Semangat Malaysia Kini (2008)

Malaysia according to Google Zeitgeist 2008:
(thanks to @andrewkjs for alerting me about this fresh list reported just hours ago)

1. "2008 has been a year of change in Malaysia and people have certainly been using Google to access information about these changes" - Wait, I see "Yahoo" at #2 and "Google" at #6... Try harder Google!
   
   
2. "The fastest rising searched items documented the rise in popularity of local news portals like Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today." - "Malaysia Today" is not exactly a "news" portal - it's a political tabloid! You can however says that Malaysians internet users are very interested in politics since all the four online publications mentioned including Harakah and Malaysian Insider are very political-oriented, with Harakah being highly political. Or people just prefer alternative/independent media since blogspot and youtube made it to top-10 too.
   
   
3. "Politics was also a topic of great interest in Malaysia this year, with searches aimed not only at politicians like Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang, but also significant political events such as this year’s general election." - BTW, I don't think Barack Obama, Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are "local" celebrities! Plus, Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana is the same person being Hannah Montana a TV character played by 16-year old Miley Cyrus. And I totally did not expect Ibiden and Gamuda to top news search for 2008, being at #1 and #10 respectively...
   
   
4. "Local car brand Perodua Nautica, Olympic badminton medalist Lee Chong Wei and domestic travel destination Terengganu also figured prominently." - Yay, Penang is top-6, next after its love-hate UNESCO heritage twin, Melaka, and nobody wants to go to KL or Cyberjaya! And Perodua Nautica, being #1 most searched car brand in Malaysia is missing from the world's largest encyclopaedia, the Wikipedia. BTW, we're still waiting for the chosen name for Proton's first MPV...

The "spirit of the times/age and its societies" list... ("Each of these lists shows the fastest rising searches, meaning these were the search terms that saw the largest increase in searches during 2008, as compared to 2007.")

Fastest Rising

1. malaysiakini
2. facebook
3. harakah
4. tv3
5. malaysia today
6. rapidshare
7. blogspot
8. youtube
9. malaysian insider
10. beijing 2008

Most Popular

1. youtube
2. yahoo
3. friendster
4. utusan
5. mp3
6. google
7. games
8. map
9. lyrics
10. myspace

Google News local searches

1. ibiden asia
2. anwar ibrahim
3. datuk seri
4. olympic badminton results
5. chua soi lek
6. malaysian election results
7. malaysia budget 2009
8. malaysia new cabinet
9. permatang pauh election
10. gamuda bhd

Local celebrities

1. anwar ibrahim
2. barack obama
3. lim kit siang
4. chua soi lek
5. mahathir mohamad
6. miley cyrus
7. lee chong wei
8. tony pua
9. hannah montana
10. siti nurhaliza

Local travel destinations

1. terengganu
2. pulau tioman
3. genting highland
4. port dickson
5. melaka
6. penang
7. pulau perhentian
8. bukit tinggi
9. sunway lagoon
10. selangor

Car brands

1. perodua nautica
2. toyota rush
3. proton mpv
4. proton blm
5. honda city
6. proton saga
7. grand livina
8. honda accord
9. myvi
10. honda civic

Just as you thought, or any surprises like mine above? What other categories do you think Google Zeitgeist should offer?