E-lection: Blogger-turned-legislator Jeff Ooi campaigned in person – and online – last March. (Tim Chong/Reuters/Newscom)
A blogger takes office in Malaysia
Jeff Ooi joins activists and NGO workers as opposition members of parliament demanding reform.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor/ August 28, 2008 edition
Correspondent Simon Montlake details the rise of Malaysian blogger-turned-legislator Jeff Ooi.
Correspondent Simon Montlake
Georgetown, Malaysia
Five years of blogging has brought Jeff Ooi a measure of notoriety. His biting posts on Malaysian politics sparked police investigations.
A pro-government newspaper sued him for libel. A prominent politician compared bloggers to monkeys in a lawless jungle.
In January, as Malaysia braced for national elections, a new banner went up on his blog (www.jeffooi.com): Get a Blogger Into Parliament. Fueled by donations and manpower, Mr. Ooi easily defeated a ruling-party candidate to win a parliamentary seat on Penang Island.
The cyberspace critic turned lawmaker is part of a wave of fresh faces on Malaysia’s opposition bench after March’s upset election, many of them driven by a desire for reform. On Thursday, former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as opposition leader following a landslide by-election win that has rattled a shaky ruling coalition.
Ooi has no regrets about his career switch from IT consultant. “The keyboard is mightier than the sword…. Even a blogger can no longer tolerate the quality of governance that the country is having now,” he says.
Other first-time opposition members in the 222-seat parliament include human rights activists, professors, nongovernmental organization workers, and an entrepreneur who secretly videotaped a lawyer allegedly brokering judgeships. His tape triggered an outcry last year and an official inquiry into judicial corruption.
Many of the newcomers are relatively young, underscoring a generational shift in politics here after decades of leadership by an entrenched elite. One in three MPs in the Democratic Action Party, a coalition partner of Mr. Anwar, is under 40. By contrast, the youngest divisional chief in the ruling United Malays National Organization is 43, says Liew Chin Tong, a DAP lawmaker.
“A lot of people have come alive in the last 10 years. They’re the ‘reformasi’ generation, and they think about politics in fundamentally different ways,” says Bridget Welsh, a politics professor at Johns Hopkins University, using the Malay word for reform. Young MPs and party workers are the “glue” in Anwar’s coalition as they can cross the ethnic lines that define Malaysian politics, she says.
These politicians are likely to be online, as Malaysian cyberspace has emerged as an effective counterpoint to mainstream media that are either state-run or owned by government loyalists. About 52 percent of Malaysians are Internet users, compared with 71 percent in the US.
Online news outlets have exposed several scandals involving abuses of power that played out in March’s election, to the dismay of politicians who had written off the influence of such media. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi later said his campaign hadn’t done enough to get its message out via the Internet to young voters.
Online fame certainly helped Ooi’s campaign: He raised $25,000 in 11 days after posting an urgent appeal, though he also trod the traditional path of making speeches, handing out leaflets, and knocking on doors.
Entering politics hasn’t stopped him from blogging, though the pace has slowed. Ooi says he used to average six hours a day on his website, often rising before dawn to post his first entry. Like most bloggers, it was a labor of love. Ad revenue brought in $200 a month – which covered the cost of his bandwidth.
Ahirudin Atan, a veteran newspaper editor and codefendant in the lawsuit against Ooi, says he supported Ooi’s entering politics but believes it has cost him in online credibility, because he might be compromised by party loyalty. “I think a lot of people feel that Jeff Ooi’s following has diminished because of his direct participation in politics,” he says.
Ooi claims to be uninterested in climbing the party hierarchy and says he earns less now than in the private sector. “What I find exciting is to experiment with political thinking,” he says.
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Comments
2. Roc Ket | 08.28.08
I think Malaysia should have freedom of speech to be competitive in the developed world. Chinese and indian (malaysia born) should have same benefits as Malays because ‘WE ARE MALAYSIAN too and living in malaysia, citizen of malaysia’. See the our PM Abdullah, what I can say is sitting at home doing nothing and say to everyone he is PM and make his fucking mum proud. We don’t want this childish culture, We don’t want people like this because malaysia get no respect from developed country, democracy just a joke - no same treatment on different race and religion. We should have right to criticise government if he/she does the wrong thing in the media. Let PM know his job is top of the world and only the right person can do this job. Violence between different races is not what we want to see, what we want is united, getting respect from outside world and fight for our country. I hope the smart person when they have power can do something for their country less smart people because I believe in this world only have very very less smart person. Ask you youself where your children want to go if your country is not the best place to live.
3. LK | 08.28.08
I think this kind of participation in political thinking is fantastic. In the early days of the US politicians used to be doctors, lawyers, businessman, etc, maintain office for their selected term and then return to their original occupation. These days everyone makes “being a politician” into a career and lose touch with the day to day thinking of the rest of the people within their communities, regions, and country.
