blogging in malaysia

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The Journal of International Communication

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Blogging in Malaysia

SANDRA SMELTZER

To cite this article: SANDRA SMELTZER (2008) Blogging in Malaysia, The Journal of InternationalCommunication, 14:1, 28-45, DOI: 10.1080/13216597.2008.9674720

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2/19

H o g g i n g in M a l a y s i a

H o p e

f o r

a

n e w

d e m o c r a t i c

t e c h n o lo g y

SANDRA

SMELTZER

y

facilitating the open sha ring of ideas, information and perspectives,

H o g g in g

has

the potential to serve as a democratising force in countries w i t h l ittle freedom of

expression,

including Malaysia.

Dem ocratic expectations of M alaysia's blogosphere

must be tempered, however,

w i th

a realistic

understanding

of its limitations and of the

government's hegemonic, and sometimes more coercive, mechanisms of control. In

this article, particular attention is

paid

to critical blogs that fit Ch erian George's

(2005,

2006)

criteria of

'politically

contentious' media. The foremost goal of these m edia ,

w h i c h

range from professional online newspapers and amateur radio to personal

blogs and zines, is to 'directly and

explicitly

challenge the authority of elites in setting

the national agenda and in forging consensus' (George

2006,

p.4). This article

focuses

specifically on

politically

contentious blogs that Herring, Kouper , Paolillo, Scheidt,

Tyworm,

W elsch, Wright &

Y u

would defin e as 'A- l is f: blogs that are 'w idely-read, cited

i n

the mass me dia, and receive the most inbound

links

from other blogs' (Herring et al

2005,

p.1).

The discussion opens

w i t h

a cri t ical overview of the

po l i t i ca l ly

contentious

Malaysian

blogosphere, contextualised

within

the country's broader med ia landscape.

It then turns to examine the potential democratising power of b logging, presenting

optimistic and skeptical perspectives of the impact this activity may have on

M a l a y

sia's sociopolitical landscape.

C ON T EX T UAL I S I N G T H MALAYSIAN

BLOGOSP HERE

I n

the mid-1990s, M alay sia's governm ent established a range of progra ms and poli

cies

to bridge domestic

digital

divides and encourage w idespread information and

communication technology (ICT) adoption among its

citizenry.

1

Concurrently,

the

government began construction of the M SC (Mu ltimedia Super Co rridor ) as

M a l a y

sia's version of Silicon

Valley.

To attract companies to this high-tech hub, the govern

ment

introduced

a

B i l l

of Guarantees that

included

a pledge to not censor the internet.

Politically

contentious o nline

communication,

how ever, w as clearly

not

w hat i t had in

mind w hen it made this no censorship pledge or w hen it introduced

digital divide

28 TH E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL

C O M M U N I C A T I O N

14:1, 2008


3/19

BLOGGING IN MALAYSIA

initiatives. The government did not, and does not, intend for ICTs to be used as tools

to critically discuss or challenge the country's sociopolitical and economic

status

quo.

A s

is

w e l l

documented, M alaysia's mainstream m edia are encouraged to practise

self-censorship through the inherent threat and enforcement of restrictive law s (Abbott

2001; Balraj 2006;

Banerjee

2007; B r o w n 2005; George 2005, 2006; G o me z 2003; Hil ley

2001; Khattab

2006;

L ew i s

2006; L i ng

2003;

M ustafa 2002,2005;

Sani 2005; Seneviratne &

Singarayar 2006; U i m on e n 2003; Zaharom & Wang 2004). They are expected to em

brace a pro-government position, encourage national unity and integration, and fo

cus on M alay sia's economic p rosperi ty and grow th. A s then Inform ation M inister

Zainuddin

M a i d in made clear, the media have a 'social responsibility w h i ch sh ould be

appropriate to the national spiri t and inspiration . . . The media should not

create

unnecessary contentious [sic] in the country's peaceful condition' (Zainuddin 2006).

This 'media as development' approach is common throughout the developing w orld,

where economic development is placed

before

politic al freedom s, d espite the

fact

they represent false alternatives (Sen 2000). A more appropriate human-centred form

of development, A m arty a Sen argues, sh ould focus on the rem oval of 'unfreedoms',

such as poverty, lack of labour op portunities, neglect of pu blic facilities and the 'denia l

of political an d civil liberties' (Sen 2000, p.4). In other words, development should aim

to produce environments that provide citizens w i t h opportunities to freely exercise

their hu m an agency,

w h i c h

is in direct contrast w i t h how media have been managed

in M alays ia ,

Press freedom advocates hoped the media environment w o u l d improve under

Pr ime M i n i s t e r Abdul lah Badawi 's administration. Fo l lowing the change in govern

ment, some space for cri t ical discussion arguably opened; however, in July

2006,

Minister

Zainuddin tried to quash

these

hopes: T have to

stress

that if certain quarters

are of the vie w that the P rime M inister w as in a honeym oon pe riod on the press

freedom po licy in M alay sia, then it is their ow n view

7

(Zainuddin 2006).

W hen com

bined w i th publ ic threats and laws encouraging self-censorship, Malaysia's pattern of

concentrated, government-managed me dia means that, notw ithstand ing the w ork of

numerous mainstream journalists trying to push the envelope in their wr i t ing and

reporting,

there is a dearth of critical press in the country.

There are, however, counter-hegemonic cracks in the system. Taking advantage

of the government's promise to not censor the internet, a range of critical websites

(e.g. Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today, Aliran, Merdeka Review, The Free Media,

Rengah

Sarawak)

stepped into the media void to offer alternative perspectives, coverage an d info rm a

tion. M ore recently, blogs have begun to play an increasingly p rominent role in this

politically contentious on line m edia landscape. A s discussed below , the government's

attempts to control the content of these blogs - w ithout direcd y contravening its no-

censorship pledge - points to their political influence in the country. Their impact has

helped

w i d en the cracks even farther in the lead-up to, and aftermath of, the 8 March

2008 federal election, w h i c h saw the ruling B arisan N asional coal it ion fail to secure a

two-thirds majority government.

