Will the New Information Minister Truly be Engaging?

23 March, 2008 (11:55) | point out

The previous information minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin (a.k.a. Zam) is out (hooray) and his newly appointed replacement is Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek. The Information Minister has recently come to be a hot seat in the sense that the minister in charge has his hands full with the spread of new media as the voice platform of the people.

Zainuddin had his hands full when he choose to ‘brand’ the online community, especially blogger’s, as misfits and all around liars! Granted there are the occasional rumor mongerers and abrasive and unfiltered viewpoints put online. Yet the bulk on the online community of Malaysia are a mature, opinionated and vocal group who are not restricted by traditional censorship methodologies and are not easily fooled by the governments propaganda.

Zainuddin’s remarks only had the effect to anger this group of people who then took the chance to put their voice out and spread the truth. It certainly didn’t help Zainuddin credibility that he also performed badly and bungled up his image and more importantly the image of Malaysia in the eyes of the world when his interview with Al Jazeera was a total flop! Thus earning his the nickname Minister of Misinformation and Disinformation!

“Out with the trash in with the new” is this blogger’s point of view.

And judging by this early interview Q&A session and also from this newer news article of the new Information Minister, Ahmad Shabery Cheek, I hope that the past mistakes will not be repeated! If the minister is sincere in his wish to engage the blogger community then I think he has taken the first steps in revamping the governments ideology in respect to the online community.

Yet talk is cheap and I for one will keep an eye out for the ministers actions in hopes that the government’s unjustified label of Misfits and Liars will be removed. It is also my sincere hope that Ahmad Shabery Cheek is not resorting to placate the blogging & online communities in the short term in order to reduce the damage inflicted to the credibility of the government.

Like it or not the bloggers and their online counterpart are here to stay and have proven to be a power to be reckoned with!