Media Penang roots out...

Besides the one page coverage mostly dedicated to mostly Balik Pulau parliamentary areas (inclusive of Pulau Betong, Teluk Bahang & Bayan Lepas) in Sinar Harian daily publication dubbed "Tanjung 2", truly local or dedicated publications still lack in this particular region or even the entire state of Pulau Pinang and perhaps most areas outside Klang Valley, except small scale ones within sporadic schools and other organisations.

With the year of 2010 being gazetted as the "Year of Creativity and Innovation" by the government of Malaysia, it's wise to recognize how Malaysians are generally not so creative and innovative as we'd otherwise be led to believe. This was among others highlighted in a small CEOs meetup called "CEO Breakfast" inaugurally organized in Penang by Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) & MAD, Inc and supported by Multimedia Development of Malaysia (MDeC/MSC Malaysia), which author also had the privilege to join.

Among contributors to this creativity illness, and later contributed to lack of innovations within our society and local organisations are lack of creative outlets, hence the local media which members of the society can participate in. Instead of joining the fast-moving bandwagon of co-creation trend brought along with the advent of new (social) media during this very decade, many Malaysians are still generally mostly consumers, not producers.

Balik Pulau-based Social Entepreneur Club or "Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUS-BP)" as it's locally known as has recognized this contributing issue, and besides sponsoring in-person dialogue activities, has spearheaded micro-effort of self-publishing. Not limiting its members to online-only interaction via the likes of email, facebook pages, online groups, blogs, chat forums etc, KUSBP has initiated larger reachout especially within the local community presently at only about 5% active Internet usage - a 2,000 copies of 28-page publication dubbed "myUsahawan Global" (MUG09) was released last November 2009 during the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009.

MUG09 was first distributed to over 300 attendees to the GEW-Koridor Utara 2009 launch event at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), officiated by YB Dato' Mukhriz Mahathir, Deputy Minister of International Trade & Industry (MITI). Although MUG09 mainly covers the core efforts and activities by KUS Balik Pulau especially centred at the very region, additional coverage on the GEW 2009 activities in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) areas were also included, and the micro example set in Balik Pulau and respective areas is hoped to be duplicated in other areas throughout northern Malaysia and beyond.

As a continuance, and to start the new year, KUS-BP recently launched its bi-monthly newletter publication, dedicated to its growing members (over 120 as of December 2009) and members of the local communities. The print-version is distributed both in physical and high-quality digital version via social web as detailed at http://usahawan.balikpulau.org/2010/01/berita-kus-1-jan-feb-2010.html

In addition to internal circulation over over 100 and several hundreds more to members of Pusat Internet Desa Balik Pulau (PID-BP), it is hoped that the overall circulation will surpass 1,000 within the few short weeks of its release. Chief editor Nasir who also serves as one of the volunteer committee member explains that the club welcome members to submit creative materials and stories to be included in subsequent releases.

"We hope that KUS can offer a 'free' creative outlet we've been desperately needing all these years, and each contributor and participants can maximize the growing network that KUS has established and will enhance via its huge national network of over 50,000 members and bigger via friendly organisations networks", says Nasir.

It's worth to note also that the not-for-profit distribution of KUSnews (Balik Pulau edition) is not alone in the effort to connect Balik Pulau community. For commercial organisations and more targetted marketing, Koperasi Usahawan Muda Pulau Pinang Bhd (KUMUDA), the fresh local cooperative organisation that was set up via one of KUSBP-sponsored event has been publishing its own periodic advertisement compilation as an alternative to billboard, banners, posters or flyers marketing. In fact, the money-saving booklet named 'InfoBiz' is hoped to help to keep Balik Pulau roads less polluted with eyes-poking ads on roadside trees and structures. For as little as RM60, members of the cooperative or just about anyone can reach thousands in Balik Pulau and beyond (via various social media outlets), hence at the cost of just 'sekupang' (10-sen) per reader!


To obtain copies of above publications visit Pusat Internet Desa Balik Pulau at Bangunan Pejabat Pos Malaysia Bhd (across Maybank and Shell Jalan Balik Pulau, next to Dataran Tuah) during office hours (9 am - 5 pm Monday to Friday except public holidays) or KUMUDA offices including at AMAN-KUMUDA Business Centre at No 4, Ruang Niaga Sri Genting (PERDA - across Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA), Simpang Empat, Balik Pulau during store hours (10 am - 6 pm, everyday except public holidays).

Feel free to also send self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE with 50-sen or more Pos Malaysia stamp) for copies to above address (with "11000" as its postcode).

KuMuDa-InfoBiz002

For enquiries, refer respective websites or facebook pages at http://usahawan.balikpulau.org , http://kusbp.pp.my and http://kumuda.org or call KUSBP & KUMUDA respectively at +60 4-866-2706 and +60 4-866-0098 during normal business hours.