The Malaysian Insight

IN a bid to widen their reach, politicians have taken to social media apps such as TikTok and Clubhouse to connect with the electorate. To communicate directly with the voters, they have established WhatsApp and Telegram accounts.

These are in addition to “standard” social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Among the frontrunners in the latter platforms are former prime ministers Najib Razak and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, all of whom have millions of likes on their respective pages.

Younger politicians are experimenting with new concepts and approaches through the social media platforms.

DAP Balakong state assemblyman Wong Siew Ki hosts her own talk show on social media to reach out to young voters and achieve her political goals.

She regularly uploads shows titled “Deeper Talk Show” and “Space Broadcast” on her Youtube and podcast platform SpaceTune every week.

She told The Malaysian Insight that these casual and non-propaganda channels reach groups that do not belong to the party’s established audience.

“My programmes are not in the form of boring forums. Instead, these are easy dialogues for more people to have an in-depth understanding of some important issues.

“When we are talking about Undi18 to empower young people, do we have enough channels for them to understand politics? I think this is one of the things that I want to do.”

Wong, who is also the Selangor Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) chief, said she believes that regular content that relates to young people will attract them.

“This is a long-term effort. It doesn’t end after a seminar or show. It needs to be done every week. Maybe the topic for one week is more serious, and another week is more relaxed, but there are programmes related to current affairs.”

Wong also wants her own shows to be different from what is being carried in her party’s social media platform, UbahTV.

“I don’t want my shows to have a strong political party atmosphere. It is a platform for factual discussion. Of course, it can be connected to politics, but it is not entirely on political issues.”

In fact, she would rather invite opinion leaders compared to politicians for her shows.

“If possible, I would like to let go of my views and allow non-political figures, opinion leaders in the field, to share.”

Her programmes discussed topics involving tertiary students being involved in the sugarbaby industry, medical beauty and slimming, Covid-19 vaccination, Internet celebrity and culture industry.

“I don’t want to turn this platform into a platform for government propaganda. I will not deliberately avoid state issues, but the main choice is not of what has been discussed in many channels.”

Facebook a must

For MCA meanwhile, the party has listed that its election candidates must have their own Facebook page.

Party spokesman Mike Chong Yew Chuan said that MCA president Wee Ka Siong has asked that all future candidates have at least 10,000 followers on the platform.

MCA also requires prospective candidates to be able to respond fluently on different social media platforms.

Currently, Facebook pages run by MCA leaders are posting in bilingual languages to reach diverse groups.

Chong said MCA has suffered from the last general election and was still at a disadvantage although the situation has improved slightly.

“MCA had reflected on issues that were out of touch with the voters and learned that to reach young people, we must be on the same frequency with the youth.

“MCA’s youth wing has been given a heavy responsibility to reach out to young people. The chief, Nicole Wong, is actively exploring social media, and the headquarters is also exploring new media platforms.

“We have also officially opened TikTok, Telegram, and Facebook accounts, all of which to keep pace with the times. We want all party leaders to participate too.”

Chong believes that TikTok can attract the attention of the youths and it does not need to be long.

“However, for any political party, how to make good use of it to attract people is also a challenge.

“People like short content. How to convey a message in one minute or tens of seconds is very important. So MCA is constantly improving.”

He added that MCA will not force every leader or candidate to be a YouTuber and shoot videos, but at least they must be able to talk about personal political ideas.

“People want to see people who are angry, speaking up and have ideals.”

Chong also said MCA had suffered a lot from fake news when Pakatan Harapan was the opposition in the past few years.

“If violence is to be used to control violence, this will fall into a vicious circle, and no one is a winner.” – April 20, 2021.