“Do not fwd any news with negative impact, even just implying it is
wrong. Trust your gut. When it doesn’t feel right, don’t Spread.”

LETTER | If you’re in a Whatsapp group with people who regularly share links with each other, then you’ve probably seen a message like this in the last couple of weeks.

A rather innocuous message really, one that is often placed together with details about the nefarious activities of “cybertroopers”, a mysterious group of individuals that were (or still are) tied to the former government, whose job is to sow the seeds of dissent and uncertainty among the people.

These cybertroopers have been known to spread misinformation, fake news, or to act as regular people with dubious intentions. It is believed that the efforts of these interlopers must be stopped to ensure that the new government has a chance to do the work entrusted to them by the people.

So, messages like these are shared, warning others about ignoring negative stories or negative attitudes. To give “New Malaysia” a chance, one should “trust our gut” and stop the spread of negative stories. By not spreading negative news, potential cybertrooper lies can be prevented from becoming viral and stopped dead in its tracks.

But is this the right thing to do, despite its noble goal? As a media scholar, the answer is a resounding no because of the echo chamber effect. The echo chamber effect is what happens when we surround ourselves with people and media who share similar views or beliefs with ourselves.

By talking only to people who think like us and reading articles, news, videos, and comments from others that support our own views, we begin to think that this is what everyone else thinks too. This occurs naturally as human beings are prone to confirmation bias, whereby we start to project or generalize about the world around us based on the relatively few examples or cases that we are exposed to.

Once that happens, we start to live in a bubble where we think that because so many others in our limited circle share the same views and ideals, others outside would share the same sentiments too. The impact of the echo chamber has been increasing dramatically in recent years with heavy social media use and the general rise in media availability.

As people start shifting away from traditional media towards social media for news, they indirectly begin creating bubbles around themselves as Facebook algorithms work behind the scenes to find news sources that align even further with their beliefs.

This affects instant messaging groups on WhatsApp as members often share media messages that reinforce their worldviews. Over time, people start to cultivate a warped view of the world that changes what they think or insulates them from details that contradicts their worldview.

One fine example is from cultivation theory scholar, George Gerbner, who coined the term “mean-world syndrome”; people who were exposed to a lot of violence on local news and entertainment started to feel that the world around them was a lot more dangerous than it really was.

With this warped mindset in place, anything that deviated from it is dismissed as wrong, a minority, or just fake news. In the last American election, both sides of the political divide were extremely confident in their side winning as they were blinded by their own bubbles that prevented them from seeing the full picture.

The effects of that are still present in American politics which is highly polarized and the gap between democrats and republicans is growing deeper each day. This could easily happen in Malaysia as Malaysians retreat to the safety of their Facebook feeds, WhatsApp groups, or article comment threads, unless a more robust and balanced way to find and share news and information is made available.

For that, I may have a suggestion. On the night of May 9, I was at an election party with a bunch of friends who were all eagerly awaiting the results of the general elections. The mood was pretty sombre at first with most expecting the status quo to remain, but as the number of seats for Pakatan Harapan started to rise in tandem with BN’s, expectations started to shift.

Coming to 10 pm, the release of official numbers seemed to stall and everyone scrambled to find other sources for potential information on election results. Some were affixed to the television, waiting on whatever the mainstream media were willing to show at the time, while others retreated to their Facebook and Twitter feeds and Whatsapp groups to ferret out any sliver of information regarding pending results.

I didn’t use any of those but instead used something that predates the Facebooks, the Twitters, and the Whatsapps: I went to an online forum.
More specifically, I went to the Lowyat forums (URL: https://forum.lowyat.net/ ).

The forum portion of the popular tech portal, Lowyat.net, houses arguably the largest online community in Malaysia. It’s so large that it was documented in an online map about online communities around the world awhile back.

Prior to the use of social media, online forums provided spaces for Internet users to share and discuss issues with others. Forums are considered a form of asynchronous communication where users generally post questions and can expect responses after a few hours or maybe days.

