PERSPECTIVE: This is a section for "Guest Post". Guest write on any subject or issue they choose. And what they write is posted as received. Today's guest is Murray Hunter.
The importance of bloggers to Malaysian politics and society
Bloggers in Malaysia rose soon after the internet became a growing mode of communication in the late 1990s. The “Free Anwar” blog run by Raja Petra, who now runs Malaysia Today was one of the pioneers. Free Anwar was political in nature. Lawyer and social activist, the late Harris Ibrahim started ‘The Peoples’ Parliament”, and journalist M.G.G. Pillai started his blog exposing corruption.
Many others followed across a number of categories. These included blogs that espoused particular political lines or agendas, blogs that highlighted particular issues through reposting other portals or news pieces, blogs that posted particular articles and made commentaries about them, blogs that took up scandals and disseminated information about corruption, and those blogs took up causes for social activists and victims, the mainstream press wouldn’t touch.
Why are bloggers important?
Simply put, as Don Chipp the founder of the former Australian Democrats said, “to keep the bastards honest”.
Bloggers cover what the media is scared, or just won’t cover. Some bloggers are the last bastion of investigative journalism, which is quickly dying out in the Malaysian media today. Without bloggers, many political, financial, and social scandals just wouldn’t become public.
This is a thankless job that doesn’t have many rewards and earns scorn from those exposed, who in most cases are very influential. Many bloggers have paid a high price for sticking to their convictions. You will always hear information and stories that smear their reputations.
However, most of the bloggers I personally know are true Malaysian patriots, although they will never be recognized as such. They work for love and passion and are often tired and mentally exhausted from this job, or responsibility. They work hard for little personal return, just a big picture of what they imagine Malaysia should be.
In a time of strong media self-censorship, Malaysia needs them.
Bloggers have uncovered Royal deficiencies, politicians’ hypocrisy, given public attention to the cases of the marginalized, revealed corruption, rape, murder, sexual abuse, human trafficking, medical malpractice, and exposed foreign infiltration of government.
With Malaysia’s vibrant defamation industry taking advantage of weak and unjust libel laws, bloggers are attacked by those exposed, which are usually wealthy corporations with deep pockets to break those who exist on a shoestring.
The only friends of bloggers are the marginalized in society.
Bloggers are a door to the current realities in society, that no one else wants to talk about.
Murray Hunter
Innovator and entrepreneur, former academic, author, thinker, interested in South-East Asian affairs.
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