Penang Open e-Creative Challenge 2009

PENANG OPEN e-CREATIVE C H A L L E N G E 2009 atau C A B A R A N e-KREATIF TERBUKA PULAU PINANG 2009

Satu peluang untuk anda meneroka kreativiti organisasi anda serta meningkatkan profil dan meningkatkan laman web anda ke seluruh Malaysia dan dunia.

POeCC09 kali ini merupakan pertandingan Laman Web Terbuka kepada semua pusat e-Komuniti dan juga Badan Bukan Kerajaan (NGO) dari Negeri Pulau Pinang, Perlis, Kedah dan Perak. Laman web yang dipertanding mestilah mempunyai maklumat yang informatif, interaktif serta mesra pengguna khususnya untuk capaian dan manfaat komuniti


Hadiah-Hadiah

Hasil karya dan laman web yang terbaik daripada salah satu subkategori akan menerima hadiah yang menarik.


Hadiah Utama
Trofi ‘Cabaran PDC’ bagi laman web yang terbaik dari kategori Pusat e-Komuniti dan Organisasi Badan Bukan Kerajaan

Kategori Terbuka (Laman Web Pusat e-Komuniti)
Hadiah Pertama: RM3,000 dan trofi POeCC09
Hadiah Kedua: RM2,000 dan trofi POeCC09
Hadiah Ketiga: RM1,000 dan trofi POeCC09
5 hadiah saguhati: RM500 setiap pemenang

Kategori Terbuka (Laman Web Organsasi Badan Bukan Kerajaan)
Hadiah Pertama: RM3,000 dan trofi POeCC09
Hadiah Kedua: RM2,000 dan trofi POeCC09
Hadiah Ketiga: RM1,000 dan trofi POeCC09
5 hadiah saguhati: RM500 setiap pemenang

***Semua peserta akan mendapat sijil penyertaan daripada penganjur***

Syarat-Syarat Penyertaan
Sila klik disini untuk maklumat lanjut.
Borang Penyertaan
Sila klik disini untuk muat turun borang penyertaan. Anda juga boleh terus menghantar penyertaan anda melalui borang online yang disediakan.


Kriteria Penilaian Juri

Sila klik disini untuk maklumat lanjut.


Upacara Penyampaian Hadiah

Semua peserta dan rakan-rakan dijemput untuk menghadiri satu upacara rasmi penyampaian hadiah pada 16 Mei 2009 di Bukit Jambul Country Club, Pulau Pinang. Sejajar dengan upacara ini, program-program yang menarik akan diaturkan untuk semua hadirin.

Tarikh Tutup

Tarikh tutup untuk penyertaan bagi semua kategori adalah pada 30 April 2009, 12 tengah hari (melalui emel kepada usha@pdc.gov.my atau faks 04-6424746).

Pertanyaan

Untuk maklumat tambahan dan penjelasan proses serta peraturan-peraturan mengenai pertandingan ini, sila hubungi:

Pn. Roseni Ibrahim atau Pn. Usha Rani
Bahagian ICT
Perbadanan Pembangunan Pulau Pinang
No. 1 Pesiaran Mahsuri
11909 Bayan Baru
Pulau Pinang

Fax: 04-6424746
Tel: 04-6340303 (Pn. Roseni) 04-6340306 (Pn. Usha)
Emel: mailto:rbi@pdc.gov.my; usha@pdc.gov.my

Thousands FORCED to participate in Earth Hour 2009, in PITCH BLACK, twice as long!

BALIK PULAU, Malaysia: Due to an electrical supply failure during a brief thunderstorm, thousands of residents in the village-town of Kongsi, Balik Pulau, Penang were literally forced to participate in the Earth Hour 2009 campaign, for 130 minutes starting around 7:15 pm, ie. about 75 minutes earlier than the planned start of Earth Hour 2009 campaign for 8:30pm - not just with all lights switched off, but with everything including fans, TVs, non-mobile computers/internet machines, refrigerators etc. also switched off.

What started to be a brief electrical interruption following a possible lightning strike and thunders turned out to be a pitch-black experience for thousands of Balik Pulau residents, with everything including traffic light and road lights turned off for the full slightly over two hours, instead of the 1-hour limit for environmental campaign.

Reporter was caught in the middle:



Among businesses affected with considerable loss of revenue include:-

1. All shops at Taman Sri Indah including supposedly 24-hour 7-eleven convenience store which were forced to stall almost all sale transactions for over two hours due to inoperational cash machines, a restaurant, a cybercafe Internet service shop, two general retail stores, and over a dozen other shops which do not have a backup generator except one chinese restaurant which has a generator in place, and a burger stall which relies on independent power generator.
   
   
2. Shops and restaurants along Jalan Besar/Balik Pulau from Taman Sri Indah to Kongsi including Azlan Tomyam, Astaka K-Kongsi, restaurants at Kompleks Balik Pulau, Shell gas station, Maybank ATM etc.
   
   
   
3. All shops in Kongsi, near the Balik Pulau roundabout except two general retail shops which has backup power generator in place, and hawker stalls which use independent power generator.
   

