Election 2013: Testing times for Malaysia’s old media

Intended or otherwise, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s labelling of election 2013 as the “social media election” may have been acknowledging what is blindingly obvious to Malaysian voters: that the influence of its traditional media has somewhat diminished.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Pic: AP.

As with other countries who have headed to the polls in recent years social media has usurped print media as the main channel to access voters. With more than one-quarter of the Malaysian electorate voting for the first time this year and a Facebook ‘population’ of some 13m, more emphasis has been placed on the social media effect, just as bloggers dominated alternative media ahead of the 2008 election.

But the election might yet prove a watershed for Malaysia’s slavish newspapers, which are struggling to remain relevant in the digital age, with readers and influence ceded to the their more vocal online counterparts such as Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today.

The print and broadcast media in Malaysia remains dominated by large media companies with close links to political parties associated with the ruling National Front coalition, and its international standing has been hammered in recent years.

(READ MORE: Malaysia’s politicians wary ahead of ‘social media election’)

The country fell 23 places in Reporters Without Borders’ 2013 World Press Freedom Index to 145th out of 179 countries ― the country’s worst showing in the benchmark since 2002. That placed it lower than Southeast Asian neighbours such as Brunei, Indonesia and Cambodia.

While its major English language dailies – The New Straits Times, The Star and The Edge – have seen readers desert since 2008, they aren’t circling the plughole just yet. But the upcoming election might entrench the idea that the old media hasn’t moved with Malaysian voters.

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Eating your way around KL’s street food scene

By Chris Wotton

STREET food across Southeast Asia is well renowned for its quality, variety and low cost – and Malaysia is no exception to the rule. In the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, tasty street food abounds and eating on the street guarantees experiences – and flavours – you will struggle to get in the best of the more expensive indoor restaurants. There might be no air con, but the sights, sounds and smells and the hustle and bustle of the city’s streets more than compensate.

A variety of cuisines and tastes are catered for at the city’s vast number of makeshift roadside eateries. From satay chicken to deep fried bananas, expect top quality examples of the different dishes that make up Malaysia’s vast food culture. Year round you are spoilt for choice in terms of the food you can be chowing down in the comfort of local Malaysians. By following their lead and eating at stalls which have a crowd of hungry customers, you can be sure not only of better standards of cleanliness (if the locals are eating there, chances are they are not getting sick) but also top notch nosh!

There is an excellent selection of Malaysian street food in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown area on Jalan Petalling, as well as in the Bukit Bintang area – a favourite for backpackers in particular – and on the streets around the city’s many shopping malls and nearby the infamous Petronas Towers. Drop by around festivals like Ramadan for reams of extra choice – at dusk during the Muslim fasting period, when the day’s period of abstinence comes to an end, the streets are packed with throngs of stalls that are not there normally, each with even more choice of delicious snacks to tuck into.

Freshly grilled satay. Pic: Chris Wotton.

Satay is a must eat on the Malaysian street food circuit. This unbeatable favourite, popular around the world and hailing from the Indonesian island of Java but adopted by the Malaysians and made their own, consists of skewers of chicken, pork or beef marinated in a rich curry based paste with coconut milk, then grilled and served with an equally rich peanut sauce on the side for dipping, again with lashings and lashings and coconut milk. The grill is often as simple as a metal tray on the street with a pot of smoking embers beneath – sometimes, though, simplicity is best.

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