Power to the People
As we race into an age where more and more young Malaysians are standing up to take charge of our political destiny, we speak to recent Twitter controversy and political secretary to Nurul Izzah, Fahmi Fadzil, about what it was like having to do a Bart Simpson and his views on new media and politics.
By Kenn Leandre
Fahmi Fadzil may be slightly built but he is currently one of the biggest stories around town. In June this year, he gained public notoriety when one of his tweets landed him in hot soup with one of the major publishing houses in the country in which the company claimed he had defamed them in a Twitter post. The final negotiated settlement required him to recant his earlier statement and post 100 apologies on Twitter.
As a result of this, Fahmi became an overnight Internet sensation. International press from the International Herald Tribune to Al-Jazeera clamoured for interviews; he became a �celebrity� amongst the Malaysian Twitter community, also known as TwitterJaya, and his case has begun to set in motion legal precedent on the invisible boundaries of the phenomenon of social media.
So just over a month later, what does he now think of being made to literally do what Bart does on the blackboard every week in the opening credits of The Simpsons? �It has made me more responsible for my tweets but it hasn�t dampened my spirit or made me fearful of it,� he says. �Instead, it has taught me on how to strike without being seen. It�s like having to say something without explicitly saying it out loud.
�The reaction on Twitter was very interesting,� he continues. �And this incident, because it is a milestone where a settlement is done on Twitter and of this nature has given rise to a lot of material for people to study, whether it is the economy of Twitter or to gauge its reach. There�s fascinating material that can be studied from a legal aspect in terms of defamation, what legally constitutes public and private space and what exactly is a �tweet�,� he elaborates.
�It�s been a very interesting learning experience,� he concludes. �But I think the question has not been fully argued in an academic context.�
Before this �scandal� hit, Fahmi was already an emerging figurehead, but in a more combustible field: politics. He is currently the political secretary of Nurul Izzah Anwar, the MP of Pantai Dalam, who is more importantly, also the daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, which consequently puts Fahmi under the broad political umbrella of �opposition�. And he�s thinking about running for office in the future. �But only if people actually start lobbying for me because they feel that I�m a suitable and if it�s a constituency that I can relate to. I�ll cross that bridge when it comes.�
In that sense, his active involvement in politics is a reflection of a situation where more and more young Malaysians are stepping up to play a role in deciding the future of this country, voicing out dissatisfactions that have long been swept under a mengkuang carpet. And more so because Fahmi is actually a trained Chemical Engineer. So how did he get into politics?
�Around 1998, I was supposed to go to the US to continue my studies but because of the Asian currency crisis back then, most of my friends and I had to stay back and do our studies here. I was doing a Chemical Engineering program at Taylor�s that required me to complete my final years abroad (Purdue University, USA). In the summer of 2004, I happened to be in New York when the rally against the invasion of Afghanistan took place. I was there when they had this street protest of people opposing and supporting the war. I guess it was from that point that I got a taste of being vocal and fighting for citizen rights,� he explains.
When he returned home, Fahmi was initially active in the performing arts scene, participating in various stage shows through his stint with the Five Arts Centre. He then went on to open up his own graphic and web design studio called BLAM (short for Bright Lights At Midnight) with his younger brother. Today, his involvement in the media industry is as host of The Fairly Current Show on the Internet program PopTeeVee, which tackles issues deemed �too sensitive� for most mainstream media.
�I�ve interviewed quite a number of politicians on the show. I�ve always been fascinated with politics but it was more non-partisan in nature. Only after I interviewed Nurul Izzah and then offered a role in her party did I weigh the pros and cons of joining one. And I think Parti Keadilan Rakyat shares my vision and goals,� he says.
When asked his opinion on how savvy young Malaysians are nowadays when it comes to politics, and has social media played a big part in that, Fahmi replies enthusiastically �I think social media has been very helpful in bringing out the voices of a younger Malaysia. They provide means and new ways for the younger generation to be heard which I think is a very good thing unlike the past where there were restrictions to get their opinions across.�
Speaking of politicians of generations past that he looks up to, Fahmi says, �I admire someone like Tun Dr Ismail who was quite a sober politician and I think sobriety is something that is severely lacking in a lot of our manic-induced and high-octane politics post-2008.
�I like the older generation of politicians, who stood their ground as statesmen. I think we have more politicians than statesmen today,� he says cryptically, obviously drawing a fine distinction between the two. �Statesmen who addressed pressing issues of the day with conviction and moral authority.
