Controlling Cyberspace in Malaysia

Abstract

A BSTRACTThis paper examines how Internet control strategy in Malaysia was shaped by particular forms of online political contention and by a well-coordinated online civil society. It also traces the shift of this strategy to more covert means in the 2011 Sarawak State election.Malaysia is increasingly referred to as a positive example when political scientists (re)emphasize the democratic powers of the Internet. 1 To a large extent, the historical elections in 2008 substantiated this argument. The stunning outcome for the first time since 1969 deprived Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front, BN) coalition of its two-thirds parliamentary majority. The loss was widely attributed to the effective use of the Internet by opposition forces. 2 Specifically, their use of cyberspace in Malaysia not only weakened the government's monopoly on media and information but also empowered opposition parties in facilitating and financing political campaigns.This scenario of cyber-empowerment and its related (potential) democratic transition is by no means unique to Malaysia-consider the recent, LIU YANGYUE is a Lecturer in the

Illusion of control: how internet use generates anti-regime sentiment in authoritarian regimes

“…To explain why, I use the example of the regime's failure to 'manage' the corruption scandal involving former PM Najib Razak. When the corruption scandal broke in 2015, the Malaysian regime was doing everything it could to control cyberspace: it paid cyber-troopers (Yangyue, 2014), used Italian surveillance software (Marczak et al, 2014), bought off online commentators (Hopkins, 2014), punished online dissidents that could not be co-opted (Open Net Initiative, 2017), and used DDoS attacks against critical online platforms (Freedom House, 2017). The regime also blocked access to the portals covering the scandal once the story was published (Human Rights Watch Report, 2016).…”