PETALING JAYA: The days of the ceramah, hustings, flags and posters are being taken over by a more modern rival in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15) – tweets, videos and TikTok trends are on the rise.
But these online campaigns can turn ugly. Many political postings lead to excessive brickbats and some are not welcomed by users.
Nur, a 23-year-old fresh graduate, said that despite the many postings by politicians online, the comments section showed that people were not receptive.
“In terms of spreading the message or agenda, it (the online campaign) works and is beneficial to the party or politicians.
“It is very interesting to see that Malaysians no longer believe everything the politicians say.
“If you go to the comments section, you can see a lot of people reacting negatively, either because they can’t be bothered or because they don’t believe what the politicians are saying,” she said.
She added that she herself was annoyed by the political postings as they were “never for the people”.
Nur said political parties should not neglect campaigning through traditional media as a large number of voters were highly dependent on traditional media for news and information.
Student Umi Nadhirah Ramli, 22, said she could no longer run from political content as it popped up every time she logged on to her social media account.
“If I open my TikTok five times a day, I will see political content all five times.
“Since the dissolution of Parliament, I’ve been seeing more tweets by politicians,” she said.
However, Umi admitted that online campaigns could be a strategic tactic.
“People are easily influenced by social media and it is also easy to reach a wider audience.
“But people believe anything that they (the politicians) spread on social media,” she noted.
Customs officer Norhani Hashim, 34, prefers to follow politicians’ social media accounts, such as on Facebook, to monitor their plans for the country.
Norhani said she would filter the information posted using her own judgement instead of blindly believing every post.
“I will filter (the postings) using my own judgement.
“Honestly, I am quite annoyed with those (politicians) who promise the moon and the stars,” she said.
Engineer Ilham Azmi, 32, said it was good to see politicians posting their work on social media, though he had his reservations.
“I’m not against it being posted online. I am more concerned about whether the work is actually being done,” he said.
