BEATEN: Datuk Seri Abdullah said the opposition effectively used blogs, news websites and SMS messages to reach out to voters. -- PHOTO: AFP

'We certainly lost the Internet war, the cyber-war,' he said. 'It was a serious misjudgment. We made the biggest mistake in thinking that it was not important.'

Datuk Seri Abdullah credited blogs, news websites and SMS messages as media to which many voters and opposition candidates had turned to, when they felt the mainstream media was not giving them the information they sought.

Malaysia's mainstream media are mostly part-owned by parties in the ruling BN coalition, and what was seen as biased coverage in the run-up to the March 8 vote alienated voters and boosted demand for alternative news sources.

'We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television were supposed to be important, but the young people were looking at SMS and blogs,' said PM Abdullah.

His comments yesterday are a major about-face for the government, which had vilified bloggers, calling them liars and threatening them with detention without trial under draconian internal security laws.

PM ABDULLAH ON MEDIA COVERAGE DURING THE ELECTIONS 'We certainly lost the Internet war, the cyber-war. We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television were supposed to be important, but the young people were looking at SMS and blogs. It was a very, very serious mistake on our part. It was painful...but it came at the right time, not too late.' ON ECONOMIC REFORMS 'The result of the election was a strong message that I have not moved fast enough in pushing through with the reforms that I promised to undertake. I thank the Malaysian people for this message: point well made and point taken.' ON A NEW TERENGGANU MENTERI BESAR 'I will certainly be meeting with the Tuanku (the king, in the photo below). There are people who are exploiting this situation for their own means, for their own objectives, bringing about a lot of confusion into this matter.'

Also yesterday, the Prime Minister also promised to, among other things, reform the economy, keep fuel prices stable and ease the burden of low-income earners, in an apparent bid to win back support for the ruling coalition after its poor showing at the polls.

In his keynote address at the Invest Malaysia 2008 Conference, he unveiled a three-point plan which includes measures to help poorer households and to mitigate the impact of rising world oil prices.

The government, he said, would hold fuel prices and electricity tariffs at their current levels.

'Whatever the present price, we have to live with it,' he added, while noting that there was a limit to controlling prices.

Yesterday, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop also said gas prices would be kept stable, adding: 'There is no decision to increase gas price at this point of time.'

PM Abdullah also pledged to push ahead with economic reforms, noting that this was what voters had wanted.

'The result of the election was a strong message that I have not moved fast enough in pushing through with the reforms that I promised to undertake,' he said.

'I thank the Malaysian people for this message: point well made and point taken.'

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BERNAMA