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The Journal of International Communication

ISSN: 1321-6597 (Print) 2158-3471 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rico20

Blogging in Malaysia
SANDRA SMELTZER
To cite this article: SANDRA SMELTZER (2008) Blogging in Malaysia, The Journal of International
Communication, 14:1, 28-45, DOI: 10.1080/13216597.2008.9674720
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2008.9674720

Published online: 03 May 2011.

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Hogging in Malaysia
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Hope for a new democratic technology?

S A N D R A SMELTZER

By facilitating the open sharing of ideas, information and perspectives, Hogging has
the potential to serve as a democratising force in countries with little freedom of
expression, including Malaysia. Democratic expectations of Malaysia's blogosphere
must be tempered, however, with 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 Cherian George's (2005,
2006) criteria of 'politically contentious' media. The foremost goal of these media,
which 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, Welsch, Wright & Yu would define as 'A-lisf: blogs that are 'widely-read, cited
in the mass media, and receive the most inbound links from other blogs' (Herring et al
2005, p.1).
The discussion opens with a critical overview of the politically contentious
Malaysian blogosphere, contextualised within the country's broader media landscape.
It then turns to examine the potential democratising power of blogging, presenting
optimistic and skeptical perspectives of the impact this activity may have on Malaysia's sociopolitical landscape.
CONTEXTUALISING THE MALAYSIAN BLOGOSPHERE

In the mid-1990s, Malaysia's government established a range of programs and policies to bridge domestic digital divides and encourage widespread information and
communication technology (ICT) adoption among its citizenry. Concurrently, the
government began construction of the MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor) as Malaysia's version of Silicon Valley. To attract companies to this high-tech hub, the government introduced a Bill of Guarantees that included a pledge to not censor the internet.
Politically contentious online communication, however, was clearly not what it had in
mind when it made this no censorship pledge or when it introduced digital divide
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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.
As is well documented, Malaysia's mainstream media are encouraged to practise
self-censorship through the inherent threat and enforcement of restrictive laws (Abbott
2001; Balraj 2006; Banerjee 2007; Brown 2005; George 2005, 2006; Gomez 2003; Hilley
2001; Khattab 2006; Lewis 2006; Ling 2003; Mustafa 2002,2005; Sani 2005; Seneviratne &
Singarayar 2006; Uimonen 2003; Zaharom & Wang 2004). They are expected to embrace a pro-government position, encourage national unity and integration, and focus on Malaysia's economic prosperity and growth. As then Information Minister
Zainuddin Maidin made clear, the media have a 'social responsibility which should be
appropriate to the national spirit 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 world,
where economic development is placed before political freedoms, despite the fact
they represent false alternatives (Sen 2000). A more appropriate human-centred form
of development, Amartya Sen argues, should focus on the removal of 'unfreedoms',
such as poverty, lack of labour opportunities, neglect of public facilities and the 'denial
of political and civil liberties' (Sen 2000, p.4). In other words, development should aim
to produce environments that provide citizens with opportunities to freely exercise
their human agency, which is in direct contrast with how media have been managed
in Malaysia,
Press freedom advocates hoped the media environment would improve under
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's administration. Following the change in government, some space for critical 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 view that the Prime Minister was in a honeymoon period on the press
freedom policy in Malaysia, then it is their own view (Zainuddin 2006). When combined with public threats and laws encouraging self-censorship, Malaysia's pattern of
concentrated, government-managed media means that, notwithstanding the work of
numerous mainstream journalists trying to push the envelope in their writing 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 and information. More recently, blogs have begun to play an increasingly prominent role in this
politically contentious online media landscape. As discussed below, the government's
attempts to control the content of these blogs - without direcdy contravening its nocensorship pledge - points to their political influence in the country. Their impact has
helped widen the cracks even farther in the lead-up to, and aftermath of, the 8 March
2008 federal election, which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition fail to secure a
two-thirds majority government.
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METHODOLOGY

This research is informed by semi-structured and unstructured interviews conducted


in February, May and December 2006 and in July 2007 with 41 English, Chinese and
Malay-language Malaysian bloggers, four of whom were interviewed anonymously
via email to protect their identities. Interviewees were selected based on pre-fieldwork research of A-list politically contentious bloggers and a snowball methodology
once in the field to identify additional individuals. Information garnered from these
interviews was supplemented by discussions held at the December 2006 National

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Roundtable on Internet Media in Malaysia: Problems and Prospects, hosted by Charter 2000-Aliran with the support of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.
B L O G G I N G IN A RESTRICTED MEDIA ENVIRONMENT: INFLUENTIAL CITIZEN
JOURNALISM A N D / O R ELITE LINK LOVE?

