primary reason but came in tandem with other political factors.

For an honest reevaluation, two articles related to the Internet and blogs are republished below. First is a New Straits Times article:

Cyber Clout

By Sonia Ramachandran and Audrey Vijayndren
News Straits Times
16 March 2008

Eighty-five out of every 100 Malaysians carry a mobile phone and almost half the population surfs the internet. Was the impact of this alternative media in the general election as big as is claimed by some people? SONIA RAMACHANDRAN and AUDREY VIJAINDREN surf the sea of opinions and facts to find out

THE more frequently a person surfs the internet to read election-related news, the more likely he is to vote for the opposition.

This is what a survey on the role and influence of the Internet on voters conducted in 1999 found.

This finding was echoed in a similar survey during the 2004 general election.

And this is probably what happened in the 2008 general election, especially with the SMS (short messaging service) frenzy joining the bandwagon.

Politicians and voters cite the alternative media —the Internet and the SMS —as a contributory influence on the voting trend this time around.

In the 1999 survey — carried out during the general election period — 85.2 per cent of those polled said the Internet would play a major role in the outcome.

The 2004 survey too showed that whichever party was adept at tapping the power of the internet, including online journalism, as well as SMSes, would garner more votes, especially among the younger generation..

Almost 40 per cent of the respondents in the 1999 survey agreed the Internet had influenced their voting choices.

The surveys were led by Associate Professor Dr.

Baharuddin Aziz of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) who is currently tabulating the results for this year’s survey.

Baharuddin expects the 2008 survey to show public political speeches to be the main source of information for the voters.

The Internet, he said, played a role in relaying the date, time and place of the event to the public.

On the swing to the opposition at the recent election, based on his observations, Baharuddin said the results would likely show the Internet played a role.

“Voters felt the government was strong and capable but certain arrogant utterances by some ministers and parliamentarians which were posted on the Internet upset and disappointed them. So, they chose to vote for the opposition.

“Images posted on Internet of Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) and the dispersion of crowds during demonstrations also had a negative impact on the people. It just made the public feel lousy,” he said.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia academician Datuk Prof Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said the government was totally unprepared for the impact of the alternative media of the internet and SMS during the general election.

A New Sunday Times street poll also found sentiment among the general public was that the government had underestimated the power of the alternative media.

And former Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said Barisan Nasional component parties had not fully utilised the alternative media to their advantage.

“They only tried to shut down what they thought was very critical of the government and even tried to block the blogs.

“Some of the SMSes are also misleading and false, but people still believe them.” On the recent election, Baharuddin said visuals of the ‘ker is’ wielding incident at the Umno general assembly posted on the Internet also had an impact.

“Imagine these images being distributed to Chinese school teachers the day before election. Some of those we spoke to felt that as an education minister (Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein), should have been more cautious. ” Another example, he said was the Lingam video tape.

“If the tape was not posted over the Internet, it would not have attracted so much attention. ” Bahar uddin’s findings from the 2004 survey on the role and influence of the Internet and the SMS found that 81.9 per cent of respondents were of the opinion the Internet was an important alternative channel for political and current issues.

Interestingly, 32 per cent said the Internet had influenced their voting choice while 61.7 per cent said it had no bearing. on their choice.

The survey polled 600 people aged 21 and above in peninsular Malaysia on election day. Others in the team were associate professor Abdullah @ Kassim Mohamad, Mohammad Yaacob and Zulkifli Abd. Latiff, all from UiTM.

The 2004 survey found 35 per cent had never received any politics-related messages while 8.7 per cent said they received such messages very often.

But on the whole, 73.2 per cent claimed they were not influenced by “political” SMSs. They had mostly used the SMS to check the electoral register for their polling centres.

“The respondents added they paid more attention to messages on the date and venue of political speeches instead of those that involved jokes,” says Baharuddin.

The survey also found that those between the ages of 20 and 35 were the most frequent users of the Internet and SMS.

“The Internet and SMS are important to mobilise people to attend public political speeches and to raise funds. ” Although in 2004, the Internet and SMS did not have a profound influence, Baharuddin said it sensitised people to issues.

In the 1999 survey, the Internet ranked third after public political speeches and television as a source of information.

Newspapers ranked fourth.

In 2004, however, the Internet ranked fifth as a source of information even though the number of users increased.

