The presence of five bloggers on opposition benches in Malaysia's newly-elected Parliament must be galling for the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which was returned to power in the general elections minus its long-held two-thirds majority.

Internationally renowned blogger Jeff Ooi, a 52-year-old former advertising copywriter, won a seat in Penang, while Oxford University economics graduate Tony Pua, 34, claimed a seat in the bustling suburb of Petaling Jaya with over a majority of over 19,000 votes.

Both were candidates of the left-leaning DAP.

Wining seats in the Selangor legislature for the multi-racial PKR were bloggers Nik Azmi Nik Ahmed and Elizabeth Wong, a noted human rights activist.

Meanwhile, Tian Chua, a former political prisoner under the notorious Internal Security Act, was another PKR claimant to a federal seat.

The only prominent blogger who lost was Badrul Hisham Shaharin, who contested the semi-rural Rembau parliamentary seat against Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

premesh chandran Malaysiakini chief executive Premesh Chandran argues that the Internet had a major influence on the election outcome because the issues which make a difference, such as corruption and interference in the judiciary, were only carried on news sites like theirs.

There were large swings in urban and semi-urban areas, especially (to opposition) among first-time young voters, he said, noting that the Internet allowed political parties to reach out to a very important constituency which was non-existent in previous elections.

raja petra kamarudin Raja Petra Kamaruddin, owner of malaysia-today.net, argues that the Internet 's biggest contribution was to get the middle-class to the ballot box. The opposition is infested with bloggers noted Raja Petra in an interview with Singapore's Straits Times .

Alternative media cured the apathy the middle-class has. They were no longer saying: ‘'Let's not bother. Suddenly, it was let's go and give the opposition a chance.’

Denying the BN a two-thirds majority in Parliament is seen as a major victory for the opposition, which also won majorities in five states, an act never before accomplished in Malaysia.

Nationally, the government won only 51 percent of the vote and in fact would have lost the elections if not for the slew of seats they retained in Sarawak and Sabah.

It was direct access to the Internet in urban areas - ironically, because of the government's policy of developing the Multimedia Super Corridor - that allowed urban voters to access information not available in the government-controlled print and broadcast media.

Impact of text-messages

Premesh further pointed out that the use of SMS (telephone text messages) and photocopiers took information to the rural electorate, bridging the digital divide. He said Malaysiakini's Internet-streamed television programmes were copied on to VCDs and circulated for viewing in rural homes (where VCD players are popular).

More than the Internet, text-messages on mobile phones played a critical role in spreading the opposition message, says Sankaran Ramanathan, managing partner of Media Plus Research Consultants.

Because rural people now have mobile phones, it was easy to break the urban-rural barrier.

internet media and print media "There were Internet groups which exchanged messages via e-mail, especially among the Hindu (Indian minority) community. I know at least half a dozen users," Sankaran told IPS.

"They were not registered organisations and were urban based. There were similar groups among the (minority) Chinese community.”

Sankaran pointed out that both the information minister and his deputy were beaten by opposition candidates promoted by the Internet media.

Though Malaysia's newspapers and radio and television stations, are mainly private-owned, their licences are held by business people closely connected with the constituent parties of the BN.

Malaysian mainstream media are directed and constrained by two inter-related entities; the state and the market, argues Zaharom Nain, associated professor of communication studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Through direct and indirect ownership there tends to be collusion between the state and the market.

zaharom nain What the alternative media has done, according to Zaharom, is improvise communication systems using a combination of the Internet, mobile phones, blogs, e-mails, SMS and the YouTube. They were not only used effectively by opposition parties but also by civil society to raise consciousness and create awareness, he noted.

Premesh feels the government may now be tempted to impose sanctions on the Internet media to protect them from further damage as Singapore has done. They have a tough decisions ahead of them, he said, adding that it was best if they adopted a path of reform by opening up the media and cracking down on corruption - changes that people obviously want.

brandmalaysia blog and police Sankaran believes that the government will not take the repressive path simply because it has already tried to take bloggers to court, without much success, and failed in its attempts to police the Internet.

Gayathri Venkiteswaran, executive director of the Centre for Independent Journalism, believes that with five opposition-led state governments taking office, it is now possible to reform the media scene.

''State governments can allocate grants and other financial support for communities to have their own newspapers and media, paving the way for more diverse and dynamic expression of views and exchange of information,'' she said. - IPS