'New media may trigger citizen led-revolution'

Political commentator and future studies scholar Abu Hassan Abdullah sees the new media can pave the way for a citizen led-revolution, giving them the means to stage, organise and realise their "indictments of autocratic and corrupt regimes".

"However, the state cannot blame the Internet, for it is but a tool," Abu Hassan said, adding that neither could the state hope to stop the new media revolution.

The Universiti Malaya lecturer was giving a talk titled "Nations on fire: The power of new media" at a South-South Information Group luncheon hosted by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture in Kuala Lumpur today.

"Even if they try to use censorship, they cannot stop it. You cannot use, war, enforcement, laws or bullets to stop something like this," said Abu Hassan (right).

He warned that a revolution might take place if a government neglected the three principles of freedom of expression, liberal democratic participation and intellectual discourse.

However, he still has hopes that Malaysia, even with its curtailed populace and controlled media, has not yet reached the critical mass to fuel a mass uprising.

He cautioned the government to listen to the people and to engage with the rakyat in order to avoid a final confrontation, and told the traditional media to re-invent itself to stay relevant.

He then went on to cite, as an example, the futility of local councils in trying to prevent the posting of "Ubat Kuat Lelaki" stickers and posters advertising male virility medicine.

The key, he believes, is to eliminate the shady places where people stick those signs by making more and more areas well lit and nicely made out.

Without saying it, Abu Hassan seemed to suggest that all the government needed to do was to make sure the people were happy by eliminating their grouses, so that they did not become angry.

Dissent in Malaysia, while not boiling, has surfaced prominently on the social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

'Social media anti-govt campaigns'

The latest was the pages calling for Premier Najib Abdul Razak's resignation, which garnered more than 200,000 likes, and another demanding that his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin resigns, as well as the embarrassing #yorais hashtag on Twitter.

The hashtag resulted in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of comments against Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim for his remark that "Twitter is not our culture".

Social media was also the cornerstone of anti-government campaigns against what many lament is BN's near-absolute grip on power, Abu Hassan said.

The latest in this was the hugely popular Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reforms, which was coordinated in part on the social media and received an outpouring of online support.

Drawing another comparison, he likened the state and state-controlled traditional media to the 'Decepticons', the antagonists of Hollywood blockbuster movie Transformers, labelling the new media as movie protagonists, the 'Autobots of Cybertron'.

"The Decepticons can use the biggest bullets and force, yet they cannot stop the Cybertrons, because the (Autobot leader) Optimus fights with his 'heart' and gives everyone the opportunity to be a hero, like (lead actor) Shia LeBeouf."

'Malaysia lacks free press'

Abu Hassan noted that there was a marked lack of free and "liberal" press in Malaysia, especially among the mainstream media.

"I must say, in our country, the people don't have the space. There is a lack of space in the traditional media for the people and this is because the politicians and the capitalists (commercial interests) control the media."

Such shackles on the traditional media have rendered it "primitive" and, clarifying to reporters who met with him later, he said, "Of course, when I say primitive, I am not saying there is a barbarian media, but it is a one-way highway."

The single-lens perspective of the traditional media, he believes, has led to the obsolescence of the mainstream press and loss of public confidence in it.

In contrast, he pointed to the vibrant, new and alternative media, such as online news portals, blogs and social networking sites which allow multiple news and views.

'Traditional media worse than tabloids'

Abu Hassan quoted a study that found 89 percent of Malaysians believe more in the new media as most found that the traditional media "has become worse than tabloids".

This, he said, was in contrast with developed nations such as Germany, where the Internet was more of a novelty, akin to a new gadget, than a crucial tool for information or expression.

He posited that this was because developed nations tended to have liberal and independent media that provided space for citizens to express themselves and also carried news from many angles.

Abu Hassan's argument suggests that belief in the new media is more prominent in countries where press independence and freedom of expression are in a vacuum.

It is this vacuum, left unfilled by the mainstream press, that the new media has occupied, winning the favour of the disenchanted populace by providing an avenue for public discourse.

But more than just an outlet of expression, the academician explained, the new media, and social networking in particular, have became the nexus for dissent and a staging ground for revolutions.

The AK-47s and machetes employed by revolutionaries of yore have been replaced by new media tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

This trend, Abu Hassan added, was evident during the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and in Egypt's Tahrir Square, which were cradles of the "Arab Uprising".

Malaysiakini