Saturday, April 5, 2008

Suddenly, blogging is important, necessary

WHEN new Information Minister Datuk Shabery Cheek started engaging bloggers, and thus debunking his predecessor's negative perception of the cyber-journalists, little did we know that this was the cue Umno politicians was waiting for.

After former Selangor MB Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo started hs blog towards last March, another colleague of his started one. This is the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam. The two must have gotten over their fear of being described liars, goblogs and monkeys by their Umno brethren.

It's early days yet, but Dr Khir's blog appears to have received tremendous response since he started. "It's impossible to respond to every query. But I read every single comment submitted."

The two joined several Opposition bloggers who have been writing much earlier. They include MPs Jeff Ooi, Wee Choo Kewong, Husam Musa, Elizabeth Wong, Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang.

These people did not blog just for the fun of it - they blog because they want to engage their voters, and blogging give the voters direct access to their wakil rakyat. Four or five years down the road, these MP-bloggers would be in a better position to try and convince voters to vote for them.

While Dr Mohd Khir's blog seems to be flourishing with comments from readers, Ali Rustam's three postings have yet to receive a single comment from readers. This could be because the blog is more of a mirror of the CM's political statements and press releases.

Someone must tell him that he needs to do better than that to nurture a following. It's not a lie Datuk, it's the truth, believe me!

7 comments:

A KADIR JASIN said...

Sdr Tok Mat,

Sdr kenal semua pembesar Umno. Apatah lagi Mohamed Ali Rustam. I remember the World Assembly of Youth thing. That was the time when you worked closely with him.

Bagi tau dia, blog ni macam lori. Kalau isi durian atau sayur, ramailah ikut.

Tapi kalau isi sampah atau najis, orang lari jauh-jauh.

Blog is only an enabler. But if the pembesar ara unable to communicate well, people will not read their blogs.

Apatah lagi kalau blog tu dikendali oleh press secretary atau pecacai dan diisi dengan press statement.

Janganlah jadikan blog macam mereka hisap curut Cohiba atau pakai baju mahal dari Itali. Mereka tak tahu pun asal usulnya.

Tapi pasal mahal dan pasal nak tunjuk gaya, mereka pun hisap, mereka pun pakai. Cerita "Melayu Baru" lah katakan.

Tak ada class la.

Terima kasih.

Anonymous said...

But beware of fronts like "Malaysian Insider'.

It appears like another attempt to infuse well-crafted propaganda thru the 'new media'.

It's a desperate attempt after the successful slaughter of the mainstream media.

When the 'spinners' realised the failure of MSM to influence the masses, they have once again conspired to fool us via something which looks new.

Those with the contacts, ability and capability should check what and who is Malaysian-Insider all about.


I smell fish!

apanama

Anonymous said...

Che Mat,
your blog seems to be getting more interesting of late. Do pls try to pick up the pace. Its now a must read for me every morning.

Anonymous said...

Salam Tok Mat,

Saya dengar sebenarnya ramai sudah cuba hantar komen ke blog Mohd Ali Rustam tapi komen2 itu semua belom keluar.

Mungkin moderator tengah sibuk berfikir mana satu mahu siar & mana tak mahu siar. Atau masih tunggu cue dari blog owner.

btw, I observe there is some similarity between the two blogs (of M.Ali Rustam's & Khir Toyo's). The banner looks so much alike.

Anonymous said...

Dato’

Hairan saya ramainya yang nak tulis blog, seolah-olah itulah saja cara untuk mendekati masyarakat sekarang. Bagi mereka yang ada internet di rumah atau pejabat, mudahlah nak baca blog atau laman web. Tapi yang tinggal di kampung yang tak ada internet (mungkin sebahagian besar begini), macam mana nak baca. Nampaknya orang bandar sajalah yang dapat sumber berita lain.
Ramai kawan kata surat khabar sudah tidak boleh dipercayai lagi. Ada juga yang kata surat khabar buat BN tak menang besar. Kalau begitu, kenapa tak ubah saja surat khabar supaya orang suka baca dan boleh percaya. Kalau ketuanya tak tahu buat kerja, cari orang lain.
Saya baca blog dan surat khabar. Kadang-kadang kena buat pertimbangan sebab kebanyakan blog lebih kepada pendapat penulisnya. Surat khabar pula lebih kepada laporan apa orang tertentu kata semalam. Kadang-kadang nak tahu apa berlaku, kalau surat khabar tak siarkan, kenalah tengok internet, baca blog. Sama ada ditokok tambah, penulis saja yang tahu. Saya dulu seronok juga baca surat khabar. Tapi sekarang, surat khabar asyik besarkan berita jenayah dan hiburan, berita dunia pun selitkan hiburan. Agaknya, kalau tak utamakan hiburan tak boleh jual surat khabar. Mungkin itu sebabnya ada surat khabar buat anugerah hargai dunia hiburan. Mungkin juga pembaca surat khabar dah tak banyak berfikir. Bila baca surat khabar bentuk kecil pula, seolah-olah teruk betul akhlak masyarakat kita.
Mengikut biodata, dato’ dulu orang surat khabar. Saya nak tanya dato’, mungkin juga Dato’ AKJ dan blogger lain yang pernah kerja surat khabar boleh beritahu, macam mana nak buat surat khabar sekarang lebih dipercayai. Ingat dialog begini dulu: “Mana kamu dengar cerita ni?” “Surat khabar cakap, betullah tu!”
Kalau mereka di kampung tak yakin baca surat khabar, mereka dengar sajalah berita, tak kira dari sumber mana, yang dibawa pulang oleh orang dari bandar.

Kalam

Anonymous said...

salam sejahtera tok mat, otai xmsm yang saya hormati... tahniah kerana saya dapati dato' dah dapat sedikit sengat dan resipi sambal tumis untuk menulis blog secara yang tidak hambar lagi. kalau tidak, cyber-rempits (pinjam istilah rocky bru) macam saya ni malas nak mencelah. saya percaya mungkin dato' selama ni 'tahan-tahan' oleh kerana terbawa-bawa dengan gatekeeping process masa dok di msm dulu, dan sedang dihadapi oleh ramai kekawan di sana sekarang. tapi keadaan sopo telah mempengaruhi, apa guna tahan-tahan, lepaskan saja baru lega.. mungkin sikap control handsome di kalangan mereka yang tergugat kesan pru12 juga perlu diubah. sekarang ni rakyat dah bijak dan tak takut buat pilihan,, malangnya ramai pemimpin umno masih enggan berubah dengan stail lama yang dah basi... thank you dato'

xmsm

Anonymous said...

Datuk,

It looks like the average IQ of the blogging community is going down fast with these CMs and past CMs beginning to blog ! ha ha !