PETALING JAYA: The growing popularity of the social media as a political tool used by the opposition was once dismissed by Zainuddin Maidin, who served as information minister under the premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a new book on the former prime minister reveals.

Abdullah, who resigned months after the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) losses in the 2008 national polls, was torn between two schools of thought among his advisers in Umno’s effort to counter the opposition.

While one group saw it fit for Umno to exploit the thriving social media to its advantage, a conservative faction, which included Zainuddin, was content with the government’s control of the mainstream media.

“I had no problem for the government to engage online media and bloggers but Zam argued that it was not necessary as the government had the mainstream media on its side,” said Abdullah in the book “Being Abdullah Ahmad Badawi”, a 500-page authorised biography by veteran journalist Wong Sulong

The book was launched yesterday by Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Shah, who paid glowing tributes to Abdullah, describing him as an elder brother whose guidance was still needed in the country’s affairs.

Zainuddin, a former group editor-in-chief of Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia, now writes a blog, frequently taking shots at the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

In the 12th general election in March 2008, the BN lost its two-thirds majority, with a loose coalition comprising PKR, DAP and PAS led by then opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim taking over the prized states of Selangor and Penang, besides Perak and Kedah.

Wong said during Abdullah’s tenure, the opposition “gained the upper hand in the propaganda war and piled up the pressure”.

“The pro-Opposition online and blogs lapped up these controversies and gave Abdullah and his government – to paraphrase President Barack Obama – ‘a hell of a shellacking’,” he wrote, adding that BN’s failure to engage the internet caused the coalition “to pay dearly” in the 2008 elections.

Abdullah acknowledged this as much, and days after the disastrous results which would spell the end of his political career, he admitted having lost the “internet war, the cyber war”.

“It was a serious misjudgment. We made the biggest mistake in thinking that it was not important. Lesson learnt,” he said.

Abdullah resigned as prime minister in September 2009, less than six years after taking over from long-serving Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had led a campaign to replace him with Najib Razak.