In summary, dozens of shop owners in Balik Pulau had incurred in loss of sales due to accidental power cut that looks like a 'mandatory' participation in the controversial WWF-initiated, Sydney-started Earth Hour 2009 campaign, and thousands of Kongsi residents had to sweat out and settle with being able to do very little during prime time dinner & quality time hours. It's lucky however that it was raining at the time or those affected would have to suffer post-sunset heatwaves (The sun set starting at 7:29 pm today, and it was pitch black starting at 8:38 pm).

The two-hour power interruption however did not affect the new business park near Kompleks Pasar MPPP Balik Pulau, with shops including KFC and Kassim Mustafa restaurant, which happens to be situated next to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) building, were able to continue business as usual, and seemingly more properous due to shift of patrons from Kongsi downtown. Houses along Jalan Pondok Upeh were also not affected, as also with all buildings south of Taman Sri Indah including Masjid Balik Pulau, Balik Pulau Public Library, District Police Headquarters and Petronas Gas Station which were lit up brightly as usual.

Power was finally restored by 9:25 pm, about five minutes earlier than the planned ending for Earth Hour 2009 in Malaysia.

With just days to April Fool's Day, for many, this incident was not a laughing matter, and TNB, the government-linked sole supplier of electricity to this town is expected to offer an explanation with regards to this major inconvenience. Consider that writer nearly hit a road-crossing lady due to pitch-black nature of the roads!

This Month in Balik Pulau (March 2009) - Drugs, Drinking, Debt, Deceit, Defeat > Death!

Not so quiet of village-town it seems!

Welcome to Bandaraya Balik Pulau, the center of actions (too), just at the backside of the world-famous island of Penang...

On the good side, entrepreneurial spirits, women power and massive developments (infrastructure-wise plus towards social & economic ones) are hailing rapidly from this small, remote town, some 10+ kilometres away from George Town, Gelugor or Bayan Lepas metro-like cities of Pulau Pinang.

Here's what being talked about, and had been in the media (THE BIG NEWS STORIES) during the full month March 2009:-

agaknya ahli akan akhirnya aku ara asar atas attractions bahawa barat baru batu beaches beautiful berada berbangsa berjanji bersetia berubah cina daerah dan daya dengan eileen few final hidangan hingga ini kami kenangan kepada krmbp kuala lagi membelasah pada penang pengakap pinang saya selamat skpdl sungai tahun terus wajah yang

Man found buried at beach

Malaysia Star - ‎‎Mar 27, 2009‎

By ANN TAN BALIK PULAU: A tourist had a shock when he stumbled upon a body that was partially buried in the sand on the Teluk Bahang beach. ...

Winners and Losers

The Malaysian Insider - ‎‎Mar 26, 2009‎

Datuk Norraesah Mohamad – the former banker was told by Abdullah that she would be appointed to the Cabinet if she won the Balik Pulau parliamentary ...

Foreigners with vital info can get witness protection

New Straits Times - ‎Mar 23, 2009‎

To a call by Yusmaidi Yusof (PKR-Balik Pulau) that an annual report be tabled in the house on the programme, he said this could not be done as it would ...

Balik Pulau’s online marketing bid

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 22, 2009‎

By MANJIT KAUR BALIK PULAU: Housewives have a new reason to be tech-savvy – to buy poultry, fish and vegetables with a click of the mouse. ...

Malaysia Star

Tour agent faces 10 years’ jail

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 19, 2009‎

BALIK PULAU: A travel agent claimed trial in the magistrate’s court here to cheating a man of RM22,300 by writing him a cheque for the sum from an account ...

Man Charged With Trafficking In Ketamine

Bernama - ‎Mar 19, 2009‎

BALIK PULAU, March 19 (Bernama) -- An Indian national was charged in the Magistrate's Court here today with trafficking in 13.676kg of ketamine. ...

Travel Agent Charged With Cheating

Bernama - ‎Mar 19, 2009‎

BALIK PULAU, March 19 (Bernama) -- A travel agent pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate's Court here today to a cheating involving RM22,300. ...

Buses to remain in Penang

New Straits Times - ‎Mar 18, 2009‎

The five depots are at Lorong Kulit, Tanjung Bunga, Sungai Nibong and Balik Pulau on the island and in Butterworth. However, state Local Government and ...

Malaysia Star

Nifty touch

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 18, 2009‎

Hailing from Balik Pulau, Penang, Soong had already amassed a string of beauty titles by the time she was 19. A small-town girl with big dreams and steely ...

Speculation that Penang DCM Fairus on way out

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 18, 2009‎

Balik Pulau division chief Dr Mansor Othman, Deputy State Legislative Assembly Speaker Tan Hock Leong and state PKR election director Mustafa Kamal Mohd ...

Rapid Penang denies threatening state govt

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 18, 2009‎

"Currently, Rapid Penang has four depots for buses, with one each in Tanjung Bungah, Balik Pulau and Lorong Kulit and belonging to the Penang Municipal ...

3 M’sians, 2 Indonesians nabbed with 8kg ganja

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 16, 2009‎

By LOOI SUE-CHERN BALIK PULAU: The police have arrested three Malaysians and two Indonesians and confiscated about 8kg of ganja in Sungai Ara in Bayan Lepas ...

