Media Watch

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Liberalisation of the Malaysian Media and Politics: New Media, Strategies and Contestations


Affiliations
1 School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia
2 Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


On 28 April 2012, 'Bersih 3.0', a rally calling for freer and fairer elections estimated that 250, 000 people gathered to support its cause. Government controlled newspapers the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia accused this rally attended by 20, 000 demonstrators as a plot to destabilise and overthrow the ruling coalition through chaos and disorder. Online news portals Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider however reported that the rally attended by 150,000 demonstrators began peacefully but ended chaotically as demonstrators, journalists and police personnel were attacked and manhandled. While the conflicting reports of Bersih 3.0 and other news reports unpublished by the state controlled media through the new media suggests political dissent and possible media liberalisation, it does not necessarily mean that press freedom is well and alive. It however marks the beginning of a larger movement in cyberspace that threatens the hegemony of the ruling coalition. This paper examines the proliferation of the new media within the political economic structure of the Malaysian society and media; selected representations and messages in the old and new media; and whether the strategies and if representations in the new media are counter hegemonic tools capable of creating space for diverse voices, dissent and transformation.

Keywords

New Media, Internet, Political Economy, Civil Society, Counter-Hegemony.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Appadurai, A. 1996. Modernity at large. Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

  • Bhabha, H. K. 2004. The location of culture. London, New York: Routledge Crouch, H. (1992). Authoritarian trends, the Umno split and the limits to state power. In F. K.W. Loh & J.S. Kahn (Eds.), Fragmented Vision: Culture and politics in contemporary Malaysia (pp. 2143). Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

  • Ibrahim, A., and C. C. Goh. 1998. Multimedia Super Corridor. Kuala Lumpur: Leeds.

  • Jesudason, J.V. (1995). Statist democracy and the limits to civil society in Malaysia. Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. 33(3), 333-356. DOI: 10.1080/14662049508447708 Johan, S. 2001. Malaysian civil society–Awakenings? In M. Maznah and S. K. Wong (Eds.), Risking Malaysia. Culture, politics and identity (pp. 93-112). Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press

  • Khoo, B. T. 2003. Beyond Mahathir. Malaysian politics and its discontents. London: Zed.

  • Lai, S.Y. (2004). Participation of the women’s movement in Malaysia: The 1999 General Election, In H.G. Lee (Ed.). Civil society in Southeast Asia (pp. 122-143). Singapore: ISEAS.

  • Lee, H. G. (Ed.) (2004). Civil Society in Southeast Asia. Singapore: ISEAS.

  • Lee, H. G. 2005. Affirmative action in Malaysia. In D. Singh and T. K. Liak (Eds.), Southeast Asian affairs (pp. 211-228). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

  • Loh, K.W. F (2009). Old vs New Politics in Malaysia. State and Society in Transition, Petaling Jaya: Aliran and SIRD.

  • Mahathir, M. (1981, July 9) Freedom of the Press - Fact and Fallacy. New Straits Times. pp. 14 – 17.

  • Naughton, J. 2001. Contested space. The internet and global civil society. In H. K. Anheier, M. Glasius and M. Kaldor (Eds.), Global civil society (pp. 147-168), New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Ramasamy, P. (2004). Civil society in Malaysia: an area of contestations? In H.G. Lee (Ed.). Civil Society in Southeast Asia (pp. 198-216). Singapore: ISEAS.

  • Rodan, G. (2004). Transparency and Authoritarian Rule in Southeast Asia: Singapore and Malaysia, New York: Taylor & Francis.

  • Saravanamuttu, J. & Loh, K.W.F. (2004). Development and democracy in Southeast Asia. In R.E. Ahmad (Ed.). Globalisation, culture and inequalities (in honour of the late Ishak Shari (pp. 352-375). Bangi: Penerbit UKM.

  • Tan, J-E. & Zawawi I. (2008). Blogging and democratization in Malaysia: A new civil society in the making. Petaling Jaya: SIRD.

  • Tan, L. O. 2010. The emergence of a virtual civil society. In K. W. Loh (Ed.), Building bridges, crossing boundaries: everyday forms of inter-ethnic peace building in Malaysia (pp. 273-296). Jakarta: The Ford Foundation.

  • Tilly, C. (2004). Social movements, 1768–2004. Colorado, USA: Paradigm Publishers, Boulder.


Abstract Views: 700

PDF Views: 1




  • Liberalisation of the Malaysian Media and Politics: New Media, Strategies and Contestations

Abstract Views: 700  |  PDF Views: 1

Authors

Lee Yuen Beng
School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia
Mahyuddin Ahmad
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

Abstract


On 28 April 2012, 'Bersih 3.0', a rally calling for freer and fairer elections estimated that 250, 000 people gathered to support its cause. Government controlled newspapers the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia accused this rally attended by 20, 000 demonstrators as a plot to destabilise and overthrow the ruling coalition through chaos and disorder. Online news portals Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider however reported that the rally attended by 150,000 demonstrators began peacefully but ended chaotically as demonstrators, journalists and police personnel were attacked and manhandled. While the conflicting reports of Bersih 3.0 and other news reports unpublished by the state controlled media through the new media suggests political dissent and possible media liberalisation, it does not necessarily mean that press freedom is well and alive. It however marks the beginning of a larger movement in cyberspace that threatens the hegemony of the ruling coalition. This paper examines the proliferation of the new media within the political economic structure of the Malaysian society and media; selected representations and messages in the old and new media; and whether the strategies and if representations in the new media are counter hegemonic tools capable of creating space for diverse voices, dissent and transformation.

Keywords


New Media, Internet, Political Economy, Civil Society, Counter-Hegemony.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.15655/mw%2F2015%2Fv6i3%2F77892