We are now in the last few days of the 2023 State Elections’ (PRN) campaigning period, with polling day this Saturday (12 August) determining who makes up the respective State Governments in the six participating states. Speaking of which, one of the most hotly contested areas this PRN has got to be the northern state of Kedah.
This is thanks in part to the controversies surrounding caretaker Menteri Besar (MB) Dato’ Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, who seemingly has had a feud with every major leader of the Unity Government. Despite infamously being arrested at 3 am and charged in court recently, as well as various ongoing defamation suits, Sanusi’s popularity remains intact, with PAS and Perikatan Nasional (PN) also favourites to win Kedah.
This ‘green wave’ phenomenon in the state can be seen in full effect on social media, particularly on TikTok, a platform that PN has pretty much dominated since the 15th General Election (GE15). However, as the saying goes, don’t believe everything you see on the internet and perhaps we should take PAS and PN’s popularity online with a grain of salt.
Take this recent tweet by the PAS Member of Parliament (MP) for Padang Terap, Nurul Amin Hamid as an example. Sharing an aerial photo of a PN Ceramah Mega in Sungai Petani which looks packed like sardines, Nurul Amin was bullish and boldly declared the ‘full-house’ event as a rising wave by the rakyat in rejecting Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN).
However, eagle-eyed Malaysians saw something amiss with the photo and pointed it out in the replies. In the Padang Terap MP’s photo, the aerial photo of the ceramah was notably dark in areas where the crowds were despite the surrounding tents being well-lit.
Hence, several Malaysian Twitter users decide to brighten the photo, which actually showed that the event indeed had a lot of participants, but it was not as packed as how Nurul Amin’s tweet made it out to be. One of those who called the PAS MP out on the photo includes Twitter user @ams1610 who wrote,
“I brighten the photo a bit… If it’s dark, of course it would look packed… After making it brighter, you can see the empty spaces at the back,”
Another Twitter user, @RosliArif3 took a step further and made the photo even brighter, which further highlights the empty spaces in the Sungai Petani PN event. He then called out the Padang Terap MP for misleading the public with the photo.
Besides that, Bersatu co-founder Dato’ Dr Rais Hussin who has since left the party and joined PKR also chimed in with his thoughts in the replies. He questioned whether PN has any economic development ideas or if the coalition is only good at taking pictures and going viral.
This is not the only time a PN MP has been criticised for creating a misleading narrative by Malaysians this PRN. Previously, PAS Deputy President and Kubang Kerian MP Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was called out by a Malaysian after a photo he and his friends took with him was falsely used as a political statement of youths supporting the Kedah MB and PN this PRN.
In reality, the group of friends never expressed their support for PN and the photo was only taken by them after the PAS MP invited them to do so and was only for fun. Tuan Ibrahim has since deleted the photo from his social media accounts.
So, what do you guys make of the whole situation? Do you have any first-hand experience of seeing politicians creating a false narrative for their own benefit? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments!
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