NEWS: Potential power of technology in politics

ORGANISING a get-together for the coming weekend and don’t have the time to call up every single guest? Just SMS.

Want to drum up support for a cause you believe in? Again, just SMS.

Such is the power of information and communications technology, and that is only the tip of the iceberg.

When harnessed in full by way of SMS, e-mail and blogs, as in the two recent illegal rallies witnessed in Kuala Lumpur, results could be bigger than anticipated.

And with the general election coming up, political analyst Datuk Professor Dr Zainal Kling advised the Government and political parties to best be geared up with similar technical wizardry for the purpose of disseminating ideas related to their programmes and casting aside any unfounded allegations by opponents.

“The Internet has already been leveraged on by all political parties. During the last general election, wider use of computers and digital campaigning materials have already been started. I guess, by the next election greater use of digital materials would be in place and candidates in both the Government and opposition parties would certainly mobilise this latest media for communication.

“As demonstrated by the recent use of SMS for drawing people to support the Bersih campaign, there seems to be an ambivalent attitude towards the opposition in spite of the clear-cut stress on very basic and highly principled issues such as a clean election. Nevertheless, the Government utilised the media fully to combat the massive turnout by the general populace.

“For the diehards, it was certainly an effective means of public mobilisation, and they were able to gather a large number. Eventually, the Internet and mobile technology will be a natural means of communication and mobilisation of public opinion, as already demonstrated by the use of blogs by individuals and groups.”

Zainal believes that the coming months will see political parties using all means to pitch candidates, especially through digital communications where campaigning materials have already been prepared by digital mobilisation with messages, photos and rebuttal.

“The only constraint would be how far this electronic means would be accessible to the public as a whole, or just for the few centres of public opinion such as blogs and chatgroups,” he said.

From the technology perspective, it sure seems to be an interesting time to witness the possibilities of creative and strategic utilisation of the Internet and other mobile technologies.

As they say, technology is a tool and it’s up to the user on how it should be used.