KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Politicians who trigger some of the biggest controversies on social media also reap the rewards of the ensuing attention, a study by social media research firm PoliTweet has shown.
According to Politweet’s study of the political trends on social media in 2015, Umno leaders who were among the most controversial registered gains in popularity that far outstrip their party colleagues.
The deputy minister who once professed to be “the most-hated” man in Malaysia last year, Datuk Ahmad Maslan surged 17 spots on Politweet’s Twitter rankings to come in at fifth place among all local politicians and third place in his party.
Then deputy finance minister, Ahmad last year took it upon himself to mitigate online criticism of Putrajaya over the Goods and Services Tax (GST), with arguable success but undeniable controversy.
Although he was pilloried mercilessly over his suggestions, the attention he garnered has boosted the audience for Ahmad, now deputy minister of international trade and industry, who continues to court controversy as exemplified by his latest call for Malaysians to work two jobs to address rising costs.
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Another controversial Umno leader, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, also registered a spike in popularity, rising from 50th to 16th overall and climbing 10 spots to seventh place in his party.
Ismail last year caused uproar with his call for a racial boycott of Chinese traders by Malay consumers, ostensibly due to businesses reluctance to lower prices in tandem with fuel price reductions that followed the removal of subsidies.
The rural and regional development minister continued the theme later in the year by proposing a Bumiputera-only gadget mall — which later materialised into MARA Digital — following a racially-driven row at the popular Low Yat Plaza shopping centre in July.
At the top of the popularity charts, Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak replaced Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin as the most popular local politician on Twitter, according to Politweet’s measure.
Mirroring his fall from power, former deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is now the 23rd most popular politician on Twitter, down from 14th in 2014.
In the opposition camp, PKR’s Rafizi Ramli climbed one spot to third place while previous holder, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, slid to ninth; Nurul Izzah Anwar was fourth.
Politweet noted in its study that the registered popularity was not necessarily positive or negative in nature, but a measure of attention on Twitter.
