When a political chameleon struggles to blend in
PM Anwar keeps forgetting going off-script is costly in the era of social media.
We’re nearing the last month of the year. I have some big news for 2025, but I’ll save that for the founder’s report and the soppy what-I-learned-this-year listicle — both to be published sometime closer toward the end of the December. For now, it’s back to the grind.
You’re reading a paid version of The Malaysianist, a newsletter on money and power by writer and journalist Emmanuel Samarathisa.
I run monthly and annual subscriptions. There’s also the atas or founding member tier where you get all the perks of an annual subscription and more, such as an annual report and insight into how this little corner of the internet fared throughout the year.
Group subscriptions are also on the table, too, if you’re mulling over bulk purchases for your organisation or family members.
An article that made my reading this week was American journalist Stephen Robinson’s analysis on how social media fuelled Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
This is an interesting one. I’m always on the fence about doing an internal assessment of things at home after reading an article about developments abroad. But there are some points Robinson makes about the US presidential campaigns that resonate with goings-on at home.
The biggest takeaway is the role of social media in managing perceptions and forming decisions. For instance, in the US, social media platform TikTok played an important role in disseminating right-wing rhetoric. There’s also the existence of a “manosphere” on Youtube, owing to the likes of Joe Rogan and his “crude masculinity.”
That social media played a decisive role in Malaysian elections is old news. But what’s changed is that the personalities who once enjoyed the limelight are now being eaten alive – like Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.