A lot has been said about the GE2008. Petaling Street was been afire with incoming pings over the last couple of weeks. One thing i noticed has been how, almost universally, bloggers are writing in support of the DAP, PAS, PKR, and very much anti-establishment.
You just have to wonder on the possibilities:
1. Do bloggers represent the sentiments of Malaysia's internet users? Or are they just the most vocal component?
2. What sort of influence do bloggers have on voters during polling day?
The answer to the first question is impossible to determine without a wide-ranging survey.
The answer to the second is, probably, quite considerable.
Is it a surprise that the states that BN lost also happen to be the most advanced, tech-wise, in the country? Its reasonable to assume that the 5 states which contribute 60% of the nation's GDP will also have the largest user base of Internet users in the country.
The Internet is nothing more than a giant repository of information. And, information, or rather, in this case, the access to information changes the way people think, influences them to make informed decisions.
The availability of anti-establishment information on the Internet (whether true or not, is another matter altogether) will have most definitely influenced the results on polling day. Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today, the influential and charismatic, Jeff Ooi -- are just a handful of examples of internet resources that are unbound by the traditional pressures faced by traditional, establishment-aligned media (read: newspapers, radio and TV).
The question, really, is not whether the Internet played a role in the "defeat" of BN this past election, the question should be, what was the quantum of influence? 2%? 5%? 10%? 15%? of the votes?
Only way of knowing with any degree of accuracy is a proper exit poll study, something i think that is either not done in Malaysia, or its results are simply not published (i think its the former, to be honest).
You just have to wonder on the possibilities:
1. Do bloggers represent the sentiments of Malaysia's internet users? Or are they just the most vocal component?
2. What sort of influence do bloggers have on voters during polling day?
The answer to the first question is impossible to determine without a wide-ranging survey.
The answer to the second is, probably, quite considerable.
Is it a surprise that the states that BN lost also happen to be the most advanced, tech-wise, in the country? Its reasonable to assume that the 5 states which contribute 60% of the nation's GDP will also have the largest user base of Internet users in the country.
The Internet is nothing more than a giant repository of information. And, information, or rather, in this case, the access to information changes the way people think, influences them to make informed decisions.
The availability of anti-establishment information on the Internet (whether true or not, is another matter altogether) will have most definitely influenced the results on polling day. Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today, the influential and charismatic, Jeff Ooi -- are just a handful of examples of internet resources that are unbound by the traditional pressures faced by traditional, establishment-aligned media (read: newspapers, radio and TV).
The question, really, is not whether the Internet played a role in the "defeat" of BN this past election, the question should be, what was the quantum of influence? 2%? 5%? 10%? 15%? of the votes?
Only way of knowing with any degree of accuracy is a proper exit poll study, something i think that is either not done in Malaysia, or its results are simply not published (i think its the former, to be honest).
