Blogging as a Political Communication Tool

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) invited the winners of the Young Socio-Political Entrepreneur (YSPE) competition to join a workshop on blogging as a political communication tool on 11 June 2006 in Kuala Lumpur. Prominent Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi gave some practical advice as well as explained the legal challenges of blogging in Malaysia.

Web logs, or blogs, have gained much political relevance. With devices, such as “blogrolls”, “trackback” and “RSS”, individual blogs become interlinked and turn web diaries into tools of interaction. Blogs are no longer isolated one-man shows. In times of political tensions, bloggers have even left their virtual Speaker’s Corner in cyber Hyde Park and mobilised political mass action.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have both experienced the might of individual Internet users, as blogs where used to coordinate political protests against them. During the “Rathergate” scandal in the US, blogs disclosed forged documents that were presented as authentic in a CBS broadcast. This led to the emergence of “watchbloggers” who observe the accuracy of media reports. Some already suggest that blogging is turning into the fifth power of democracy.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation promotes political development and hence supports blogging as a new and additional space for political education. However, during an FNF workshop on blogging as a political communication tool, prominent Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi advised Malaysians not to get carried away. In his presentation he cautioned them about the legal consequences of their writing.

The discussion focused on the question of comments posted on one’s own blog. Comments are the free expression of others, and the blogger needs to find the right approach to dealing with them. What do you do with horribly critical or trivial comments? Should they be deleted by the blogger? Should they be left on the blog or even answered?

Ooi wouldn’t easily delete comments: “We don’t want [our blog] to turn into a dumpsite, but we also serve a higher good.” In his view, an educational process takes place, and the comments will generally reach a higher quality. However, there are laws in Malaysia regulating the written word on the Internet, and the government is capable of tracking down posts by their digital trail. In fact, Ooi has encountered severe police action over a comment on his blog that ridiculed the religion of the country. He therefore advised Malaysian bloggers to delete comments that contain illegal messages and that stir tensions.

At the end, Jeff Ooi gave new Malaysian bloggers the general advice of keeping their target audience in mind. It might be the youth, office workers, or the urbane and educated. For those who might not have the gift of writing, he suggested the use of photo blogs to tell a story. He also recommended group blogs for those who may find individual blogging to be too time-consuming. For those who are regular and successful bloggers, he suggested securing their intellectual property rights by subscribing to the services of creativecommons.org.

The workshop was partly recorded by the Malaysian Internet TV channel Asia247.tv. Please check their website for an interview with the FNF project director.

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