T H E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1, 2008 29


4/19

SMELTZER

METHODOL OGY

This research is informed by semi-structured and unstructured interview s cond ucted

in

February, M ay and December 2006 and in July

2007

w i th

41

En glish, Chinese an d

M alay-langu age M alay sian bloggers, four

of

w hom w ere interview ed anonymously

v ia

email

to

protect their identities. Interview ees w ere selected based

on

pre-field-

w o r k research of

A -l ist

politic ally contentious b loggers an d a snowball methodology

once in the field to identify ad ditional individuals. Information garnered from these

interviews

was

supplemented

by

discussions held

at the

December

2006

N at i on a l

Roundtable

on

Internet M edia in M alays ia: Problems and P rospects, hosted

by

Char

ter 2000-A liran w i t h

the

support

of the

Southeast A s ian Press A lliance.

BLOGGING IN A RESTRICTED MEDIA ENVIRONMENT: INFLUENTIAL CITIZEN

JOURNALISM AND/OR ELITE LINK LOVE?

Influential citizen journalism

The power

of

blogging

to

positive ly transform politics,

civil

society and mainstream

media has perhaps been most famously argued

by

Dan Gillmor, former columnist for

the San

ose

Mercury

News,

technology writer, ardent blogger and author of We the

Media: Grassroots Journalism

By The

People,

For The

People

(2004).

Gi l lmor

(2004)

contends

that blogging has opened

the

door for

a

ne w k ind

of

citizen-based grassroots journal

ism, one that allow s the former audience to play a central role in the production of

news;

to

disseminate inform ation, opinions and ideas; and

to

engage

in

debates

and

discussions without

the

gatek eeping restrictions

of

mainstream me dia.

In

contrast

to

mainstream outlets, w hic h tend

to

rely

on a

l imited and fairly narrow selection

of

perspectives and experts, Gi l lmor extols the plurality of voices, view points and k n o w l

edge available in

the

blogosphere. Glen n Rey nolds,

of

Instapunditxom notoriety, takes

Gillmor's

posi t ion

a step

farther

in his

most

recent

book, An Army of Davids: How

Markets and

Technology

Empower Ordinary

People

to Beat Big Media, Big

Government,

and

Other

Goliaths (2006).

Tho ugh perhaps overly optimistic about the dem ocratising pow er

of

blogging,

Gi l lmor and R eynolds

still

believe that, notwithstanding

political

and eco

nomic constraints, mainstream media continue

to

play

an

essential role i n

a

function

ing democracy. These media have the expertise, finan cial resources, labo ur pow er

and

credentials

to

engage

in

comprehensive journalistic activities. A s Gi l lmor writes,

T seek

a

balance that simu ltane ous ly preserves

the

best

of

today's system an d

en

courages tomorrow's emergent, self-assembling journalism'

(2004,

p .xvi i ) .

In Malaysia, however,

the

mainstream press

is, as

noted above, oblige d

to

pro

vide

a

l imite d range

of

perspectives and tends

to

eschew serious critiques

of the

status quo. Blogging has, therefore, been used to open a modicum of space for critical

information and dialogue hitherto unavailable in the country. A s Jul ien P ain (2005)

comments, 'Bloggers

are

often

the

only real journalists i n countries w here

the

mai n

stream media

is

censored

or

under pressure. O nly they provide independent n ew s,

at

3 TH E J O U R N A L OF I N T E R N A T IO N A L C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1, 2008


5/19

BLOGGING N MALAYSIA

the risk of disp leasin g the government a nd sometimes cou rting arrest. ' Issues the

Malaysian government w o u l d d eem too sensitive - e.g. B um ipu tra affirmative action

policies,

cron yism , press freedom, religion and government mega-projects (from the

B a k u n D am to Cy berjaya) - are addressed, discussed and debated on line. A s a par

ticularly

germane example, the p olit ically sensit ive issue of D epu ty Prim e M inister

N a j i b Tun R azak's al leged involvem ent in the mu rder of A ltan tuy a Shaaribuu has

been critically discussed by num erous bloggers w hile it has been blacke d out in local

mains tream

m e d i a .

2

Some bloggers rem ain cautious, though , referencing the story

but referring readers to

Makysiakim

or foreign news sources for additional information.

Blogging holds a particularly

alluring

democratic appeal for tw o other impo rtant

reasons: first, readily accessible softw are has mad e it fairly

easy

for many citizens to

create,

maintain and update blogs on a regular basis; second, if desired, blogs can

facilitate dialogue between host and readers, as

w e l l

as among readers, thus

allowing

for m ult i -point discussions . N ot surprisingly, bloggers interview ed for this research

tended to be q uite posit ive about the role this com mu nicat ion tool has pla ye d in

improving

Malaysia 's media landscape. Connecting

w i th

l ike- min ded people g ives

them hope for a more democratic future in Ma lay sia and a sense of belonging to a

virtual

and real-life convergence of citizens concerned about similar political issues.

N u m er o u s

interviewees expressed feeling empow ered by bloggin g. A s one blogger

commented via email

w i th

the author, T can reach a lot of people

w i th

m y blog. I k n o w

I'm not a Jeff O o i , but M alaysian s are reading about things that they don't get in the

mainstream m edia. I

link

to other blogs and M alays iakin i and outside media.'

A s H a n g

W u Tang w rites in specif ic reference to M alaysia 's blogosphere, w hen

blogs 'are hy perlin ke d and netw orked to one another an d bloggers a nd their readers

congregate metap horically in cyberspace and produce a cacophony of voices' , w hat

emerges

is a 'digi tal conversation [that] can properly be characterised as a gro w ing

culture of dem ocratization'

(2006,

p.5). In her discussion of 'online nation

bui lding'

in

Malays ia ,

P aula U imo nen offers a similar argument. The internet, she w rites, 'allow s

for the creation of a community of interest, w h i c h in this

case

is directly related to the

reconstruction of the off-line comm unity of the M alay sian nation' (2003, p.309). Focus

ing

specif ically on internet use by middle-class M alay sians

d u r i n g

the Reformasi

mov ement, U im on en demonstrates how dom estic w ebsites serve as invaluab le con

duits

for sharing information and ideas that w o u l d otherwise have been difficult for

most citizens to

access.

