Screenshots

UPDATED VERSION. I am taking my oath as an elected Member of Parliament this morning. The swearing-in of the Members of Parliament is done in batches of foursome. It will be some time before my turn. So, here I am and I blog.

It's amusing to see a sea change two metres away from my seat. They, facing the Speaker, are the ex-Ministers and axed Ministers, namely Ku Li, Ong Ka Ting and that Fat Lady on the front row; and Fong Chan Onn, Azmi Khalid and JJ on the second row.

I am amused to hear several Umno ministers miss/omit the words 'menunaikan kewajipan-kewajipan saya (sebagai yang demikian) dengan JUJUR'.. Not believing my ears, I double checked with Charles Santiago, who sits besides me, and he confirmed what I heard.

Jujur!

UPDATES. Immediately after the Ministers had taken their oath and before the deputy ministers took theirs, MP Karpal Singh alerted the Speaker that some of the Members of Parliament were just sworn in without seeing them raising their hands. The Speaker issued a reminder and the Opposition side thumped the desk.

Not mentioning the words 'dengan jujur', and now no raising the hands when taking oath. Aaah!

MORE UPDATES. When it comes to Karpal's turn around 12.00 noon, he informed the Speaker that, in order not to arouse any objection from the floor, he could only raise his left hand taking oath as his right hand had been inconvenienced due to the accident. The house thumped desk again.

The last MP to take the oath was Ibrahim Ali, an independent candidate from Kelantan who stood on a borrowed ticket as his party platform in GE2008. He turned up in his trademark yellow suit. Ghapur Salleh, MP from Kalabakan, referred to Standing Order 41 by saying that Ibrahim did not wear a lounge suit or baju kebangsaan, hence in breach of the SO. However, the Speaker allowed it as Ibrahim is considered a Calon Bebas.

UPDATES. The seats are not configured for computing to support good posture. It's not very computing friendly as the laptop screen couldn't be open to optimal angle while the height of the table-top will hurt computer users in the long run.

The bandwidth, networked with Cat-5 cable, is reasonably efficient circa 1.5Mbps, though I would prefer a soft cable for better flexibility.

But latching onto the Internet is not just about blogging. I would want to Google on-the-spot if any of the Ministers are misleading the House with wrong facts. Also, checking Hansard archives would be in a jiffy as the Parliament sitting goes on live.

That's Parliament in the Internet Age.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

I am looking for ( 1 ) Little Birds and ( 2 ) a Research Assistant to help me in my duty as a Member of Parliament.

For the post of Research Assistant, the candidate could be a financial analyst or a journalist at the business desk, strong in English and have a penchant for poring volumes of documents and outputting concise executive summaries. It is a job on flexi-hours, working from remote stations using the Internet, and the candidate will be salaried using part of my MP allowance.

Specifically, I am looking for a person who will help me research on

1. Petronas revenue watch (how much revenue is earned, how much Petronas pays to the federal government, and how much it goes to the rakyat);


2. Independent Power Producers (the likes of Malakoff, Powertek, YTL Power, Genting Sanyen etc) and details on the concessionaire agreements; and


3. the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications (re MCMC and the awarding of various classes of licences, background information of real owners of these MCMC licencees, stunted roll-out of 3G and WiMAX services and implementation of Mobile Numbers Portability... and Dr Halim Shafie.)

You may contact me at my email exclusive for my parliamentary work at jelutong AT jeffooi.com.

The Parliament sits from April 28, 2008.

NOTE: I am slowly phasing out the old mobile number 019-3761397. It has been swarmed with over 500 SMSes and hundreds more missed calls, which HAD accumulated since the campaign period and I had no time to read... though Nokia N95 has the capacity to store such huge volume of data on the handset.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

According to reports in the mainstream media, the newly-appointed Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek was quoted as saying 'the Government will not control bloggers' and, instead, will consider their views and recognise their role in nation building. A meeting with the blogging community is being planned, is that true?

