Malaysian political parties embracing new media

In anticipation of the upcoming 13th General Elections (GE13) campaign, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) launched a mobile application to keep the public updated with its activities. Aptly called PKR, the application will be bringing the latest news, electoral verification facility, videos of press conferences and campaign activities, Twitter updates, event schedules and speeches of opposition leader Dato 'Seri Anwar Ibrahim as well as profiles of PKR candidates. The application was developed for Apple and Android platforms and it can be downloaded via iTunes and Market Place beginning 25 March in anticipation of the dissolution of Parliament. Meanwhile Barisan Nasional (BN) also had launched an application called BN News last Saturday, which carried general BN news. Umno Youth New Media Unit Chairman, Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz said a new mobile application with updates on more election-related news will also be introduced soon. Last month, BN had got gotten listeners to tune in to the Barisan Nasional’s Radio Selangor, also known as SelangorBN.FM, on smartphones. Joining the same bandwagon is, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), who has chosen the new media platform to promote their campaign activities by upgrading their existing website. It will carry details on PAS parliamentary candidates and news on election activities. On top of that, the public can also get updates on the opposition party through a 24-hours radio channel called Hijau.fm.