Malaysia’s Dr Mahathir Starts A Blog May 1, 2008
Posted by khengze in Journalism, News, Social Media, Trends.Tags: Malaysia Election
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What do you do when mainstream media, controlled by the administration of your hand-picked successor, (who you now detests) ignore your ranting of the way things are run in the country of which you were the former premier? Start a blog.
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad today launched a blog to join a growing band of Malaysian politicians turning to the Web to spread their views. True to form, the vehement critic of his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, raised prickly questions in his maiden post.
His blog www.chedet.com questions the recent decision by the administration to set up an independent commission to appoint judges. They are currently appointed by the prime minister at his discretion.
82-year old Mahathir is the latest of the old guard politicians who have started their blogs after the March 8 elections which trounced the ruling National Front coalition and swept several bloggers into parliament. The ruling coalition has admitted it lost the cyberwar to the opposition.
Their voices ignored by state-run mainstream media, many opposition leaders reached out to voters through blogs. Jeff Ooi, a professional blogger known for his anti-government views, contested the elections on an opposition ticket and won.
Mahathir is Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister from 1981 to 2003. His blog is named after his former pen name Che Det, or Mr. Det when he wrote for the Straits Times newspaper more than three decades ago. But he’s a few years behind daughter Marina, who has been blogging at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com.
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