Give Priority To Small Projects, Says Backbencher

Bernama - ‎Mar 11, 2009‎

Datuk Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) and Mohd Yusmadi Mohd Yusoff (PKR-Balik Pulau) called on the government to ensure that the RM60 billion allocation would ...

Guan Eng thanks Najib for money, then asks where it will come from

The Malaysian Insider - ‎Mar 11, 2009‎

... such as the proposed RM500 million halal hub in Balik Pulau and Batu Kawan; RM200 million loan for its Heritage Rehabilitation Plan in Georgetown as a ...

‘Datuk Kabi’ hearing on June 24 and 30

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 10, 2009‎

By K. KASTURI DEWI BALIK PULAU: A magistrate’s court has fixed June 24 and 30 to hear two charges against C. Kamaleshwaran, popularly known as “Datuk Kabi,” ...

5 Rapid Penang depots more than sufficient, says exco man

New Straits Times - ‎Mar 9, 2009‎

Four of its depots are on the island, in Sungai Nibong, Lorong Kulit, Tanjung Bunga and Balik Pulau while the one on the mainland is in Butterworth. ...

Plumber allegedly beat daughter

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 9, 2009‎

Balik Pulau OCPD Supt Mohd Hatta Mohd Zain said initial investigations revealed that the father might have beaten his four-month-old baby girl when he could ...

RapidPenang: No depot site, no 200 extra buses

New Straits Times - ‎Mar 6, 2009‎

The five depots RapidPenang are at Lorong Kulit, Tanjung Bungah, Sungai Nibong and Balik Pulau on the island and one in Butterworth. ...

Dead newborn found dumped in drain

AsiaOne - ‎Mar 4, 2009‎

By TAN SIN CHOW BALIK PULAU, MALAYSIA: A newborn baby boy with his umbilical cord still intact was found dead in a drain at KM55.3 of Jalan Teluk Bahang ...

Malaysia Star

Ying Ying’s mum to face two drug trials

Malaysia Star - ‎Mar 4, 2009‎

BALIK PULAU: Although the case of lodging a false missing person’s report about her dead daughter is now behind her, former sales executive Jess Teh Hooi ...

Former MP-contentest for Balik Pulau made as sole woman in UMNO Supreme Council Member

Malaysia Today's Winner and Losers - Day 2

"Datuk Norraesah Mohamad, the former banker was told by Abdullah that she would be appointed to the Cabinet if she won the Balik Pulau parliamentary constituency on March 8 2008. She lost and has been flirting with political oblivion till today, becoming the only woman to win a seat on the powerful Supreme Council."

More:

Norraesah Sole Woman In MT

Bernama - ‎6 hours ago‎

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Bernama) -- Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad, who was the only women elected into Umno's Supreme Council (MT) in the party's polls today, ...

Malaysia Star

Shahrir: Count me out

Malaysia Star - ‎6 hours ago‎

The only woman elected into the supreme council, Senator Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad, said she was disappointed that the delegates seemed to have “forgotten” ...

WA today

Dream Team For Najib

Bernama - ‎6 hours ago‎

Veteran Supreme Councl member Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad will be the only rose among the thorns in the council. Well-known film director and actor Senator ...

Change Malaysians believe in The Malaysian Insider

Winners and Losers The Malaysian Insider

Death by (Loan) Sharks at the Beach

BALIK PULAU: A tourist had a shock when he stumbled upon a body that was partially buried in the sand on the Teluk Bahang beach.

V. Rajendram, 50, who was taking a stroll at 3am, said the man was still breathing when he tried to pull him out.

“There was smell of blood. Since I feared that I might cause more injuries, I immediately informed the police,” he said.

The victim, identified as Lee Hoay Chin, 53, died when police arrived at the scene.

Crime scene investigation: Police removing the body from the beach.

He is believed to have been drinking alone at the beach when he was set upon by assailants.

Police found Lee’s wallet nearby with only his MyKad in it.

Three liquor bottles, packets of peanuts, other food and a handphone, believed to belong to Lee, were found nearby.

Police said at least two people had attacked Lee and buried him.

State CID chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Wan Abdullah Tuanku Said, who visited the scene, said investigations showed that Lee’s back was hit with a hard object.

“There are injuries on the right side of his body but we have to wait for a post mortem to ascertain the cause of death,” he said.

SAC Wan Abdullah said the motive of the murder was still unclear and police were looking at robbery or financial disputes as possible causes.

Police have yet to contact the victim’s family.

Newsmen who went to the address stated in the MyKad at Bukit Mertajam found the door locked and sprayed with red paint.

Neighbours claimed that Lee could have been set upon by loan sharks due to his financial problems.

SOURCE: The Star (Ann Tan) - Man found buried at beach

Blog Bash jana ilmu IT Balik Pulau - Sinar Harian (24mar09)

Di bawah ialah imbasan daripada artikel yang diterbitkan dalam akhbar Sinar Harian edisi Utara di bahagian "Tanjung 2" (mukasurat U21), hari ini, Selasa 24 MAC 2009.