The pol i t ica l on l ine community , in other w ords , w as very

much grou nde d in real-life politics. Tho ugh the headiness of R eform asi has w ane d,

civil

society continues to groun d its online activities in eve ryday politics, and blogging

provides a new medium for communication. Indeed, more recently, Cherian George

(2005,

2006) has argued that, despite Singapore's advanced internet penetration rates,

Malaysia continues to boast a m ore vigorous online critical com mu nity than its neigh

bour to the sou th. H e argues that M alaysia's stronger o f f-line

c ivi l

society translates

into

a more contentious blogosphere, demonstrating a positive correlation between

virtual

and real-life politics.

T H E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1,

2008

31


6/19

SMELTZER

The political value of this

kind

of com mun ication tool is no more clearly seen than

in how bloggers - even those w ho are not usually politically contentious - covered the

10 November 2007 pro-democracy rally in Kuala L umpur. O rganisers from the B E R S IH

coalition of oppo sition parties and non-governm ental organisations (N GO s) used blogs

and

social networking

sites

to promote the event, dra w ing

tens

of thousands of

citi

zens to demonstrate for fair elections. Coverage of the rally in mainstream media

painted

a pictu re of a volatile group of a ctivists w reaking havoc i n the city's downtown

core. Bloggers, along

wi th

other alternative m edia , posted their ow n pictures of the

peaceful event alongside clips from BBC and Al-Jazeera news reports that showed

the police's heavy-handed actions against demonstrators. Subsequent arrests and

threats of reprisal against p articipa ting citizens have been discussed a nd debated

throughout the local blogosphere.

Later the same month, members of the H i n d u Rights Action Force ( H I N D R A F )

demonstrated to raise awareness of

H i n d u

rights in the country, a

politically

sensitive

issue that became explosive w he n 136 citizens w ere arrested, largely for sed ition.

Additionally, five other citizens w ere detained w ithout trial under the draconian

Inter-

nd

Security

Act - a serious w arn ing shot from the government (Fernandez

2007).

N o t

surprisingly,

every one of the

A-l is t

bloggers noted below included at least one post

about the rally and the government's subsequent response. W he n police stated that

n o teargas or water cannons were used on protestors, many of these and other

bloggers posted pictures and video pro vin g otherw ise, forcing the police to change

their account.

Malaysian blogging is also useful for external audiences seeking news and com

mentary unfiltered by mainstream sources. A s

M a r k

Glaser

(2004,

p.33) w rites, 'the

w o r l d

is w atch ing' the content of blogs 'to learn about stories the press in their coun

tries dare no t tell'. Coverage of the B ER SIH and H I N D R A F rallies, for example, failed

to make M alaysia's mainstream new s in any sort of crit ical manner. F oreign audi

ences and foreign me dia (including Th e Straits Times in Singapore, Financial Times, The

Economist, The Business Times Singapore, The Nation (Thailand) and BBC Monitoring Asia

Pacific)

instead turn ed to coverage produc ed by domestic online m edia.

The

Daily

M e

an d

elite

link

love

The Daily M e offers one counter to a more optimistic view of the positive relationship

between b logging and dem ocracy. A s first described by N icholas N egroponte in his

1995 book Being Digital, Th e Daily M e refers to citizens' ability to customise their m edia

to only read, hear a nd w atch m edia that reflect their personal interests. Cass Sunstein

critiques the Daily M e ph enom enon, arg uing that the increasing efficacy w i t h w h i ch w e

are able to personalise our sources of information is detrimental to democracy,

which

should be about unintended encounters

w i t h

people w ho may not share ou r opinions

and

w ho can offer new and unexpected perspectives, information and insigh ts (Sunstein

2001,

2004, 2008).

Sunstein's concerns about the negative ramifications of this 'group

polarisat ion'

(2008,

p.92) is analogous to those described by Robert Putnam is his

32

TH E J O U R N A L O F

INTERNATIONAL

C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1,

2008


7/19

BLOGGING

IN MALAYSIA

critique of 'cyberbalkanisation' or 'cyberapartheid'

(2000,

p.173). Sunstein contends

that, althoug h blogs increase 'the oppo rtunity for people to read and w rite on an

extraordinary array of topics' , they also allow us to further personalise, fi lter and

ultimately restrict our communication w o r l d , creating echo chambers of l ike-minded

individuals

(2004,

p.57).

In their research about this

kind

of

l ink

love

w ithin

the

Amer i

can political blogosphere, H argittai , Ga llo and K ane (2008) found that, indeed, there

are relatively few cross-ideological l inkages.

In M ala y sia , for exam ple, tw o of the more prom inent blogtals (blog portals) -

Project Petaling Street (PPS) and Geng

Jurruil

(Geju or GJ) - share ver y little overlap with

each other. Separated by language (En glish versus M alay , respectively) a nd by con

tent

(PPS tends to include more critical postings), these two blogtals symbolise cul

tural, ling uistic and political differences in the country (Tang 2006). This is not to sug

gest that readers of PPS blogs necessarily omit GJ's blogs from their reading lists, or

vice versa; how ever, the dearth in cross-listing betw een the tw o lends supp ort to

Sunstein's position. An other, more recent, local blogtal - blog ah.org - has content in

both En glish and M ala y; how ever, postings in its political section tend to be from a

limited

h and ful of bloggers. Therefore, as H an g W u Tang w rites, ' [i]t does not seem

feasible to construct a monolithic and

multi-lingual

blogging movement [in Malaysia]

as bloggers and their readers w o u l d naturally tend to write in and read the language

that they are most comfortable in'

(2006,

p.19). A dditionally, al though we cannot know

w ho reads Malaysian blogs,

blogrolls

3

predominantly l ist blogs of a similar

political

i lk .

A s

this article looks specifically at politica lly contentious M ala y sia n blogs, the pres

ence

of such

' l ink

love' should be especially unsurp rising.

