The Charter 2000 – Aliran National Roundtable on Internet Media was held at the Vistana Hotel in Penang on December 9, 2006. I went back to Penang especially for that. The 24 participants talked about the various issues and challenges faced by bloggers and NGOs using the Internet media to push forward their respective agendas. This event was supported by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). The five bloggers were Jude Manickam, Tony Pua, Nik Nazmi, Lucia Lai and I.
The other participants were:
Mustafa Kamal Anuar, Anil Netto, Francis Loh and Angeline Loh from Aliran
Sandra Smeltzer and Douglas Keddy from the University of Western Ontaria
Jennifer Mourin from Pesticide Action Network Asia & the Pacific
Marie Tan and Jayamalar Samuel from Women’s Centre for Change Penang
Susan Lim from Penang Office for Human Development
Tan Lee Ooi from FreeMedia
Khoo Gaik Cheng
Sonia Randhawa from Centre for Independent Journalism
Chang Teck Peng and Lim Hong Siang from Merdeka Review
Wong Meng Chuo from Rengah Sarawak
Md. Roslan Hashim from Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia
S. Ravindran from MTUC
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal who came as a volunteer
There was a consensus to bring in more bloggers and Internet media practitioners for a wider representation in similar roundtables organised in the future. Although one day was too brief to cover the many related issues, a lot was discussed. Hopefully this will be the starting point to create a better awareness on how the Internet can be used effectively to provide an alternative source of news not covered by the mainstream media.
Lucia also blogged about this in internet media (round-table discussion)
Pete – do prompt me if there are any more of such activities. Will like to contribute any which way possible. Take care brother. May seem insignificant for now, but trust me – it will be well remembered…
Peter:
Will do.