One of the prominent characteristics of political communication practiced by politicians in Malaysia is that they tend to politicize everything. Initially, only the opposition are the players of creating politics out of thin air. Nowadays, Barisan Nasional or UMNO to be exact are catching up in the method of building up a story on a perspective that nobody would perceive.
In a recent trend, UMNO has been attacking Mat Sabu mercilessly for glorifying communist terrorists as heroes of the country’s independence. Despite of condemnation by angered by certain parties such as ex-military men who have put their lives at stake fighting with the communists, fellow Pakatan Rakyat leaders have vehemently defended Mat Sabu. The debate between Mat Sabu with Khairy Jamaluddin will not be the final straw of this controversy but to some extent it will affect the public’s perception on the issue.
Today, UMNO faces the lash by the opposition querying on the death of a Bernama cameraman during a humanitarian mission with Putera UMNO in Somalia. One of the questions raised was that if Putera UMNO did take all the required precautionary measures for the safety of its humanitarian members. In Twitter, people are starting to relate that the Malaysian government does not care about its people by letting their citizens die without prior concern. The Prime Minister’s statement “Even international journalists get killed… If you don’t want to become a journalist, stay at home.” was spinned as being in support of this idea.
It is unfortunate that the culture of rabid-politicization has engulfed the Malaysian political scene. Nevertheless, it remains an interesting trend to be observed as a case study.
