‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.

A powerful form of ethnic state nationalism, driven by the dominant political party in Malaysia United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), aspires to partake in globalisation by marketing information and communications technology (ICT), and the Internet in particular. The Internet has effected dras...

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Main Author: Fischer, Johan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2009
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/626/1/akademika75%5B01%5D.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/626/
http://www.ukm.my/~penerbit/akademika
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spelling my-ukm.journal.6262011-08-11T07:33:25Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/626/ ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia. Fischer, Johan A powerful form of ethnic state nationalism, driven by the dominant political party in Malaysia United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), aspires to partake in globalisation by marketing information and communications technology (ICT), and the Internet in particular. The Internet has effected drastic political and cultural changes in contemporary Malaysia. This article argues that ‘the political’ in modern Malaysia is best explored in the interfaces between the state’s Internet fascination, censorship and authoritarianism on the one hand and, on the other hand, everyday media consumption in what Michael Herzfeld has called ‘cultural intimacy’ among the emerging Malay middle class. Discussing ethnographic material from suburban Malay middle-class homes collected in 2001-2002, I show how these Malays understand and appropriate the Islamic political party Parti Islam SeMalaysia’s (PAS) bid to promote itself as a modern and democratic party by launching the website HarakahDaily.net in the tense political and religious atmosphere post-9/11. I situate this piece of historical ethnography in recent transformations of the political Internet and censorship in Malaysia. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2009-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/626/1/akademika75%5B01%5D.pdf Fischer, Johan (2009) ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia. AKADEMIKA, 75 . pp. 43-63. ISSN 0126-5008 http://www.ukm.my/~penerbit/akademika
institution Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
building Perpustakaan Tun Sri Lanang Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
content_source UKM Journal Article Repository
url_provider http://journalarticle.ukm.my/
language English
description A powerful form of ethnic state nationalism, driven by the dominant political party in Malaysia United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), aspires to partake in globalisation by marketing information and communications technology (ICT), and the Internet in particular. The Internet has effected drastic political and cultural changes in contemporary Malaysia. This article argues that ‘the political’ in modern Malaysia is best explored in the interfaces between the state’s Internet fascination, censorship and authoritarianism on the one hand and, on the other hand, everyday media consumption in what Michael Herzfeld has called ‘cultural intimacy’ among the emerging Malay middle class. Discussing ethnographic material from suburban Malay middle-class homes collected in 2001-2002, I show how these Malays understand and appropriate the Islamic political party Parti Islam SeMalaysia’s (PAS) bid to promote itself as a modern and democratic party by launching the website HarakahDaily.net in the tense political and religious atmosphere post-9/11. I situate this piece of historical ethnography in recent transformations of the political Internet and censorship in Malaysia.
format Article
author Fischer, Johan
spellingShingle Fischer, Johan
‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.
author_facet Fischer, Johan
author_sort Fischer, Johan
title ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.
title_short ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.
title_full ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.
title_fullStr ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.
title_full_unstemmed ‘We shift the channel when Mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in Malaysia.
title_sort ‘we shift the channel when mahathir appears’: the political internet and censorship in malaysia.
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2009
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/626/1/akademika75%5B01%5D.pdf
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/626/
http://www.ukm.my/~penerbit/akademika
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score 13.211869