Simple is the Reason of My Heart

Nokia Virtual Eco Roundtable on Sustainability & Development

An invite from Nokia Singapore via Text 100 (Supriya and Clare) brought me to the Nokia Virtual Eco Roundtable on Sustainability & Development on 7 April 2009 (Tuesday) in Nokia Singapore. It is the first virtual eco-roundtable in Singapore where we used their video conference facility, Halo to listen to Nokia's global and SEAP executives to speak on environmental sustainability and development. The whole roundtable featured how Nokia as a corporation has navigated in making small changes through several eco-friendly initiatives - recycling, materials used for manufacturing and energy consumption. In fact, I am surprised that I did not know some interesting facts about how they are doing on sustainability and development in Southeast Asia.

Barcamp KL 2009 - Things I have learned

I set off to Subang Jaya for Barcamp Kuala Lumpur (KL) on Friday morning. I reached a day earlier to meet up with some internet specialists and organizers of Barcamp KL. The last Barcamp KL was held in the KLCC area (where the Petronas Towers are). This event was held over the weekend (4 and 5 April 2009) in Inti College, Subang Jaya. The trip turned out to be a good one because it grew to become Barcamp Southeast Asia, with other organizers from Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo & Cambodia. This time round, we have wi-fi available, and the other thing I liked about the location is that the Inti College is located besides the Asia Cafe and also a Starbucks Cafe where I can grab a cup of grande vanilla latte.

Earth Hour 2009 and SENATUS

This year 2009, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming. In fact, there are many events happening all over the world offline and online to be involved with this initiative. 74 cities in 62 countries have committed to this event and many nations are now seeing the global economic downturn as an opportunity to steer their economies toward safer sustainable futures. Here in Singapore, while working with my company SENATUS, we have put forward a small contribution to the Earth Hour 2009. I thought it might be interesting to share about what we have done with our site to help spread the word and perhaps get everyone to join in the effort for this special day.

Discovery Channel: I Love the World

When I first saw the ad in a movie screening, I thought that this ad was special in its own way. Then, during Barcamp Malaysia, one of the speakers, Ditesh Gathani ended his presentation “The Malaysian Free Software Movement: The Way Forward” with this ad to explain why he spends so much time and effort to promote free software movement and all the unnecessary hassle that he has to go through. In the same spirit, if someone will to ask me why I like what I want to do, whether writing research papers about stem cells, football managers and galaxy mergers, getting myself involved to draft the bloggers' proposal for internet freedom or to why I like investing, incubating and get my hands dirty in the web/tech scene, I just tell them to look at this ad. That's the type of passion which I always find it difficult to explain to friends, family and fools from all walks of life. So, enjoy this ad which I have placed here.

On Inspiration, Leaders & Legacy from East and West

An article by Caroline Kennedy (daughter of the famous US President John F. Kennedy)  entitled "A President Like My Father" touched my heart today. Not surprising, the Kennedy family will be endorsing Barack Obama for President, given the Democratic Primaries are now treading in racial and gender lines due to the tactics adopted by the Clintons. Interesting, somewhere in southeast Asia, the former President of Indonesia, Suharto passed away. Of course, I have read debates over his legacy from those who hold high idealism and those who are pragmatic and willing to condone the evil deeds he has done for the greater good of Indonesia (which is debatable in my view). It reflects two very different political worlds, the one from the east and the one from the west. I like to reflect on three themes in politics which has emerged from these two events: inspiration, leaders, legacy.

Free Burma: 4 Oct 2007

For those (including myself) who are outraged and expressing revulsion to the recent barbaric actions of the military junta on the Burmese monks and civilians in Myanmar, there will be an International Bloggers' Day for Burma on the 4th of October. There is a tragedy now happening in Burma, where innocent lives are taken, internet activists are on the run and the entire city on curfew. If you pass by this blog by some chance, please help to spread the word to the rest of the world.  Meanwhile, my prayers are with the people who have been hurt and killed in this saffron revolution. (Picture from The Online Citizen) If you want to help, please donate via the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Is the Myanmar Bloodshed inevitable?

In Myanmar (see the picture on the left and it is from BBC), there are tens of thousands civilians, monks and nuns protesting on the streets, calling for democracy and power back to the opposition. This protest is slightly different from the past because it began from the peace loving monks and nuns. They could not tolerate the military junta who have ruled the country with an iron fist. Of course, they have asked for the freedom of the famous opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest. The whole event has been coordinated well with the help of technology and we are able to catch on first hand what is going on there.

In the past twenty years ever since Tiananmen (which I remembered vividly), every such type of protest in Asia (except for Philippines and Indonesia after the Asian financial crisis) usually have ended up in bloodshed. While the military junta has already moved to put their troops on the ground, a possible bloodshed may take place soon. If that happens, a lot of innocent lives will be sacrificed in the process. So, how is the world going to do about this? While the US has already started the sanctions, it is now very interesting to watch what China is going to do about this. My feeling is that ASEAN will take an non-interventionist approach aka do nothing and let it happen which is something that I am personally against.

Update: I made a correction for Indonesia on the issue of violence in the protest and thank J. Louis for the corrrection. Also read this news: ASEAN inter-parliamentary chief says protests augur well for Myanmar, ChannelNewsAsia.com, and I do wonder whether the ASEAN governments will support the Myanmar people instead of the Junta.

26 Sep 2007 3.30pm: Unfortunately, the riot police has retaliated against the protesters.

Social Political Blogging: Singapore vs US

Recently, I did an interview with Jude Yew, a Singaporean PhD researcher about the impact of new (or social) media in the past 2006 general elections in Singapore. During the interview, we started teasing out the differences in the social political blogosphere between Singapore and US. Coupled with the observation on the netroots activity in the US Presidential Elections 2008 and the evolution of the Singapore blogosphere after the 2006 elections, some interesting differences emerge from that comparison. 

Seperated By a Mental Bridge: Thoughts on the Iskander Development Region

Yesterday, the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Ministerial committee started their first meeting on the Iskander Development Region (IDR) in Johor Bahru. The conclusion of the first meeting leads to the committee forming four common task force groups to explore the areas (on environmental matters, boosting tourism, facilitating immigration clearance and enhancing transport links) identified by a previous meeting between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Malaysia) and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore) during their recent Langkawi retreat. The principle of the working groups is to achieve a win-win outcome for both countries and the committee will meet every quarter to discuss further cooperation and taking stock.

If Everyone Cared

In the midst of several happenings in Singapore, from the ministerial salaries to the departure of several bloggers in the Singapore blogosphere, another event has taken the world by shock. The massacre in Virginia Tech by a lone gunman chilled our hearts, with 33 deaths including the killer himself. For those who live in peaceful societies (including myself), we do not appreciate how fragile lives could be. To some people, deaths in these countries may be just numbers and statistics, but it demonstrate how much we do not really think about the bigger picture ahead of us. Here are just my personal reflection about blame, heroism and media in our world today.