O n one hand, many of these bloggers are concerned about group polarisation and

want to create room for the kin ds of discussion , disagreement an d 'agonistic plural

ism' (Mouffe

2000, 2005)

that, along the lines of Sunstein, are at the heart of a function

ing democracy. A s Cha ntal M ouffe argues, i n any type of political life there w i l l always

be conflict - a H aberm asian notion of consensus via rational deliberation is not possi

ble. Democra cy is thus served if a plura lity of voices can debate and conflict within

productive,

agonistic forums rather than antagonistic

ones

(Mouffe

2000, 2005).

In

other w ords , 'adversaries' must be allow ed to clash w hile still vie w ing each other's

posit ion as ' legi t imate ' .

4

Moreover ,

i f 'democratic confrontation disappears [or has

never been allow ed], the po litical in its antagonistic dim ension manifests itself through

other channels' , w hic h w i l l ultimately hinder democracy rather than further it (2000,

p.114). In M ala ys ia, the government has tried to depoliticise the country, allow ing

neither agonistic nor antagonistic debate on or offline. Rather than promoting a

politi

ca l

nationalism, the government has shifted its rhetoric toward promoting an economic

nationalism

'that promises Malaysians future prosperity rather than rights to public

assembly and expression' (Loh Kok Wah 2002; Wil l iamson 2002, p.403).

O n the other hand,

politically

contentious bloggers also want to push for change in

Malays ia - a

task

made

easier

if they can create a

mass

of citizens concerned about

similar democratic issues. Seen in this way, link love, or group polarisation, may help

TH E

J O U R N A L O F

I N T E R N A T I O N A L


2008

33

http://bloglah.org/http://bloglah.org/


8/19

SMELTZER

promote democracy. Does this mass, however, represent only a

limited

demographic

of Malaysian society? Jason P. A bbo tt argues that 'the audience of [internet] u sers' in

many A s ia n countries,

including Malaysia,

'represents a pre-selected elite that for the

most part may already be sympathetic' to activist messages (2001, p.111). Tho ugh this

m ay

be true,

access

i n

Malays ia

has expan ded significan tly over the past sev eral

years.

According

to the Malaysian Communications and M ultimedia C ommission, by

October

2006

appro ximately 13.5 million

Malaysians

-

roughly

47 percent of the

popu

lation

- w ere classified as internet users

( M C M C 2006);

how ever, this statistic tells u s

little

about who

uses

the technology or what they use it for (see, as examples, Boey

2002; B unnell 2002, 2004; Lepawsky 2005).

A citizen's a bility to

access

and successfully

use the technological tools needed to participate in the blogosphere are determined

b y

a range of

familiar

issues,

including,

but not

limited

to, fin anc ial resources, literacy,

language, ed ucatio n, gender, geography, ethnicity, age and disa bilities . De spite the

steady

growth

i n the nu mb er of internet users,

these

fault lines

still

exist

w i th in M a l ay

si a (Harris

2006),

l imiting the scope of blogging activities,

politically

contentious or

otherwise.

WHO S

BLOGGING

N MALAYSIA?

Globally,

blogging burst onto the electronic media scene in the late 1990s and early

2000s, quickly

moving to the forefront of

popular

and

critical

consciousness (see B lood

2002;

Welch,

Jensen

& Reeves

2003).

B y

2004,

'blog ' had become

th e b u z z w o r d

(Pew

Internet & A m erica n

L i fe

Project

2005),

reflecting its role as an alternate source of

information,

ideas and opinions.

H err ing

et al

(2005)

conclude from a quantitative

content ana lysis of ra nd om ly selected English-language text-oriented blogs that most

blogs are not, however,

political

in nature. Instead, they tend to consist of personal

reflections on the

dai ly

l ives of individual bloggers. A l though estimates place the

number of Malays ian blogs somewhere between several thousand and

20,000,

m a n y

are not regularly updated and most focus on the quotidian personal lives of bloggers.

While

w e shou ld not under-estimate the importance of

these

k inds of

'individualistic,

intimate form s of self-expression' (H erring et al 2005, p.142), the focus here is on A -l is t

politically

contentious blogs w hose prim ary objective is to challenge both the status

quo

and m ainstream m edia control by

providing space

to share

information,

circulate

new s and voice opin ions not represented - or underrepresented - in the mainstream

press.

These

bloggers - w ho number, at most, a few hun dred in Malaysia - also offer

critical

readings of how local media and government officials frame and address a

range of issues and events. '[T]his tiny percentage is

highly

v is ible

because these

blogs . . . dare to go w here no mainstream med ia w i l l ' (Hong

2006).

While the local cri t ical blogosphere includes M alay-langu age and Chinese-lan

guage blogs, most are written

primarily,

or entirely, in

English (politically

contentious

Indian-language blogs - e.g. in

Tamil,

Telugu , Pu njabi,

M alayalam

- and indigenous-

language blogs are

v i r tual ly

non-existent w i t h i n M alaysia ' s blogosphere).

M a n y

34 T H E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL

C O M M U N I C A T I O N

14:1. 2008


9/19

BLOG GING IN MALAYSIA

English-language bloggers interviewed for this research indicated that, although they

may be able to write in other languages, writing in English allows them to reach a

broader audience, both w i t h i n and beyond Malaysia's borders. Some interviewees

also stated that they feel more comfortable and are better adept at expressing them

selves

in Engl ish than in their other

language(s).

T get my point

across better

i n

English

. . . in M alay I just soun d, I don't know, basic I guess. Plus, in

English

I get more

readers' , one interviewee explained.

M a n y of Malaysia's top

A- l i s t

politically contentious b lo g s

5

- e.g., at the time of

writing,

Jeff

O oi 's Screenshots,

Raja

Petra K amarudin's Malaysia-Today, A h i r ud i n Attan's

Rocky's

Bru,

A b d u l Kadir

Jasin's T he Scribe,

Mal ik Imtiaz Sarwar's Disquiet, F arish N oor's

The Other

Malaysia,

A n i l N etto's self-titled blog, and anony mous b logs suc h as Aisehman,

Kickdefella, MageP's Lab and Sensintrovert - are male and urban-based.

