PENGUNAAN MEDIA SOSIAL UNTUK SOKONGAN POLITIK DI MALAYSIA
[THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR POLITICAL SUPPORT IN MALAYSIA]
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol3iss1pp51-63Abstract
The emergence of new media as a result of the development of the Internet has made the media a democratic agent of information. In conjunction with the transition of current political culture, society is now more comfortable using social media as a source of political information acquisition. This study was conducted to identify the impact of social media use on politics in Malaysia as well as to analyze the level of social media use in determining the people's pattern of support for political parties and political candidates in Malaysia. This study was conducted using a quantitative approach which is survey. Questionnaire was used as the research instrument. A total of 993 respondents consisting of male (46.2%) and female (53.8%) were randomly sampled from peninsular Malaysia to participate in the study. The findings reveal that nearly two-thirds of respondents used newspapers (65.5%), followed by social media (63.5%) and television (59.5%) to search and read current political information in Malaysia. The findings also show that respondents agreed that social media play a role and has the advantage of channeling political information (min = 3.57) compared to conventional media. The respondents somehow agreed with political participation through social media. Respondents also agreed that social media have helped to enhance the image of candidates and political parties (min = 3.17) by displaying activities of candidates serving the people (min = 3.25). This suggests that today's society is very much concerned with what is shown on social media involving current political situation. Therefore, monitoring of political information shared on social media should be done to ensure that information is free from seditious elements that can diverge unity.
Keywords: Use of Social Media; Political support; Political party; Political participation; Malaysia
Cite as: Salman, A., Yusoff, M.A., Mohamad Salleh, M.A., & Hj Abdullah, M.Y. (2018). Pengunaan media sosial untuk sokongan politik di Malaysia [The use of social media for political support in Malaysia]. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 3(1),51-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol3iss1pp51-63
Abstrak
Kemunculan media baharu hasil daripada perkembangan rangkaian internet telah menjadikan media tersebut sebagai agen demokrasi maklumat. Bertepatan dengan peralihan budaya politik semasa, masyarakat kini lebih selesa menggunakan media sosial sebagai sumber perolehan maklumat politik terkini. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti impak penggunaan media sosial terhadap politik di Malaysia serta menganalisis tahap penggunaan media sosial dalam menentukan pola sokongan rakyat ke atas parti politik dan calon politik di Malaysia. Kajian ini telah dijalankan dengan menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dimana kaedah tinjauan (survey) jadi pilihan dengan menggunakan borang soal selidik sebagai instrumen kajian. Sebanyak 993 responden yang terdiri daripada lelaki (46.2%) dan perempuan (53.8%) telah dipilih secara random responden di negeri-negeri semenanjung Malaysia untuk mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini. Antara hasil kajian adalah hampir dua pertiga daripada responden menggunakan akhbar (65.5%), diikuti media sosial (63.5%) dan televisyen (59.5%) untuk mencari dan membaca maklumat berkaitan dengan politik semasa di Malaysia. Hasil Kajian juga menunjukkan responden bersetuju bahawa media sosial berperanan dan mempunyai kelebihan dalam menyalurkan maklumat politik (min=3.57) berbanding dengan media konvensional. Kajian ini mendapati responden menyatakan persetujuan secara sederhana tentang partisipasi politik melalui media sosial. Responden bersetuju bahawa media sosial membantu mempertingkatkan imej calon dan parti politik (min= 3.17) dengan mempamerkan aktiviti calon dalam memberi khidmat kepada rakyat (min=3.25). Ini sedikit sebanyak menunjukkan bahawa masyarakat pada hari ini sangat prihatin dengan apa yang dipaparkan di media sosial berkenaan perkara-perkara yang melibatkan politik semasa. Oleh itu, pemantauan terhadap maklumat politik yang dikongsikan di media sosial perlu dilakukan bagi memastikan maklumat tersebut bebas dari unsur hasutan yang boleh memecah-belahkan perpaduan.
Kata kunci: Penggunaan Media Sosial; Sokongan Politik; Malaysia; Parti politik; Partisipasi politik
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