SMS in use during election campaign in Malaysia
Elections are coming up in Malaysia on March 21, with an official campaigning period of only 8 days. What better way to take for the parties than to go mobile and use SMS or Short Message Services to reach potential voters?
This follows the great example of the Philippines and Manila – which is called the capital of SMS or. In January 2001, hundreds of thousands took to the streets, spurred on by mass texting, and literally bought down an entire government. During that crucial days messaging or texting jumped from 70 to over 100 million in the space of just a few hours. The end result was the ousting of the then President Estrada and the rise to power of Gloria Macapagel Arroyo.
In Malaysia, the ruling party UMNO intends to send some 50,000 SMS daily to remind Malaysians why Abdullah Badawi, the current Prime Minister, should be supported.
Even the conservative opposition party PAS, which rules in the East Malaysian states Kelantan and Terengganu jumps on the bandwagon. Senior PAS official Mohamad Hatta Ramli is quoted as saying "We have to keep up with the current trend. We have been shut out of the mainstream media so campaigning through the SMS gives us an edge to reach out especially to the middle-class and educated community".
Naturally, circulation of rumours is rampant and messages attacking individuals or parties have been circulated with the sources withheld, prompting UMNO youth wing to set up a monitoring unit in an attempt to counter them.
Telecommunication companies in Malaysia are preparing for the surge in SMS. Celcom vice-president of mobile data, Mohd Jafri Kudus, said his company is expecting some 30 per cent increase in SMS traffic from its normal daily average billable SMS traffic of 15 million.
This is definitely and interesting way to promote politics, in a country, where political participation rate appears low. And it might be more effective than the traditional banners, flyers, and party literature – people tend to read SMS, which becomes a way of life in Malaysia, while those traditional promotional material can easily be discarded or ignored. True – a vast share of Malaysia is still rural and those might still be better to attract more "traditional" voters in those areas. But it is clear that messages are heard better via SMS. This is true as long as those distribution means are ahead of direct marketing campaigns from commercial providers - once those start spamming via mobile phones, the effectiveness of SMS for serious reasons might decline.
(By Asia Business Consulting)
This follows the great example of the Philippines and Manila – which is called the capital of SMS or. In January 2001, hundreds of thousands took to the streets, spurred on by mass texting, and literally bought down an entire government. During that crucial days messaging or texting jumped from 70 to over 100 million in the space of just a few hours. The end result was the ousting of the then President Estrada and the rise to power of Gloria Macapagel Arroyo.
In Malaysia, the ruling party UMNO intends to send some 50,000 SMS daily to remind Malaysians why Abdullah Badawi, the current Prime Minister, should be supported.
Even the conservative opposition party PAS, which rules in the East Malaysian states Kelantan and Terengganu jumps on the bandwagon. Senior PAS official Mohamad Hatta Ramli is quoted as saying "We have to keep up with the current trend. We have been shut out of the mainstream media so campaigning through the SMS gives us an edge to reach out especially to the middle-class and educated community".
Naturally, circulation of rumours is rampant and messages attacking individuals or parties have been circulated with the sources withheld, prompting UMNO youth wing to set up a monitoring unit in an attempt to counter them.
Telecommunication companies in Malaysia are preparing for the surge in SMS. Celcom vice-president of mobile data, Mohd Jafri Kudus, said his company is expecting some 30 per cent increase in SMS traffic from its normal daily average billable SMS traffic of 15 million.
This is definitely and interesting way to promote politics, in a country, where political participation rate appears low. And it might be more effective than the traditional banners, flyers, and party literature – people tend to read SMS, which becomes a way of life in Malaysia, while those traditional promotional material can easily be discarded or ignored. True – a vast share of Malaysia is still rural and those might still be better to attract more "traditional" voters in those areas. But it is clear that messages are heard better via SMS. This is true as long as those distribution means are ahead of direct marketing campaigns from commercial providers - once those start spamming via mobile phones, the effectiveness of SMS for serious reasons might decline.
(By Asia Business Consulting)
posted by Andreas @ 8:46 pm
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