6

Though

there

have

been

fewer female bloggers, the cohort is expanding. Some key women at the

forefront are

Teresa

K ok

(Sassy

MP), Elizabeth W ong

(Elizabeth Wong),

M ar ina Mahathir

(RantingsbyMM), Boon

Hooi

(Boon Hooi on the Blog - reedom of expression) and Lucia Lai

(Mental Jog). Whi le a l l o f these critical blogs focus on political

content,

many also

incorporate personal commentary into their wr i t ing and provide links to blogs and

websites that are prim arily or exclusively apolitical . Conversely, ma ny apolitical and

personal blogs feature political content du ring key events and about particular

issues

(e.g. federal elections, the w ar in Iraq, w ell-k now n threats to Malaysia's press free

dom). Additionally, several politically contentious M alaysia-fo cused blogs are w ritten

by Malays ians l iving abroad - e.g. California-based M . B ak ri M usa's self-titled blog

offers

critical comm entary about M alay sian politics

wi th

a particular focus on educa

tion

issues, Susan L oone w rites her critical in-human rights b log from B angkok, and O ng

Hock

Chuan's

Unspun

blog from Jakarta regularly includes news and commentary

about M alay sian issues.

N ot

surp risingly, man y politically contentious bloggers in M alay sia are members

of opposition political parties, w hic h can, in part, be attributed to the lack of main

stream media access for, and coverage of, opposition party activities. For example, in

2000 the government reduced pu blication frequency of the P arti Islam SeM alaysia

(PAS) new spaper ,

Harakah,

from twice weekly to twice a month and restricted i ts

circulation to PA S party members (A bbott 2001; B row n 2005). A dditional ly, M alaysia's

Police Act p rohibits citizens from assembling w ithout a perm it, w hic h restricts pub lic

gatherings. Consequently, the internet has become a particularly valuable tool of

mass

communication for opposition parties. Members of Parliament (MPs) from the

Democratic Action Party (D A P) have led the w ay in pol i tical party blogging - L im Kit

Siang's En glis h- and Chinese-lang uage blogs are especially w e l l read local ly and

internationally and are updated regularly w i t h critical commentary about local poli

tics. A nw ar Ibrahim, the former Deputy P rime M inister and recently elected M P for

Parti K e A D I L a n R akyat (PK R ), has his ow n M alay-language blog, as does PA S Presi

dent A b d u l H a d i A w a ng M u h a m m ad . Though no P A S M P s had their ow n blog at the

T H E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1, 2008

35


10/19

SMELTZER

time of w ri ting, there exist PAS-inclined blogs, including MENJ's Critical Thoughts and

Mohamed Han ipa M aidin's peguampas,

Roslan

SM S

Corner.

In addition to p olitically contentious and apolitical blogs, a w ide range of dom estic

blogs contain p olitic al content but are not focused on effecting po litical change. In

other words,

these

blogs do not, for the most part, address such issues

as

freedom

of

the press, contentious government activities or pro-democracy discussions. They do,

however, chal lenge the status q uo by wr i t ing about subject matter not often dis

cussed in domestic pub lic forums, including sexuality, sexual orientation and illegal

substance usage. Kinky

Blue

Fairy, minishorts,

Kimberly

Cun's

Narcissism

i s Necessary and

H u a i Bin's (now defunct) sixthseal are a few examples of particularly popular blogs that

incorporate rather frank, and sometimes controversial, discussions of these types of

issues. In a s imilar

vein,

a few of the country's more

wel l -known

blogs openly and

critically discuss sensitive religious issues and can thus be classified as

political

- e.g.

M E N J ' s

Critical

Thoughts,

IreneQ's

Unravelled

and Robert (Bob) Kee's

bobjots.

W hile not

focused on

political

change per se, all of these blogs play an im portant role in creating

space for personal expression and for al lowing discussions between citizens without

fear

of

government filters.

O f note, some local mainstream m edia have also jumped onto the blogging ba nd

wagon .

It is rather iro nic that, w hil e their coverage tends to m irror government rheto

ric of the po litical perils of blogs, they are eager to capture this valuable market.

The

Star new spaper, for example, has its ow n Citizen's Blog that includes some fairly criti

cal posted comments; however, the paper also warns: be mindful that there are l aws

governing the publication

of

content

-

regardless

of

whether the content

is

in print

or

online. Your submissions

wi l l be

vetted for approv al

before it [sic]

appears on line'

(The

Star

2006b). The extent

of the

paper's vetting process

is

u n k n o w n , an d

the

postings

have attracted few comments, making

it

more

a

Letters

to the

Editor section than

an

interactive blo g.

NO FEAR? GOVERNMENT CONTROLS OF ONLINE

MEDIA

AN D POWER LAWS

Government

controls

O v e r the past few years, the government has tried various strategies, in an ostensi

bly ad hoc manner, to control blogg ing activities. A t a more structural level, political

developments in the country ind icate that onlin e m edia may increasing ly become

subject to the same sorts of control as their print and broadcast counterparts (de

scribed above). Though

the

government

has

promised

to not

censor

the

internet,

effectively al lowing bloggers to operate without a publishing licence, the M al ay s i an

Communications and

Mul t imedia

Content Code states: 'The O nline environment is

no t a legal vacuum . In general, if something is i l legal "off-l ine", it w i l l also be illegal

"on-l ine" .

In

this matter, the relevant existing law s app ly'

( C M C F

2004).

H ow exact ly

blogging ca n

be

made subject

to the

country's laws, however, remains unclear.

6 TH E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1, 2008


11/19

BLOGGING

IN MALAYSIA

The government flexed some political muscle in 2003 w hen i t raided Malaysiakini's

office and confiscated 19 computers over an article critical of the youth branch of the

U n i te d

M alays N at ional O rganisat ion (U M N O ) . Though the computers were later

re turned,

the incident w as an unmistakable w arn ing shot from the government .

