the new mass media

RPK came out strong in demanding an action from Pakatan rakyat State Governments (Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan and Penang) to come up with free access to internet in all the states that they govern. I too am singing the same tune as I see a golden opportunity to fight the mighty UMNO/BN media. Time is the essence and to delay the implementation would prove suicidal and detrimental to PR.

The ground has shifted so much with the advent of the internet here in Malaysia. But, APCO employed by the PM to quell and subdue voices of dissent seems to be able to bombard counter intelligence work in the form of articles from various “alternative news sites” that project positive images and perceived effective works of the federal government and implant images and beliefs of opposition in colossal disarray.

While the cost of providing free internet service expounded by the Malaysian government is immense, everyone knows that this is not so and the fact that it becomes huge is a result of leakages all along the business process and value chain. The cost is definitely within the budget of states the like of Selangor and Penang. Kedah and Kelantan perhaps would be able to tag along to make up the economies of scale.

For a year’s subscription of an access to internet TV comprising of more than 3,000 channels I had to pay only RM500. It is readily available to users in Malaysia and elsewhere. (I may connect you to the promoter but that is not the point here). If you compare this with our bills from Astro, it is definitely a lot cheaper. The only thing one has to worry is adult channels are also readily accessed but responsible parents can always block from being accessed by under-aged children.

The cost of setting up TV channels the likes of that being provided by the Ministry of Education (www.eduwebtv.com) is meagre considering the state government’s reasonable big budget allocation for “communication”. Having a free internet service and backing it up with channels that counter propaganda that national TVs put forward on a daily basis would be taking the whole media matters to a new and much more level playing field and for all you know, it could even tip the scale towards the opposition and fallacies and lies propagated by BN/UMNO would no longer be swallowed by the general public.

And there is again the notion that the speed of the net is extremely slow to process massive graphics files! Leave it to the experts! For a scanty sum again the same friend supplies a solution he called “broadband viagra” that connects users to huge servers around the globe that make the speed super fast. Trust the Chinese programmers amongst the 1.3 Billion China population! Nothing is impossible! Both products come from the mainland!

These technologies are already here and not seizing the opportunity to “control” the new media would prove to be a disaster for the incoming government, if it comes at all. And if PR gets to rule Malaysia, it would not be a one term affair the like of Terengganu PAS Government circa December 1999 to March 2004.

Restaurants and other social gathering premises can join the fray. I am sure people are sick of those propaganda channels the likes of TV3 and RTM blaring from idiot boxes at these premises and our homes. I would vomit listening to any of their misinformation without even watching and would tune to respectable channels during peak hours for doses of truth and civil displays.

Internet broadcasting is the medium of communication of the future and is already here within our cyberspace. It is something that proponents of civil society should grab to fight corrupt regimes worldwide and UMNO/BN is no exception. In this age of excess of information, only those with credibility would survive and sinister government of the day like UMNO/BN will perish. But then again, like RPK put it, “Ignore this message at your own peril”. Goodnight Malaysia, wherever you are!