But due to the sheer size of the Lowyat forum active user base (where as many as 20,000 users are on it any given time), it behaves almost like an active public chat service. While most online forums have declined in recent years due to internet users moving to social media or just discussions in comment threads of news sites, the Lowyat forums are still a mainstay in the Malaysian online space.

I was fairly active in this forum almost a decade ago and haven’t been back in awhile, but I knew the most active part of the site: the Kopitiam forum. Known affectionately as “/k” by long-time users (as appending that to the Lowyat forum URL loads up the Kopitiam forum), it is the Lowyat forum’s designated “off-topic” section where anyone can talk about anything with limited moderation from the dedicated moderation team.

Lowyat users engage in discussions on various topics that interest Malaysians such as cars, popular culture, food, and of course politics. It’s users raise questions on anything that’s on their mind ranging from frivolous questions like what is everyone having for dinner to more serious discussions like dealing with the high cost of living in the country.

It is a truly vibrant and energetic place as dozens of new posts and threads are made every second. Like most online forum-based communities, the
demographics of its users tend to be relatively young, male, and somewhat tech savvy, but mainly comprised of Malaysians of all races, classes, and backgrounds.

Users generally compose their messages in true pidgin Malaysian English with extensive use of Tamil, Malay, Chinese words mixed throughout. A slice of Malaysia on the Internet. So, that fateful night on the May 9, I check the Kopitiam forums and found that there was a dedicated thread to GE14; it was in a constant state of flux as a flurry of replies were coming in from other users who were following the
elections.

Everything from live updates, reactions to what was being shown on television (most notably the change in delivery style from news channels as the BN loss seemed inevitable), the sharing of any rumours or first hand knowledge about any emerging situation, and just the general joy from people who were getting excited that they might actually get to see regime change take place.

It was a magical moment and I enjoyed reading how others felt as well.
In the days and weeks after the elections, the forum was still abuzz with political discussions as users were both supportive and wary of the new government.

It did become a little worrying at first as any post that was critical of Harapan was often derided as the work of “macai BN” (blind followers of BN), but over time the discourse on politics matured and more fruitful discussions emerged from various sides of the political spectrum.

As an avid media observer, the forum gave me a great sense of what people on the ground felt about the new country and the actions taken by the government: they were really excited but were also highly critical of any actions that felt problematic.

The forum had always had its share of cybertroopers, well before the start
of the election. While no one knows for certain if these are actual cybertroopers, the community is resilient enough that any false or dissenting views are debated and refuted rather thoroughly providing a wholesome view of the subjects discussed.

The presence of the cybertroopers notwithstanding, this new public sphere of Malaysia is still in its infancy and will be moulded based on how its citizens carry themselves. In the spirit of democracy, both positive and negative comments are needed to ensure that the deliberation of issues can be done in a balanced, fair, and conducive manner.

Negative comments and feedback provide a necessary check and balance to ensure that the current government doesn’t lose track of its covenant with the people. By excluding or censoring negative news, the new Malaysia would be retracing the steps of the old Malaysia and lead the country down a familiar and unwanted path.

It should be every Malaysian’s goal to break free of their own echo
chambers and embrace active discussions to foster fruitful and engaging political discourse. If Malaysians engage in highly civil, reflexive, and deliberative political engagement, the existence of cybertroopers become inconsequential.

The best way to do this is to find a neutral space where individuals with varying (and even opposing) perspectives participate in. I find the Lowyat forums to be an ideal location for this discourse but I am certain that others exist elsewhere (such as the Cari forums or Reddit Malaysia.

I am not advocating for the abandonment of Facebook or WhatsApp groups for news. Instead, everyone should broaden their worldviews by reading opposing views and then reflecting on what they have said and why they believe it to be true.

As I said before, a new Malaysia needs a new way of looking at the world, and this should include those that we may have thought off before as the enemy.

A new Malaysia deserves a new outlook. And I have never been more excited.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.