Malaysiakini

and a h and ful of the

A- l i s t

bloggers interviewed for this research

in di

cated that they are very aware their sites are monitored by the authorities. In spring

2007, Deputy Energy , Water and Com municat ions M inis ter Shaziman A bu Mansor

suggested that the government might even try to register bloggers to keep track of

their activities, potentially deterring some would-be contributors to the online com

munity. Shaziman later retreated from his statement, arguing that registration would

not mean censorship; rather, '[w]e just want to know the number of bloggers, how

m any are active, ho w often they update their websites, a nd w hat

k ind

of info is posted.

It has nothing to do w i t h censoring' (NST

2007a).

Though the plan was later rejected,

the government is instead establishing a special 'bloggin g squa d' of 500 w riters to

monitor

and surv eil 'content that cou ld be deemed a ntigove m me nf (A sohan, quoted

in Y . O o i 2007, p.38) and 'disseminate informa tion, exp lain correct inform ation, and

counter the m isinform ation on government policies' (SEAP A

2007).

A l s o at a structural level, in July 2006 Malaysia's Internal Security Minis try an

nounced it intended to conduct a review of the Printing Presses an d Publications Act,

w h i c h severely restricts print media in the country, to investigate whether the law

should be amended to also include electronically mediated forms of communication.

The D epu ty Internal Security M inister stated that the review w o u ld address concerns

expressed by mainstream med ia that the A ct unfairly constrains their activities w hile

allowing the online community to publish without impunity : 'They [print media] feel

there are double standards, and that it is not a level playing f ie ld'

(The Star

2006a).

Concerns expressed by press freedom advocates about such comments were some

w hat assuaged by Energy, Water and Comm unications M inister

L i m

Ke n g Yaik. W h e n

asked w hether his ministry w as plan ning to regulate the internet,

L im

stated: 'N ot that

I am aw are of. N ot at the present m oment because w e've given a bill of guarantees to

th e M S C (Pu ah

2006).

Several mon ths later, how ever, he stated that 'if they (bloggers]

behave irresponsibly, w e w i l l

take

away their rights. There are laws in this country'

(NS T 2007a).

In M a r c h 2007, verbal warnings became increasingly and more overtly threaten

in g w hen M alays ia 's Tour ism M inis ter declared : A l l bloggers are l iars. The y cheat

people using all kin ds of methods' (Y. O oi 2007, p.38). Two months later, the Director-

General

of the Islamic Development Department (JA K IM ) forew arned that it w o u l d

monitor blogs and w ebsites for 'w ron g inform ation' about Islam that 'co uld prove

detrimental to

M u s l i m s

w i t h l i ttle or no un derstanding of their relig ion ' and would

forward

concerns to the authorities (N ST 2007b). In July 2007, Deputy Prime Minister

Najib Tun Razak warned online media practitioners that '[t]he freedom to w rite and

express

opinion

has its limit as

provided

for in the country's law .. . The government is

T H E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1,

2008 37


12/19

SMELTZER

responsible for social harmony and w e

w i l l

not

allow

any group to jeopardise national

solidarity

and create social unrest' (Bernama

2007).

7

The

government has also made

public

examples of bloggers it

feels

have stepped over

political

lines - an effective

strategy to discourage potential critical bloggers. M ainstream med ia coverage of the

police

harassment of

Jeff

O o i,

Raja Petra

Kamarudin

and his wife

M a r in a

(e.g.

wi th

such headlines as 'Police to probe blogger

Jeff

O o i' [NST

2006]),

further planted a seed

in

people's m ind s that the government meant business. M ost of the m ainstream

press also ran stories about the January

2007

defamation lawsuits

filed

by the New

Straits Times

Press (N STP ) against O oi a nd

Ahiruddin A ttan

for comments o n their blogs

the

N S T P

deemed libelous. N ot only is the suit the first of its kind against bloggers in

Malaysia,

it is

publicly

supported by the P rime

M inister

(Puah

2007).

8

According

to the 2006 Reporters W ithout B orders (RSF) A n n u a l Report for

M a l a y

sia,

' [government intimidation of online journalists and bloggers has increased in the

past

three

years . . . Summonses and questioning of bloggers has been stepped up

recently, lead ing to self-censorship that harms democracy' (Reporters W ithout Bor

ders

2007).

In

2006,

anonymous A-l is t Malaysian blogger A isehm an challenged this

portrayal , arguing that RSF makes i t 'sound

l ike

Malays ian bloggers are afraid to

publish

the truth',

w h i ch

s/he argues is 'crap'. O ther bloggers interview ed contend

that

individuals wishing

to stay off the government's radar screen

s imply

need to host

their blog in another country and,

l ike A isehman,

remain

anonymous.

9

Some

of these

interviewees also indicated, however, that, even

before

the government's

recent

warnings, they thought some Malaysians were uncomfortable visiting and comment

in g

on

p olitically

contentious blogs for

fear

the authorities could

trace

the ir identities.

This,

too, limits the volume and diversity of citizens

p articipating

in the blogosphere.

Additionally, critical bloggers, regardless of w hether one is interested in or agrees

with their blog content, dedicate a significant amount of time and energy to keeping

abreast

of

political

activities and tracking stories that are or are not reported in main

stream and alternative m edia. A s authorities can

hold

them accountable for any

items posted on the ir sites, bloggers m ust also continually mo nitor reader comm ents

fo r inflam m atory and seditious content the governm ent may dee m objectionable.

For a l l these reasons, many interviewees indicated that the number of people capa

ble and

w i l ling

to blog i n this kind of

critical

capacity is necessarily

l imited. Although

blogging

may be personally and

politically

valuable, the time and emotional energy

needed to w rite and m onitor blogs can lead to

vary ing

degrees

of frustration and

I m r n

ouf in the blogging comm unity.

