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Len Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Organisation and Employment Studies,
The Business School, University of North London (at time of presentation)

Margaret Grieco, Professor of Organisation and Development Management, The Business School, University of North London (at time of presentation)

The Malaysian government of Mahathir Mohamad may have silenced former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim - convicted last month of corruption and sentenced to six years in prison - but thanks to the Internet and other electronic media channels, Mr Anwar's message of reform continues to be heard throughout the country. The fact that Malaysian citizens have been able to obtain relatively unbiased news on the Anwar trial and the 'reformasi' campaign exemplifies the increasing difficulty governments have in managing the flow of information within their borders - even when they control the major print and broadcast media. Within days of Anwar's arrest, offshore Web sites sprouted by the dozen offering a combination of news, analysis and essays, and serving as repositories for press statements and letters from prison from Mr. Anwar himself……..
Ironically, the fact Malaysians are in a position to make use of digital media reports is due in large part to the government's efforts to transform the country into a kind of information technology mecca. Over the last few years, fuelled by a decade of double-digit growth, Malaysia has been witness to a series of bold investments in its infrastructure, including the construction of a cross-country highway, the world's tallest building, a state-of-the-art airport, and a soon-to-be-completed new capital city. The jewel in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's crown, however, was to be the Multimedia Super Corridor, a swath of land hewn out of the jungle, and transformed into the world's latest Silicon Valley upstart. Until the Asian financial crisis hit, the project was going surprisingly well. Bill Gates and Microsoft were among those promising to build R&D facilities, locate regional headquarters and produce goods within this wired village…….
The financial crisis and the Anwar trial changed all that. The trees have been levelled and some of the data pipes have been installed, but most of the potential investors have delayed or cancelled their plans for the region. Nonetheless, the emphasis on an IT future, coupled with years of increased consumer spending, has created a widely shared taste for the latest in technological gadgets, including Internet connectivity and VCDs.
(For the full Paquin article go to http://members.xoom.com/Gerakan/unmuzzle_internet.html )

Malaysian government and Malaysian business had seen the advantages of global communication technologies for external trade and internal organisation: the consequences for the support and upholding of sustained political resistance such as is now found in the reformasi movement had been dramatically underestimated or ignored (see for example, Reformasi News http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3797/berita.htm , see also http://www.cyberway.com.sg/~nassir/index.html

We might reasonably expect that the Malaysian government begins to make use of the Internet in 'spinning' the current political problematic and that it will aim its materials at many of the same audiences in a bid to hold trade and investment. Indeed, in some ways we already have some indication of such a trend: the search engine for Malaysia 'broadcast' from California appears to have no political content whatsoever upon it suggesting that is 'moderated' in such a way as to keep it clean (http://www.malaysia.net/links/), although the main malaysianet site does indeed carry material on Anwar and a statement from Alvin Toffler to the effect that it is important that super communications highways should not become vehicles for repression. A quick review of the contents of the first page of the Malaysianet web site gives us a feel of the current politico commercial debate around the technology:

Welcome to MalaysiaNET
MalaysiaNET, is a wholly owned project of Infogroup Corporation Ltd., to promote E-commerce on the information highway in Southeast Asia. The main principles of this site are the introduction of e-commerce, a free search engine. a free web-based e-mail service, the promotion of freedom of expression and the free flow of information via the Internet.

November 17, 1998

Statement from Mr Alvin Toffler

Although in my recent correspondence with Prime Minister Mahathir and in published articles I have sharply criticized the imprisonment in Malaysia of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and my friend Munawar Anees, I have not yet formally resigned from the International Advisory Panel of the Malaysian Multi-Media Supercorridor as reported in the press.

I do not believe that this visionary project, which is important for the future of the Malaysian people and serves, in part, as a model and challenge to other countries, can flourish in the present climate of political repression.

I am sure other members of the panel, including the heads of many giant software, computer, and telecommunications companies, share this view.