I am not trying to be cheeky, but if Shabery Cheek wants to meet the blogging community, the first person he should call is Rocky Bru, the president of ALL BLOGS (National Alliance of Bloggers).

I said that in China Press today.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. 99.996% became the headlines in today's Sunday Star and Sin Chew Daily, referring to this blogger.

99.996% is actually a lingo for tech and management folks.

The Six Sigma methodology - consisting of the steps "Define - Measure - Analyse - Improve - Control" -- aims at 99.996% as the goal for perfection that, in a way, translates to 3.4 defects per million.

Whereas, service providers who host high-end enterprise servers, for example, will set 99.996% as the benchmark for High Availability (HA) to ensure the clients' business continuity.

As we run up to the General Election, I expect Koh Tsu Koon to not abdicate this 99.996% benchmark for governance and transforming the economic model for Penang, hence I quoted -- in passing -- 99.996% during the long-distance press conference I called for yesterday.

Yes, based in Subang Jaya and talking real-time to journalists in Penang, I overcome the geographical distance by using video-conferencing over public broadband to interact with each other face-to-face. It's a first for my party DAP, and probably the first of the same nature in the country.

I could now understand why The Star had used 99.996% in its headline today, perhaps to make sure the new Chief Minister of Penang is 99.996% certain which Jeff Ooi he knew nothing about.

That's because the Umno-endorsed CM-designate changed his tune when he met the Press in Penang this morning. One of them IM me the following:

PENANG PRESS: 谢宽泰在半小时前说, JEFF OOI一定会后悔加入行动党 [...] 他说, 他认识你很久了, 是你很好的朋友

JEFF OOI: 怎么见华文报就讲人话, 见英文报就讲鬼话?

PRESS: 他今天告诉我们, 说他只要在昨天的PC开玩笑, 怎知STAR竟然真的QUOTE他

刚才中文报和西报都有在

This is how the Press is often squeezed by the politicians in tight spot. Like it or not, seasoned politicians are often 99.996% consistent that the Press are to blame for misquoting them.

UPDATES: 08:00PM The evening edition of Sin Chew Daily put us on Page 09, top quarter-page on the broadsheet. I said I cherished my friendship with Penang's CM-designate, who was my super senior in USM.

I respected him for having the guts to put up banners in the campus to protest on issues. But he might be a changed man these days.

My comments are more succinct in the Chinese language, as I quoted an age-old wisdom of the Chinese culture to describe our current positions and beliefs in fighting for the future of fellow Malaysians.

Let's honour humility, and I tend to respect more the character of 华歆 in the story -- he took it easy on the friend who despised him and, instead, repaid him with accolades whenever he could.

Continue reading "99.996%" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Migraine is not on my daily menu but it bothered me every evening in the past three days, causing a lot of discomfort. Consulted the family doctor and the ophthalmologist who did my eye surgery to get some advice. Instead, I was given a good lecture for abusing the "refurbished" eye before it heals completely.

Originally, I was allowed a strict 2-hour/per day viewing time in front of the TV and computer monitor but I blew the limit at least five times over. And the doctor wasn't too pleased with my indiscipline.

I was warned very seriously of the consequences. So, I might be off the screen more often from now till January 18 when the stitches are scheduled to be removed. *sigh*

Meanwhile, please take the 2007 Year End Poll, if you haven't already. Thanks.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Today, Screenshots is 5 years old.

It's like a democratically-elected government that has completed its first 5-year term. You ask: Have I done OK? What's next? How can I do better to be of service to my constituents?

I started blogging, with full disclosure of identity, on January 2, 2003. I faced my readers almost everyday ever since. They are a demanding crowd who know things better than me, and I have learned a lot from them.

Right from Day 1, Screenshots has been a blog that consistently focussed on the broad issue of governance, notably in public policy, corporate behaviour, technology, print and new media, and international relations.

As a one-man-show, a blog dwarfs against commercially-run news portal like Star Online.

So, the first question is this: How far can a blog reach its target audience with scant resources?

