The battle for social media narrative ahead of state polls

Analysts say that the opposition may have the upper hand in terms of social media narrative, ahead of critical elections to be held in six states in the first test of support since the 15th general election last year. 

The inconclusive results of the November polls saw Pakatan Harapan (PH) joining hands with Barisan Nasional (BN) and several other coalitions to form the government at the federal level. 

Some five months after the election, though, debate on social media continues to revolve around issues such as the economy and cost of living. 

Other topics of interest include the call for targeted withdrawals from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the viability of small businesses struggling to keep up with economic challenges. 

Zaini Hassan, a former senior editor at Utusan Malaysia, said the opposition appeared to be taking a more aggressive stance, especially on the matter of EPF withdrawals. 

"The attacks seem to be favouring the opposition," he said. 

"Perikatan Nasional's (PN) cybertroopers have been more consistent than those of the government since the last general election." 

He added that bread-and-butter issues – a thorn in the flesh for the government under Najib Razak – might be enough to topple the BN-PH administration at the coming polls. 

"These are issues that need to be tackled regardless of who is in power," he said. 

"The government says that inflation is under control, but in reality, the people's purchasing power is on the decline." 

Political observer Mak Khuin Weng meanwhile said that PN appeared adept in using communication channels.

"The increase in price of goods is dominating the public discussion, and PH cannot address it," he said. 

"BN meanwhile is just spouting bravado that no one believes." 

BN, which saw its worst ever performance at the last election, won just 30 seats throughout the country. 

Its lynchpin party Umno, which was instrumental in committing the support of the coalition's MPs, re-entered the limelight over a string of political appointments linked to its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

It is also spearheading efforts to obtain a royal pardon for former prime minister Najib Razak, who recently lost his final bid for a review of his conviction and sentence in his RM42 million SRC International case. 

TikTok

On social media, PN has been turning to TikTok to pull in the views, with leaders such as Arau MP Shahidan Kassim and Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor making prominent use of the platform. 
 
But Mak, for one, said the strategy is unlikely to win new support.

"I think PN is just reserving its expenses until the elections," he said.  

Meanwhile, on the government side, questions remain over the social media narrative. 

Former PKR Youth exco Wan Ji Wan Hussin, for example, recently criticised Putrajaya's use of its "Madani" tagline. 

"They cannot frame the narrative of Islam in a Madani approach so as a result, only the term Madani is popular in the media but the average person doesn't actually know what it means," he said in a Facebook post. 

The government's propaganda unit J-KOM under its director Agus Yusoff has also come under pressure ahead of the polls. 

Agus recently defended Anwar in several issues including the prime minister's trip to Saudi Arabia and his remarks on Malaysia's territory in the South China Sea.

But Mak questioned his work so far, saying: "He looks like he is going here and there, but who is his target audience?"

Zaini meanwhile said Agus was an academic trained to conduct political research. 

"Propaganda is a different issue," he said. 

"J-KOM should be working at full gear now given that the state elections will be held in a matter of months. 

"But there doesn't seem to be any momentum yet. J-KOM is still complacanet while the opposition is being very consistent."