Influential citizen journalism


The power of blogging to positively transform politics, civil society and mainstream
media has perhaps been most famously argued by Dan Gillmor, former columnist for
the San Jose Mercury News, technology writer, ardent blogger and author of We the
Media: Grassroots Journalism By The People, For The People (2004). Gillmor (2004) contends
that blogging has opened the door for a new kind of citizen-based grassroots journalism, one that allows the former audience to play a central role in the production of
news; to disseminate information, opinions and ideas; and to engage in debates and
discussions without the gatekeeping restrictions of mainstream media. In contrast to
mainstream outlets, which tend to rely on a limited and fairly narrow selection of
perspectives and experts, Gillmor extols the plurality of voices, viewpoints and knowledge available in the blogosphere. Glenn Reynolds, of Instapunditxom notoriety, takes
Gillmor's position 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). Though perhaps overly optimistic about the democratising power
of blogging, Gillmor and Reynolds still believe that, notwithstanding political and economic constraints, mainstream media continue to play an essential role in a functioning democracy. These media have the expertise, financial resources, labour power
and credentials to engage in comprehensive journalistic activities. As Gillmor writes,
T seek a balance that simultaneously preserves the best of today's system and encourages tomorrow's emergent, self-assembling journalism' (2004, p.xvii).
In Malaysia, however, the mainstream press is, as noted above, obliged to provide a limited 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. As Julien Pain (2005)
comments, 'Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at

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the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.' Issues the
Malaysian government would deem too sensitive - e.g. Bumiputra affirmative action
policies, cronyism, press freedom, religion and government mega-projects (from the
Bakun Dam to Cyberjaya) - are addressed, discussed and debated online. As a particularly germane example, the politically sensitive issue of Deputy Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak's alleged involvement in the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu has
been critically discussed by numerous bloggers while it has been blacked out in local
mainstream media. Some bloggers remain cautious, though, referencing the story
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but referring readers to Makysiakim or foreign news sources for additional information.
Blogging holds a particularly alluring democratic appeal for two other important
reasons: first, readily accessible software has made 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 well as among readers, thus allowing
for multi-point discussions. Not surprisingly, bloggers interviewed for this research
tended to be quite positive about the role this communication tool has played in
improving Malaysia's media landscape. Connecting with like-minded people gives
them hope for a more democratic future in Malaysia and a sense of belonging to a
virtual and real-life convergence of citizens concerned about similar political issues.
Numerous interviewees expressed feeling empowered by blogging. As one blogger
commented via email with the author, T can reach a lot of people with my blog. I know
I'm not a Jeff Ooi, but Malaysians are reading about things that they don't get in the
mainstream media. I link to other blogs and Malaysiakini and outside media.'
As Hang Wu Tang writes in specific reference to Malaysia's blogosphere, when
blogs 'are hyperlinked and networked to one another and bloggers and their readers
congregate metaphorically in cyberspace and produce a cacophony of voices', what
emerges is a 'digital conversation [that] can properly be characterised as a growing
culture of democratization' (2006, p.5). In her discussion of 'on-line nation building' in
Malaysia, Paula Uimonen offers a similar argument. The internet, she writes, 'allows
for the creation of a community of interest, which in this case is directly related to the
reconstruction of the off-line community of the Malaysian nation' (2003, p.309). Focusing specifically on internet use by middle-class Malaysians during the Reformasi
movement, Uimonen demonstrates how domestic websites serve as invaluable conduits for sharing information and ideas that would otherwise have been difficult for
most citizens to access. The political online community, in other words, was very
much grounded in real-life politics. Though the headiness of Reformasi has waned,
civil society continues to ground its online activities in everyday 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 more vigorous online critical community than its neighbour to the south. He argues that Malaysia's stronger off-line civil society translates
into a more contentious blogosphere, demonstrating a positive correlation between
virtual and real-life politics.
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The political value of this kind of communication tool is no more clearly seen than
in how bloggers - even those who are not usually politically contentious - covered the
10 November 2007 pro-democracy rally in Kuala Lumpur. Organisers from the BERSIH
coalition of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) used blogs
and social networking sites to promote the event, drawing tens of thousands of citizens to demonstrate for fair elections. Coverage of the rally in mainstream media
painted a picture of a volatile group of activists wreaking havoc in the city's downtown
core. Bloggers, along with other alternative media, posted their own pictures of the

