PKR first off the block in cyberspace battle

The Online Citizen thanks Malaysiakini for allowing us to publish the following article which first appeared on its website on August 11.

Rahmah Ghazali

While Barisan Nasional is still mulling over its candidate for the Permatang Pauh by-election, PKR nominee Anwar Ibrahim has already taken his electoral battle into cyberspace.

The weekend saw the soft launch of ‘Dari Permatang Pauh ke Putrajaya’ (From Permatang Pauh to Putrajaya) – a special website for Anwar’s by-election bid.The two-day-old site is still rough around the edges, and efforts are being made to increase content and resolve system kinks.
According to webmaster Annuar Ismail, 31, an official launch of the site is expected before nomination day on Aug 16.

The site, an initiative of PKR Permatang Pauh, seeks to post news and announcement of events relating to the by-election, which will take place on Aug 26 after a 10-day campaign.

“This will help voters, election workers and the media to get direct information on what is happening in Permatang Pauh,” said Annuar, who is based in
Penang

’s Bayan Baru.The bi-lingual website, among others, contains Anwar’s profile, a photo gallery as well as a sign-up section for campaign volunteers.

A team of 10 helped construct the website, and they plan to have content in all four main languages than the present two, added Annuar.

“We are still working on getting Chinese and Tamil content but as for now, we think that Bahasa Malaysia and English are the best languages to send our messages across to the people.”

Aim to post original news

But will the plug on the website be pulled after the by-election? “No, it will never die,” said Annuar.

The news stories presently are from various news feeds pertaining to Permatang Pauh constituency and the opposition candidate, Anwar.

“We will however eventually produce our own news stories – only short ones, not as lengthy as Malaysiakini.

“We will ensure (over the election period) that the audience will get an updated version of our stories every two hours or less,” said Annuar.

The PKR de facto leader will contest in the seat just vacated by his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and a win for Anwar will see him returning to Parliament after an absence of 10 years.

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