Power laws

Particularly

interesting i n the

Malaysian

situation is that

there

appears to be a thresh

old of

popularity after w hich politically

contentious writers may possibly gain a meas

ure of protection from the government's control. Bloggers receiving significant inter

national

attention from

wel l -know n

freedom of expression organisations (e.g. Report-

38

TH E

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13/19


ers Without Borders, Amnesty International , International Freedom of Expression

eXchange, Committee to Protect Journalists, Southeast

A s i a n

Press Al l iance) seem

less l ikely to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law by the M alaysian government

unless they rea lly step over lines dr aw n arou nd sensitive issues or overtly defame a

member of the power elite. The government

w o u l d l ikely

become more repressive,

however, i f politically contentious Malay-language blogs expanded their readership,

reaching larger numbers of M alays and potentially influencing U M N O 's

political

strong

hold. The government w o u l d also l ikely take a stronger stance if w ell-read blogs - in

any language - w ere consistently successful in encouraging on the grou nd dem on

strations and civil disobedience.

W hat we have in

Malaysia,

then, is a situation that only partially conforms to the

'pow er law s' of the blogosphere. A s Clay Shirky argues in his oft-cited article To w er

laws , w eblogs, and inequality' (Shirky 2003), '[i ]n systems w here ma ny people are free

to choose between many options, a small subset of the whole w i l l get a disproportion

ate am ount of traffic'. In other w ords, the blogosphere is a pop ular ity contest in w hich

popularity can be determined by inbound links (i .e. how many other people consider

your blog to be valuable enough to want to link to it) and readership traffic Per the

power laws, a small subsection of blogs receive the heaviest amount of l inking and

traffic, followed by a long tail of blogs that garner little attention. Moreover, as Shirky

(2003) explains, 'the greater the

diversity,

the more extreme the inequality .. . The very

act of choosing, spread widely enough and freely enough,

creates

a pow er law distri

bution.' H e notes that this seems rather cou nterintuitive as w e w o u l d tend to expect

the opposite to take place - that the greater the div ersity of choices, the greater the

dispersion of choices.

While M alaysia's blogosphere has an abundance of blogs fro m w h i c h to choose,

only a

l imited

num ber contain

politically

contentious content. F ro m this

limited

group,

only a few attract heavy

link

and readership traffic. Their popularity can be attributed

to a number of factors, including frequency

w i t h

which they p ub lish ; accuracy, thor

oughness and ability to collate a w id e range of critical infor m ation ; w ill ing ne ss to

critique the status quo; and early entry into Malaysia's blogosphere. A long tail of

other politically contentious bloggers attracts a much smaller fo l lowing, leaving them

less l ikely to be harassed by local authorities. O n l y a hand ful of politically contentious

bloggers exist between the two ends of the spectrum, possibly

because

m e d i u m -

sized blogs are i n a pa rticularly difficu lt position: they challenge the status quo and

can dra w a substantial enough crow d for the authorities to be concerned, yet have

little protection from potential government backlash without a w e l l - k n o w n interna

tional rep utation. Consequently, many interview ees suggested that p ol i t ical ly con

tentious bloggers have to make a choice - try to make it to the

A- l i s t

category and

accept the sacrifices required to do so, or remain part of the long tai l of relative

anonymity.

TH E

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L


2008 39


14/19

SMELTZER

B L O G G I N G F O R D E M O C R A C Y T H E R O A D T O T H POLLS

A s

discussed above, blogging can be an effective tool for disseminating information,

facilitating discussion and offering perspectives not available in mainstream media

with in a restrictive communication environment that limits citizens' liberties. Blogs

are also useful for helping to

bui ld

community and the political solidarity

necessary

for encouraging citizens to collectively champion a more democratic future for them

selves and for their country.

In reaction to the defama tion suit brought against O oi and A ttan , for examp le,

numerous bloggers banded together in early

2007

to form Bloggers United, officially

denouncing what they considered to be an unfair move by a large, government-

supp orted m edia organ isation to silence cr itical bloggers. Their tagline: N o Fear. In

spring

2007,

other key bloggers formed the N ational B loggers

Alliance,

also know n as

Al l -B logs ,

w i t h

A tta n and O oi as president a nd vice-president, respectively.

A l s o

in

spring 2007, numerous

A-l is t

bloggers launched yet another c oalition, B loggers U nite d

Malays ia (B .U .M . ) . The group held a gathering in M ay

2007

to mark W o r l d Press

Freedom Da y and 'embrace an d engage the blogging phenomenon in

M alays ia '

( B . U . M .

2007). A lthough

participants were

limited

to those able to congregate i n

Kuala Lum pur,

the gathering is interesting for two reasons: first, its multicu ltural m ake -up dem on

strates

diversity in the domestic contentious blogosphere; and second, many critical

bloggers are keen to gather offline. This lends add itional support to the argum ent that

there is a positive relationship between electronic and 'real-life' political activity in

Malaysia ,

and that issues like press freedom cut across ethnic and religious lines.

This relationship was tested in the lead-up to the 2008 M alay sian federal elections.

Malaysia's government severely l imits publ ication frequency of opposit ion party

materials, rations their use of public media, and discourages private media from

covering opp osition party issues and activities, especially du ring electoral periods

(Abbott 2001, p.82; Sani

2005).

Concomitantly, mainstream med ia prov ide a disprop or

tionate amount of positive coverage for the ruling coali tion, B arisan N asio na l .

1 0

A s a

result, many citizens turned to alternative forms of media in the lead-up to the elec

tion.

Hits to Malaysiakini increased significantly, w i th an estimated half a million people

turning to it as a source of information

(The

Economist

2008).

N umerous A -l ist bloggers

also reported increased traffic.

Jeff Oo i ,

for example, experienced a more than three

fold

increase i n page view s on his blogs prior to voting day (personal com mu nication,

J . Ooi , 2008). Evidence of blogging's importance has also come in the form of electoral

ballots - a hand ful of key politically contentious bloggers were elected or re-elected to

parliament. They include

N ik

N a zm i

N ik

A h m a d (PKR),

Jeff

O oi (DAP) , Tony Pua (DA P),

Badrul Hisham

Shaharin (PK R ) and Elizabeth W ong (PKR). A s w el l, Information M i nis

ter Zainuddin

M a i d i n

lost his parliamentary

seat

in the election; his replacem ent,

A h m a d

Shabery Cheek, has made overtures to the blogging community, saying he

wants to encourage a constructive dialogue.

