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People Find Online Power Now in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 27 2011 (IPS) - Following a major rally involving tens of thousands of protesters calling for electoral reforms in Malaysia, someone set up a Facebook page calling for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down. Within ten days, the number of people who said they “like” the page crossed 200,000.

The rally and the subsequent backlash on social media are a sign of the anger that has been building up among a segment of the population that Najib may have overlooked at his peril: the urban middle class.

And crucially, the response has come from across Malaysia’s ethnic spectrum.

Malaysia is a multiracial country with a relatively young population. Around 70 percent of Malaysians live in urban centres, with rapidly improving Internet connections.

Malays represent around 60 percent of the population, with Chinese and Indians comprising most of the rest. The main political parties have been divided along racial lines since independence. But many see such a system as being unsustainable.

Najib’s handling of the Bersih (meaning ‘clean’ in Malay language) rally appeared to have been driven by groups which have sought a hard-line approach in defending the rights of the Malay majority. And if the online backlash against the government is anything to go by, some political pundits say it could erode the gains Najib made since coming to power in 2009.

“‘Middle’ Malaysia is where the votes are. It’s very mixed and multi-racial,” says Karim Raslan, a regional political analyst. “As a consequence (the government) needs to be more inclusive and engaging. At the moment they are merely shrill and exclusive.”

Many observers say that the government overreacted to the Jul. 9 rally, organised by a loose coalition of NGOs under the Bersih umbrella. Police arrested nearly 1,700 protesters on the day, though most were soon released.

TV footage on Al Jazeera English showed officers beating and kicking several demonstrators as they tried to stage a peaceful sit-down in the street, even after they were hit by tear gas and sprayed with irritant-laced water.

“It showed the insecurities of the government, how defensive they were,” says Tricia Yeoh, a policy analyst. “But more people now see the cracks within the system.”

In the aftermath of the rally, the crackdown has continued. The government still maintains that the yellow “Bersih” t-shirts are illegal; and police arrested some associates of an opposition member of parliament for wearing the t-shirts in their hotel rooms. In addition, the police continue to hold six members of the Malaysian socialist party for promoting the march.

Many Malaysians saw the government’s attempts to demonise Bersih’s organisers as unnecessary and regressive. The government says the police were “greatly restrained” in controlling what it saw as a threat to public order.

The hounding of Bersih organisers has broadened the variety of voices unhappy with the government’s handling of the event. And it has even made those who might have described themselves as “apolitical” speak out.

Najib must hold the next general election by April 2013. Many political pundits had been speculating they could be called as early as this year. In the wake of the Bersih rally, most of those analysts now say plans to hold early elections will likely be shelved.

The last elections in 2008 were held four months after the first Bersih rally. The result saw the ruling National Front coalition losing its two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1957, and opposition parties winning control of four states.

The timing of the next election will be crucial for Najib and the governing party. Memories of Jul. 9 are likely to be kept alive among a newly-invigorated segment of online chattering classes. If Najib calls for polls too soon he risks the wrath of many who say they are disgusted with the government’s handling of the rally. Leave it too late and the economy could take a turn for the worse.

Najib had been doing reasonably well before the latest crackdown happened. Due to a raft of ambitious economic reforms his approval ratings rose from 45 percent to 69 percent in February, according to independent outfit Merdeka Centre. .

But in concentrating on the economy, Najib took his gaze off long-simmering political and social problems, such as Perkasa, a far-right lobby group which has played on the insecurities of some Malays who feel they still need the help of decades-old affirmative action programmes.

Social media has played a big role in slowly eroding racial barriers. It has allowed Malaysians to express themselves – often vociferously – for the first time. And it has become an important, alternative news source to government-controlled mainstream media.

Political analysts say Najib’s handling of the demonstration showed he is out of step with the sentiment of many Malaysians, in particular, a growing population of young, internet-savvy people who are less afraid to express themselves than their forebears.

“In the 21st century everybody has a mind and wants to express themselves. People were saying we are the boss, we elected you. But this was lost on the government,” says Jahabar Sadiq, chief executive officer of the news portal ‘Malaysian Insider’.

“Peter”, who doesn’t want to be identified by his full name, says he was inspired by video and photos of a frail, elderly lady at the rally who was defiant in the face of tear gas and water cannon. So he set up the Facebook page called Aunty Bersih.

“I’m just an ordinary guy,” he says. “I hadn’t registered as a voter. But I will now,” says Peter in a posting.