Berikut ialah teks penuh dari laman Web Sinar Harian tersebut:

BALIK PULAU - Masyarakat digalak agar bukan sahaja celik IT, tetapi mempelajari dengan lebih mendalam mengenai kecanggihan teknologi pengkomputeran yang boleh membawa keuntungan jika menggunakan saluran yang betul.

Kenyataan ini diakui oleh Timbalan Pengerusi Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSBP) Nasir Sobri.

Beliau yang ditemui pada Forum Blog Bash 09@Penang City berkata, penggunaan Internet terutamanya blog dapat membangunkan sesebuah komuniti mahupun penempatan agar hubungan antara kawasan akan lebih berkembang.

“Kita akan dapat mengembangkan sesebuah komuniti dan kampung dengan hanya menggunakan blog sahaja.

“Dengan adanya program seumpama ini, penduduk akan mendapat pengetahuan dan manfaat untuk membangunkan perniagaan, meningkatkan jualan dan menggunakan kecanggihan IT sebagai punca pendapatan,” katanya.

Program selama sehari itu menggabungkan forum, seminar dan bengkel mengenai laman web teknologi media di Dewan Balora Mastika dan dirasmikan Pengerusi MPUD-DBDPP dan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Pulau Betong, Muhamad Farid Saad.

Program itu yang bertemakan Peranan dan Penggunaan Media Baru Dalam Pembangunan Ekonomi dan Sosial Setempat telah dihadiri lebih 70 peserta dari Baik Pulau dan sekitarnya.

Peserta didedahkan dengan penggunaan laman web terkini seperti Facebook dan Twitter.

“Ia adalah program pertama yang memperkenalkan penggunaan Twitter, iaitu sebuah laman web ‘social microsharing’ yang menjadi kegilaan masyarakat global kini.

“Penggunaan laman web ini merangkumi 10 juta terutamanya dari Amerika Syarikat, Korea, Jepun dan Australia.

Penggunaan di Malaysia juga semakin meningkat dan ini adalah salah satu platform untuk memperkenalkannya kepada umum,” kata Nasir.

Kita akan dapat membimbing masyarakat setempat bagi memastikan pengetahuan IT dapat didalami untuk mewujudkan ahli perniagaan berilmu pengetahuan terutamanya kaum Bumiputera,” katanya.

Ahli panel yang berpengalaman luas dalam bidang teknologi maklumat dan bidang perniagaan turut terlibat dalam memberikan pandangan.

Antaranya ialah Pengurus Besar [Bahagian Pembangunan Usahawan Teknologi] Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC) dan penjaga MSC Malaysia, agensi kerajaan di bawah Kementerian Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi (MOSTI) Roslan Bakri Zakaria dan Pengurus E- Perhubungan Awam Yayasan Kemajuan Sosial Malaysia (YKSM), Elia Mastura Kamaruddin.

Program yang julung kalinya diadakan ini telah dianjurkan KUSBP dan Pusat Internet Desa Balik Pulau (PIDBP) iaitu inisiatif daripada Kementerian Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi.

Ia turut mendapat sokongan daripada Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang dan Technopreneur Development Division (TeDD) of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC/MSC Malaysia) dan Southwest District of Penang Council for Entrepreneur Development (MPUD-DBDPP).

Untuk maklumat lanjut tentang individu-individu yang disebut, rujuk album Blog Bash @ Penang City di Facebook.

Untuk video, laporan dan kandungan seminar & form, rujuk laman Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau.

Untuk mengaktifkan komuniti anda, hubungi Skuad Cakna di kawasan anda.

WebVan/Peapod the Balik Pulau way... (clicking their way for groceries from village homes)

BALIK PULAU: Housewives have a new reason to be tech-savvy – to buy poultry, fish and vegetables with a click of the mouse. They can soon do their marketing online on a website that’s being set up for them by the Balik Pulau Village Initiative Co-operative Bhd.

Pulau Betong assemblyman Muhamad Farid Saad said the co-operative hoped the website would be up and running in two months.

He said people could order the produce online and pick up their shopping at stalls set up in designated areas.

“The co-operative is currently selling these items, which are especially popular with students, in front of the Universiti Sains Malaysia’s mosque from 4pm to 6.30pm from Tuesdays to Fridays.

“Once the website is up, we hope to capture the market of those staying in apartments and flats around Balik Pulau before venturing to other areas in the state,” said Muhamad Farid, who is also the co-operative’s executive adviser, after launching the Blog Bash ’09 forum yesterday.

Asked what was the purpose of getting people to buy the essential items online when they could go to the nearest market, he said there were many people who had no time to go to the market.

“We are helping vegetable and livestock farmers and fishermen in Balik Pulau as well, as the co-operative purchases the items from them direct and sells to the public.

“There will be no extra charge, and the items will be sold according to the market price. We want to make things convenient in this Information, Communications and Technology era,” he added.

Muhamad Farid also said the forum was a good initiative to educate people in rural areas on ICT.

The event was organised by the Balik Pulau Social Entrepreneurs Club with the support of the Balik Pulau Rural Internet Centre (under the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry).

The programme themed “Community Media for Local Socio-Economic Development” was held to acculturate the local community with entrepreneurship skills and ICT knowledge in order to generate more progressive entrepreneurs.