“This was because of the ‘Pak Lah’ (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) factor.

“People were looking forward to giving him the mandate because of his ‘Mr Clean’ image,” says Bahar uddin This time, the situation was different. Academician Shamsul said the government should learn from the experience and to become “AD and not BC”.

“This is because the government is made up of BC (Before Computers) representatives.

The government has to be AD (After Digital),” he said.

Shamsul, who is a current affairs commentator as well as founder-director of UKM’s Institute of Ethnic Studies, said the government was not prepared to respond to the allegations made against it through this medium.

How deep was the influence of this alternative media? “It allowed people to make informed choices which were expressed through the ballot box. The problem, however, is the quality of information provided.

“The public accepts this information as the truth and the government is not able to contradict it due to its BC mentality.

“Whether the alternative media had a big or small impact, I don’t know. But it did definitely play a role.” in this general election,” he said.

Another factor was the scope of this media.

“Everyone in the world can participate in it because it’s borderless. This includes the thousands of Malaysian students abroad as well as those who had migrated and were just venting their frustration.”

*BC (Before Computers); AD (After Digital)

The second is a Malaysia Today article below:

A Cyber Prescription For Barisan Nasional...

Malaysia Today:
Sunday, 16 March 2008

As BN reeled from the absymal results from the freshly concluded GE, we spoke with a cyber strategist from Cleat & Clew Communication on a possible prescription:

"Anyone here is not blind to the fact that Malaysians are increasingly relying on the internet or audio digital technological devices like handphones to express themselves, create or maintaining social circles. This new communication methodology is changing the way Malaysians see themselves or communicate with their families, friends and the world.

One of the things political parties would do well is to connect with their electorate on the internet and use it as a platform to examine reaction and changes in society's thinking, concerns and hopes.

BN would be well advised to seriously re-examine their communication strategy with a focus on uncluttered dissemination of information about the future and most important of all, devise active cyber engagements with their audience and stakeholders on a listening and reciprocity basis.

As an important component of this age of information, the internet is spurring broad societal changes. The results of this GE has demonstrated exactly that. More people, especially young adults highly prize the form of privacy, fast, 'unpropaganda' and easy communication unfamiliar to the BN.

The computer, along with the internet, which extends its technological cross platforms to mobile devices has given even the young students or working people virtual lives and egos distinctly separate from those of their parents and siblings. For many people, the internet has become an identity shaping and psyche changing vehicle. Way ahead of the BN, the opposition parties has latched on to the internet in a fierce way to reach and change perceptions of voters.

BN would do well to fill this fast widening communication gap with voters quickly in time for the 13th GE. Thus far, BN's attempts to reach out to voters on the internet has produced more minuses than pluses.

Engaging voters on the internet is a time consuming process and requires unique listening skillsets to get messages across. For instance, one cannot just expect to set up a website and think that it has succeeded in sending its message across. Unfortunately for BN, engagement with the Malaysians on the internet goes beyond that simplistic thinking.

Internet and handphone are not alone in this silent multimedia phenomenon. Abetted by Astro, the result is that the makciks and pakciks at home in the kampung are connected more than ever to national and daily issues, unlike previously in the last decade. Internet, instant messaging, e-mail and the likes have given a platform to its users to assert their voice and thoughts, creating their own inventive, quirky messages.

This phenomenon has also essentially hide the users and their personal opinions from the plain sight of BN, resulting in it being beaten up by a 'tsunami'.

This GE has demonstrated how the voters have become more alienated from BN than ever in history. Malaysians are now more connected than ever, and also far more independent in seeking multi-perspectival information rather than unquestioningly lap up the mainstream newspapers' 'propaganda'.

To be fair, BN has always been voicing its concerns to all about the nation’s well-being, tolerance and harmony. However the rise of the internet offers an unexpected twist in that dynamic. It will be an extremely sharp learning curve for BN if it ventures to re-look into its communications strategy and also quickly educate its politicians about learning to engage with their voters in the cyberspace where everybody is equally special.

Better do it quick, before the people become unaware of BN's presence as they gravitate to something newer."

My final word. Please cut the arrogance. Listen, learn, answer and explain sensibly. In this new knowledge economy, information and communication cmes at a press of a button. This is irreversible. Appreciate it or demise.