UPDATED VERSION. After reading this blog entry from Jakarta, David Sasaki emailed to clarify on the Taiwanese bloggers to emulate their Chilean counterparts in contronting their presidential candidates.
He also pointed to "an interesting parallel between Taiwanese and Malaysian blogger activism".
"Earlier this year, Taiwanese bloggers organized to save a leprosy sanatorium. Now it is a group of Malaysian bloggers trying to do the same thing," he added, pointing to valleyofhope.blogspot.com which showcases the community's struggle to save the Sungai Buluh leprosy sanatorium.
Interestingly, David he learned about the two campaigns to save leprosy sanatoriums via a blog in Hong Kong, interlocals.net.
"What a globalised world!" David exclaimed.
Details of David's updates have been included in the second portion of this blog entry.
Original Posting
I reckon those who didn't make it to the ALL-BLOGS Forum to hear David Sasaki speak on Blogs and Digital Democracy must be puzzled with the terms FEAR FACTOR and TIPPING POINT, and juxtaposition brought forth by the meanings between the two phrases.
SITuATION IN MALAYSIA: Fear Factor vs. Tipping Point... LensaPress photo by Paul Choo
As I had observed earlier, Fear Factor and Tipping Point could well be David's assessment of the situation in Malaysia, that fear is gripping the country and that people may stop speaking up.
That is because, throughout David's 4-day visit to Malaysia and holding eyeball-to-eyeball conversations with the bloggers, journalists, think-tank, lawyers, human rights activists and the laymen, FEAR was the buzzword that popped up repeatedly in various contexts.
David, who travels extensively across the world in the course of his work -- literally from hotels to hotels and backpacks to backpacks -- still believes that there is great potential for bloggers in Malaysia not only to expand and become more influential but also to promote the transition from the ‘digital democracy’ of cyberspace to actual democracy in society.
“But it’s going to take a lot of work, a lot of commitment, and it’s also going to take less fear factor and more ‘tipping point’,” he said.
Fauwaz Abdul Aziz of Malaysiakini, who covered the event, has a good record of what David shared with his audience and I listened well to most of the dialogue that circled around the blogging scene in Malaysia today.
Let me quote Fauwaz and Malaysiakini on this:
The term ‘tipping factor’, Sasaki explained, was coined to describe the state of near-paralysis or hesitation he and his friends experienced as teenagers whenever they were about to dive off a particular rock into a river - 40 feet below - they used to swim in.
None of them would initially want to be the first to jump off that rock - to go beyond that tipping point - into the air and plunge 40 feet into the water, said Sasaki. It was only when one of them overcame that fear that the rest followed.
Comparing this to blogging in Malaysia, Sasaki said the interests and welfare of bloggers demand that there be a critical mass of bloggers to take the plunge by embarking on blogging projects to promote democracy and government accountability.
“I can tell that, in Malaysia, there’s a big fear factor when it comes to blogging: ‘If I write something, am I going to lose my job? Is it going to prevent me from getting a job in the future? Am I going to be detained by some authority and questioned? What’s going to happen to me?’ he said.
He noted that there were many organisations - including his - willing to fund grants worth millions of dollars on blogging projects that could serve as tools to promote democratic practices.
“Blogging, podcasting, and citizen media has not reached that tipping point in Malaysia because there aren’t enough people jumping off the rock. We need a concerted effort and a lot of people who are motivated to apply for some of these grants - who are willing to take the risk.
“If there are enough people to do it, then there’s not going to be any arrests because you have that critical mass,” he added.
How governments approach blogs and citizens who speak up
David gave firmer context to the notions of Fear Factor and Tipping Point by showing how countries like Burma, Barbados, Egypt, Malaysia (yes, Malaysia!), Turkey, and Thailand have sought to scare bloggers from competing against the states’ monopoly over news and information.
On the other hand, bloggers in several other nations have succeeded in engaging the government and persuading its officials to embrace blogging as a medium of communication.
Continue reading "'Fear Factor' & 'Tipping Point' in blogging" »
