Analysts have warned that dismissing the growing opposition to the proposed 100-storey Warisan Merdeka project on Facebook can erode Barisan Nasional’s (BN) support among the youth in the general election. Nearly 200,000 Malaysians have registered their protest against the RM5 billion Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) skyscraper project on the social networking website amid wide speculation that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may call for snap polls within the next six months.
The number of fans on the “1M Malaysians Reject 100-storey Mega Tower” page is growing at a breakneck pace — estimated at 1,000 an hour — since it was created anonymously hours after the prime minister announced the new PNB building during his 2011 Budget speech.
“Najib can ignore it but it is to his peril that he ignores the opposition,” political analyst James Chin told The Malaysian Insider.
“It will cost BN votes among the younger ones,” he said, adding that Facebook users tended to be young people.
To date, there are 8,679,160 Facebook users in Malaysia who make up a 33.18 per cent penetration of the country’s population, according to a Facebook statistics website called Facebakers.com. The 18-24 year age group comprises 38 per cent and the 25-34 year age group comprises 33 per cent, totalling 71 per cent of the Malaysian Facebook population. With more than four million eligible but still unregistered Malaysian voters, political parties are racing to get them on the electoral rolls.
Last year, Umno registered the highest number of new voters at 24,818, followed by DAP with 17,756 and PAS with 16,987, according to the Election Commission (EC). The EC has also stated that there are currently 11,381,193 registered voters nation-wide, with 191,970 new voters registered during the second quarter of the year. Chin, a Monash University professor, pointed out that writing off the online protest would cast a bad light on Najib’s image as the prime minister has asked Malaysians for ideas on various matters.
“It’ll look bad like he’s a hypocrite because he asks people for suggestions but doesn’t listen,” he said, noting that Najib also used Facebook to reach out to voters.
On August 24, the prime minister had posted a message on his Facebook page titled “Najib Razak” calling all Malaysians to contribute ideas for the 2011 Budget.
He also claimed on his Facebook page, which has 450,112 fans at last count, that there was a keen online interest in the Warisan Merdeka tower.
“Seeing strong online interest in the proposed Warisan Merdeka. The building will bring great economic benefits to us all. #budget2011,” said Najib on October 20.
Most fans of the anti-Warisan Merdeka page, however, have derided the project as a wasteful initiative, among other things, with some using digital placards from the page’s 165-image collection as their profile pictures. Many “placards” feature messages written on cardboard images calling for alternative uses of RM5 billion, such as: “RM5 billion to help stop child abuse”; “RM5 billion. Improve facilities for the disabled”; “No mega tower! We want world class public transport system!”; and “RM5 billion untuk rakyat di pedalaman (RM5 billion for the rural people)”.
Political analyst Dr Sivamurugan Pandian echoed Chin’s views and said that the government’s failure to further explain the goals of the PNB building project would cost BN at the ballot box.
“If no explanation is given, I think the people would punish them in the next election,” said Sivamurugan, referring to the next general election.
“With the RM5 billion, how will it benefit the masses? It (the government) needs to give further explanation on how the building functions, its use towards physical infrastructure, and whether it will be a tourist attraction,” he added. In his Budget 2011 speech, Najib said the Warisan Merdeka tower was set to be the country’s tallest tower upon its completion in 2015, surpassing even the Petronas Twin Towers.
He also said that the rationale for the skyscraper was similar to that of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, in that it would serve as a symbol of a modern and developed Malaysia. The prime minister also pointed out that the project would have a “multiplier effect” on the economy and help drive it forward, in addition to providing an attractive commercial centre for Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera businesses alike. Sivamurugan, a Universiti Sains Malaysia political science lecturer, further warned that ignoring the Malaysian online demonstration would cause a dip in the government’s popularity.
“If they ignore the 176,000 fans on Facebook, it will become a very unpopular government,” he said.
Political analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee also told the Najib administration not to take the Facebook protest lightly, pointing out that the page’s ability to garner thousands of fans in a short time indicated the extent of public opposition to the tower.
“If the government thinks that this is a small number, it is badly mistaken. The number of Facebook users in the country is really not that large, and to be able to mobilise so many so quickly says a lot about the extent of opposition to the project,” said Lim.
“The government should regard this as an informal referendum on the issue and can only ignore it at its own peril,” he added.
Despite the Najib administration’s repeated explanations that the project undertaken by government-linked investment corporation PNB would not use government funds, Malaysians on the anti-Warisan Merdeka page have remained sceptical. Umno leaders, however, have downplayed the online protest and stuck to their guns over the planned construction of the tower. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz dismissed opposition to the Warisan Merdeka skyscraper as “presumptuous”.
“Remember when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister and he had mooted the construction of the Penang Bridge? Back then Anwar was Umno Youth chief, he said no to the bridge and even called it a project mewah (expensive) but today, right now we are looking at building another bridge,” Nazri told The Malaysian Insider.
Nazri said the government would not back down from the construction of the 100-storey tower, claiming that the area around the intended Warisan Merdeka landmark was “underutilised”.
“That area now is underutilised. Right now Kuala Lumpur is short of space... the landmark where Warisan Merdeka will be built is a new area for us to look at. If you look at the areas near KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Centre), they weren’t touched before, but now the area is expanding. We need the space, the area near Merdeka stadium should not be left undeveloped,” said Nazri.
The minister was confident that once the project was completed it would dispel any “non-believers,” in reference to the growing number of Facebook users who are against the building of the tower.
“If anything happens the government will be responsible. What the PM is doing is correct, we have to spin our economy. Whatever reasons we give now, in 10 years’ time it will not be valid anymore. Malaysia’s economy is growing... what you see today as something wasteful that is if you are only talking about an economy that is not growing. But I can tell you in 10 years’ time, Kuala Lumpur will grow so much, that you will be grateful to say, thank God we thought about Warisan Merdeka,” added Nazri.
Another Umno MP, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, echoed Nazri’s remarks, saying that the rising number of the anti-Warisan Merdeka Facebook fans did not mean that the reasons for their opposition were “justified”.
“They are voicing their own opinions here but does that mean they are collectively right? If people have a problem with Warisan Merdeka, they should ask PNB who are building it, we are not using government funds. The reason why it was announced during Budget 2011 was because the PM was excited about it and wanted to talk about it,” said Nur Jazlan.
He downplayed public outrage towards the project, saying that it was “normal” to receive flak for any big-scale project at the preliminary stages.
“But in property development if you have deep pockets and if you wait out the cycle, eventually the market prices will catch up. Where else can you develop land in Kuala Lumpur besides Warisan Merdeka? Development is now moving out of Bukit Bintang towards Brickfields, it’s a part of the natural progression of KL city — from KLCC, Pavillion, Bukit Bintang towards Warisan Merdeka,” said the Pulai MP.
Pakatan Rakyat leaders have derided the grandiose skyscraper project as wasteful and accused Najib of trying to “out-Mahathir” former premier Dr Mahathir, who embarked on a massive development spree after he took power in 1981 by building highways, the Penang Bridge, opening new industrial estates and overseeing the construction of the Petronas Twin Towers, the KL International Airport, the Sepang International Circuit, intra-city train lines, several ports, and the new administrative capital Putrajaya and its neighbouring Cyberjaya, which was central to the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project.
The 19-acre development area of the Warisan Merdeka mega project — which includes a condominium and a shopping mall — is sited on the car park and land adjacent to Stadium Negara and Stadium Merdeka.
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