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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 participating citizens have been discussed and debated
throughout the local blogosphere.
Later the same month, members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF)
demonstrated to raise awareness of Hindu rights in the country, a politically sensitive
issue that became explosive when 136 citizens were arrested, largely for sedition.
Additionally, five other citizens were detained without trial under the draconian Internd Security Act - a serious warning shot from the government (Fernandez 2007). Not
surprisingly, every one of the A-list bloggers noted below included at least one post
about the rally and the government's subsequent response. When police stated that
no teargas or water cannons were used on protestors, many of these and other
bloggers posted pictures and video proving otherwise, forcing the police to change
their account.
Malaysian blogging is also useful for external audiences seeking news and commentary unfiltered by mainstream sources. As Mark Glaser (2004, p.33) writes, 'the
world is watching' the content of blogs 'to learn about stories the press in their countries dare not tell'. Coverage of the BERSIH and HINDRAF rallies, for example, failed
to make Malaysia's mainstream news in any sort of critical manner. Foreign audiences and foreign media (including The Straits Times in Singapore, Financial Times, The
Economist, The Business Times Singapore, The Nation (Thailand) and BBC Monitoring Asia
Pacific) instead turned to coverage produced by domestic online media.
The Daily M e and elite link love
The Daily Me offers one counter to a more optimistic view of the positive relationship
between blogging and democracy. As first described by Nicholas Negroponte in his
1995 book Being Digital, The Daily Me refers to citizens' ability to customise their media
to only read, hear and watch media that reflect their personal interests. Cass Sunstein
critiques the Daily Me phenomenon, arguing that the increasing efficacy with which we
are able to personalise our sources of information is detrimental to democracy, which
should be about unintended encounters with people who may not share our opinions
and who can offer new and unexpected perspectives, information and insights (Sunstein
2001, 2004, 2008). Sunstein's concerns about the negative ramifications of this 'group
polarisation' (2008, p.92) is analogous to those described by Robert Putnam is his
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critique of 'cyberbalkanisation' or 'cyberapartheid' (2000, p.173). Sunstein contends


that, although blogs increase 'the opportunity for people to read and write on an
extraordinary array of topics', they also allow us to further personalise, filter and
ultimately restrict our communication world, creating echo chambers of like-minded
individuals (2004, p.57). In their research about this kind of link love within the American political blogosphere, Hargittai, Gallo and Kane (2008) found that, indeed, there
are relatively few cross-ideological linkages.
In Malaysia, for example, two of the more prominent blogtals (blog portals) Project Petaling Street (PPS) and Geng Jurruil (Geju or GJ) - share very little overlap with
each other. Separated by language (English versus Malay, respectively) and by content (PPS tends to include more critical postings), these two blogtals symbolise cultural, linguistic and political differences in the country (Tang 2006). This is not to suggest that readers of PPS blogs necessarily omit GJ's blogs from their reading lists, or
vice versa; however, the dearth in cross-listing between the two lends support to
Sunstein's position. Another, more recent, local blogtal - blog!ah.org - has content in
both English and Malay; however, postings in its political section tend to be from a
limited handful of bloggers. Therefore, as Hang Wu Tang writes, '[i]t does not seem
feasible to construct a monolithic and multi-lingual blogging movement [in Malaysia]
as bloggers and their readers would naturally tend to write in and read the language
that they are most comfortable in' (2006, p.19). Additionally, although we cannot know
who reads Malaysian blogs, blogrolls predominantly list blogs of a similar political ilk.
As this article looks specifically at politically contentious Malaysian blogs, the presence of such 'link love' should be especially unsurprising.
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On one hand, many of these bloggers are concerned about group polarisation and
want to create room for the kinds of discussion, disagreement and 'agonistic pluralism' (Mouffe 2000, 2005) that, along the lines of Sunstein, are at the heart of a functioning democracy. As Chantal Mouffe argues, in any type of political life there will always
be conflict - a Habermasian notion of consensus via rational deliberation is not possible. Democracy is thus served if a plurality of voices can debate and conflict within
productive, agonistic forums rather than antagonistic ones (Mouffe 2000, 2005). In
other words, 'adversaries' must be allowed to clash while still viewing each other's
position as 'legitimate'. Moreover, if 'democratic confrontation disappears [or has
never been allowed], the political in its antagonistic dimension manifests itself through
other channels', which will ultimately hinder democracy rather than further it (2000,
p.114). In Malaysia, the government has tried to depoliticise the country, allowing
neither agonistic nor antagonistic debate on or offline. Rather than promoting a political 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; Williamson 2002, p.403).
On the other hand, politically contentious bloggers also want to push for change in
Malaysia - 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
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promote democracy. Does this mass, however, represent only a limited demographic
of Malaysian society? Jason P. Abbott argues that 'the audience of [internet] users' in
many Asian countries, including Malaysia, 'represents a pre-selected elite that for the
most part may already be sympathetic' to activist messages (2001, p.111). Though this
may be true, access in Malaysia has expanded significantly over the past several
years. According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, by
October 2006 approximately 13.5 million Malaysians - roughly 47 percent of the population - were classified as internet users (MCMC 2006); however, this statistic tells us

