Getting the voice across

Kunasek aran KrishnanAs Malaysia prepares for a fiercely competitive election this year, Kunasekaran Krishnan, member of the opposition Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), hopes his newly released CD of 10 revolutionary songs will help convince voters to back the Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance).

“We have always known only one government, the Barisan Nasional (National Front). The CD is an attempt to convince voters to see Pakatan Rakyat as an alternative,” he said. Since the opposition parties are largely barred from mainstream media, they are resorting to alternative methods to reach out to voters—from rallies to social media campaigns to distribution of CDs.

Besides music, the CDs also contain rarely heard political speeches by leaders like Anwar Ibrahim, head of the People’s Alliance, who is regularly lambasted in the mainstream media. His recent speech, promising free education up to tertiary level was ignored by most major media until it was in public domain through the CDs.