Promoting Malaysia On The Net

This is an article I written for my assignment concerning promoting Malaysia over the Net. I believe it should be published for public consumption. Please do be aware that plagiarism is an offence punishable under the law. Write your own assignment and never insult your own intelligence! Thank you.

For the past few years, Internet had become an integral part of our daily communications. It has really made the world small. Now we can communicate with people all over the world with a fraction of the cost. And gathering information had never been easier. It is just at the click of your mouse.

Therefor it is easy to promote Malaysia over the Net. One of it is through websites. There are many websites about Malaysia both created by the government and private individuals, which caters to all range of issues regarding Malaysia, be it politics, economy and lifestyle. Virtual forum and chatrooms is also another way of promoting Malaysia. With it, foreign web surfers could communicate directly with Malaysians to learn more about our cultures and customs.

Many services are offered via online too. And with it, a new industry based on Internet was created. If America has Silicon Valley, we Malaysians have our Multimedia SuperCorridor Raya. MSC as it is normally called, is Malaysia’s hub of e-commerce, R&D and educations related to the Internet field. With world standard infrastructures and well known Multi-National Companies investing in its development, plus a world class university that caters solely for computer related studies, Malaysia is set to be the center of e-commerce and education in this part of the region. Truly, Malaysia is already one of the leading countries in ICT [Information and Communication Technology].

But promoting Malaysia’s name is one issue. The content of our promotion regarding Malaysia is another thing all together. There are many websites that gave a bad impression of Malaysia. Misleading information concerning our political and economic status in websites owned by both foreigners and Malaysians is just one example. This websites have not just tarnish Malaysia’s name, but have indirectly affected our economy as well.

The attitude of some Malaysians while using the Net is also a problem. Malaysians chatters for example, was rated as the top 5 most abusive and offensive chatters in the world few years back. Malaysian chatters were banned from Undernet server, and few other international servers because of this problem. It took quite a while before we were accepted back again into the international virtual community.

Locally, there is still a debate of the language that should be used over the Net. Should we use Malay or English? If we want to promote Malaysia over the Net, isn’t it preferably in Malay? Well, the debate still goes on.

However, certain measures are being taken both by the government and public to redeemed our Malaysia’s name virtually. A content code is being drafted to be enforce in all medium of multimedia communication. These include Internet as well. Other laws have also been drafted to reduce computer crimes such as hacking and defamation over the Net. Few volunteers from the general public have also help by moderating public forums and chatrooms to ensure smooth discussion among the members. These have helped reduced fights and mud-slinging common in most forums and chatrooms.

All in all, Internet has offered us another medium to promote Malaysia all over the world. We must always remember that in the end, Internet is just another form of communication. Whatever we do virtually indirectly reflects Malaysians as a whole.

Bluesyworms