5. Lootan | 08.28.08
This is enough to make the racists & fascists in the ruling party, especially UMNO, shiver in their pants.
6. Mike | 08.28.08
Having lived in Malaysia for over 4 decades, I know that this is a wonderful country where people in different racial groups have lived peacefully with one another. But things were much better in the 1960’s and 1970’s than they have been over the past 10 years even if the Malaysian economy has grown and come a long way. The corruption, racial polarization and social injustices that are being brought out into light of recent did not appear overnight; they were actually nurtured by the policies of a racially and religiously biased system of rule over the past 3 decades where the clear majority component of a multi-racial society used their control of the police, politics and the army to erode a multitude of rights of the other racial and religious groups.
Life has become better for a vast majority of Malaysians over the decades but the blatant unfairness of governmental policies and corruption has left much of the population simmering with a quiet anger. The idea of a Malaysian identity void of racial or religious biases as enshrined in the country’s constitution is still alive in the minds of many even if the majority group long used to undeserved privileges, perks and preferences are fighting it. In some ways, this is only to be expected as corruption and unfair practices in rule over decades have allowed a portion of the the ruling group to obtain wealth, comfort and power without working as hard as others. They are now using the issue of race and religion again to stir support from within their ranks even if many bumiputras are aware of the rot and canker within the system. It will definitely not be a bad thing for a genuine dual party system to emerge so that all citizens will have fair representation so lacking in the existing Barisan government.
Malaysianguy
7. KuyatSigat | 08.28.08
It is a known fact that all main streams media in Malaysia are controlled. They only published what is deemed appropriate to them. The old ways of “conquer and divide” still exist eventhough Malaysia was formed 46 years ago and not 51 years ago. I mentioned 46 years ago because most Malaysian seemed to believe that the independent of this country is solely on “Malaya” alone. Back then, most of us are known as what we are today i.e. Malays, Chinese, Indians and others etc. Society at large are bored and tired of listening to the same stories about racist remarks and inequality here and there in their everyday life. And as a consequence, society will find alternative media that will suits them. The people in power must realised that what was applicable in the past is no longer applies in today context. People want changes and they want it fast. We Malaysian must also change ourselves or are we just content in knowing us as who we were. We are Malaysian and not Malays, Chinese, Indians and lain-lain(others).
8. Crankshaft | 08.29.08
The mainstream media is controlled by the ruling coalition. What other way to disseminate information and discuss opinions but by blogging?
For many others like myself, it has been the only freedom of expression we have ever known.
But after some devastating losses at the polling booths, the government - consisting of the ruling coalition - is launching a crackdown on bloggers and even blocking prominent blogsites.
I have stopped reading the mainstream media - why should I be a victim of their lies and misinformation? My only source of reliable information is through blogs.
9. Joshua | 08.29.08
Ooi has no regrets about his career switch from IT constultant (typo error). 
Anyway, great write up.
Cheers to the new media!
The keyboard is indeed mightier than the sword.
10. malaysian | 08.30.08
united state is the same with Malaysia, the mainstream media is also under heavy government control. CNN is owned by General Electric and General Electric makes huge profit in Iraq.CNN hardly disputed 911 investigation and actually helped the US government promote the war.
the thing that I am disappointed with Malaysian is that Malaysian always think the western government are better than the Malaysian government, in-reality, all are same piece of crap. and yes, whoever US president they choose, they still have to pay the nonsense taxes.
11. Chris Gaylord | 08.30.08
Malaysian, I think you meant to say NBC is owned by General Electric. CNN is owned by Time Warner.
12. A true Malaysian | 08.30.08
I found ‘maturity’ in Jeff Ooi’s thinking so far as politics is concerned. Such maturity is hard to find in Malaysian politicians where any good suggestion of one political party (let say DAP) will never be supported by an opposing political party (let say Umno). It seems ‘funny’ and ‘immature’ to me for such things to happen in Malaysia.
Thus, I find Atan’s statement of “I think a lot of people feel that Jeff Ooi’s following has diminished because of his direct participation in politics,” unacceptable.
I believe Jeff Ooi is not like that.
13. Observer | 08.31.08
True Malaysian, I’ll have to admit I hadn’t heard of Jeff Ooi until a few minutes ago. Congratulations to him for putting down his keyboard and jumping into the game. Don’t be surprised if he has to accept something he doesn’t like in order to get something he wants. If you’re amused by the refusal of a ruling party to accept a good idea from an opposition party, then you should watch our politics here in the US. You’ll have a constant source of entertainment.
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1. Dr. Ethiopia | 08.28.08
I think we can clearly say now that the days when Blogs were underdogs are long gone.