Why The Obsession With PAS?
Many parties want to contest the election just to show they are gagah dan berani, still relevant, important, a hot shot, etc. They do not really care about winnability. It is important they contest for appearances sake. Whether they win or lose is not important. Yes, pride and ego — biar papa asal bergaya.
“PAS dekat nak padam: Harakah jual 833 naskah sahaja sehari,” said Syed Akbar Ali today. Syed Akbar went on to say that currently only 25,000 copies of Harakah are sold monthly. Hence, according to Syed Akbar, PAS is on the way out.
Maybe Syed Akbar can reveal how many copies of PKR’s “Berita Keadilan” and DAP’s “Rocket” are being sold monthly. Is it far higher than 25,000 copies a month?
At the height of the Reformasi or anti-Mahathir era around 1998-2000, Harakah was selling more than 300,000 copies a month. In November 1999, it peaked to 320,000 copies while Berita Keadilan did 60,000 copies.
Hadi wants Harakah to go digital and electronic with short 3-5-minute videos
After November 1999, Berita Keadilan did so badly it went bankrupt and closed down for a year. Harakah, however, remained in business and still sold more than 150,000 copies a month.
In the 1998-2000 era, the number of internet users in Malaysia was only 280,000. And most of the subscribers were corporate users, not individuals. And there were no such thing as smart phones (they were all analogue, the most popular being Nokia).
Hence Harakah could sell 320,000 copies, second to Sin Chew that sold 350,000 copies, because the rave at that time was print newspapers.
Today, Malaysia has more than 30 million internet subscribers in a population of more than 32 million. Compare that to only 280,000 internet subscribers back in 1998-2000 when the population of Malaysia was 23 million.
Yes, we have seen Malaysia’s population increase by 10 million over 20 years or so, but the internet users have increased by 30 million. It is now 30 million internet subscribers to 32 million people, or almost one-to-one.
All over the world, people are migrating from print news to digital/electronic news. Back in 2000, Rupert Murdock said by 2030 print newspapers will be a thing of the past and digital plus electronic news will take over entirely.
“News Corp announces end of more than 100 Australian print newspapers in huge shift to digital,” said The Guardian on 28th May 2020 (READ MORE HERE).
Actually, this is a global trend, which Syed Akbar does not seem to know. But those obsessed with PAS cannot see that Harakah is merely a “victim” of modernisation. The good news, of course, is that it would mean less trees have to die.
PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang knows this and he wants Harakah to go digital and electronic. Hadi feels short 3-5-minute videos are the most effective (not long one-hour videos like in the past). The popularity of Tik Tok shows that short messages reach the target audience better.
Print newspapers are a thing of the past. News is now at your fingertips on your smart phone. Even banking is now done on your smart phone by using apps. You no longer even need to walk in to a bank to open a bank account. So, this has nothing to do with people no longer reading Harakah.
This obsession with PAS also extends to the Sabah state election.
With 447 candidates from 16 political parties (and 56 independent candidates) contesting just 73 seats in the Sabah state election, why would PAS want to make the crowded field even more crowded?
Those who feel PAS should contest in Sabah are those with big egos. It’s all about pride. Komanlah kalau PAS tak bertanding. PAS kenalah bertanding supaya nampak gagah. Biar papa asal bergaya, the normal Malay DNA.
Many parties want to contest the election just to show they are gagah dan berani, still relevant, important, a hot shot, etc. They do not really care about winnability. It is important they contest for appearances sake. Whether they win or lose is not important. Yes, pride and ego — biar papa asal bergaya.