SOURCE: The Star - Manjit Kaur, "Balik Pulau’s online marketing bid"

YouTube scenes and actions from Lik Lau, Penang (March 2009)

The secret beach:



Camping @ White Resort (National Service Training Venue):



'Merempit' at the treachourous hill road:



Cruising at Teluk Bahang curvy road:



Engineering work by students including from KKTM Balik Pulau:



Student memories from MRSM Balik Pulau (2006/2007):



Frontyard landscape completion for Hospital Balik Pulau:

PRESS RELEASE: Blog Bash 2009-MSC Malaysia @PenangCity (Sun, 22 MAR 2009

Contact: Cik Sarina bt. Ishak
T/F: +60 4 866-2706
M: +60 19 437-0147
E: ena@balikpulau.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RURAL FOLKS TO JOIN THE MALAYSIA’S 5% ELITES VIA ‘BLOG BASH’ – KNOWLEDGE-SHARING @ KONGSI, BALIK PULAU, PENANG

Social Entrepreneurs Club of Balik Pulau Launching Campaign via Rural Internet Centre on Sunday, 22 MAR 2009, To Not Just Bridge Digital Divide But Push Mass Local Empowerment Via New Participatory Media/Web 2.0 Technologies

While most villagers, or even urbaners are enjoying their day-off on Sunday morning, and folks in Balik Pulau congregating at the weekly “Agro Market” (Pasar Tani) near the local Rapid Penang bus depot, as many as a hundred internet and new media enthusiasts including the local village folks will congregate not too far away near a K-Komuniti Building to share and learn on how to collaborate using high-tech Web 2.0 tools, including Facebook, Twitter and Google Docs, which are rather unheard of by more than 95% Malaysians as of to-date.

Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSBP) with support from the multiple award-winning Pusat Internet Desa of Balik Pulau (PIDBP), an initiative by the Malaysian Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication (KTAK) is organizing a full-day program ‘Blog Bash 2009’, themed “Community Media for Local Socio-economic Development” in the 3-in-1 forms of forum, seminar and workshop on Web 2.0 media technologies this Sunday, 22 MAR 2009 at Dewan Balora Mastika (next to K-Komuniti/JKKK Kongsi Building), Balik Pulau, Pulau Pinang.

The first-ever held open program is in collaboration with Technopreneur Development Division (TeDD) of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC/MSC Malaysia), Penang Association of ICT Entrepreneurs (ICT Penang) and the Southwest District of Penang’s Council for Entrepreneur Development (MPUD-DBDPP).

Yang Berhormat Sr. Hj Muhamad Farid bin Hj Saad, Chairman of MPUD-DBDPP who is also the present ADUN for Pulau Betong, Balik Pulau and Advisor to PID Balik Pulau, is scheduled to officiate the event and initiative launch starting at 8:30am.

Pn. Siti Huraizah bt. Abdul Rahman, Honorary Secretary for the newly formed KUSBP who also currently serves as the resident supervisor for PID Balik Pulau said, “We want to empower the local community with cutting-edge means to elevate everyone’s potentials, not just for them to be ‘celik IT’ (IT-literate). Then only can every Malaysian no matter where each chooses to reside, can take advantage of various programs that MSC Malaysia is making available for many years now.”

Siti Huraizah also pointed out that the tiny PID Balik Pulau situated at the annex of the local Pos Malaysia office has provided various IT services to more than 10,000 local residents over the last few years, of which, over 1,200 has registered as its members.

The morning sessions will include presentations on the trends, evolution and other studies on both traditional and new mass media, and a discussion forum to be participated by all four quadrants of the society – policy makers and government agencies, business/industry, academic and social NGO. Among confirmed participants for the forum include En. Roslan Bakri Zakaria (General Manager of TeDD-MDeC, caretaker of the MSC Malaysia implementation), En. Rohizam Yusoff (Penang-born CEO of VirtualMalaysia.com Sdn Bhd, a multiple award-winning MSC-status company), En. Mohd Ansari Abdul Rahman (Vice Chairman of TechBiz Penang, a business cluster under InvestPenang), Pn Elia Mastura Kamaruddin (E-Public Relation Manager for Yayasan Kemajuan Sosial Malaysia - YKSM), and academic representatives from regional educational institutions. En. Adenan Sayan, a Balik Pulau “boy” who now markets herbal products to worldwide buyers from his growing Klang Valley base will also be joining the forum as a panel member.

To engage attendees, the afternoon sessions of Blog Bash 2009 @ Balik Pulau is crafted to run at least four parallel workshops on specific Web 2.0 tools including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WikiMedia and Google Docs. Other topics considered, based on request by participants which can be submitted while registering at http://kusbp.pp.my (official website for KUSBP) include among others, ecommerce-related dropshipping, Paypal online-payment, trading on eBay , AliBaba, Lelong, Mudah, 1K etc. Participants will later be able to draft their impromptu presentation on chosen topics for public-sharing and future collaboration.

En. Nasir Sobri, Honorary Secretary for ICT Penang, who also currently serves as the Vice Chairman of KUSBP commented, “We are very much pleased to work with ‘Rakan-rakan PID’, or also known as RaPID, to connect entrepreneurs in the ICT industry with the local community in knowledge-sharing events like this.”

