Cover Image

Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election

Public discourse commonly takes place in public forums of free media. The 4th estate provides an external dimension to the democratic check and balance to the executive (1st estate), the legislative (2nd estate), and the judiciary (3rd estate). This paper discusses the rise of a social media 5th est...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz, Firdaus, Amira Sariyati, Kaur, Surinderpal
Format: Article
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press 2020
Subjects:
JA Political science (General)
JQ Political institutions Asia
Communication. Mass media
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/25520/
https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2020-3602-11
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.um.eprints.25520
record_format eprints
spelling my.um.eprints.255202020-09-07T03:17:56Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/25520/ Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz Firdaus, Amira Sariyati Kaur, Surinderpal JA Political science (General) JQ Political institutions Asia Communication. Mass media Public discourse commonly takes place in public forums of free media. The 4th estate provides an external dimension to the democratic check and balance to the executive (1st estate), the legislative (2nd estate), and the judiciary (3rd estate). This paper discusses the rise of a social media 5th estate, as exemplified by online public discourse surrounding the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, and the country’s ensuing electoral change of government. Drawing upon thematic analyses of 1MDB-related comments in the official Facebook page of Free Malaysia Today, this paper illustrates the rise of a social media 5th estate in the run-up to Pakatan Harapan’s win in the Malaysian 2018 14th General Election. Since international public disclosure in 2015 of former Malaysian premier Najib Razak’s purported siphoning of billions of ringgit from 1MDB, the scandal continues to be a trending topic on Malaysian social media. The online discourse of 1MDB evolved from heated posts discussing Najib’s culpability and criticism of his Barisan Nasional administration, into support to the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition, particularly in the run-up to the 14th Malaysian General Elections (GE14) that was held on 9th May 2018. Pakatan Harapan’s win, following the social media support, exemplifies the power of a netizen-fuelled 5th estate. © 2020, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press. All rights reserved. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press 2020 Article PeerReviewed Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz and Firdaus, Amira Sariyati and Kaur, Surinderpal (2020) Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 36 (2). pp. 179-195. ISSN 2289-1528 https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2020-3602-11 doi:10.17576/JKMJC-2020-3602-11
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic JA Political science (General)
JQ Political institutions Asia
Communication. Mass media
spellingShingle JA Political science (General)
JQ Political institutions Asia
Communication. Mass media
Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz
Firdaus, Amira Sariyati
Kaur, Surinderpal
Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election
description Public discourse commonly takes place in public forums of free media. The 4th estate provides an external dimension to the democratic check and balance to the executive (1st estate), the legislative (2nd estate), and the judiciary (3rd estate). This paper discusses the rise of a social media 5th estate, as exemplified by online public discourse surrounding the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, and the country’s ensuing electoral change of government. Drawing upon thematic analyses of 1MDB-related comments in the official Facebook page of Free Malaysia Today, this paper illustrates the rise of a social media 5th estate in the run-up to Pakatan Harapan’s win in the Malaysian 2018 14th General Election. Since international public disclosure in 2015 of former Malaysian premier Najib Razak’s purported siphoning of billions of ringgit from 1MDB, the scandal continues to be a trending topic on Malaysian social media. The online discourse of 1MDB evolved from heated posts discussing Najib’s culpability and criticism of his Barisan Nasional administration, into support to the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition, particularly in the run-up to the 14th Malaysian General Elections (GE14) that was held on 9th May 2018. Pakatan Harapan’s win, following the social media support, exemplifies the power of a netizen-fuelled 5th estate. © 2020, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press. All rights reserved.
format Article
author Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz
Firdaus, Amira Sariyati
Kaur, Surinderpal
author_facet Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz
Firdaus, Amira Sariyati
Kaur, Surinderpal
author_sort Mohd Nor, Nur Haniz
title Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election
title_short Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election
title_full Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election
title_fullStr Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election
title_full_unstemmed Rise of the 5th Estate: How Online Public Discourse on Najib Razak’s 1MDB Scandal Foreshadowed Pakatan Harapan’s Win in the 14th General Election
title_sort rise of the 5th estate: how online public discourse on najib razak’s 1mdb scandal foreshadowed pakatan harapan’s win in the 14th general election
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press
publishDate 2020
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/25520/
https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2020-3602-11
_version_ 1680857040902160384
score 13.211869

Similar Items