Playground for political will

Chandra Devi
New Straits Times
03-22-2007
Playground for political will
Byline: Chandra Devi
Edition: Main/Lifestyle
Section: Tech & U; Update

MOVE over, TV! The Internet - aka personalised Web sites, social networking sites, blogs, chatrooms and online forums - is beginning to become a playground for political leaders to reach out to voters.

The use of YouTube's free video hosting by the American presidential candidates is the latest effort that will undoubtedly be emulated increasingly by politicians in other countries.
Why? Simply because the world over the Internet has become a powerful means of disseminating the latest news, and many are also turning to this medium to get juicy political news. Just look at the growth in popularity of political blogs and discussion forums.

For politicians, the Internet has become a platform to access public views and reach out to voters whom they might not have reached through traditional means.

And as for YouTube, there is no denying about how popular this free video-sharing Web site has become in a short period of time and the kind of influence it has on people.

People have come to like the idea of having access to free Internet video clips anytime they want it, plus the fact that you can share them with others instantly through e-mail.

There are no restrictions on the number of times you can view a video or limitations on what you can view or censor. Watch and hear it as it is - that's the alluring aspect of Internet video clips that has got the crowd in.

For politicians, it only makes sense to leverage on something that has critical mass. It is the apparent platform to reach out and make an impression on the younger generation, the 20- and 30- somethings who make up the bigger part of the Internet community.

For political leaders, it also means the ability to get around traditional media channels, with their stringent rules on what can be said and not. Well, a cutting-edge technology that does not cut (censor) does open up great potential for leaders to launch their political aspirations.

Free Internet video sites such as YouTube are set to become powerful instruments of politics because of the openness they offer to communicate and send out messages.

Just as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards and Sam Brownback, some of the candidates for the next US presidential election, have announced their run for the White House on YouTube, it will be interesting to see how Malaysian politicians take to YouTube, if at all they do, to communicate their political agendas.

Political leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties now have a level playing ground, so to speak, to "meet" voters, unless some restrictions are set.

So far, Malaysian politics has not been revolutionised by the presence of the Internet, given that many people still do not have access to the Internet, or that we do not have many Web-savvy politicians. And it will be long before the Internet becomes the mainstream for gathering political support in the Malaysian political scene.

While all looks sensible to leverage on this new political leaning, there's something else for politicians besides political advocacy to consider when going on YouTube and the like, and that is an opportunity for others to make fun of them. Parody, spoof and satire of the political kind are bound to make an increasing debut on YouTube.

In other words, politicians must be just as prepared to see their moments of weakness caught on video, ending up on YouTube or other sites with video streaming features.

For politicians, this is indeed a double-edged sword - it cuts both ways.

(Copyright 2007)