4 TH E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1, 2008


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BLOG GING IN MALAYSIA

For all the reasons noted above, it is tempting to conclude that blogging has

automatically enhanced democracy in Ma lay sia, and w i l l con tinue to do so. A s the

politically

contentious M alay sian blogosphere continues to be com prised of a rela

t ively narrow group of elites, however, this may be a false temptation. A l s o , one

should not underestimate the government's desire and w illing nes s to contro l online

activities - regardless of w hat the new Information M inist er m ight say - that mig ht

threaten the status quo, nor the effectiveness of its hegemonic methods for discour

aging citizens from engaging i n bloggin g. In other w ords , although blogs have be

come increasingly important in the toolkit of M alaysia's politically contentious

civil

society, enthusiasm for the democratising power of blogs must be tempered w i t h a

realistic understanding of the country's political and economic framework.

In her d iscussion of the role of bloggin g in

China, Rebecca M a c K in n o n

argues that,

although

the Chinese government has effectively stopped a critical mass of citizens

from using online technology for political purposes, there are cracks in the system:

W h e n it comes to po litica l change or dem ocratiza tion, the impac t of the Internet and

blogs is more l ikely to be gradual and subtle. Blogs are playing their part in creating an

independent space for discourse, interaction, and collaboration . . . the result appears to

be a recipe for gradu al, s low evo lution - not democratic revolu tion.

(2008,

pp.44-45)

Though control of Malaysia's online media is certainly not as comprehensive as it

is in China or Singapore,

11

w hic h rank 163rd an d 141st respectively o n the R eporters

W i t h o u t

Bo r d e r s

2007

Press Freedom Index, the

same

holds true for Malaysia's

blogosphere. It has been

building

for years and, over time, is having a more pro

nounced impact on dom estic politics - it has been a slow ev olution , not an instantane

ous revolutio n. That the government is becoming interested an d w ary of the potential

of blog ging demonstrates the very real impact it has begun to make in the country.

Sandra Smeltzer (PhD, Carleton University) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of

Information and M ed ia Studies at The U niversity of W estern O ntario . H er

areas

of

research and publication include development communication, al ternative media

practices, environmental communication and digital divide issues, particularly w ithin

the M ala ys ian context.

NOTES

1. Some of the more promin ent initiatives, w hic h have been met w i t h var y in g degrees of

success, inc luded Rural

Internet

Centres (Pusat

Internet

Desa), the P C O w nership Cam

paign,

Community Awareness Programmes, the Universal Service Provision Programme

and

the M SC's Flagship A pplications. Thoug h the governm ents interest i n dig ital div ide

issues began to wane in 2001, recent overtures indicate a renewed comm itment of time and

resources to existing and new programs, w i t h the Economic Planning

U n i t

of the Prime

Minister 's Department leading the momentum . H o w w e l l these init iat ives move beyond

the pr ov ision of physical infrastructure to incorporate other sociocu ltural issues, how ever,

remains to be seen (see Harris 2006).

T H E J O U R N A L O F INTERNATIONAL C O M M U N I C A T I O N 14:1. 2008

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SMELTZER

2. For further inform ation about the story, see L opez

(2007).

3. A b logro ll is 'a list of blog links permanently featured on the sidebar of blogs often repli

cated on each page in the archives' (H argittai, Ga llo & Kane , 2008, p.71).

4. M ouffe does not, how ever,

provide

a

sense

of where to draw the line in terms of how mu ch

plurality

and how much agonism is

acceptable

and necessary, or of how , in actuality, this

vision w i l l come to fruition.

5. O f note, many of

these

blogs tend to use .com or .org (and sometimes .net) as top-level

domain

names to host their blogs,

w h i c h

indicates a certain level of technological savvy.

Less popular

critical

bloggers tend to rely on blog

publishing

systems,

particularly

Blogger,

to create and m anage their blogs.

6.

A l t h ou g h

gender is sometimes indeterminable if bloggers do not reveal their 'real life'

identities, anonym ous M ala ys ian bloggers often indicate their gender i n blog profiles or

make reference to it in the course of their

writing.

7. To clarify the internal ministerial jockeying over w ho controls electronic media , the Inter

nal Security

Ministry

m onitors all newspapers i n the country, havin g taken over responsi

bility

of the Printing Presses and

Publications

Act from the Hom e A ffairs

Ministry

i n

2004.

The

Energy, Water and Communications M in ist ry is responsible for the internet, as w e l l as

private

broadcast ing. The Information

Min is t ry oversees

Bernama, Malays ia 's nat ional

news agency and the pu blicly ow ned Rad io and Television M alaysia (RT M ).

8 . A t the time of

w r i ti n g

the

status

of the

claim

remains

unresolved.

It is noteworthy that

Attan

w as an editor for various N ST P publicat ions and is the former president of M alay sia's

Nat iona l Press Club.

9. There are 'no

free

blog-hosting services aka blogspot .com/wordpress .com that carry

anonymous bloggers w i th in M alay s ia ' (J . O o i

2007).

10. For a critical qua litative and quan titative analysis of this mainstream coverage, see the

M e d i a Monitors' Diary,

created by h um an rights organisation A l i ran , the Centre for Inde

pendent Journ al ism and the W riters A l l ia nce for

M e d i a

In dep e n de n ce in M ala y s i a

(www.al iran .com/elect ions).

11. A s examples from other regional neighbours, in the Philippines, civil society has

signifi

cantly more room to operate, as demonstrated by the p roliferation of N G O s and peoples'

organisations, but

i n

terms of

media

the governm ent has threatened

physical retribution

and

arrest

for journalists w ho

expose

corruption or challenge the authorities. U nde r Thailand 's

former Prime M inister Thaksin, the Thai R ak Thai increasingly tried to muzzle the med ia and

curb domestic civil society through a range of po litical and legal mechanisms; fol lowing

the 2006 coup, the military junta also clamped d o w n o n media activities (particularly com

munity

radio).

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