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A walk down the Yellow Brick Road of Malaysia's Corridor of the future

by Bernice Low, Malaysia

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Dear Prime Minister... Is your email working?

Jul 4, 2009 01:35

Those of you who have followed my blog in the past will know that I have a habit of writing to Prime Ministers. In March 2008, I wrote to then Prime Minister (now Tun Abdullah Badawi) via his specially setup Web site, Warkah Untuk PM, and documented the timeline of my experience writing to the Prime Minister through his site.

Of course, I could not resist taking a polite and completely well-intentioned nudge at the then Deputy Prime Minister (now Prime Minister Najib Razak) when he set up his Website, 1malaysia.com.my.

Recently, I was browsing around the Prime Minister's Department Web site trying to find the contact details of someone there (note to Webmaster--I couldn’t find it after 15 minutes of clicking. Bad usability!). I stumbled upon a link to a Web site that lets you write to the Prime Minister, called E-maklumbalas, Translation: E-correspondence.

Seeing as I was having a hard time finding the specific person I was planning to correspond with on a matter of considerable vexation, this seemed like a good idea. After all, why bother going up the chain of command when you can send a missive straight off to the Commander-in-Chief, right? So I duly filled in the form to register with the system (and I'd loooove to know how they're going to handle all my data, but that's the topic of another post).

After logging into the system, I proceeded to pen my email to the Prime Minister. Naturally, I could not resist reminding him at the end of my email that his clarion call has been "People First, Performance Now". It doesn't get anymore "NOW" than an email, right?

So, that email was sent off on June 25. Since then, I have not heard a peep from the Prime Minister's peeps. Obviously, I don't expect the man himself to read my email (although that might obviously be a good idea, especially with the whole going down to grassroots, "turun padang" and walkabouts his PR folks have been harping on of late).

But I must say, compared to my experience with Warkah untuk PM, this has been quite a disappointment. First, no acknowledgment email was received. With Warkah Untuk PM, I got a little emailed GIF letter two days later. Secondly, there was no email reproducing the contents of what I wrote to the PM. So, it rather begs the question: Does it even actually go somewhere, to someone's email box, or does it just go off into the great cyberspace unknown? Obviously, the virtual civil service suffers from the same Twilight Zone tendencies that the real civil service seems to manifest. I mean, if you don't get a copy of what you wrote, how do you prove you actually wrote it? (Yes, this is like that tree in the forest conundrum).

So anyway, it's been a week and a bit since my email to the PM and it's turned out to be quite the predictable letdown. And then in what had to be a hilarious turn of events (there really isn't another word to describe this), the Prime Minister invited Malaysians to send him their questions "in person" via video clip.

Wait for it: After you record your video clip, you need to upload your video to a media hosting Web site, and then email the link to the Prime Minister. You can also email the video directly to him at his email address! Oh yes, and don't forget to tell him who you are (so he can drop in for tea and a good photo op), make your questions under 1 minute in duration (my suggestions: What are you doing to fix our crappy education system, or why is it your tweets on Twitter are so boring, or is it true that you photograph best on your left side?), and be respectful. Read: Address your question with the appropriate reverence, awe, respect and groupie adoration that invokes images of Michael Jackson fans because that's how we politicians in Malaysia like to be treated. Like rock stars.

Whoever is advising the Prime Minister on his digital strategy is clearly living in some kind of place with pink fluffy cotton candy clouds, fizzy lemonade lakes, and cuckoos that tweet adorably.

If a simple online email form doesn't actually seem to land in anyone's email account or go to some kind of central repository where it is at some point read, what is the point of asking people to video their questions? Why have cars, when there are no roads?

And one can imagine what will happen to the videos; although, I certainly would love to get my grubby digital paws on the videos that end up in the "reject" heap. Now THOSE would be worth watching! Kind of like a political version of Candid Camera.

Obviously, the fact that writing an email is miles easier than recording yourself asking a question to the Prime Minister, which includes an introduction of yourself, all under 1 minute, seems to have escaped the Great PR Brain that hatched this incredibly rotten egg of an idea. I mean, does the Prime Minister really have to RUB IT INTO US that our Internet service is so slow that trying to upload a video is probably going to be reserved for those of us who have broadband (last count, 1-plus million people out of a population of 22 million)? And who are willing to get up at 2am to ensure we can upload a video or send off a gigantic video file? Or perhaps this is a genius way of convincing the skeptical taxpayers that the high-speed broadband project is really a good idea?

I can see it now:
High-speed broadband: Now you, TOO, can send videos to the Prime Minister.

Or... Price of sending a letter: 30 cents. Opportunity to send a video of yourself asking the Prime Minister a question: Priceless. For everything else, there's high-speed broadband. (with apologies to MasterCard).

And why not YouTube? I mean, who knows about sendspace, yousendit and mediafire? Video = YouTube!

Lest somebody tries to point out that Barack Obama did this to great effect, let's be reminded that he took questions from YouTube (meaning, everyone's rant, complaint, bitch, whine, praise, rotten apples and half-eaten karipaps could be seen and heard, thus enabling the public to determine what was filtered out). AND he took questions live as well from a variety of online mediums including Twitter. And he is doing so in a climate wherein all the askers are protected by a little thing called the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to free speech. And where the press is considered reasonably aggressive in its questioning of the President.

And it's so NOT Ori (Original), people. If the Prime Minister had done this BEFORE the President of the US had attempted it, then that's worthy of kudos. Anybody can copy.

If the Prime Minister wants to win the war in cyberspace, I suggest he start by checking to see if his email account is working before he graduates onto video mail. After all, People First, PERFORMANCE NOW. Right?

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About Bernice Low

Bernice Low is a screenwriter and pen-for-hire. At age 11 (in the era of BB--Before Blog) Bernice started her own newspaper, the Daily Jelly. It lasted two days before she was stopped from using school newsprint supplies for frivolous activities. She loves Cartoon Network's Bill and Mandy, has a thing for TV doctors House and MacDreamy, and is the proud owner of a 32-inch flat-screen TV. She believes diamonds and iPods are a girl's best friend. Her blog is her latest guilty pleasure.