And the second question is: Is it worth the while to endure the threats, trial and tribulations of a hostile power paradigm, and to continue blogging and opening mindset?

I took a dipstick test, by taking a 5-year search on Alexa.com, to try answer Question No. 1

Screenshots is Alexa-rated with a traffic rank of 27,227 universally, and 385 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.012% daily reach throughout the entire Internet universe over the last five years. [ See permalink here ]

The term "Daily Reach %" is referred to by Alexa as the percent of global Internet users who visit a particular site, whereas the "Alexa Traffic Rank" is based on a combined measure of page views and users (reach).

However, it is a midget when compared to the two extremes of the online news portals in Malaysia.

Pure-play Online Media vs MSM News Portals

In comparison, Star Online -- with content generated by hundreds of full-time staffers -- is Alexa-rated with a traffic rank of 1,696 universally, and 27 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.083% daily reach throughout the universe of Internet over the last 5 years -- a whooping eight times greater reach than Screenshots. [ See permalink here ]

Whereas, Malaysiakini -- with content generated by scores of full-time staffers -- is Alexa-rated with a traffic rank of 8,732 universally, and 93 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.024% daily reach throughout the universe of Internet over the last 5 years. [ See permalink here ]

Interestingly, the husband-and-wife team at Malaysia-Today -- OK, with some guests helping -- has garnered an Alexa-rated traffic rank of 5,846 universally, and 80 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a 0.026% daily reach throughout the universe of Internet over the last 3 years plus. [ See permalink here ]

One-one-one, both Malaysiakini and Malaysia-Today beat NST Online, which is traffic-ranked at 9,399 universally, and 160 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a daily reach of 0.02% measured on the same parameters. [ See permalink here ]

theSun, the second largest circulation English newspaper acclaimed to target the young urbanites -- supposedly Internet-dependent -- has a minuscule presence on Internet daily reach. It's traffic-ranked at 135,727 universally, and 2,266 in Malaysia, respectively. It touched a daily reach of 0.005%. { See permalink here ]

Based on the same parameters in the comparative study, Screenshots managed to improve its Daily Reach by 24% over a 3-month average.

In comparison, the Daily Reach for Star Online improved by 4%, Malaysiakini by +43%, Malaysia-Today by +6%, and NST Online by +3%, respectively, over the same 3-month average.

theSun, in contrast, contracted by 5% over the same period.

On the global scale, the Top 5 are yahoo.com, google.com, and Windows Live, YouTube and MSN.com, and in that sequence. They each enjoy a daily reach of 20% and above.

I leave it to you to do the maths on the cost-efficiency of a blog if you don't mind the David VS Goliath scenario when it comes to the dollars-and-cents aspect of reaching out to the target audience.

Some history of Screenshots is archived on the Wayback Machine. The present feel-and-look was launched circa April 2006.

Continue reading "Screenshots is 5 years old!" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

It's new year. I am re-starting the Ferryman's engine -- 2007 最后头条.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jeff Sparrow no more. I was elated to find out yesterday morning that, barely five days after the surgery, vision on the right eye has improved to 6/12 without optical aids, and myopia reduced from 900 to around 100... and stablising. The microscopic stitches should be ready for removal soon.

Calculated risk considered, that prepared me in time to personally host the CY Leow Photography Seminar at the National Science Centre in the afternoon. The quality crowd kept to punctuality -- a virtue deemed lost among Malaysians -- and it enabled us to start 10 minutes ahead of scheduled time.

Moriazi-san and I... Picture courtesy Edward Chan

The sifu and I... Picture courtesy Moriazi-san

Sponsored by Viewty / LG Mobile... Picture courtesy Paul Choo

I really have to thank Dr Azhar Zainudin and his team at Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital. The consultant explained and answered questions well enough to enable me make that decisive move without any hesitation .

From initial diagnosis to surgery took me only five days of waiting time. Post-op care was good and smooth, and optometrist Puan Azimah is getting the supplier to custom-make a sample contact lens -- free of charge -- for my good eye, which is ironically in high myopia.