And I do not agree, as Prime Minister Mahathir has argued in response to my appeals, that the MMSC project is purely a business matter and has nothing to do with politics. The "cyberlaws" that he promised investors -- complete freedom of access to information, and other Third Wave freedoms, are, in fact, clearly political.

The creation of an Asian Silicon Valley is itself inherently political.

That is why I hope that even at this late date a calm and just resolution can be found to the conflict between those calling for reform in Malaysia and a once visionary Prime Minister, who in the past has prevented ethnic conflict, marginalized religious fanaticism, and helped replace rubber, tin, and timber with semiconductor chips as his country's key export.

If Anwar and Anees are not released from prison unharmed as soon as possible, I will resign, as, I suspect, will other members of the panel on whose investments the project depends.

Alvin Toffer, November 17, 1998

For the latest information on the Former Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, please click here.

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http://www.malaysianet.net/Anwar_Ibrahim/anwar_ibrahim.html

The tradition of communicating with the world from the solitary status of political imprisonment is a long and authoritative phenomenon. Imprisonments for social and religious reasons have also produced their high literary forms. From a Pilgrim's Progress, through the Ballad of Reading Gaol, in the work of Genet and par excellence in the work of Gramsci (the Prison Notebooks), the imprisoned have issued their challenges in high forms to the existing social order. Reducing the individual to the solitary state has often resulted in the most critical and cutting challenges to existing hegemonies. Anwar when he placed his letters from prison on the Internet through the offices of a second party (http://members.tripod.com/~Anwar_Ibrahim/prison/stupid_plot.htm ) most surely shaped his action within this tradition.

I have chosen the path of societal reform and, in so doing, I often have had to sacrifice that just balance I have always wanted to maintain between contemplation and action. Through ABIM, student and youth movements, and later in government, I have tried to generate public awareness (taw'iyya) of the crucial importance of ensuring al-adl wal-ihsan (justice and virtue/equity) in all human affairs. It is true that I have often been conciliatory, and at times I have been criticised by colleagues and Islamists and social activists and the opposition, who insisted that not all of such compromises could be rationalised in the name of hikmah, or wisdom. (In fact, I intimated to you some time ago of my growing disenchantment and frustrations at the excesses of the government, Dr. Mahathirs abhorrence of criticism, his mega- enterprises and delusions of grandeur.) However, I had to draw the line when transgressions went beyond acceptable boundaries, when corruption had become pervasive and rampant, when religious laws and ulamas were belittled and abused, when public funds were plundered to enrich families and cronies, and when there was travesty of justice and the rule of law trampled. I have highlighted some of these issues in my earlier letters from prison, such as From the Halls Of Power to the Labyrinths of Incarceration. (I had wanted to use "Labyrinth of Solitude," but it's a novel by Octavio Paz). Of course, I am paying a high price for sticking to my convictions. Nor am I alone in facing the rage of an ageing dictator. Unfortunately, my family and friends have to suffer along with me. Some have been arrested, tortured, or otherwise harassed by the Special Branch. My experience in detention in 1974 taught me that it would be totally unacceptable merely to survive as a conformist while having to endure corruption and oppression. Alternatively, having to pursue a reform agenda as a competent critic is certainly challenging and beset with obstacles. Nonetheless, it is beyond my worst expectations that Dr. Mahathir could act in such a desperate, despicable manner -- to allege that I am guilty of acts of treason (foreign agent), sexual misconduct, corruption, even explored the possibility that I was involved in a complicity to murder. And the fitnah and mihnah continue unabated, with vilification by the government-controlled media. Since you left, the Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Nor, has resigned and Dr. Mahathir has relinquished his role as Minister of Home Affairs. But I intend to proceed with a civil suit against him and the IGP for the physical assault, for being stripped naked, and the inhuman treatment under police custody. A lesson must be learnt. Citizens cannot be subjected to brutal physical abuse and ridicule. Nevertheless, like you, I have no regrets. I'm trying to keep myself busy--with prayers and du'a, tadarrus and reading. How else could I be expected to finish The Complete Works Of Shakespeare, Will Durant's Study of Philosophy, The Penguin History of the World, works of Plato and Aristotle etc. etc.? My old copy of Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation of the Quran is most valuable because of my earlier short notes and references from Ibn Kathir, al-Qurtubi, Sayyid Qutb and Maulana Maududi's tafsirs. Because of the limited number of books permitted at any given time, my hadith collection is confined to Riadh us-Salihin for the present. So, as you can observe, I have not overlooked the importance of education and the intellectual tradition in bringing about reform. I recall my last IIIT meeting with al-Marhum Ismail al Faruqi in Virginia, which featured a debate on "Ibn Khaldun and Change," based on Ernest Gellner's Muslim Society. Al-Marhum Ismail had a way to compel me to read the relevant texts before such meetings. Such encounters undoubtedly helped to further enhance my love for scholarly discourse and rekindle my passion for literature, which I have tried to share with the public even in dry budget speeches in Parliament in the hope of introducing the great minds to the uninitiated. Thus, while trying to justify the need for reform or the reduction of taxes, for instance, I used to slip in quotes from Ibn Khaldun. I concur with Mortimer Adler in his attempt to popularise philosophy. Thus Asian sages and reformers feature regularly in my speeches and writings, including Kung Fu Tze, Wang An Shih and the author of Kurikural. The Asian Renaissance series (of conferences) beginning with Jose Rizal whom I consider a precursor to the Asian renaissance, was a great success.
(Anwar's letters from prison: http://members.tripod.com/~Anwar_Ibrahim/prison/abu_suleyman.htm )

