Ukraine war: How the battle on Malaysia’s social media has become a propaganda tool for Russia and Ukraine

As Ukraine’s war with its larger aggressor, Russia, continues, so does the propaganda battle between the two sides. As the conflict reaches its fourth week, the fight for supremacy in the information domain has extended beyond the confines of the two countries’ social media spheres.

The world bears witness to the efforts by both sides to influence sentiment about the war, and Malaysia is no exception. While Ukraine has benefited from the lion’s share of international attention and sympathy – given incontrovertible facts surrounding the Kremlin’s obvious aggression – Malaysian observers say a significant proportion of public opinion about Russia is being shaped by a deluge of pro-Moscow messaging.

A key reason for the relative success of Russian propaganda in Malaysia, these analysts say, is the latent anti-West sentiment in the Muslim-majority country of 32 million people.

Such perceptions are a result of a world view shaped by Western Islamophobia in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and a negative view of the West’s role in conflicts involving Muslim people such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ongoing civil war in Yemen.

“In trying to make sense of global affairs, many [Malaysians view] the US specifically as having been unfair to Muslims in Palestine and some other countries. Hence, the mindset has been tuned to be anti-US and anti-West in general,” said political analyst Tunku Mohar Mokhtar. “In thinking along these lines, they subconsciously also believe this war is justified.”