Both the ophthalmologist and optometrist recommended contact lens for me. I was a contact lens user until 2002. Given a choice, I still prefer glasses as I can power-up from bed to office at god-speed without having to go through the rituals.

For now, long vision is good but reading capability is still impaired. I can't research for blog, and I still can't drive as contrast of dark spots is still not yet optimum. In fact, I had lost two solid weeks of productivity since the problem got on me December 10.

One good thing is that, being away from Internet for two weeks -- -- and insulated from the disgusting and depressing news about this Abdullah Administration -- the family doctor said my blood pressure had never been this beautiful in the last four years.

Vision is...

Talk of vision, as if pulling a premeditated scoop on me, CY Leow started his photo talk with a quote from Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, which says: "Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others".

That's a lot of wisdom for me as it came in a cathartic moment of satori. Abdullah should try experience that Japanese Decisive Moment for having made us suffering fools.

But really, there's absolutely no excuse for abusing the eyes now that I am given a second chance in life, thanks to modern eye-care technology. And thanks to my loving wife, too, who helped drip the antibiotics and washed my hair the one whole week. (She must be resenting sleeping in the stench of Bronyx back-alleys ;-)

Gotta cherish all these, folks.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

A Bangsa Malaysia team performed the eye surgery on me at the Tun Hussein Onn National Eye Hospital yesterday.

Two hours after ops

The ophthalmologist was Dr Azhar Zainudin, who was assisted by Dr Wong the anaesthetist and two Indian staff nurses, observed by three students from SJMC.

No, it was not another project by the Barisan Nasional government as the operation was fully paid for by our insurance company.

My 10-year-old paid tribute to Jack the Caribbean Pirate and started calling me Jeff Sparrow.

I might not be able to blog for several days. I'll rest my case eyes for now.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (39) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember Tok Aji of the days of mailing list? He's back. Back with a vengeance.

He started blogging on Wednesday, December 5, at My Cardinal Point, URL: www.mycardinalpoint.blogspot.com.

Tok Aji says his blog is about an attempt at interfaith that is for mutual understanding and respect among the many communities in Malaysia.

Those who were active in the Internet days of the late 90s, like this blogger, Uncle Yap and YW Loke, would know that Tok Aji is A. Ghani Ismail, formerly a columnist with several Malaysian newspapers.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Updates on Jeff 4 Malaysia:

1 ) TIME: Malaysia’s Identity Crisis
2 ) Jeff Ooi summoned by Bukit Aman CCID
3 ) Free the 31

As the Jeff 4 Malaysia microsite runs on wordpress, the TypeKey commenter authentication module, a product by Movable Type which powers Screenshot, is not applicable.

However, as current Malaysian laws do not allow Internet to operate in a legal vacuum, manual moderation of readers' commentaries is in place.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Life's Good for Web2.0 and social networking!

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing has invested US$60 million (RM204 million) in US-originated Facebook, Kara of the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital reported today.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

My Gmail is constipated again, right now!!!

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

My Gmail storage has been increased to 3.6GB last night. Yours?

Yahoo! Google!

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index 2007 is out.

Among 169 countries surveyed, Malaysia plunged 32 notches from 92nd in 2006 to 124th in 2007.

It's Malaysia's worst ranking since the annual Press Freedom Index was institutionalised in 2002.

Malaysia was ranked 113th in 2005 and 122nd in 2004, respectively, out of 167 countries surveyed then.

Whereas during the Mahathir Era, Malaysia was ranked 110th in 2002 and 104th in 2003, respectively.

This is the single-most severe deterioration in press freedom index ranking in the last four years of the Abdullah Administration, where Malaysia had been spin-doctored as "never having freer media" vis-a-vis the Mahathir Era.

Download Press Freedom Report 2007 in PDF here.

For context, here are the excerpts from the evaluation by region, Asia:

The Internet is occupying more and more space in the breakdown of press freedom violations. Several countries fell in the ranking this year because of serious, repeated violations of the free flow of online news and information.