Under traditional circumstances, imprisoned leaders were separated from their peoples: their living images were rarely available. In the period of video film, mass instantaneous broadcast capabilities of interactive visual materials and a leader with a strong social network surrounding him/her able to 'capture' and release the leaders image through electronic forms, there is a new potential for leaders to remain in the eye of their peoples (indeed we have seen something similar but on a lesser scale in Burma). Video clips of Anwar and his full writings from prison are available on the Internet (http://members.xoom.com/Gerakan/ ). In order to ensure that Government can not simply bring down this material by closing a single Anwar site, the web site developers have ensured that there are a number of mirror sites with different geographical homes. (for a listing of fifty official Anwar Ibrahim online web sites which show this mirror dynamic see http://pages.whowhere.lycos.com/sports/vr4/ )

In researching this paper, we have spent considerable time on the Internet looking at the way in which individuals and situations are being portrayed in order to elicit the desired sympathy with the reformasi cause. We have come across a number of very interesting new forms of communication designed to generate solidarity with the reformasi cause and weaken the respect for and allegiance to current government. A particularly skilled form is that of the Rogues Row on (http://www.freemalaysia.com/samsudin.htm ) which provides photographs of key government and business personalities and subtitles which poke fun at these figures. The Rogues Row provides information on corruption and other relevant issues in the current controversy. At the level of the Internet user this will develop a familiarity with those usually held in very high regard and debunk the sacred character associated with national leaders. In the case of one rogue, the simple act of passing the computer mouse across the 'rogue's face' contorts the face into something recognisably nasty and moreover something which is moving toward the internet user (http://www.freemalaysia.com/rogues/vincent_tan.htm ). Clearly, somebody very skilled in the technology has been at work ensuring that the Internet delivers a form of social caricature which reduces respect for the national leaders. The contrast between the dignity of Anwar's prison letters and those national leaders 'imprisoned' on rogue's row (the term used is 'inmates' invites the sympathy for Anwar. This opposition is of course highly constructed: this is not to argue that Anwar is not worthy of support nor is to argue that the information contained upon the rogue's is incorrect but simply to indicate that the images are not simply a natural ordering but are highly manipulated. The practice of 'virtual imprisonment' represents a reversal of apparent social power through the use of the electronic mode and invites the understanding that the present set of on the ground power relations is open to being overtaken.

