When Mahathir Mohamad's Alliance of Hope coalition surprised the world -- and perhaps even themselves -- by winning last May's parliamentary vote in Malaysia, it was not just the first-ever opposition election win in the country's history.
Some saw it as the result of the first "WhatsApp election," where the platform's encrypted private messaging provided a sanctuary for citizens to discuss politics away from the raucous finger-pointing of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