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little about who uses the technology or what they use it for (see, as examples, Boey
2002; Bunnell 2002, 2004; Lepawsky 2005). A citizen's ability to access and successfully
use the technological tools needed to participate in the blogosphere are determined
by a range of familiar issues, including, but not limited to, financial resources, literacy,
language, education, gender, geography, ethnicity, age and disabilities. Despite the
steady growth in the number of internet users, these fault lines still exist within Malaysia (Harris 2006), limiting the scope of blogging activities, politically contentious or
otherwise.
W H O ' S B L O G G I N G IN 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 Blood
2002; Welch, Jensen & Reeves 2003). By 2004, 'blog' had become the buzzword (Pew
Internet & American Life Project 2005), reflecting its role as an alternate source of
information, ideas and opinions. Herring et al (2005) conclude from a quantitative
content analysis of randomly 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 daily lives of individual bloggers. Although estimates place the
number of Malaysian blogs somewhere between several thousand and 20,000, many
are not regularly updated and most focus on the quotidian personal lives of bloggers.
While we should not under-estimate the importance of these kinds of 'individualistic,
intimate forms of self-expression' (Herring et al 2005, p.142), the focus here is on A-list
politically contentious blogs whose primary objective is to challenge both the status
quo and mainstream media control by providing space to share information, circulate
news and voice opinions not represented - or underrepresented - in the mainstream
press. These bloggers - who number, at most, a few hundred 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 visible because these
blogs ... dare to go where no mainstream media will' (Hong 2006).
While the local critical blogosphere includes Malay-language and Chinese-language blogs, most are written primarily, or entirely, in English (politically contentious
Indian-language blogs - e.g. in Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Malayalam - and indigenouslanguage blogs are virtually non-existent within Malaysia's blogosphere). Many

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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 within and beyond Malaysia's borders. Some interviewees
also stated that they feel more comfortable and are better adept at expressing themselves in English than in their other language(s). T get my point across better in
English ... in Malay I just sound, I don't know, basic I guess. Plus, in English I get more
readers', one interviewee explained.
Many of Malaysia's top A-list politically contentious blogs - e.g., at the time of
writing, Jeff Ooi's Screenshots, Raja Petra Kamarudin's Malaysia-Today, Ahirudin Attan's
Rocky's Bru, Abdul Kadir Jasin's The Scribe, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar's Disquiet, Farish Noor's
The Other Malaysia, Anil Netto's self-titled blog, and anonymous blogs such as Aisehman,
Kickdefella, MageP's Lab and Sensintrovert - are male and urban-based. Though there
have been fewer female bloggers, the cohort is expanding. Some key women at the
forefront are Teresa Kok (Sassy MP), Elizabeth Wong (Elizabeth Wong), Marina Mahathir
(RantingsbyMM), Boon Hooi (Boon Hooi on the Blog -freedomof expression) and Lucia Lai
(Mental Jog). While all of these critical blogs focus on political content, many also
incorporate personal commentary into their writing and provide links to blogs and
websites that are primarily or exclusively apolitical. Conversely, many apolitical and
personal blogs feature political content during key events and about particular issues
(e.g. federal elections, the war in Iraq, well-known threats to Malaysia's press freedom). Additionally, several politically contentious Malaysia-focused blogs are written
by Malaysians living abroad - e.g. California-based M . Bakri Musa's self-titled blog
offers critical commentary about Malaysian politics with a particular focus on education issues, Susan Loone writes her critical in-human rights blog from Bangkok, and Ong
Hock Chuan's Unspun blog from Jakarta regularly includes news and commentary
about Malaysian issues.

