This book provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of the emergence of the Internet on Malaysian politics and how it has played a pivotal role in influencing the country's political climate. It lays out the background of Malaysia's political history and media environment, and addresses the ramifications of media-ization on the political process, including political public relations, advertising and online campaigns. The book examines the Internet's transformative role and effect on Malaysian democracy, as well as its consequences on political actors and citizenry, such as the development of cyber-warfare, and the materialisation of propaganda or "fake" news in the online domain. The book also investigates the interplay between traditional and new media on the progress of politics in Malaysia, especially as a watchdog on accountability and transparency, and contributes to current discourse on the climate of Malaysian politics as a result of the evolution of new media in the country. This book is particularly timely in the wake of the 2018 Malaysian elections, and will be of interest to students and researchers in communications, politics, new media and cultural studies.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of the Internet on Malaysian politics and how it has played a pivotal role in influencing the country’s political climate. It lays out the background of Malaysia’s political history and media environment, and addresses the ramifications of media-isation for the political process, including political public relations, advertising and online campaigns. The book examines the Internet’s transformative role and effect on Malaysian democracy, as well as its consequences for political actors and the citizenry, such as the development of cyber-warfare, and the rise of propaganda or “fake” news in the online domain. It also investigates the interplay between traditional and new media with regard to the evolution of politics in Malaysia, especially as a watchdog on accountability and transparency, and contributes to the current discourse on the climate of Malaysian politics following the rise of new media in the country. This book is particularly timely in the wake of the 2018 Malaysian general election, and will be of interest to students and researchers in communications, politics, new media and cultural studies.

In the four decades or so since its invention, the internet has become pivotal to how many societies function, influencing how individual citizens interact with and respond to their governments. Within Southeast Asia, while most governments subscribe to the belief that new media technological advancement improves their nation’s socio-economic conditions, they also worry about its cultural and political effects. This book examines how this set of dynamics operates through its study of new media in contemporary Malaysian society. Using the social imaginary framework and adopting a socio-historical approach, the book explains the varied understandings of new media as a continuing process wherein individuals and their societies operate in tandem to create, negotiate and enact the meaning ascribed to concepts and ideas. In doing so, it also highlights the importance of non-users to national technological policies. Through its examination of the ideation and development of Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor mega project to-date and reference to the seminal socio-political events of 2007-2012 including the 2008 General Elections, Bersih and Hindraf rallies, this book provides a clear explanation for new media’s prominence in the multi-ethnic and majority Islamic society of Malaysia today. It is of interest to academics working in the field of Media and Internet Studies and Southeast Asian Politics.

"By examining the political discourse and social interactions that occur within six different political communities in Malaysia, this volume sheds light on how theories of political communication and social media play out on a granular level. Malaysia, with its interesting amalgam of democratic politics and intractable racial and religious divides, is ripe for a study of how online communication within different political and social groups actually works. With chapters on Malay, Islamic, Chinese, Indian, and Christian online communities, along with those of Sabah and Sarawak, this volume will be of interest to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how political interaction and digital discourse function on the ground in this important country in Southeast Asia." -- Janet Steele, Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs, George Washington University "Social media has emerged as a definitive tool for the production and dissemination of sociopolitical narratives that engender sweeping tides of change and transformation in our world today. This expertly and ably curated collection of essays helps us better understand this phenomenon as it has unfolded in Malaysia, where politics has undergone a sea change in recent years, and it is essential reading for those of us who are interested in the trajectory of Malaysian society and politics." -- Joseph Chinyong Liow, Tan Kah Kee Chair in Comparative and International Politics, Nanyang Technological University "This book is relevant not only for readers interested in Malaysian politics. The midsized Southeast Asian country offers a compelling case study for anyone thinking about online spaces and political participation in electoral democracies. Among regimes with autocratic tendencies, the Malaysian state was among the earliest adopters of an open internet—which for two decades seemed to do nothing to weaken the hegemony of its ruling party. More recently, in an age marked by democratic backsliding around the world, the country has shown potential to buck the trend. The backdrop of these developments is one of the world’s most culturally plural environments. This welcome volume looks at how various ethnic communities, communicating in each of the country’s major languages, have turned online spaces into the dominant arena for political contestation." -- Cherian George, author, Contentious Journalism and the Internet: Towards Democratic Discourse in Malaysia and Singapore (2006)

This book analyses the exponential growth of independent news portal (INPs) in Malaysia and discusses the extent of impacts generated from these portals in Malaysian electoral conduct especially during Malaysia's 12th and 13th general elections. The mainstream media in Malaysia has for decades been controlled by strict laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and the Sedition Act, as well as self-censorship by print and broadcast journalists and editors. The rise of INP in Malaysia has challenged this government stranglehold, as well as making information available much faster than the mainstream media. The undeniable speed of the news posted on INP which often come with interactive contents are seen to have caused a remarkable increment on public's options with regards to expressing their political views. Some of the INPs have also impressively taken up a notch by providing live streaming videos or interesting online visual news which indirectly unifies various sectors of pressure groups in providing options of circulating and disseminating information to the public. The interviews conducted for this book provide deeper insights from those producing news and at the same time provide a specific and thorough observation on political events including representatives of the Malaysian middle class, Opposition parties, youth and university students, NGOs and civil society movements. Chinnasamy investigates key questions relating to this shift in relation to media preference concerning on the mainstream and political landscape in Malaysia. Did the INP evolve new democratic movement in the country or induce a change in the way the government retains its power by increasing people's active engagement in political participation? Did any revolution in government-managed media landscape occur drastically? If so, how did they accomplish these changes? This book will fill the gap of existing research on how far have the INP empowered themselves to be the third force in fighting democratic movement in the country and how the ruling government continues seeing it as a contention, as foreseen by many experts in the industry.

The past decade has seen a major structural shift in broadcasting in Southeast Asia, with the development of digital satellite and cable broadcasting. This shift has impacted upon some of the most information-sensitive governments in the world: Singapore, Malaysia and, until recently, Indonesia. Atkins traces this development in five countries, showing that the challenge to authoritarian regimes, anticipated by modern theorists as a result of the globalization of news and information, is not materializing. Instead, a new commercial elite has arisen, Southeast Asia's own mini-moguls, who act as gatekeepers for state interests, as partners to global media companies.