It was kind of difficult to ignore the forces around you. And what would be around the corner, a couple of weekends from now may be a turning point for the country. I almost never talk about politics specially on my blog but those who knew me personally probably knew that i have my own take about the local politics.
All I wished for on the day would be a peaceful outcome and the story of the day would be portrayed in a fair perspective as the events would not go down as just another nuisance that happened similar to rallies in the past. I can almost predict what the headline was going to be, and it would be definitely a couple of different versions, one in the local mass media, and another on the international news outlet - BBC, CNN and Aljazeera.
The other major difference between the coking rally and those in the past was the advent of social media. In the last six months, we have seen the power of social media - twitter and Facebook - been demonstrated in weakening oppressive regimes. How information was disseminated. And how reporting of events have changed. Like all informations sources, there would be room for manipulation. But the sheer volume of information and news would help the readers to be in a better position to make judgement of the actual happenings. Social media also offer direct interaction with the source, making clarification more transparent. Censorship would also be difficult, and the only viable solution for that would be a total media blackout - close down the Internet, like what happened to Egypt and Libya. The sheer fact that Malaysia would be mentioned on the same breath with the two country really demonstrated the gravity of the coming event.
I must say that the development leading up to the coming rally had been interesting to say the least, and it was mainly on how the information was disseminated. Here's to a peaceful rally. And here's hoping that Yorais would not take the decision to cut off the Internet on the day .....