ICT Penang’s main agenda, according to Nasir, is to acculturate the local community with entrepreneurship skills and ICT knowledge in order to generate more progressive entrepreneurs, especially among the Bumiputra residents of Penang.

“As in the past, we have had the pleasure to work with many other organizations including Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), MCA ICT Resource Centre (MiRC), Warisan Global (WG), Rural Internet Centre (PID) of Balik Pulau, YKSM and MDEC particularly during the recent annual Global Entrepreneurship Week event back in November 2008. This year, we plan to work with many more organizations especially with academic institutions for the week of 16-22 November 2009 to cultivate the culture of entrepreneurship, especially among our youths, fresh graduates etc, and enable these entrepreneurs to generate local employments to counter the present global financial crisis.” Nasir added.

Blog Bash 2009 happens to be one of the first events in Malaysia to include Twitter, a social micro-sharing web service as one of its focus topic. Although Twitter has accelerated to be the fastest growing community on the Web throughout 2008 with over 1300% annual growth according to the latest Nielsen Research report (GlobalFaces, March 2009), accumulating well over ten million users especially from the United States, Korea, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia among others, Twitter users in Malaysia currently number to no more than 5,000 as of March 2009, but is growing fast in the past two months of January and February 2009 -- Amazon.com’s Alexa web traffic statistics shows that web traffic has jumped four-fold globally (or at least two-fold in Malaysia), for the twitter.com website in just the two months of Jan-Feb 2009.

Participants in this Blog Bash (named after a favorite online activity in Malaysia being the nation placed at the fourth position globally for the interest on the word “blog”, just behind Vietnam, France and Singapore -- according to the Google Trends web search service) who are interested to explore avenues to turn their IT passion into entrepreneurial ventures will be offered guidance accordingly, in collaboration with MDEC among others, including via the “MSC Malaysia Innotech Interstate – Northern” event, the first of the four legs national stops, set to start three days afterwards on the 25th and 26th of March 2009, at the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) office complex in Bayan Baru, Pulau Pinang.

KUSBP is accepting registration for Blog Bash 2009 at its http://usahawan.balikpulau.org website. To ensure effective sessions, the afternoon technical workshop is limited to 50 first registrants only, based on online registration, open until 6pm on Saturday, 21 MAR 2009. For assistance, contact Project Blog Bash 2009 team at (04) 866-2706 (phone/fax) or email to kusbp@pp.my

###

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview please contact Kelab Usahawan Sosial Secretariat @ Pusat Internet Desa Balik Pulau at (04) 866-2706 or e-mail to kusbp@pp.my

Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSBP)

Social Entrepreneurs Club (KUS) of Balik Pulau as with the other similar clubs at each of the 42 Rural Internet Centres (PID – nationwide ‘telecentre’ establishments by the Malaysian Government via the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication - KTAK), was established in August 2008 to enable PID in offering more beneficial services to the wider local community, beyond with just Internet access and related telecommunication services. The mechanism of KUS is to offer sustainability model to PIDs, which are being progressively shifted from the government-supported model towards community-supported model as with many other telecentres around the world. Hence, although KUS Balik Pulau is a not-for-profit entity, it has initiated several business ventures to self-sustain itself, while at the same time offers a platform for existing and would-be entrepreneurs to network and collaborate for common benefits towards positive, local socio-economic developments. More information about KUS Balik Pulau can be obtained at its blog-centric website, http://kusbp.pp.my or from the PID-based secretariat via phone/fax at +60 4 866-2706. Honorary Secretary (2008-) for KUS Balik Pulau, Pn. Siti Huraizah bt. Abdul Rahman can be contacted at +60 19 579-6575 or ija@balikpulau.org


Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang (ICT Penang)

Penang Association of ICT Entrepreneurs (ICT Penang), as registered with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) Malaysia since 2007 is a not-for-profit Penang-based society dedicated for improving socio-economic status of Malay entrepreneurs and companies. Though, its memberships are open to include Malay-centric organizations (with 51% or more ownership or memberships) and Malay individuals located anywhere in the world. A committee board consisting of eight business-owning members engages ICT Penang in various business ventures and ICT acculturation activities. As of March 2009, ICT Penang has registered over 200 members from various industries and professions (including 58 companies), and has successfully ran various activities involving hundreds of individuals as well as participated in various regional, national and global events. Through its continuous and aggressive activities, ICT Penang intends to grow its membership to surpass 400 by 2010 (not including free memberships through its community portals such as TechPenang.com or Akademi.Asia training programmes). More information is available at its blog website, http://ictpenang.com or from its secretariat via phone at +60 4 250-3015 (Pn. Sharifah Suenan) or fax at +60 4 262 9903. Honorary Secretary (2007-2009) for ICT Penang, En. Nasir Sobri can be contacted at +60 16 416-2747 or nasir@1oasis.net

REGISTER TODAY, AT LATEST BY 6PM, Saturday, 21 MAR 2009 at HTTP://KUSBP.PP.MY

Just RM10 fee, to learn from EXPERTS from the Government, Business/Industry, Academic and Social NGO, including three experts from Kuala Lumpur!

