After 3 years, the book that @jameschin110 and I have been working on is finally out in digital form (Official launch on March 23): New Media in the Margins: Lived Realities and Experiences from the Malaysian Peripheries under Palgrave Macmillan

This post gave me whiplash when I saw the picture as a kind of reverse clickbait as to why they decided to bury this "lawyer's" notorious and infamous reputation in politics. Or it's just racism. It's racism isn't it.

Due to busyness, I forgot to share that I got a new co-authored journal article with my colleague Emma Baulch published last month. It's a short article analysing "Tahfiz-Tok" videos and the techniques they use to build a following and attract parents:

RT @BurhanPlays: Malaysia Game + Animation Industry Jobs sheet updated for August 2025. 11 new jobs. Jobs from companies that performed lay….

These are your typical Randian libertarians who see all poor people as being lazy and poor by choice while they see themselves (especially if poor) as "future rich". It's why these rightwing shifts are happening everywhere and poor people continue voting against their interests.

RT @TheVenusDarling: Everyone mute his ass and don't reply, he ain't worth the time.

PSM is important in our political space (being the only left party), but you guys have been down in the trenches for so long, that's all your party knows. Msians can see this too clearly. Without comprising the work on the ground, changes are needed to improve your public image.

Another issue is there's no target amount, which is a red flag for fundraisers, so its difficult to know what you guys are aiming to do with these funds. This isn't an open call for donations; fundraisers should have specific goals and targets meant to attract specific donours.

Back to the video, the biggest issue is the lack of clarity about the fundraising. It's suggesting that more room is needed, but its unclear whether you're renovating the current space, buying a new building, or building a new one from scratch (which is absurd, but who knows).

There is power in doing grassroots work, but in focusing too much on that, you forget about the political game above which requires ideological grounding to ensure the party stays true. Just look at other grassroots based parties that came into power and betray their party ethos.

I understand the limitations of a party out of power but the work you presented are salves to deeper problems in Malaysia which requires different approaches to fix (which has been done too, with lawsuits, etc.). That is what should be highlighted to reorient the party's image.

We often see PSM being being called "an NGO" but this video kinda makes that point as it mainly highlights PSM's work that are similar to NGOs. You even call yourself a movement at the end. You guys are leaning too hard into this as people don't see PSM as a proper party at all.

It was about being present to voters and engaging with them directly. Something that you guys do really well in your other videos, but is often presented in a rather matter-of-fact manner lacking panache and "rizz". Very authentic, but unfortunately not the most engaging.

But I think you guys drew the wrong points from his success; he wasn't successful because he used contemporary trends and memes (which he did use to some degree), but rather he focused on leveraging social media's best asset: Presenting authenticity.

This video is rather different than their typical social media output, which I assume is somewhat loosely inspired by Zohran Mamdani's campaign. It was truly inspiring and I believe it inspired many other socialist groups around the world.

I don't like to rag on PSM as they are doing good work, but this campaign is rather bizarre but highlights the issues with PSM's public image. The party has strong grassroots engagement but continues to struggle to gain influence at higher levels. Here are my thoughts:🧵.

RT @hasbeemasputra: Media practitioners following me. If you are reporting on, or otherwise covering Dr Akmal Saleh's bigoted use of OKU a….

*Ahem*.

While I disagree with RR's ridiculous take, it's only part of a deeper problem plaguing our employment ecosystem here that starts in education. Almost all establishment parties believe in this system, so it will require a radical shift before we can see real changes happen.

It's also a strict benchmark as any student that takes longer than 3 years would reduce the performance of the institution that could lead to lose of accreditation. This is why, even if students want to extend on their own accord, unis make it difficult to do so.

"Rushed". That's the best way to describe our education system which has ridiculous metrics to measure success. The worst of which is the Graduate On Time (GOT) metric. This metric alone is the single reason why all our bachelor degrees are 3 years as that's the benchmark.