"I have THIIIIIS many Facebook fans. Thiiiiis many." (AFP)
Remember when previously exiled politicians made their grand return to Pakistan with garlands around their neck and victory signs in the air? In the case of the late Benazir Bhutto (PPP) and Nawaz Sharif (PML-N), their advisers/PR teams released op-eds, press releases and statements, allowing party supporters to salivate over their much-anticipated comeback to Pakistani politics.
That was so 2007.
In 2010, former leaders plant the seeds of their comeback using social media platforms, creating Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. They start a mass movement in cyberspace, interacting with their fans at a grassroots level, uploading video messages, and ultimately blindsiding the naysayers who once crowed, “Ding dong, the witch is dead.”
In the world of Populism 2.0, former President Pervez Musharraf has managed to leverage social media rather successfully, boasting 187,649 fans in about seven months, [see my previous post, "Mushy Joins Facebook."]. And, a week after he announced the formation of his new political party, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), Musharraf revealed that he had 200,000 fans on Facebook, and “they wanted him to come back to Pakistan.”
Um, say what now?
It is not that Musharraf doesn’t have a right to return to Pakistan and contest elections. As I commented on Ahsan’s post at Five Rupees, the political process should always have diversity of choice, and it would be undemocratic to insist otherwise, particularly since other leaders with less than stellar pasts are back in power. My contention is with the Facebook shout-out, as if 200,000 fans on a social media platform somehow legitimize this comeback.
There is no doubt that Facebook is a powerful platform, boasting more than 300 million active users, about 70% of whom are located outside the United States. In Pakistan, it is also one of the most popular social networking websites, with over 2.5 million users, (according to The News’ Shakir Hussain). But 2.5 million is still a small percentage of Pakistan’s population – about 1.5% – and that too is a narrow demographic – namely those who are literate, speak English (to varying degrees) and own/use computers. Within that number, 200,000 Mushy Facebook fans also don’t take into account 1) the Pakistanis who are living in Pakistan (or are citizens) and 2) people who actually vote in elections. This is somewhat comparable to the numerous supporters for cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan not often translating into actual votes at the election polls.
If Mushy can return to Pakistan, survive the Benazir Bhutto and National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) fires, and stage a comeback onto the Pakistani political stage, all the while leveraging his social media platform, then more power to him. But that success certainly won’t come from Facebook alone, and it will most definitely be a long road ahead.
But why does he need to legitimize his comeback in the first place? Come back, register your party, campaign for the next elections and we’ll see what happens.
I think because he doesn’t have a set constituency on the ground, at least comparable to the PPP and PML-N, he may need to work a little harder a political legitimacy, particularly given that only 2 years ago the majority of the country wanted him out of power.
[...] op-eds, press releases and statements, allowing party supporters […] Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan benazir bhutto, contest elections, media platforms, nawaz sharif, pakistan muslim league, [...]
Ah The Comback. Gotta love it.
I think it’s kind of funny that Mushy is claiming that his 200,000 fans on facebook are his strong base. It’s like the popular kid’s mantra. Also, 200,000 fans means nothing in a population of 174,578,558 (yes, I used the Wiki. Don’t hate). That’s like 0.11 percent. Seriously, do the math!
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what happens if he does register his party and runs. He has every right too. And at least this time he’ll be a civilian rather than the chief of army staff. Also, hating Mushy was also very 2007. Its 2010 now. I think Mushy is bringing it. (I also just like writing “Mushy”…)
I just did more math – if 2.5 Pakistanis are on Facebook, and Musharraf has 200,000 fans, then that’s 8% of Pakistani Facebook users. Granted, he is really one of the only politicians ON Facebook so I can’t make a fair comparison, but it’s interesting.
I’m not hating on the 200,000 that’s fairly impressive (CHUP only has 473 fans, sad Kalsoom), I just think it’s bogus to use that as your basis for legitimacy.
I’d like to widen this conversation though to include the new est. of APML – obviously he’ll run from Sindh (Karachi?), he has to build a political base, etc. Facebook is the least of his worries, though I do think it’s an interesting commentary on intangible support (cyberspace) versus tangible (voters at the polls).
Kalsoom,
I am somewhat confused as to why you think Pres. Musharraf is using his 200K fans as a basis of legitimizing his comeback? I have read other articles where he mentions his growing facebook fan-base…but to me it just sounds like simple boasting. I am sure Musharraf knows where/when/how to build a constituency and surely he also knows that many of his fb fans may be outside PK and not of any use to him in an election. I guess my point is that I don’t think he is legitimizing his comeback by saying that he has 200,000 fans on Facebook, and “they wanted him to come back to Pakistan.” Just like a person needs a number of signatures to get their name on a Congressional ballot in the U.S., I guess the 200,000 fans is an endorsement for him to get off his arm-chair and start the process of returning to Pakistan!
I’m not saying he’s using it as the sole foundation of political legitimacy, I was just pointing to the fact that he said it at all – but I guess that’s a difference of opinion
I think mentioning the Facebook angle seems to portray that this is legitimacy you need (essentially the same as an endorsement) to come back to the the country. Again, if he wants to do that fine, but I was commenting on the real versus perceived power of that social medium and how that’s a reflection on his real versus perceived support upon his return.
Mush was ruling the country for nearly a decade. Believe me, he knows that 200k FB fans is not all that is needed to legitimize his return.
Yes, he mentioned it, but so what? Why are bloggers and journalists going crazy over this?
Also, I’m sure that he knows that a part of the 200k FB fans are abroad, as are several of those commenting on this blog.
Look, I am definitely not anti-Musharraf – in fact, I even said if he can come back and withstand all the NRO & BB fires, foster his constituency, etc. then good for him. I was using the Facebook comment as a platform to discuss the phenomenon as a whole. I think Musharraf has much larger things to worry about when he returns than his Facebook fans.
