Suddenly, Everyone Starts Blogging!

TUN DR MAHATHIR'S "CHEDET"

Malaysia's political leaders are rushing to set up blogs and increase their postings on existing ones after recent polls showed how effective the Internet has been. The move signals a dramatic turnaround because until recently, senior political leaders dismissed bloggers as rumour-mongers and even described some as 'stupid' and 'monkeys'. The authorities have also detained some bloggers for allegedly libelous or seditious postings.

Former Selangor MB Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo started his blog towards last March, another colleague of his started one. This is the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam. The two must have gotten over their fear of being described liars, and monkeys. It's early days yet, but Dr Khir's blog appears to have received tremendous response since he started. He said that it's impossible to respond to every query but he read every single comment that has submitted by the readers. For sure, don't forget Tun Dr Mahathir's Chedet, and Datuk Seri Najib's new website that had been launched just few days ago.

The bloggers joined several Opposition bloggers who have been writing much earlier. They include Jeff Ooi, Tony Pua, Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang. The opposition party leaders have much more experience in blogging field. The blog turned to an important source of information in our nation even before March 8 political Tsunami.

MPs and ADUNs would be in a better position to try and convince voters to vote for them through blog. These people did not blog just for the fun of it but they blog because they want to engage their voters, and blogging give the voters direct access to their "wakil rakyat".