Can Barisan Nasional Win Penang Over with Gangnam Style?

Slug: Malaysia Gangnam Style Reporter: Clarence Chua Date: 13/02/2013 INTRO PSY became a global phenomenon with his hit song Gangnam Style. And he was invited this week to Penang to perform at a public event organised by the states Barisan Nasional party. The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition lost five states in the 2008 election... and one of them was Penang. Clarence Chua is in Georgetown to find out whether Barisan Nasional can ride on the success of Gangam Style to win votes. TEXT SFX 1: Sound of Lion Dance performance Its the second day of the Lunar New Year here in Penang Island... traditionally a time for visiting friends and relatives. SFX 2: Sound of people gathering But since 8 this morning, thousands of islanders have been gathering at Han Chiang College. SFX 3: Prime Minister saying Are you ready for Psy / BN? Its pretty obvious who they are here for. SFX 4: Opening of Gangnam Style And PSY performed the song Gangnam Style twice along with the crowd. SFX 5: PSY saying the will sing Gangnam Style the second time It was reported that PSYs short performance costs the organisers 1 million US dollars. However, Prime Minister Najib Razak was quick to point out that a private company was footing the bill and that no taxpayers money was wasted on the event.

After the performance, I spoke to May Lim and Gu Lingsui who are both in their early 20s. May clip 1 [Female/Mandarin]//: We waited under the hot sun for so long just for one song. Its really wasnt worth it. Not worth the money. Gu clip 1 [Male/Mandarin]//: I am quite familiar with the song. Weve listened to it many times before. He sang only one song and the same song twice. There should be more songs. You can see many people leaving because they couldnt wait any longer. SFX 6: Sound of people gathering Paul Chew is from the Barisan Nasional organising committee for the event. Paul clip 1 [male/English]//: This is not a political move. Penang, having the majority population is Chinese, so we took this opportunity to have Open House where we have open invitation to all people, all races to come and celebrate it together. PSY is world famous. We know PSY met up with Obama, the US president. PSY also met with the secretary-general of the UN. We would like to look at him as the ambassador of goodwill. The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition lost five states in the 2008 election... and one of them was Penang. Is Barisan Nasional using PSY to influence young voters for the upcoming election? Paul clip 2 [male/English]//: I would like to say that PSY alone does not, but if it does help in any way, I would like to thank him for that. And I am quite sure today, for what he has done, he has certainly put goodwill to the Barisan Nasional. Penang voters are smart voters. We like the voters to feel that they have been looked after, they have been cared for and they are part of this development. But Professor James Chin from Monash University Malaysia says PSY was merely a publicity stunt for the Barisan Nasional campaign in Penang. He believes that the Korean star will have little effect on the voters sentiment that is strongly against the government. Vinodini Subramaniam is in her 20s and shes a registered voter. Q: Did you come here just to watch PSY? Vino [female/English]//: Yes, I came to watch his live performance and Im very happy. I think there should be more performances. Q: Before coming, did you know who you were going to vote for? Vino [female/English]//: Yes. Q: After coming, do you still know who you are going to vote for?

Vino [female/English]//: Yes. Ive made my decision. Q: So this performance wont change anything? Vino [female/English]//: No! It wont change my mind, PSY. This is Clarence Chua doing the Gangnam Style in Penang for AsiaCalling.