But why the sparsely populated rural area the size of half of Pulau Pinang (Penang Island), or roughly 20% of Pulau Pinang state, but with well under 5% of the Malaysian state's population?
Why not the larger, and presumably more popular "Penang" brand, or heck, just "Malaysia" brand as agreesively pushed by the government of Malaysia for decades now since the "Malaysia, Incorporated" vision first introduced in early 80s by Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister? Or "1 Malaysia" perhaps, as re-introduced by Dato' Seri Mohd Najib bin Tun Razak, present (sixth) Prime Minister of this fast developing nation?Obviously, the two other, larger geographical brands are more popular, at least as shown in Google Search frequency.... Why micro is better?
BECAUSE GROWTH IS BETTER THAN PRESENT SIZE (and "micro" is trending, especially in developed countries like the US, France and Japan - microchip, microblogging, microworking, micropreneuring etc.!):
Consider that along with "Malaysia", the two most popular Malaysian destinations, "Kuala Lumpur" and "Penang" (versus other cities, or even states in Malaysia - yes including Perak, despite the 2009 political brouhahas!) have been stagnant on people's interest level, based on the five-year search record provided by Google Insight. In fact, in the case of "Kuala Lumpur", the its popularity has even tanked over the years, perhaps due to recent shift of federal government's administrative centre off to Putrajaya, and some urban competitions from neighboring Subang Jaya, Klang, Ampang, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam etc.
In the case of Penang, even Penangites seems to not show much interest of its own, rather too big of a place to call home, despite it being in some of the most prestigious list of travel destinations - most people in Balik Pulau can hardly relate much of happenings in Kepala Batas, Bukit Mertajam or Nibong Tebal and vice versa.
Even sadder, George Town, despite it being elevated with humongous interest by both Penang State Government and Federal Government of Malaysia to make nurture it more as a favorite travel destination following the UNESCO's Heritage Site status in 2008, also continues to drop in web search popularity.On the other hand, the parliamentary areas of Penang like Bukit Mertajam, Kepala Batas, Balik Pulau, Bayan Baru, Nibong Tebal and Gelugor are showing steady increase in popularity:
Back to Balik Pulau, the hottest news headlines have been as follows:-
And stuff that interest people so far have been education (MRSM & Politeknik Balik Pulau) and travel (maps) - two areas that have been focussed on and can continue to be further explored to make Balik Pulau an even more enticing destinations for domestic and international visitors, students and tourists alike.
Betting on the "micro trend", and our love for Balik Pulau, if you have not heard, our own (local) Media Project has been in the works, following the recent Blog Bash event on March the 23rd:-
Besides online blogs and various web sites at balikpulau.org domain, a print periodicals, dubbed the "InfoBiz" (geared towards connecting businesses and the local communities), will be launched in July 2009 for regular publication and distribution to at least 20% households of Balik Pulau's Teluk Bahang, Pulau Betong/Kongsi Town and Bayan Lepas/Teluk Kumbar area (not including Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone).- Facebook: Join us in the fast growing Balik Pulau Group (from ~7 netizens after nearly two years since its inception, to over 70 today - a ten times of growth in less than two month since our Blog Bash event!) - Network for business, or just for fun! Who knows if we'll be throwing in another Durian Bash soon...
Twitter: Say hi to @BalikPulau on the biggest chat room (or whatever you want to call it) the world has ever seen! We somehow have over 600 followers already, from various corners of the world, in just three months since inception.
More coming soon to your mailboxes, both online and offline... (be sure to register with us! Or you'll miss all the fun, and the world will pass over you...)
Interested?
Contact folks at Kelab Usahawan Sosial, d/a Pusat Internet Desa, Bangunan Pejabat Pos Malaysia Berhad, 11000 Balik Pulau, Penang (phone/fax: 04-866-2706)
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