Today is the nomination day for candidates for the 12th general election in Malaysia. Polling date or the date we vote is on 8th March 2008. This means, from today onwards, all the political parties will go full force in campaigning both physically and in cyberspace.
Our local telecommunication providers like Digi, Celcom and Maxis said they are expecting an increase of 30% in usage. Now, I wonder can we bloggers expect 30% increase to our websites as well? Do we get 30% extra traffic during the general election?
Many of the local political parties, especially the ones who considered themselves strong and safe have a very disturbing trend. They do not update their websites. I found one which has stopped updating since 2005. These are the local political parties that people search.
To illustrate : Search for UMNO online. Tell me what sites do you find? ;) And another example is Barisan Nasional blog and see Google results here. In my humble opinion, it is so important to be pro in SEO and also the PR section now that our Malaysia rakyats are more savvy in IT, don’t you think so?
I wonder if they know how much damage it can do to their parties because the other parties can take advantage of the situation by being ahead of the search results, grabbing more attention than them. The other thing I notice is the lack of bloggers from ruling party. It is also very obvious that I don’t see general netizens, i.e. regular rakyats who are bloggers (like me) support the ruling party openly.
MALAYSIA ELECTION BLOG
To those who are looking for list of blogs on Malaysia election, I want to list here some of those sites that I normally read (and also worth mentioning).
1. Malaysia Today – This is the boldest, most revealing and also humourous site. It is mainly authored by Raja Petra who kicks asses.
2. Malaysiakini – I do not have subscription to Malaysiakini and hence, not able to read their articles. However, one tip fellow blogger, Pablo taught me is to quote Malaysiakini articles when it is relevant to your post.
– Malaysiakini in Bahasa Malaysia
3. JeffOoi – He is the blogger who turned politician. He is contesting in my state and as one blogger to another, I am giving Jeff my support as he has been around for us bloggers for a long time.
4. Election 2008 – Malaysia Media Monitor’s Diary – We get very biased reports on the mainstream media and hence, I welcome this alternative news to provide us a more balance view.
5. Aliran – This is another alternative media site.
Many politicians from PAS, PKR and DAP have taken up blogging. As I do not wish to take any sides, I shall not list the individual blogs except for the main sites :
1. DAP website
2. PKR website
3. PAS website and PAS Harakah Daily
(tks for pointing out, PAS fans :P )
Sorry, ruling parties, there is no need for me to list because the mainstream media, national TV and national radio stations are there to provide us the information.
The 12th general election in Malaysia is said to be one of the most suspenseful as a lot has happened these last few years. In the previous election, news do not spread as fast as it is now as there were less bloggers and online influence were much less. However, this time around, things move at cyber speed. I have a category just for the 12th general election and my views as a voter. As Catholic Christians, we are constantly reminded to prayerful and wisely choose who will lead the country for the next five years. Hence, it is good to jot down our opinons and share it on our blogs.
Most of the search engine optimization experts start working from the web design, proceeding with the layout and the content. Methods like email marketing come in much later. They also decide the domain names in consultation with the webmaster.
17 thoughts on “Malaysia election blogs”
MENJ
(February 24, 2008 - 7:43 pm)Auntie, PAS website is http://www.pas.org.my and the link you provided is an outdated link.
– MENJ
mazuhan
(February 24, 2008 - 9:48 pm)lilian .. pas web site should be http://www.harakahdaily.net
thank you
Barisan Rakyat poster | The Obnoxious 5xmom
(February 25, 2008 - 1:26 am)[…] have updated a list of the Malaysia election blogs with links to some of the websites for alternative […]
myvote
(February 25, 2008 - 11:55 am)Here is the Online Virtual Vote Game ….
your guy might go and see and vote for your candidate before the real one ..
http://generalelections.byethost13.com
Fish Liver Oil
(February 25, 2008 - 2:28 pm)hey, i was in malaysia over xmas and caught wind of the minister who got setup and filmed with a prostitute! How funny was that! He was set up for sure! How can you blame a man if a girl like that throws themselves at you.. :p
List of candidates in Penang election | The Obnoxious 5xmom
(February 25, 2008 - 4:39 pm)[…] fact, I prepared a list of Malaysia election blogs on my other blog because I am using this general election as an experiment. PAS members have kept in […]
FingerNail care
(February 27, 2008 - 3:34 pm)Anyone have concern if polish( lacquer) that will be put on our fingernail on Election Day( March 8 2008) may possibly cause nail infections? I know people got nail infections from Nail Saloon because they use brush and lacquer from the same bottle.