FREE FOOD AND CERTIFICATES FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS. LIMITED TO FIRST 50 REGISTRANTS!

Biggest TALK on Blogs & Web 3.0 in Balik Pulau, Penang!

For more information and registration, register by or before Friday, 20 MAR 2009 at the official website for Social Entrepreneurs' Club of Balik Pulau (KUSBP).

YB Sr. Hj Muhamad Farid bin Hj Saad is scheduled officiate the event, starting at 8:30 am on Sunday, 22 MAR 2009, at Dewan Balora (next to K-Kommunity/JKKK Kongsi Building), Balik Pulau, Penang.

Panels for Forum on "Role of (New) Mass Media for Local Socio-economic Development" include experts from all four sectors of the community - policy makers, academic, industry and social NGO.

Learn how the new media is not just for "goBlogs", but for Trillion Ringgits worth of economy within the next few years - How not be left asleep, passed by the wave of Globalization!

This event is brought to you in collaboration with the Council for Entrepreneur Development - Southwest District of Penang (MPUD-DBD), Technopreneur Development Division of the Malaysian Multimedia Development Corporation (TeDD-MDeC) and Penang Association of ICT Entrepreneurs (ICT Penang).

This event is a Prelude to MSC Malaysia/NEF Netbash & Innotech 2009, scheduled for 25 MAR 2009 @ PDC.

Use your Barcode Reader (also available on selected mobile phones) to transfer the event details to your mobile devices. Learn more about above QR code at WikiPedia.

WORKSHOP IS LIMITED TO ONLY 50 FIRST REGISTRANTS! Just RM10/participant. REGISTER TODAY!

Final touches to D'Mara

Putting the gazebos back...

The almost completed renovation on the formerly Dataran Tuah (to be rebranded to D'mara)

600+/5,000 bloggers in this small town? (in a Million Bloggers Nation?)

Think Balik Pulau is small?

After all, there are not even a single local TV/radio station, a local newspaper, a major mass publication (that reaches 10,000 or more readers, besides the national or sub-national ones) and not even taxis in Balik Pulau - the only public transportation modes in Balik Pulau are the new government-owned Rapid Penang and the slowly dying private Yellow Bus busses.

Still, the small district-town of around 30,000 (based on the eligible voters number at ~23,000 for the state legislative areas for Pulau Betong and Teluk Bahang in the Balik Pulau parliamentary area, NOT including the one other slighly larger state legislative area of Bayan Lepas) residing in mostly village houses (as there are currently zero hi-rises in this area, to-date) boasts well over 600 profiles in the blogging platform (Google) Blogger.com alone. - A search on "Bayan Lepas" alone would return a result of ~4,000 profiles.

i.e. What connects this remote Balik Pulau directly, and fast, to the larger world 24/7, instead of planes or express buses/trains are the Mobile and DSL broadbands, and Internet dialups connectivity enabling its residents to mass-reach the entire world via self-publishing, in the convenient forms of blogs, microblogs and plethora other social media sites.

That's at least 600 online publications by residents of Balik Pulau (as each blogger maintains at least one blog site), or as many as 5,000 online publications in total, if to include the Bayan Lepas state legislative area (NOT the larger metro-like Bayan Lepas town/city area which would otherwise include most of Bayan Baru, Bukit Gedong, Pantai Jerejak, Batu Uban and Bukit Jambul too).

At this count, 1 in about 50 BP-ites blog, or as high as 1-in-10 in the Bayan Lepas area.

By the way, this ratio does not take into account, bloggers who publish on other platforms such as Wordpress.com, Friendster.com, LiveJournal, Blog.com, Blogstarz etc. or at self-hosted domains using independent Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Wordpress, TypePad, Movable Type, Joomla etc.

The Blogging Nation

However, these numbers are considerably lower than at other more developed and dense areas in Penang, such as George Town alone that boasts nearly 30,000 Blogger profiles alone out of about 50,000 in the state of Pulau Pinang, and Kuala Lumpur with well over 200,000 profiles, of which there could be as many as ONE MILLION BLOGGERS in Malaysia - As many as 1 in every 30 Malaysians blog!

The graph and ranking list below from Google Insight based on web searches for the term "blog" since 2004, shows a steady increase, and currently place Malaysia at #3 in the world, just behind Viet Nam and France, ahead of her closest neighboring countries, Singapore and Indonesia at #4 and #9 respectively:

The larger 1,000,000 number also coincides with total Malaysia-based profiles on the fast-growing Facebook social media/networking platform as of today (1,054,260 as of March 2, 2009). However, a search on Facebook pulls only about 30 profiles with "Balik Pulau" as user's hometown, although the maximum result of 500 was resulted due to a high number of Facebook users having studied in Balik Pulau-based educational institutions -- Perhaps, most Facebookers a.k.a. the elite Malaysian Internet users prefers to put their workplace city as their hometown in their online social profile. A search on the fast-growing microblogging or microsharing platform, Twitter pulls even much smaller result.

