The Internet has boosted democracy, says website's news editor

(AKI) - The Internet has played a key role in strengthening democracy in Malaysia, according to Steven Gan, the co-founder and editor of the first on-line Malaysian news website Malaysiakini.

"In 1999 I was alone. Today there is a large community of bloggers that supports us," said Gan in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), on the sidelines of a meeting organised by a non-governmental rights body,SG Human Rights, in neighbouring Singapore.

Gan was referring to Malaysiakini, the first commercial on-line information website in Malaysia. It was established in 1999, as an "independent newspaper, that received its funding not just from advertising, but also from the Southeast Asian Press Alliance".

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation based in Bangkok which promotes freedom of the press in the Southeast Asian region.

Gan, who is seen as a pioneer in the use of the Internet to evade government restrictions on the press, was participating in a debate on 'cyber activism' together with newly elected Malaysian MP Nathanial Tan.

Tan is a politician with the main opposition People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat). A blogger himself, he has been detained for his political activism.

Malaysia's opposition made spectacular gains in the 8 March general elections, winning an unprecedented 82 of the 222 seats in parliament. It also won control of the governments in five of Malaysia's 13 states.

Malaysia's prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted that his long-ruling coalition underestimated the power of the Internet ahead of the March elections - a tool that was widely used by the opposition during the electoral campaign.

Badawi said that it was "a serious misjudgment" for the ruling coalition to rely solely on government-controlled newspapers and television to get its campaign message out to the people.

"The Internet is a great instrument of the masses that we have managed to utilise to communicate on any question that we deem interesting," Tan said.

"In this way we can correct the conventional media, which is controlled by political parties and the government," Tan added.

Tan said new means of communication such as DVDs, and videos on the Web, are being used in Malaysia "to reach out to a wider range of the public".

"Since 2007, we have put web TV on the daily's site to offer the additional possibility of watching videos as well," said Gan.

He was one of five journalists arrested in 1996 for covering the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor. He spent five days in jail and was declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International.

Gan works on Malaysiakini together with a staff made up of professional journalists and volunteers, and according to Gan, half of them are women.