Najib’s turn at Google Hangout, aims for cyber-savvy crowd
Jahabar Sadiq, The Malaysian Insider
Datuk Seri Najib Razak will host a Google Hangout on September 29, becoming the second Malaysian politician to connect with IT-savvy Malaysians especially youths who form a distinct demographic of the 13 million eligible to vote in the next general election.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the prime minister will answer questions in the hour-long session in the online forum from 4pm that Saturday, a day after he tables the Budget 2013 proposals in Parliament. The budget is the last one before elections that must be called by middle 2013.
“Datuk Seri Najib is having a Google Hangout on September 29 at 4pm and this will add to other efforts in cyberspace,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.
It is learnt that his communication team is working on the details of the Google Hangout and an advertising campaign to promote the event, which will centre on the government’s efforts to develop the country into a high-income developed nation by 2020. It is also understood that Najib, who is finance minister, will also answer questions about the Budget 2013 proposals.
The Google Hangout comes at a time when the Malaysian authorities lodged an official complaint to Google and its video-sharing site YouTube about the anti-Islam film clip “Innocence of Muslims” which is seen as denigrating Prophet Muhammad and the faith, which is the country’s official religion.
YouTube has blocked access to the video clip from Malaysian Internet Protocol (IP) addresses but other services remain. The video-sharing site is popular in Malaysia and is mainly used by opposition politicians who want to bypass local free-to-air television stations which are either run by the state or by pro-government owners.
Najib’s main political foe, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, was the first politician in the country to hold a Google Hangout, which allows virtual meetings of up to 10 people or a broadcast to an online audience of millions. Anwar’s event drew thousands when it was held on August 17, two days before the Eid festival when Malaysian Muslims return home to celebrate the end of the holy Ramadan fasting month.
US President Barack Obama hosted a Google Hangout last January as part of his re-election campaign. The forum comes in the form of live video connections and video YouTube questions.
Najib, who will seek his own mandate in the next polls, is one of the country’s most popular politicians online through his blog www.1malaysia.com.my, his two Facebook accounts and his Twitter microblogging account.
His main Facebook page has 1,181,087 likes against Anwar’s 388,219 likes in a country which has some 12.9 million Facebook accounts.