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Not surprisingly, many politically contentious bloggers in Malaysia are members


of opposition political parties, which can, in part, be attributed to the lack of mainstream media access for, and coverage of, opposition party activities. For example, in
2000 the government reduced publication frequency of the Parti Islam SeMalaysia
(PAS) newspaper, Harakah, from twice weekly to twice a month and restricted its
circulation to PAS party members (Abbott 2001; Brown 2005). Additionally, Malaysia's
Police Act prohibits citizens from assembling without a permit, which restricts public
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 (DAP) have led the way in political party blogging - Lim Kit
Siang's English- and Chinese-language blogs are especially well read locally and
internationally and are updated regularly with critical commentary about local politics. Anwar Ibrahim, the former Deputy Prime Minister and recently elected M P for
Parti KeADILan Rakyat (PKR), has his own Malay-language blog, as does PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang Muhammad. Though no PAS MPs had their own blog at the

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time of writing, there exist PAS-inclined blogs, including MENJ's Critical Thoughts and
Mohamed Hanipa Maidin's peguampas, Roslan SMS Corner.
In addition to politically contentious and apolitical blogs, a wide range of domestic
blogs contain political content but are not focused on effecting political 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, challenge the status quo by writing about subject matter not often discussed in domestic public forums, including sexuality, sexual orientation and illegal

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substance usage. Kinky Blue Fairy, minishorts, Kimberly Cun's Narcissism is Necessary and
Huai 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 similar vein, a few of the country's more well-known blogs openly and
critically discuss sensitive religious issues and can thus be classified as political - e.g.
MENJ's Critical Thoughts, IreneQ's Unravelled and Robert (Bob) Kee's bobjots. While not
focused on political change per se, all of these blogs play an important role in creating
space for personal expression and for allowing discussions between citizens without
fear of government filters.
Of note, some local mainstream media have also jumped onto the blogging bandwagon. It is rather ironic that, while their coverage tends to mirror government rhetoric of the political perils of blogs, they are eager to capture this valuable market. The
Star newspaper, for example, has its own Citizen's Blog that includes some fairly critical posted comments; however, the paper also warns: "be mindful that there are laws
governing the publication of content - regardless of whether the content is in print or
online. Your submissions will be vetted for approval before it [sic] appears online' (The
Star 2006b). The extent of the paper's vetting process is unknown, and the postings
have attracted few comments, making it more a Letters to the Editor section than an
interactive blog.
N O FEAR? G O V E R N M E N T C O N T R O L S O F O N L I N E MEDIA A N D P O W E R LAWS

Government controls
Over the past few years, the government has tried various strategies, in an ostensibly ad hoc manner, to control blogging activities. At a more structural level, political
developments i n the country indicate that online media may increasingly become
subject to the same sorts of control as their print and broadcast counterparts (described above). Though the government has promised to not censor the internet,
effectively allowing bloggers to operate without a publishing licence, the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Content Code states: 'The Online environment is
not a legal vacuum. In general, if something is illegal "off-line", it will also be illegal
"on-line". In this matter, the relevant existing laws apply' (CMCF 2004). How exactly
blogging can be made subject to the country's laws, however, remains unclear.

