Internet served a painful lesson

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Barisan Nasional lost the online war in the general election.

"We didn't think it was important. It was a serious misjudgment," he said at the opening of Invest Malaysia 2008.

"We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television were important but young people were looking at text messages and blogs."

Abdullah said the influence of alternative media was painful. But it came at the right time, not too late. The web and SMS allowed parties like DAP, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Pas, which have long complained of bias in the traditional media, to reach voters directly.

Source : NST, 26th March 2008