By Sun Tian Mei (translated name)
Ten pro-Pakatan Rakyat Facebook Fan Pages were blocked by Facebook management where Pakatan supporters caused a stir on Facebook. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was ticked off for succumbing to the Barisan Nasional Government and thus strangled Malaysians’ freedom of speech.
Looking at such remark, one does not know whether to have a good laugh or to be angry. If such accusations were true, I think everyone should be proud of it. Not because of Barisan Nasional strangling freedom of speech but the Barisan Nasional Government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib are capable of letting Mark Zuckerberg obey them.
Based on data from Facebook Inc, there are 1.23 billion active users of Facebook. The American media once claimed Mark Zuckerberg rules one six of the world population. He is even more powerful than United States President Obama in the world. Let alone the fact that Mark Zuckerberg has become the youngest rich in United States at the wealth of $19 billion. If the government and the Prime Minister of a developing country with a record of trapping in a middle-income situation for about 40 years are capable of letting Mark Zuckerberg to take their order – block the Facebook Fan Pages of whom they do not like, then Malaysia’s international status and influence is far reaching in the world. How can we not congratulate and celebrate?
Nevertheless, Pakatan supporters change their target to focus on pro-BN’s Malaysia Youth Rights Movement chairman Shen Yee Aun, claiming that he reports to Facebook causing those pro-Pakatan’s Facebook Fan Pages to be blocked. Whether this is true or not, at least this is more logical. Later, some of BN’s Facebook Fan Pages were also blocked. Many feel that this is done by pro-PR netizens who report to Facebook Inc. Exactly the case of tit for tat.
We can see that Facebook Fan Pages have become battlefield for both PR and BN. To spread their party ideologies and views, the traditional print and broadcast media are no longer sufficient for political parties or politicians as there are more channels to disseminate information. Comparing these two camps, pro-Pakatan’s Facebook Fan Pages are lively and clear while pro-BN’s Facebook Fan Pages appear lazy and disorganised.
Take the pro-Pakatan “Facebook news frontline” which has 780,000 fans as example, it mainly reports on news that increase popularity of Pakatan members while “Zhong Zheng Kuai Xun” which has 200,000 fans , upload more aggressive remarks or photographs to tick off BN Government’s policy and statements.
Of the 10 Facebook Fan Pages which have been blocked, the “Facebook news Frontline” has since been unblocked. Others which have been blocked are “The Facebook news Frontline”, “Zhong Zheng Kuai Xun”, “We Fully Support DAP”, “Ah Eng Gor” and etc, have a combined 2.21 million fans, which is close to one tenth of our population. Through sharing by fans, information is disseminated and impact is far-reaching. This explains why those pro-Pakatan fans and those keen to witness power changing hands are angry over the blockage of Facebook Fan Pages.
Pro-BN Facebook Fan Pages tend to share one piece of information with the rest, giving an impression of sloppiness and are unattractive. They are not impressive for one to even remember the name of the Facebook Fan Page. It is not surprising to see huge different in terms of number of fans. It is surprising to see the operators of the pro-BN Facebook Fan Pages handled the issue of blockage in a low profile manner. If not because of media reports, people may not be aware of the blockage.
Pro-BN Facebook Fan Pages mushroomed after 505. However, the passion and technique in maintaining the Fan Pages are far behind those of pro-Pakatan’s Fan Pages. Many opine that BN’s poor performance in 505 and 308 are due to insufficient publicity on social media. If BN supporters think that by setting up more Facebook Fan Pages would lead them to score victory in the next General Election, they may be too naïve. Currently they can be seen as following the opposition in social media. If such situation were to continue, BN will still lose out in the social media warfare in the next General Election. No surprise.
(Kwong Wah Yit Poh, 27-02-2014)
Original Source: 民联和国阵的脸书粉丝页之战