Kerajaangagal Discontent Bubbles In Social Media

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Last Friday morning, the hashtag #KerajaanGagal began trending on Twitter in Malaysia. It quickly climbed to the number one spot in the country and stayed at the top spot for the rest of the day.
By 9.30pm, the hashtag already garnered 120,000 tweets. Anecdotal evidence from Twitter users said that this later climbed to 150,000 tweets. At the time of writing, days later, the hashtag can still be seen on Twitter, used every time someone criticises the government.
For those not familiar with the social media platform, the trending hashtag may come as a surprise. There was no singular event that could have sparked the trending hashtag.
But #KerajaanGagal did not emerge out of a vacuum. After #MuhyiddinOut trended last year and #KitaMintaLima earlier this year, #KerajaanGagal is just another example of the anger and frustration that Twitter users have against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
Some of its more recent failings would be the perceived glacial pace of the immunisation programme. Any initial feel-good factor from the arrival of the vaccines, with its accompanying media circus, has now dissipated as normal Malaysians wait patiently for their turn. 
Yet somehow, they have been goaded by insensitive placards, held up by no less than the prime minister himself, apparently asking them when they will be vaccinated.




Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin after being vaccinated against Covid-19
Insensitive comments from cabinet ministers regarding fresh graduates' pay and the job market have also contributed to the anger. Twitter usually does not take kindly to the authorities telling young people to be thankful for the pay that they are getting.
And, of course, over the course of the year, the issue of double standards still haunts the PN government. The fact that a celebrity could host her wedding event with alleged SOP breaches and seemingly able to get away with it has reinforced the perception that the PN government practices double standards in enforcement.
'Buyer's remorse'


On social media, and certainly on Twitter, PN is deeply unpopular. This is certainly a far cry from the early days of the prime minister’s administration where his first few ‘special addresses’ hit the right notes and earned him admiration and accolades. Even the usually critical Twitter mass was spellbound by ‘Abah’s’ early charm.
Yet here we are, just a year later, and even those who had publicly praised the prime minister are experiencing ‘buyer’s remorse'. A year after ‘Abah’ was coined as a term of endearment, the phrase is now used with deep cynicism and irony.

A cabinet meeting in Putrajaya
It is no surprise therefore that #KerajaanGagal trended on the heels of #MuhyiddinOut and #KitaMintaLima before this.
Of course, Twitter is not an accurate reflection of the whole of Malaysia. Yet, Twitter also captures a certain crucial segment of society: the young, urban, middle class and educated. 
But to say that Twitter is a bubble is also not accurate as many of these young people will go back to their hometowns all over the country to cast their votes. It is therefore unwise to dismiss Twitter or any other social media platform completely.
As it stands, PN can do no right, at least on Twitter and to a certain extent, Facebook. If this trend continues until the next general election, whenever that is, this could spell trouble for parties that form the core of the PN government.  - Mkini


SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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