Social media, potential game maker in ASEAN

The Jakarta Post, Mariel Grazella and Andi Haswidi, Jakarta, Tue, 04/26/2011

Governments, pay attention. The online social media, which innocuously started out as a medium of personal tell-all, is poised to be a powerful catalyst of change as more tech-savvy people use the medium to disseminate information once hushed up by governments.

“Technology, particularly communication technology, is changing the world. Look at what is happening in the Arab world,” Mahfuz Anam, the editor of Bangladesh-based English newspaper The Daily Star, said Monday.

“Nobody ever thought that there would be so many public voices coming out and changing governments,” he added.

The spirit of protests in Tunisia spread across many Arab nations where people sought change. News of the bloodless coup d’etat, as well as the method by which it was achieved, even spread to China, prompting the government to block access to Twitter and Facebook to prevent a repeat of such events in the country.

“The social media must now be used to increase democracy, to increase the participation of the people in running the country,” he told The Jakarta Post at a discussion on the changing balance of power in Asia.

He added that social media, paired with laws on the right to information, were also potent weapons against corruption by shedding light into government processes.

In addition to Bangladesh, Asian countries such as Indonesia have laws stipulating that governments must provide information to the public unless the information could jeopardize national security.

“The cloak of secrecy is the weapon of corruption. When you release that cloak of secrecy, corruption does not disappear but reduces dramatically,” Mahfuz added.

Ravindra Kumar, the editor of Indian daily The Statesman, added that the influence of social media stretched beyond the borders of a country.

He said foreign affairs could change as well after governments of other countries read accounts on the true state of affairs in another county through what residents of that country posted on social media outlets.

He added that diplomats, politicians and civil servants “who have long put a cloak on foreign policy and strategic affairs” would be those most affected by social media.

Social media can be used to increase participation in political processes both within and outside the country. Wong Chun Wai, the editor of Malaysian newspaper The Star, said candidates geared up for election on Facebook and Twitter.

“They are discovering that this is the form of communication through which they can now reach more individuals than mainstream media,” he added.

He said regional political entities such as ASEAN could capitalize on the wide reach of social media in promoting causes valuable to ASEAN.

For example, he said, ASEAN could work with bloggers in Asia to act as ambassadors to promote people-to-people relationships. However, a “concerted effort to do so” must be made by ASEAN member states.

He added that social media would eventually change the workings of ASEAN.

“You can see it coming. It’s only a matter of time,” he said.

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