School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry Personalised Communicative Ecologies: The role of social media in the Bersih movement’s mobilisation Ik Ying Ngu 0000-0001-6385-2831 This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Of Curtin University January, 2021 DECLARATION “To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgement has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for any other degree or diploma in any university”. Human Ethics (For projects involving human participants/tissue, etc) The research presented and reported in this thesis was conducted in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) – updated March 2014. The proposed research study received human research ethics approval from the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (EC00262); Approval Number #HRE2017-0273. Signature : Date :…1/2/2021… ABSTRACT This thesis examines how a social movement uses social media in mobilising individuals to engage in the development of electoral reform and democracy in Malaysia. The way individuals engage with social media in their everyday lives and what encourages them to communicate and participate provides continual challenges for social movement activists. My study uses Foth and Hearn’s (2007) notion of ecology as a foundation to explain the interdependencies of citizens, place, and technology in the context of a social movement. A communicative ecology model sees social media as an environment and argues that communication and information should not be studied alone because there are different people, media, activities, and relationships involved (Tacchi, 2004; Foth & Hearn, 2007; Strate, 2017). I apply this approach to a case study of the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (“Bersih” means “clean” in Malay) and argue that individuals develop their own ecologies to establish connections with others and use multiple social media platforms to attain their everyday political goals. My theorisation is conscious of Foth and Hearn’s (2007) technical, social, and discursive layers that work across online and offline communication, within local and global contexts, as well as collective and networked interactions. To complement my theoretical framework, I also use Habermas’s (1996) theory of the public sphere, Papacharissi’s (2010) work on private sphere and affect, as well as Lichterman’s (1996) idea of personalism. These theories help to provide a personalised lens into the notion of ecology to make sense of the growing individualisation in contemporary society and the personalisation of social media algorithms. My study observes the interaction between participants within an ecology to capture their pattern of media usage and political discourse within the context of electoral reform in Malaysia between 2017 and 2020—both before and after the 14th Malaysian general elections (GE14). A detailed mapping of the technological, discursive, and social layers of the Bersih movement contributes to the existing literature by recognising that individual citizens’ personal expressions and self-fulfilment are becoming more centralised within the Bersih movement. Furthermore, the Bersih movement sustains its connectives and communication networks through social media as an organising tool, facilitated by a group of central committee leaders. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS God will make a way where there seems to be no way. Although there are highs and lows in my PhD journey, God has become my guide and led me through the rivers and desert. I wish to dedicate this thesis to my family, especially my mother, who has provided me love, support and prayers along the way. I am especially grateful to my supervisors Dr. Sky Croeser, Professor Michele Wilson and Dr. Thomas Yesudhasan, as well as my thesis chair Dr. Robert Briggs for being great mentors throughout my research journey. This thesis could never be accomplished without your extraordinary guidance. Many thanks to my friends and colleagues who have given me wonderful and insightful advice and direction in writing and editing this thesis. Your kindness and generosity during these challenging times are truly appreciated. Last but not least, thank you to all the members of Bersih 2.0 movement who have participated in this research, my thesis would not have been possible without your assistance. ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ____________________________________________________________________________________ ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ________________________________________________________________________________ vii GLOSSARY ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ x 1 INTRODUCTION_______________________________________________________________________________________ 1 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND ________________________________________________________________________________________ 4 1.1.1 CASE STUDY: THE BERSIH MOVEMENT _________________________________________________________________________ 4 1.1.2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET FROM REFORMASI TO THE BERSIH MOVEMENT __________________ 6 1.1.3 SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN THE BERSIH MOVEMENT ______________________________________________________________ 11 1.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: AN OVERVIEW __________________________________________________________________ 13 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS _________________________________________________________ 16 1.4 RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE AND OBJECTIVES ___________________________________________________________________ 18 1.5 THESIS OUTLINE _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19 2 LITERATURE REVIEW _____________________________________________________________________________ 23 2.1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 23 2.2 THE POLITICAL USE OF THE INTERNET BY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ____________________________________________ 24 2.3 SOCIAL MEDIA ENCOURAGES COMMUNICATION AND MOBILISATION _______________________________________ 27 2.4 SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN THE BERSIH MOVEMENT ______________________________________________________________ 29 2.5 COMMUNICATIVE ECOLOGY APPROACH TO SOCIAL MEDIA ___________________________________________________ 30 2.6 PERSONALISED SOCIAL MEDIA USE FOR A PUBLIC CAUSE ____________________________________________________ 33 2.7 PERSONALISED EXPRESSIONS ENHANCE PUBLIC COMMITMENT ____________________________________________ 36 2.8 PERSONALISED CONVERSATIONS IN THE EVERYDAY PUBLIC SPHERE ______________________________________ 38 2.9 NETWORKED SELF IN THE PRIVATE SPHERE __________________________________________________________________ 41 2.10 EFFECTIVE CONVERSATIONS AND PUBLIC _____________________________________________________________________ 44 2.11 CONCLUSION _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 45 3 METHODOLOGY ____________________________________________________________________________________ 47 3.1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 47 3.2 CASE STUDY: THE BERSIH MOVEMENT ________________________________________________________________________ 48 3.3 DATA SAMPLING _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 52 3.4 RESEARCH METHODS ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 53 iii 3.4.1 SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS _______________________________________________________________________________ 53 3.4.1.1 SAMPLING SELECTION STAGE _________________________________________________________________________________ 56 3.4.1.2 INTERVIEW STAGE _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 57 3.4.1.3 LIMITATIONS IN SAMPLING ___________________________________________________________________________________ 60 3.4.1.4 INTERFERENCE BY AUTHORITIES ____________________________________________________________________________ 62 3.4.2 PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION ___________________________________________________________________________________ 65 3.4.2.1 MEETING PEOPLE AND TAKING FIELD NOTES________________________________________________________________ 67 3.4.3 CONTENT ANALYSIS _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 68 3.4.3.1 DEFINING A FOCUS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT ANALYSIS _______________________________________________ 71 3.4.3.2 CONTENT ANALYSIS OF FACEBOOK ___________________________________________________________________________ 72 3.4.4 SECONDARY SOURCES ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 75 3.5 CONCLUSION _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 75 4 THE MALAYSIAN SOCIO-POLITICAL BACKGROUND ___________________________________________ 77 4.1 INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 77 4.2 ETHNICITY POSITIONS MALAYSIA’S POLITICAL PARTIES, 1957–1970 _______________________________________ 78 4.3 THE RISE OF MULTICULTURAL CIVIL GROUPS,