In Malaysia (124th), Thailand (135th), Vietnam (162nd) and Egypt (146th), for example, bloggers were arrested and news websites were closed or made inaccessible. “We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship,” Reporters Without Borders said. “More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media.”

The Bolehland also won a special mention in the RSF press release issued yesterday: "Malaysia often harasses bloggers". Download PDF here

Here is the breakdown of the 20 countries at the bottom of the index:

• Seven are Asian (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and North Korea)


• Five are African (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and Eritrea)


• Four are in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestinian Territories and Iran)


• Three are former Soviet republics (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan)


• One is in the Americas (Cuba)

Bloggers now harsher targets of repressive regimes

The key observation for this year's finds is that, bloggers are now threatened as much as journalists in traditional media.

A total of 26 bloggers and online journalists have been convicted and jailed since September 2006 for using their right to online free expression.

China, ranking 163rd among 169 countries surveyed, still reigns supreme as the world's biggest prison for bloggers and online journalists.

Fifty cyber-dissidents are currently detained in China because of their online activities. Worldwide, 64 cyber-dissidents are currently in prison.

With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 5 major censorship bodies, including those operated directly by the government and the Communist Party's publicity department (the former propaganda department), now control the flow of news and information online.

Incidentally, China is ranked a notch better than Burma (164th), which saw major bloody crackdown by the military junta recently.

Unexpected improvement was seen in Cambodia (85th), which climbed up a few rungs, thanks to the government’s decision to decriminalize press offences. No journalist was imprisoned. But some journalists were targeted by death threats, especially when they covered corruption.

Here's the methodology used in compiling the Press Freedom Index.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

For weekend therapy...

Courtesy another Facebook friend.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 11, US celco Sprint came up with an indigenous way of using YouTube to market its advertising messages: Turn tedious tasks into fleeting moments. Or simply straight to the point, Cut the wait, make life less stressful.

Try Instant Shirt Removal, feel a life:

Do this Instant Baby Soothe -- save 3 weeks of your life -- that complies 100% to human rights:

But don't do this, turbo parking -- save one week of your life -- if you wink a little.

I suggest you try this time-saving calculator on Waitless.org. And watch the various Sprintcuts -- fast-cuts of video clips -- on YouTube-Sprintcuts channel.

Tapping into Web2.0, readers/Sprint customers can summit their own Sprintcuts for universal sharing. Leveraging user-generated content, the advertiser (Sprint) minimises production cost to maximise consumer reach.

There are 8 videos on YouTube-Sprintcuts (but I have seen all 11 in the collection) as of now. No. 9 is my favourite. I have just learned how to peel a hard-boiled egg in three steps and in 10 seconds, waitless.

I've tried to get Lingham to watch it, wait... he's still on the phone.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 05:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The National Alliance of Bloggers (ALL-BLOGS) will hold a public forum on Blogs and Digital Democracy.

David Sasaki (picture above), head of Global Voices Outreach ( Rising Voices ) -- an off-shoot project of a project initiated at Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School -- will talk about blogs and how governments around the world engage digital democracy.

Rising Voices is an outreach initiative of Global Voices supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

It aims to extend the benefits and reach of citizen media by connecting online media activists around the world and supporting their best ideas through three main strategies: ( 1 ) Microgrants; ( 2 ) Outreach Curriculum and ( 3 ) Networking.

The ALL-BLOGS public forum, by invitation only, is scheduled for October 3. Details coming soon.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

AMD. The Green Monster has just announced a three-core CPU that will slide in between the quad-core Phenom X4 superslab and the dual-core Phenom X2.

Early reports say the triple-core Phenom x3 is a Phenom x4 quad-core with one (non-working) core disabled. Is it going to be named Phenom X3?

Yahoo! Mash, that's the experimental social network service Yahoo! is testing in limited beta.

Tech writers say it apparently is designed to lure users away from rivals Facebook and MySpace.

New York Times blog calls it "The Social Network for Graffiti Lovers".

Apple. One week old, but you now know why iPhone is called iSorry.