I guess I get where you’re coming from.
My issue is that I try not to mock (as tempting as it may be) the politicians and these superficial issues (Mush boasting about FB fans, Zardari wanting to hug Palin, Sharif getting hairplugs, Taseer wearing shades indoors etc.) because I appreciate that we have a limited number of options right now (and the REAL masses couldn’t give a DAMN about any of these issues) and we have to pick what is best for us at this given moment. Am glad you’re blogging and welcoming everyone’s comments so we can focus on a solution that’s best for our country
Very interesting post, Miss K. I was asked a similar question the other night about Gen. Musharraf. My response was that he does not have a constituency. The constituency he did have and ruled from was the military, and unfortunately, they asked him to leave.With this type of constituency, at least in Pakistan, your expiry date cannot be renewed.
But then again, anything can happen in Pakistan!
Musharraf realizes that fans on a facebook page don’t translate into actual votes. However, sentiments definitely translate into support. For example, there was an overwhelming amount of support for the lawyer’s movement on Facebook, which also reflected the general sentiment in Pakistan.
Please see the following link for Musharraf’s comments on his Facebook page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDpYik2-u6o
Some Facebook trivia:
Pervez Musharraf – 188,179
Asif Zardari (Ulloo Ka Patha) – 129,785 Fans
Imran Khan – 80,553 Fans
Nawaz Sharif – 9,600 Fans
Asif Zardari – 2,112
Election 2008 trivia (since someone pulled some number above, I thought I’d share some numbers as well (just some food for thought):
The number of registered voters in Pakistan is 81 million (roughly 50% of the population). The approximate turnout of the 2008 general elections was 44%. So about 35.6 million (roughly 20.4% of the population) decided the fate of a 175 million people. The PML-Q (Musharraf’s old party) was ranked second in terms of the “popular vote”.
Whats the difference between Asif Zardari (ullo ka patha) and the regular Asif Zardari?
I was being sarcastic…”ullo ka patha” is a page on Facebook of people that aren’t his biggest fans. The other page is those that support him.
+ PML-Q received 7.9 million votes out of the 35.6 million registered voters. So if we subtract the PML-Q vote from the overall equation (under the pretext that they represent the establishment), we’re left with 27.7 million (only 15.8% of the population) deciding our fate.
Thanks for the comments Ajnabi – hopefully this leads to some productive discussion on the topic.
The Smartest move Mushy ever made is to handover the state to most incompetent and slefish people, on his exit. this 200,000 fans are those who resent present king more than MUSHY…. and thats it!!!
I agree with you fully.
But let me ask these idiots a question:
Isn’t Mush a failed face?
He infact proved to be disaster for Pakistan.
The good thing return of Much can do to Pakistan is it would divide ethno nationalist mohajers who would get confused whether to vote for MQM or Mush-in both the cases Pakistan would win.
Tahir,
Thanks for taking the time to comment, but please in the future refrain from name-calling. Everyone can appreciate each other’s opinion and have a healthy discussion about it, or at least I’d hope so!
Thanks!
media is against Musharraf, doing the negative propaganda. if you ask the poor people of Pakistan they only knows that Musharraf was much better as the prices remain stable for 8 years.
I <3 Mushy's tushy.
That sounds kinda sick. Okay, I read all the comments and I have to agree, 200K fans doesn't mean that they'll be there to receive him at the airport.
I bet the Pakistani cricket team has more fans…
PS: Shoaib Akhtar has 161 fans…
In my personal opinion, if somebody is declared legal by the court to contest for the elections whether provincial or national, we should not stand against it. We can use our power of choice during the voting. We need to learn the democratic models from other countries and apply that on us. A more liberal and dynamic thinking would get us out of the chaos we are in right now.
A quote from Ayaz Amir’s article:
“The ideology of the post-2008 democratic revival was anti-Musharrafism. But with other problems rising to the fore, that call to arms has lost what traction or resonance it had. The departed tin-pot strongman’s name now induces boredom. Any denunciation of him is the last resource of orators with no other arrows in their quiver. Musharraf himself is down to drawing spiritual sustenance from his Facebook following. It can’t get any worse than this”.
True words. I think someone needs to whisper into Mushy’s ears that he once was but now isn’t and the best place for him would be on the golf range.
Condemnation
It has become a mad fashion to associate the term “Islam” with terrorist or terrorism. But now, what the world is ready to call launchers of shameful blasphemous act of drawing caricatures of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)? Mocking others’ religions and their beliefs is no less than an act of “Sophisticated Terrorism”.
We strongly condemn, blasphemous caricature competition held at Facebook and, that every other act, which can possibly become the cause of spewing hatred and inciting violence.
As a protest i have quit fb and orkut and migrated to this new network that serves my purpose of staying connected with my friends http://www.faithfulbillion.com
Musharraf I shall not, be so harsh on you. Cease power: simply your own intent. As prior, administrations my anger you. Never achieve the goals without the involvement America. Whom divided Pakistan still Musharraf you paid well. Good solider, what do have say? For myself your a treason whom benefited. Your family Musharraf contradict regarding. Nawaz about fraud why your family live the good life. Was it envy? See this all assumptions America back the coup. Which cause economic stagnation to Pakistan. Yes Mossad are also employed by RAW? i’m disappointed upon the goals basically. American puppet should you return no you sold. Your soul Shatan! Musharraf your forgotten i hope Pakistan writes you out. Of history turn coat remain in exile. Do as many have done prior thief! Political parties are obsolete but dictators are paramount. Musharraf can you define that: define. Liberal free Pakistan something you stole!