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The government flexed some political muscle in 2003 when it raided Malaysiakini's
office and confiscated 19 computers over an article critical of the youth branch of the
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Though the computers were later
returned, the incident was an unmistakable warning shot from the government.
Malaysiakini and a handful of the A-list bloggers interviewed for this research indicated that they are very aware their sites are monitored by the authorities. In spring
2007, Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Shaziman Abu 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 community. 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
many are active, how often they update their websites, and what kind of info is posted.
It has nothing to do with censoring' (NST 2007a). Though the plan was later rejected,
the government is instead establishing a special 'blogging squad' of 500 writers to
monitor and surveil 'content that could be deemed antigovemmenf (Asohan, quoted
in Y. Ooi 2007, p.38) and 'disseminate information, explain correct information, and
counter the misinformation on government policies' (SEAPA 2007).
Also at a structural level, in July 2006 Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry announced it intended to conduct a review of the Printing Presses and Publications Act,
which severely restricts print media in the country, to investigate whether the law
should be amended to also include electronically mediated forms of communication.
The Deputy Internal Security Minister stated that the review would address concerns
expressed by mainstream media that the Act unfairly constrains their activities while
allowing the online community to publish without impunity: 'They [print media] feel
there are double standards, and that it is not a level playing field' (The Star 2006a).
Concerns expressed by press freedom advocates about such comments were somewhat assuaged by Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik. When
asked whether his ministry was planning to regulate the internet, Lim stated: 'Not that
I am aware of. Not at the present moment because we've given a bill of guarantees to
the M S C (Puah 2006). Several months later, however, he stated that 'if they (bloggers]
behave irresponsibly, we will take away their rights. There are laws in this country'
(NST 2007a).
In March 2007, verbal warnings became increasingly and more overtly threatening when Malaysia's Tourism Minister declared: 'All bloggers are liars. They cheat
people using all kinds of methods' (Y. Ooi 2007, p.38). Two months later, the DirectorGeneral of the Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) forewarned that it would
monitor blogs and websites for 'wrong information' about Islam that 'could prove
detrimental to Muslims with little or no understanding of their religion' and would
forward concerns to the authorities (NST 2007b). In July 2007, Deputy Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak warned online media practitioners that '[t]he freedom to write and
express opinion has its limit as provided for in the country's law ... The government is

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responsible for social harmony and we will not allow any group to jeopardise national
solidarity and create social unrest' (Bernama 2007). The government has also made
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public examples of bloggers it feels have stepped over political lines - an effective
strategy to discourage potential critical bloggers. Mainstream media coverage of the
police harassment of Jeff Ooi, Raja Petra Kamarudin and his wife Marina (e.g. with
such headlines as 'Police to probe blogger Jeff Ooi' [NST 2006]), further planted a seed
in people's minds that the government meant business. Most of the mainstream
press also ran stories about the January 2007 defamation lawsuits filed by the New

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Straits Times Press (NSTP) against Ooi and Ahiruddin Attan for comments on their blogs
the NSTP deemed libelous. Not only is the suit the first of its kind against bloggers in
Malaysia, it is publicly supported by the Prime Minister (Puah 2007).

According to the 2006 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Annual Report for Malaysia, '[government intimidation of online journalists and bloggers has increased in the
past three years ... Summonses and questioning of bloggers has been stepped up
recently, leading to self-censorship that harms democracy' (Reporters Without Borders 2007). In 2006, anonymous A-list Malaysian blogger Aisehman challenged this
portrayal, arguing that RSF makes it 'sound like Malaysian bloggers are afraid to
publish the truth', which s/he argues is 'crap'. Other bloggers interviewed contend
that individuals wishing to stay off the government's radar screen simply need to host
their blog in another country and, like Aisehman, remain anonymous. Some of these
9

interviewees also indicated, however, that, even before the government's recent
warnings, they thought some Malaysians were uncomfortable visiting and commenting on politically contentious blogs for fear the authorities could trace their identities.
This, too, limits the volume and diversity of citizens participating in the blogosphere.
Additionally, critical bloggers, regardless of whether 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 mainstream and alternative media. As authorities can hold them accountable for any
items posted on their sites, bloggers must also continually monitor reader comments
for inflammatory and seditious content the government may deem objectionable.
For all these reasons, many interviewees indicated that the number of people capable and willing to blog in this kind of critical capacity is necessarily limited. Although
blogging may be personally and politically valuable, the time and emotional energy
needed to write and monitor blogs can lead to varying degrees of frustration and
Imrn ouf in the blogging community.
Power laws
Particularly interesting in the Malaysian situation is that there appears to be a threshold of popularity after which politically contentious writers may possibly gain a measure of protection from the government's control. Bloggers receiving significant international attention from well-known freedom of expression organisations (e.g. Report-

