TV PAKATAN RAKYAT

Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be the first Malaysian politician to host a Google Hangout next week, expanding his social media experience to widen his appeal among the country’s hip and technologically-savvy youth who form a quarter of the electorate.
The “Borak Bersama Anwar” live chat-room on YouTube is set for 10.30pm local time on August 17, just two days before Malaysia celebrates Hari Raya Aidilfitri after the Ramadan fasting month. A Facebook page and a Google+ page went live early this morning to publicise the event, seen as a step above Barisan Nasional’s (BN) rising activity in cyberspace. “Politicians are discovering cyberspace in a big way before the next elections and Anwar is at the forefront of it. His Google Hangout is the first in the country,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.

US President Barack Obama hosted a Google Hangout last January as part of his re-election campaign. The forum comes in the form of live video connections and video YouTube questions. The Facebook and Google+ pages described “Borak Bersama Anwar” as a Google Hangout event with the de facto PKR leader and opposition chief that will be broadcasted live via YouTube. “We would like to encourage people to post their video questions on YouTube and share the link on our Facebook or Google Plus event page. We will also go through your notes and questions to determine our topics for the night.

“If we find your questions interesting, we will also invite you to be one of our panels live as well. Thank you, and hope to see you at Borak Bersama Anwar,” said a statement on both the pages. The party has also set up #BorakAnwar as the official hashtag for the event, to be used on the Twitter microblogging site.