Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Meludah Ke Langit ?

Agak lucu melihat tindakan pantas para politikus di negara ini yang segera mengakui bahawa medium blog merupakan satu senjata yang sangat tajam. Dahulu mereka mencerca penulis blog dan menggambarkan penulis blog sebagai pengecut, monyet dan sebagainya. Kini mereka berlumba-lumba untuk membuka blog sendiri sehinggakan sesiapa dikalangan mereka yang tidak memiliki blog dianggap tidak layak untuk menjadi pemimpin. Mari lihat artikel di bawah :

April 12, 2008
Malaysia's ruling party begins blogging
2008 is the year of BLOGGING.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Some candidates for posts in Malaysia's ruling party will be required to set up blogs, an official said Friday, a turnaround for governing politicians who had derided online politicking.

Abdul Rahman Dahlan, secretary general of the United Malays National Organization party's youth wing, said all those vying for national youth posts must have blogs to introduce themselves and their programs ahead of party elections in December.

It was not known if any senior leaders of the party will also start blogs to emulate opposition Democratic Action Party leader Lim Kit Siang, who has a popular Web journal.

But the decision appeared aimed at countering heavy losses that the ruling National Front coalition suffered in last month's general elections, partly because they underestimated the power of online campaigning. The United Malays National Party dominates the coalition.

"All candidates must have blogs," Abdul Rahman told The Associated Press. "If not, they are not qualified to be leaders."

In the past, party politicians have said bloggers spread lies and rumors. Many of Malaysia's blogs contain commentary critical of the government.

But now, even youth deputy Khairy Jamaluddin — who once compared bloggers to monkeys living by the law of the jungle — has a blog.

"The last election showed that we lost the cyberwar. We need to embrace the technology now," Abdul Rahman said.

He said help will be available for party members who do not know how to create a blog.

Begitulah kuasa blog. Walaupun penulis mempunyai blog sejak tahun 2004 dan menggunakannya sekadar untuk meluahkan rasa pada semua isu peribadi, politik dan persekitaran, rupa-rupanya ada yang lebih terlewat menyedari hakikat bahawa blog merupakan medium yang cukup memberi pengaruh. Kadang-kdang terasa sedih. Kadang-kadang terasa lucu. Itulah akibat dari cakap-cakap yang terlepas. Bak kata pepatah Melayu, cakap siang pandang pandang, cakap malam dengar-dengar. Meludah ke langit terkena ke muka sendiri.