Universal Cynic
(March 9, 2008 - 5:26 am)Malaysia 12th General Election: Unbelievable Wave of Change Hits North.
Totally unbelievable! BN lost in Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, Perak, and Selangor! I just hope it’s for the better, or at least not for the worse.
MAC
(March 10, 2008 - 7:01 pm)wow barisan has lost many of the *kerusi* in parlimen.
Politician Blog Review
(March 11, 2008 - 10:20 am)Universal Cynic: Yes, it is expected happened since the People Voice’s is so strong on changes. However, Selangor state blow out is a bit surprise for me la.
Lilian: There are 2 more site should be listed here, Malaysia Votes & DAP Elections.
Malaysia Votes – formed by three seasoned journalists – Cindy Tham, Danny Lim and Jacqueline Ann Surin.
DAP Elections – Reporting news for DAP in 2008 Elections.
I have wrote a review on some of the blogs (wordpress powered) that setup by Politicians, you can check out my site link above. Indeed it is amazed to find out that:
– BN politicians is not really emphasis on web media as they have so many traditional media to promote them.
– DAP politicians have great numbers of blog setup.
– PKR is coming very strong, Anwar Ibrahim even has Anwar Ibrahim Club setup to report Anwar Ibrahim and PKR news.
Regards,
Steven Wong
speed yo
(March 11, 2008 - 2:51 pm)Great information about politician.
Sean E
(March 13, 2008 - 5:28 pm)Now that the opposition parties have won control of 5 state governments and denied BN two third majority in the parliament, do the next stage by petition for a Royal Commission on Electoral Reform (RCER) in Malaysia.
If you want to have a better future for our children in Malaysia, do your part by signing the on-line petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/RCER2008/petition.html
This is one of the way (non-violence) to bring our message to the Government.
Don’t just sit there, stand up and be counted! We want a fair and transparent election.
WHY DO WE NEED TO REFORM THE ELECTION COMMISSION?
1) Gerrymandering. The discrepancy between number of voters in voting areas is too great. The smallest parliamentary seat (Federal Territory, Putrajaya) has only 6,608 voters while the parliamentary seat for Kapar in Selangor has 112,224 voters. What this means is that one vote in the Putrajaya parliamentary constituency is equivalent to 17 votes in the Kapar constituency.
2) Phantom voters. A common tactic is to ‘buy’ the identity card of the voters. Party members from the ruling parties will then vote on the voters’ behalf. Random checking of a person’s identity must be conducted using those finger print checking device (like the bank use). Any voting done on another person’s identity must be made a serious offence under the election law.
3) Postal votes. The rules on postal voting must be reviewed, tightened and amended. The current rule favours the ruling party as the armed forces personnel and policemen who vote by ‘postal voting’ would obviously not jeopardize their career or promotion prospect by voting for the opposition. Voting under postal voting is not secret as it is under the watchful eyes of the senior officers. Christina Liew of DAP (Api-Api) lost due to postal votes. The ruling party has control of 250,000 postal votes!
4) Spoiled votes. How do we define spoiled votes. It is very easy to turn good votes into spoiled votes (by adding one more x to the ballot paper). Are spoiled votes being verified and watched over by the party representatives? In marginal areas in which the winning margin is razor thin, the so-called spoiled votes need to be scrutinized.
meater
(March 18, 2008 - 4:53 am)In Malaysia the elections are, at least interesting. In Russia, for example, (look up articles on http://www.rambler.ru)the situation is different…
MyIkram
(May 29, 2008 - 7:56 pm)I think u missed one.
http://www.klpos.com
TJ @ Smartblogtips.com
(June 20, 2008 - 1:20 am)its a nice thought.. a very creative one indeed. but yes we can look at different way to monetize our blog via traffic by placing content in our blog surrounding recent events.
regards
thinkjayant
Ebony
(June 20, 2008 - 10:27 am)Great information and great idea. I guess I can start blogging about recent events that are occurring that interest me. Great way to keep blogging without trying to find something to blog about.
Daniel
(July 7, 2008 - 11:35 pm)Thanks for all the awesome information and idea. I think it is pretty unique and whether it’ll work we will have to see. I think it will work personally as it is planned out well and seems like it is a creative yet workable thing to do. Good luck trying it out and it should hopefully be a great way to blog without having to stick to one particular thing which can be boring and take a long time. Probably a reason why so many bloggers quit so early.
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