The technology allows new forms for framing social reality: and the way in which such social reality is framed will have its impact on external audiences and coalition formation both in international politics and global business. An important feature of the new technology in framing social and political understanding of new and emergent political and social realities is the ability to provide comprehensive archiving of the chronology and character of social events and processes. In the case of the Anwar confrontation in Malaysia, comprehensive archiving (http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/Gerakan/archive.html , see also, http://members.tripod.com/~Anwarite/) has indeed been undertaken and is accompanied by on line ready search facilities which enable new entrants to this electronic political space to track the process and development at will, on their own and in detail. Furthermore, the technology enables the ready transmission of calendars of new activities (http://www.members.xoom.com/_XOOM/Gerakan/announcements/events.html ): obtaining information no longer depends on social group membership. Historically, those wishing to destroy political organisation could track political membership of an organisation back along information routes - the best known example of such a process was in the colonial struggle in Algeria and formed the material for the classic film 'The Battle of Algiers'. With new technology, the possession of information gives no such inevitable clue to social and political contacts. Similarly, the availability of such an archive of materials enables the ready refreshing of political memory and provides instantaneous advocacy resources. In the case of Malaysia, it is clear that the density and range of Internet materials will increasingly play a role in the structuring of political understanding: electronic advocacy is a feature of a new political age in which the national can be rendered global through the establishment of inexpensive virtual political spaces (web sites).

The needs of commerce and business have seen the development of extensive client feedback and client participation systems. The development of commercial web sites which enable clients to order on line, to share information with other product users (forums), and to assist business in the fine tuning and improved design of products has its political consequences. Within the high income countries of the work, consumers have begun to use the inter-client communication capabilities to put pressure onto business to reform and transform. The ability to raise on-line, well organised consumer lobbies is a feature of modern economic life. Within the high income countries, older persons, a group which very often experiences mobility constraints and has traditionally been fragmented in terms of political and social action, have begun to use the technology to effect - the American Association of Retired Persons provides a clear demonstration of this new political form (http://www.aarp.org).

But presence in the chat room, no matter which language is being operated, is often concerned with issues of individual visibility. Whilst prominent and external figures are often ready to sign their names to statements of support, the lone individual can court unwanted and significant levels of repression by revealing identity in a political chat room or forum. Consequently, the Anwar Chat room http://www.malaysianet.net/index.shtml warns users 'do not log in with email address'.

The contributors to chat rooms now have a new option in the development of solidarity, they can make a contribution to the Anwar campaign simply by clicking on sites or contributing anonymously to a major open and public debate without exposing themselves politically or socially. Such safe options have consequences for the development of solidarity: individuals can nudge incrementally towards fuller action. But more importantly, the many of the various websites and forums have had counters attached to their sites. Each click on a site or addressing of an email is counted: the level of interest and potential support is measured by the traffic through the various web sites. Indeed, within electronic technology, the measurement of potential markets by user traffic on web sites has become formalised and there are now sites which carry information on the number of hits across a range of sites (http://www.TheCounter.com/stats/toplists/24.0.html ) . The success of the Malaysian web sites as measured by user traffic is readily visible from the Counter.com site - the number of hits given for Reformasi Nasional was 7,771,809 presumably since the commencement of the site.

In the same way that client counting, client forums and other client feedback mechanisms developed in the commercial sector have been taken up in the promotion of the reformasi social movement, so too have other tricks and electronic techniques of the commercial trade. One such form is that of sending electronic postcards in support of Anwar: http://cardforanwar.hypermart.net/. This form requires the individual sending the card to identify his or her self. This enables the taking of a greater risk than anonymous email or simply clicking on web sites for information but limits that risk by permitting the individual to specify who the recipient of the post card will be. It is beyond our competence in this paper to calculate the level of electronic communication which has been involved in the Anwar campaign but clearly it is of sizeable proportion and indicates the extent to which global technologies designed for business are now produced new political forms that threaten the old rules and establishment under which business was conducted.