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BLOGGING IN MALAYSIA

ers Without Borders, Amnesty International, International Freedom of Expression


eXchange, Committee to Protect Journalists, Southeast Asian Press Alliance) seem
less likely to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law by the Malaysian government
unless they really step over lines drawn around sensitive issues or overtly defame a
member of the power elite. The government would likely become more repressive,
however, if politically contentious Malay-language blogs expanded their readership,
reaching larger numbers of Malays and potentially influencing UMNO's political stronghold. The government would also likely take a stronger stance if well-read blogs - in
any language - were consistently successful in encouraging on the ground demonstrations and civil disobedience.
What we have in Malaysia, then, is a situation that only partially conforms to the
'power laws' of the blogosphere. As Clay Shirky argues in his oft-cited article Tower
laws, weblogs, and inequality' (Shirky 2003), '[i]n systems where many people are free
to choose between many options, a small subset of the whole will get a disproportionate amount of traffic'. In other words, the blogosphere is a popularity contest in which
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 linking 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 power law distribution.' He notes that this seems rather counterintuitive as we would tend to expect
the opposite to take place - that the greater the diversity of choices, the greater the
dispersion of choices.
While Malaysia's blogosphere has an abundance of blogs from which to choose,
only a limited number contain politically contentious content. From this limited group,
only a few attract heavy link and readership traffic. Their popularity can be attributed
to a number of factors, including frequency with which they publish; accuracy, thoroughness and ability to collate a wide range of critical information; willingness to
critique the status quo; and early entry into Malaysia's blogosphere. A long tail of
other politically contentious bloggers attracts a much smaller following, leaving them
less likely to be harassed by local authorities. Only a handful of politically contentious
bloggers exist between the two ends of the spectrum, possibly because mediumsized blogs are in a particularly difficult position: they challenge the status quo and
can draw a substantial enough crowd for the authorities to be concerned, yet have
little protection from potential government backlash without a well-known international reputation. Consequently, many interviewees suggested that politically contentious bloggers have to make a choice - try to make it to the A-list category and
accept the sacrifices required to do so, or remain part of the long tail of relative
anonymity.

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39

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 E POLLS

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


facilitating discussion and offering perspectives not available in mainstream media
within a restrictive communication environment that limits citizens' liberties. Blogs
are also useful for helping to build community and the political solidarity necessary
for encouraging citizens to collectively champion a more democratic future for themselves and for their country.
In reaction to the defamation suit brought against Ooi and Attan, for example,

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numerous bloggers banded together in early 2007 to form Bloggers United, officially
denouncing what they considered to be an unfair move by a large, governmentsupported media organisation to silence critical bloggers. Their tagline: No Fear. In
spring 2007, other key bloggers formed the National Bloggers Alliance, also known as
All-Blogs, with Attan and Ooi as president and vice-president, respectively. Also in
spring 2007, numerous A-list bloggers launched yet another coalition, Bloggers United
Malaysia (B.U.M.). The group held a gathering in May 2007 to mark World Press
Freedom Day and 'embrace and engage the blogging phenomenon in Malaysia' (B.U.M.
2007). Although participants were limited to those able to congregate in Kuala Lumpur,
the gathering is interesting for two reasons: first, its multicultural make-up demonstrates diversity in the domestic contentious blogosphere; and second, many critical
bloggers are keen to gather offline. This lends additional support to the argument 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 Malaysian federal elections.
Malaysia's government severely limits publication frequency of opposition party
materials, rations their use of public media, and discourages private media from
covering opposition party issues and activities, especially during electoral periods
(Abbott 2001, p.82; Sani 2005). Concomitantly, mainstream media provide a disproportionate amount of positive coverage for the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional. As a
10

result, many citizens turned to alternative forms of media in the lead-up to the election. Hits to Malaysiakini increased significantly, with an estimated half a million people
turning to it as a source of information (The Economist 2008). Numerous A-list bloggers
also reported increased traffic. Jeff Ooi, for example, experienced a more than threefold increase in page views on his blogs prior to voting day (personal communication,
J. Ooi, 2008). Evidence of blogging's importance has also come in the form of electoral
ballots - a handful of key politically contentious bloggers were elected or re-elected to
parliament. They include Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR), Jeff Ooi (DAP), Tony Pua (DAP),
Badrul Hisham Shaharin (PKR) and Elizabeth Wong (PKR). As well, Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin lost his parliamentary seat in the election; his replacement,
Ahmad Shabery Cheek, has made overtures to the blogging community, saying he
wants to encourage a constructive dialogue.