Now imagine the 4-million or so Friendster users (who are mostly teenagers and pre-graduation higher education students) finally starting to migrate by the masses to Facebook (which is currently being participated by less than 8% under-18 years olds) and adopt the microblogging culture (which is fast-growingly popular in the United States, Japan and Europe), Malaysians will be having as many as four million blogs and microblogs in perhaps, a four-year time, i.e. by the next political General Election in Malaysia (by or before 2013)!

Will we be ready by then?

Will our next Prime Minister have at least 100,000 supporters on his/her Facebook Fan page, or at least 100,000 followers to his/her Twitter account?

How about our local (Balik Pulau/Penang - is there any? at all??) brands, heck even Malaysia brands such as Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, Proton, Petronas, Berjaya, Genting, 1901, Jobstreet etc.?

Consider that Mr. Barack Obama, the newly elected President of the United States has more than five-million supporters (psst. ahead of the Coca-Cola and Nutella brands at near 3-million each, or celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo, Rihana and Michael Phelps at over 2-million each) on his Facebook Fan page, and 340,278 followers on his Twitter account as of March 1, 2009. Meanwhile, our Prime-Minister-in-Waiting YAB Dato' Seri Najib bin Razak only has 113 Twitter followers and 703 Facebook supporters as of today while the political Opposition Leader, YB Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim isn't too far ahead at just 187 Twitter followers and 17,500 Facebook fans. (The most popular Malaysian on Facebook today is the very vocal former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, who also maintains the most popular individual blog in Malaysia at chedet.com - established since May 2008, with well over 60,000 supporters on Facebook)

Will say 200,000+ bloggers and microbloggers in Penang, including at least 10,000 in Balik Pulau alone, by 2013, enable creations and elevations of our first of local (Penang-originated) brands?

Glocal Media/Brand

And why not start with the Media itself! (for the local brand, I meant). Who's out there to take on this challenge, and initiatives? Who will work on our first, truly local daily/weekly newspaper for Penang, even in an online form if the printed form seems to be enormously impossible? Who will start our own truly local radio and TV stations, in competition to the federal-government owned RTM's Mutiara.fm?

Are the few journalists for Sinar Harian covering the five regions of Penang, putting the entire Balik Pulau and Southwest District of Penang Island into "Tanjung 2" enough for us? Is The Star's "North" Metro edition covering the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia all the way down south to Ipoh, Perak (some 100+ kilometres away!) good enough for us?

Our universities - is Apex-elevated USM with about half-a billion Ringgit in additional funding for the next few years, up to the challenge? How about UiTM, WOU or other major Penang-based higher learning institutions? Perhaps the Tourism University that's supposed to open in Balik Pulau within the next few years?

Who will start producing podcasts, and live streaming of media coverage in Balik Pulau? Heck, the entire Penang? Will the public state/island-wide Wi-Fi project that is to be rolled out by the Penang State government this year enable these local media initiatives?

(For certain, the present 3GB & 5GB hi-speed download cap for Maxis & Celcom 3G broadband services that throttles "Unlimited Data Plan" customers' speed to under well under 100Kbps CANNOT accomodate these high bandwidth media distribution!)

Yesterday, a major conference on branding called "Branding Malaysia" was held in Kuala Lumpur.Was it just another self-congratulatory celebration for the 1% large companies - Celcom, Media Prima etc., which are mostly government-linked, and the few SMEs out of the 19% businesses in Malaysia being cared the most by the government's MIDF, SMIDEC, MATRADE and many other acronyms you've heard so far, while average Malaysians can't even get RM10,000 loans to start or improve micro businesses (being rejected by the banks by the 100,000s!)?

Wake up Malaysia! Wake up Penangites! Wake up BP-ites!

Let us be the media producing nation, not just a behemoth media consuming one.

(Malaysia for instance is ranked among the largest web traffic contributor to US-based Friendster at over 10% and to several entertainment/sociopolitical blogs, and all ten most visited websites for Malaysians are foreign-based).

Think Local Brand... Think Micro! I like the tagline by Pistachio Consulting, whose Laura Fitton is completing a Twitter for Dummies book for August 2009 publication: "Micro Sharing. Macro Results".

Perhaps only then, our most popular social media entities that we can be proud of would be of local entertainers, brands, products, athletes, companies etc. instead of just politicians from the two ugly sides.

Power of the (Mass, Social) Media in the hands of the People....


The amateur writer, @WoNoJo has constantly been one of the first few thousand Malaysian Internet/email marketer, webmasters, bloggers, micro bloggers, group moderators etc. and has been writing casually on the new media since 1992. ie. an early new media adopter, but continuously struggles as a self-financed entrepreneur for many years due to his hesitance to emigrate off his birthplace island that is over 300 km away from the nation's capital city. He likes Numbers but has been horrible at Finance. He is campaigning for and working on several micro initiatives to promote and establish local media to empower the people (who are mostly being disregarded from the four decades of over-federalization in Malaysia), with microworking capabilities and economic freedom. He 'hentam keromo' blogs and tweets at http://wonojo.com (since mid 2007). He has over 666 followers (and counting fast) in his 'cult' (sorry, not applicable for registration with the Registrar of Societies or the Ministry of Information) as of 3/3/09.