Social media and

GE14 in Malaysia
Prof. Dr. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani
School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia
 GE10 in 1999 and GE11 in 2004: era of
news portals. Traditional media more
dominant.
 GE12 in 2008: era of blogs. New media or
social media surprisingly challenging the
traditional media.
 GE13 in 2013: era of social media via
facebook, twitter, youtube etc. New
media was as equally dominant as
broadcasting media, but not print media.
 GE14 in 2018: era of big data. New media
is far more dominant than traditional media.

Era of Influence
 There is no denying the huge role social media
had and would play in elections, Deputy Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

 This is because 80 per cent of voters in Malaysia

use social media, he said, adding that people
nowadays were more prone to believing what
was going viral on social media instead of what
was reported on mainstream media.

 “Ninety-two per cent of first time young voters in

the 18 to 29-year-old age group are active on
social media,” Ahmad Zahid said when officiating
at the Umno Sabah Social Media Convention on
16 December 2017.
http://www.theborneopost.com/2017/12/17/ge14-big-battle-on-
social-media/
Source: http://concept-bank.com/?page_id=634
Number of voters (Source: EC)
 As for September 2017, there are 14,806,185
voters. (50.5% Women, 49.5 Men)
 Voters aged 21-39: 7.09 millions.
 Voters aged 40-49: 3.01 millions.
 Voters aged 50-59: 2.71 millions.
 Voters aged 60-69: 1.81 millions.
 Voters aged 70-89: 1.092 millions.
 Voters aged 90 and above: 64,000.
 First time voters: more than 1.96 millions
 Malay voters: aged below 29 (1.56 millions),
below 39 (3.6 millions)
 The Digital News Report 2017 found that
Malaysians are the world’s largest users of
WhatsApp at 51 per cent.

 The report also found that Facebook and

YouTube were also popular with
Malaysians, with 58 per cent and 26 per
cent users, respectively, and WeChat and
Instagram, at 13 per cent.
Source: https://www.mumbrella.asia/2016/11/singaporeans-malaysians-
biggest-users-social-media-primary-news-source-study
https://dazeinfo.com/2015/10/09/facebook-whatsapp-wechat-usage-
malaysia-us-uk-china-instant-messaging-report/
https://dazeinfo.com/2015/10/09/facebook-whatsapp-wechat-usage-
malaysia-us-uk-china-instant-messaging-report/
 Internet monitoring site Socialbakers recorded that:
1. Najib’s Twitter hashtag (@NajibRazak) is having the most
number of followers in Malaysia with 1,510,127. Najib’s
Twitter followers are the 11th highest in the world under
the politicians’ category.
2. Hishamuddin (@HishammuddinH2O) with 477,893
followers,
3. Anwar (@anwaribrahim) with 278,535 followers,
4. Khairy (@Khairykj) with 264,734 followers, and
5. Tony Pua (@tonypua) with 59,090 followers (Noordin,
2013).
Looking onto political parties on Twitter,
1. The PR fares better where PKR has 27,000 followers;
2. DAP with 27,000 followers, and
3. PAS with 1,200 followers.
4. BN on the other hand has 24,000 followers (Gomez,
2013).

In 2013
 On Facebook’s Fan page:
1. Mahathir with 2,085,034 ‘Likes’.
2. Najib is in the second position of the highest for the most liked
one with 1,633,812 ‘Likes’,
3. Nik Abdul Aziz is in the third place with 917,785 ‘Likes’.
4. Haron is in the 4th and
5. Anwar is in the 5th position with both recording 672,546 and
582,839 ‘Likes’ respectively (Noordin, 2013).

However on the polling day of 5 May 2013, although there has been
an increase of ‘Likes’ in Najib’s official Facebook page to 1,720,255,
the engagement level was a very low at 12 percent. Opposition
leader Anwar‘s official Facebook page had an increase as well and
nearly half of Najib’s at 826,586 ‘Likes’, but had an extremely high
engagement rate of 75 percent. Engagement is the number of
people talking about the page, divided by the number of people who
like the page (Asohan, 2013a). This is clear that Anwar used
extensively the social media to his advantages during the
campaigning period to engage the electorates compared to Najib.

In 2013
 160,000
148,000 YouTube as for 14 May 2013
140,000

120,000
Number of Video Clips

100,000

80,000 73,100

60,000
43,600

40,000
10,100 15,800
10,900 10,700
20,000 13,200 12,100 13,900 14,400
11,400 11,200
3,500
3,700 2,040 2,320
0

Political Leaders
 Facebook Twitter Instagram
Leaders YouTube
Like Friends Followers Friends Followers
Followers

Najib Razak 3,345,409 3,393,163 157 4,000,000 30 383,000 173,000

Zahid Hamidi 1,387,163 1,346,240 8,689 475,000 5,552 103,000 14,000

Khairy
Jamaluddin 1,173,103 1,751,887 2,432 2,400,000 371 855,000 26,600

Anwar Ibrahim 1,598,105 1,631,957 14,200 1,100,000 3,169 39,900 236,000

Wan Azizah
Wan Ismail 921,410 931,383 166 289,000 43 14,800 6,460

Mahathir
Mohamad 2,550,435 2,567,553 63 403,000 7 76,600 29,700

Lim Guan Eng 453,306 452,972 412 418,000 3 2,224 22,800

Mohamad Sabu 44,236 42,279 - - - - 13,700

Rafizi Ramli 660,323 648,756 701 515,000 71 47,900 38,100

Hadi Awang 348,251 346,983 4 39,600 0 16,700 23,300

Azmin Ali 221,328 216,924 169 392,000 57 64,000 13,800

Date: 29 March 2018

 Umno’s information technology bureau chief said the
party’s information technology and social media
committees had been activated in all 191 divisions and
were ready to wage an online war. Ahmad Maslan said
besides countering fake news and slander on social media,
the committees would promote the Barisan Nasional
federal and state governments.

 The PH employed the elements of CIA – creative (C),

intelligent (I) and contain solid arguments (A).

 Najib Razak also stated that the opposition had been very
skillful in cyber warfare and their contents were very rich
and interesting. As such, whether the news or information
was true or otherwise, it was attractive. He has ordered
UMNO information and communications bureau to do its
utmost to make the party’s portal interesting and
innovative.

Cyber War
 BN is mobilising armies of youthful "cyber
troopers" trained to connect with their
peers.

 BN coalition is fast bidding to burnish its

online image through a new web portal,
therakyat.com, launched by Prime
Minister Najib Razak.
 http://mole.my/will-the-next-election-be-
won-on-misinformation/

The Opposition are still leading on social media

with better traction, although BN and its
component parties are right on their tails
Combating Fake News