KUCHING: Social media could be a vital instrument for candidates in the upcoming Sarawak election, especially in view of the likely restrictions on physical campaigning due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
“Actually, we are underestimating the ability of social media to disseminate information,” said Dr Ammar Redza Ahmad Rizal, an academician from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) Faculty of Language and Communication.
Citing a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) survey conducted last year, he said half of Malaysians spent five to 12 hours a day on the internet, with most of this time dedicated to social media.
“Even though there are some arguments that internet infrastructure could deter the public’s access to information, the usage of low-data applications such as WhatsApp could help the public to obtain information on the election and contesting parties,” he said on Thursday (Nov 11).
Highlighting the power of social media, he said some members of the public relied on and believed in information they received through chain messages found on social media.
“I hope that candidates will be ready to craft creative and persuasive text messages for their campaign purposes.”
Ammar said campaigning this time around would be out of the ordinary and might even be a bit mundane compared to last state election.
However, he emphasised that this was a necessary action to curb the emergence of new Covid-19 clusters in the state.
“Non-physical campaigning is paramount during this time. In fact, it might only apply for this election. The contesting candidates and parties should persevere in overcoming this challenge. Remember, what is more important is public health.”
At the same time, he said that in areas where internet access posed a challenge, candidates should look into viable alternatives.
“One of the avenues is through print media. They should utilise local and state-based newspapers. Alternatively, they can put a pamphlet containing information about themselves inside newspapers.”
On the new guidelines imposed by the Election Commission (EC) for the state election in Melaka, he said the most notable point was that there would be no public campaigning.
Ammar believed a similar standard operating procedure (SOP) would be implemented here in Sarawak.
“It would be a new challenge not only for new candidates but also for incumbents and the voters.
“In Melaka, we are able to see some ‘historical’ approaches for campaigning such as by using public amplifiers attached to moving vehicles to promote candidates and parties’ manifesto, just like during the 70s.”