�I hope that there are more people who will rise up to the occasion and lead Malaysia at this moment as I think we are in crisis and you cannot ignore this because to do so would be disingenuous. We need less political brinkmanship; we need more calm heads.�
This interview was done days before the day what is now referred to as �0709�, or as most of us know it, the BERSIH2.0 rally. So of course we couldn�t resist getting his opinion on the matter, specifically the attempt to clamp down what was supposed to be a peaceful rally.
�What we�ve seen so far is something akin to the Cuban Missile crisis, a knee jerk reaction where no one wants to back down while at the same time everyone is very passionate about what they believe in. This is good for Malaysian politics but how can we do this and yet at the same time maintain civility and not just blind servitude to trends and fashionable stunts? And I think the more we blur the lines, the better it is for Malaysia. So you won�t see a line of red and yellow because this means we are not able to talk. We should be able to discuss these ideas openly and it needs to happen,� he stresses.
�It (the rally) is something that is explicitly enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Article 10 1(b) states that Malaysians have the right to assemble peacefully and without arms and I stand by this. It may not be perfect but I think it (the Federal Constitution) should be our anchor, the axis in which we try figure things out. It�s only that the political imagination of certain quarters that are in positions of power that disables them from seeing it just for what it is. And by right, the bodies of security must fulfill its obligations to ensure there is no misuse of this right. It is a right (to assemble) and to deny it is unconstitutional,� he stresses once again.
These are not hollow words but ones uttered with conviction and moral authority. And through personal experience. When Fahmi returned home from New York, it was just before the general elections of that year and there was a protest. �People just wanted to hand in this memorandum to the police in Bukit Aman about the deaths of prisoners while in police custody (the late A. Kugan). So I was there filming and the police refused to deal with it, or they received orders not to deal with it, or deal with it with force and I got arrested,� he recalls.
�And I was arrested for what? Because Tian Chua, who is now a Member of Parliament for Batu though he wasn�t an MP yet at that time, was being detained in the car park when everyone had dispersed, and I happened to walking into the scene with my video camera on, and recorded him being arrested. There was a policeman in front of me who turned around, looked at me and yelled, �You! Ingat ni apa? Kelakar ya? Tangkap dia!� (You! What do you think this is? You think this is funny? Arrest him!) So there I was, filming, doing nothing and I got arrested. Perhaps I shouldn�t have been there but the way the police handled it was not right.�
Using an analogy from �wayang kulit�, the traditional Malaysian art form of �shadow play�, Fahmi elaborates: �I work a lot with wayang kulit and this Kelantanese art form suggests the idea of �angin� (�mood� or �wind�). You cannot hold back �angin�. The more you hold it back, the more it consumes you and develops into something that that warps you from the inside.
�One of the methods to deal with �angin� is called �main pateri�, some sort of healing ritual. And in that sense, I think Malaysians need a major dose of �main pateri� because we are holding back this anger and we need to vent it out. So in that sense, the more you use force to suppress people, it will find a way to leak out. Just like BERSIH; this feeling about the election process, the electoral system that is not right and needs to be fixed. Why can�t we deal with this issue in a civil fashion?� he asks before adding, �I think the way BERSIH was handled reveals the quality of the leadership in this country.�
It is apparent that Fahmi isn�t afraid to offer an opinion even on the most sensitive of subjects so I ask him if he�s ever worried about his own safety. �I don�t think I�m really in danger. I think Nurul Izzah is in more �danger�!� he jokes. �But yes, I do understand the concern. Even now there are cases where people get thrown out of buildings and get beaten up. My parents do worry sometimes, especially my mum, but I know that they believe that they have taught me well enough to be independent and to hold my own ground. Surprisingly, my father is very supportive but my fianc�e, as expected, is very worried.�
This also doesn�t mean that Fahmi is particularly comfortable with the idea that he is the face of a new politically charged generation but he certainly has an opinion about it. Does he think that social media is changing the face of politics? Is it a new political tool?
�What�s most important here is access to these tools and social media has a very low threshold of participation; all you need to do is to sign up and you�re connected. But just because you do doesn�t mean you are good at it. You have to learn how to interact; you must know who to �follow�, so it does take effort to be in the know and to get known.
�Still, this proliferation of cyber-troopers or trolls gives rise to other issues. Just because there are a lot more people who can contribute a signal or data doesn�t mean it is quality data. It could just be �noise�. �
Will it play a big role shaping the future of our local political landscape?
�Give it two election cycles and we�ll start seeing some interesting uses of social media. Already, a lot of people are looking at Twitter as private press conferences and a campaigning device for politicians and public figures. To an extent, it does democratise the discussion about politics and civic life and that can only be a good thing.�
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