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BLOGGING IN MALAYSIA

For all the reasons noted above, it is tempting to conclude that blogging has
automatically enhanced democracy in Malaysia, and will continue to do so. As the
politically contentious Malaysian blogosphere continues to be comprised of a relatively narrow group of elites, however, this may be a false temptation. Also, one
should not underestimate the government's desire and willingness to control online
activities - regardless of what the new Information Minister might say - that might
threaten the status quo, nor the effectiveness of its hegemonic methods for discouraging citizens from engaging in blogging. In other words, although blogs have be-

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come increasingly important in the toolkit of Malaysia's politically contentious civil


society, enthusiasm for the democratising power of blogs must be tempered with a
realistic understanding of the country's political and economic framework.
In her discussion of the role of blogging in China, Rebecca MacKinnon 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:
When it comes to political change or democratization, the impact of the Internet and
blogs is more likely 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 gradual, slow evolution - not democratic revolution. (2008, pp.44-45)

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


is in China or Singapore, which rank 163rd and 141st respectively on the Reporters
Without Borders 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 pronounced impact on domestic politics - it has been a slow evolution, not an instantaneous revolution. That the government is becoming interested and wary of the potential
of blogging demonstrates the very real impact it has begun to make in the country.
11

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


Information and Media Studies at The University of Western Ontario. Her areas of
research and publication include development communication, alternative media
practices, environmental communication and digital divide issues, particularly within
the Malaysian context.
NOTES

1.

Some of the more prominent initiatives, which have been met with varying degrees of
success, included Rural Internet Centres (Pusat Internet Desa), the PC Ownership Campaign, Community Awareness Programmes, the Universal Service Provision Programme
and the MSC's Flagship Applications. Though the governments interest in digital divide
issues began to wane in 2001, recent overtures indicate a renewed commitment of time and
resources to existing and new programs, with the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime
Minister's Department leading the momentum. How well these initiatives move beyond
the provision of physical infrastructure to incorporate other sociocultural issues, however,
remains to be seen (see Harris 2006).

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41

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SMELTZER

2.

For further information about the story, see Lopez (2007).

3.

A blogroll is 'a list of blog links permanently featured on the sidebar of blogs often replicated on each page in the archives' (Hargittai, Gallo & Kane, 2008, p.71).

4.

Mouffe does not, however, provide a sense of where to draw the line in terms of how much
plurality and how much agonism is acceptable and necessary, or of how, in actuality, this
vision will come to fruition.

5.

Of note, many of these blogs tend to use .com or .org (and sometimes .net) as top-level
domain names to host their blogs, which indicates a certain level of technological savvy.
Less popular critical bloggers tend to rely on blog publishing systems, particularly Blogger,
to create and manage their blogs.

6.

Although gender is sometimes indeterminable if bloggers do not reveal their 'real life'
identities, anonymous Malaysian bloggers often indicate their gender in blog profiles or
make reference to it in the course of their writing.

7.

To clarify the internal ministerial jockeying over who controls electronic media, the Internal Security Ministry monitors all newspapers in the country, having taken over responsibility of the Printing Presses and Publications Act from the Home Affairs Ministry in 2004. The
Energy, Water and Communications Ministry is responsible for the internet, as well as
private broadcasting. The Information Ministry oversees Bernama, Malaysia's national
news agency and the publicly owned Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM).

8.

At the time of writing the status of the claim remains unresolved. It is noteworthy that Attan
was an editor for various NSTP publications and is the former president of Malaysia's
National Press Club.

9.

There are 'no free blog-hosting services aka blogspot.com/wordpress.com that carry
anonymous bloggers within Malaysia' (J. Ooi 2007).

10.

For a critical qualitative and quantitative analysis of this mainstream coverage, see the
Media Monitors' Diary, created by human rights organisation Aliran, the Centre for Independent Journalism and the Writers Alliance for Media Independence in Malaysia
(www.aliran.com/elections).

11.

As examples from other regional neighbours, in the Philippines, civil society has significantly more room to operate, as demonstrated by the proliferation of NGOs and peoples'
organisations, but in terms of media the government has threatened physical retribution and
arrest for journalists who expose corruption or challenge the authorities. Under Thailand's
former Prime Minister Thaksin, the Thai Rak Thai increasingly tried to muzzle the media and
curb domestic civil society through a range of political and legal mechanisms; following
the 2006 coup, the military junta also clamped down on media activities (particularly community radio).

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