Internet. Here's how it was in 1993.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Google is calling on the United Nations to help protect the privacy of web surfers around the world before the internet faces a crisis of confidence.

But the initiative is more to ask for governments and businesses to agree on international privacy standards for online transactiosn and the prevention of online crimes.

Google does not guarantee if it would divulge users information -- which it holds tons of them -- to repressive regimes when asked to.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The court hearing for Jeff Ooi vs NSTP & Others scheduled for 9/11 did not really "happen". It was pertaining to my application to have my case merged with Rocky's.

There was no presiding judge on the day, and the registrar has taken a new date for the case to be mentioned on November 20, that's after bulan puasa and Hari Raya -- and until my application to strike out the suit is disposed.

Meanwhile, the hearing for my application to strike out the suit is being scheduled to be heard before the Registrar of the High Court, instead of the High Court judge. The process continues as the Plaintiff's lawyers were on their clients' instructions as such. Our lawyers obliged.

My lawyers have applied for the certificate of urgency to have the process expedited but it still looks like a long haul at this juncture.

It also means that I am also made to comply with the ex-parte injunction that gags me from commenting further on the behaviour of certain personalities related to the Abdullah Administration.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When: Sunday September 9 2007

Time: 3PM to 6PM

Where: Bangkok Thai Jazz Bistro @ Chulan Square

Who: Tech bloggers in Malaysia (by Invitation Only)

What: A sneak peak at some of the great technology on show at Tech.Ed 2007 SEA. Get your questions answered!

What is Silverlight and how can you incorporate it into your blog?

Create awesome web 2.0 mash-ups in minutes with Popfly

See how Windows Home Server can store and manage all your files and digital media

Realise your plans for world domination with Microsoft Robotics Studio

And more!

How much? Free!! (note: Tech.Ed 2007 SEA would cost RM 1299 to attend)

Anything Else? Network with fellow Malaysian bloggers. Talk Tech with Microsoft. Grab a drink and a bite to eat with some of the crew in town for Tech.Ed 2007 SEA. Should be a great Sunday afternoon. J

The Speakers

(L) Oliver Scheer, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Germany, Blog Link (in German)
(R) Chewy Chong, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Singapore, Blog Link

(L) Rohan Thomas, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Malaysia, Blog Link
(R) Zeddy Iskandar, Academic Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Indonesia, Blog Link

.

.

As space is a constraint, the 50 seats are strictly on first-come-first-served basis.

For RSVP, please contact the one-stop contact point: Timothy Tiah of Nuffnang Malaysia ( tiahewetiam@gmail.com ) no later than 5.30pm September 6, 2007.

This blog entry was originally posted at 10:02hr, September 3, 2007.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am convinced, but I don't own one.

Read my CNet Asia blog, Lemak Lemang.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have gone back to the classroom for a one-week intensive course on petroleum extraction and how oil companies pay taxes, fees and royalties to the host government.

Ultimately, I want to learn the skills to document how oil companies, including multinationals and state-owned entities, craft their production sharing contracts, publish their account payables. On the flip side, I want to master the skills to find out how the governments disclose their account receivables, have them audited, and most importantly, how national wealth derived from these extractive industries is spent on the rakyat.

It's causing me great concern in knowing that Malaysia's deficit annual budget is now over 42% hinged on Petronas.

In the absence of a Petroleum Fund for our Future Malaysians, or an endowment plan of similar nature where Tabung Warisan is vague, we need to decide if it's better to have oil in the ground or to have oil money in the bank.

Internet connection is sporadic so I can't blog that frequently.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

You must have read my July 25 post, "First They Came..." and probably 3540 Jalan Sudin's response in Oriental Daily News.

And I assume you have also read Sunday Star (July 29).

Friends are helping me organise a Press Conference tomorrow to let me make a stand for thinking Malaysians.

If you are in town, please come.

DATE: July 31, 2007
TIME: 10:30am
PLACE: Food Foundry, Jalan 17/13 Petaling Jaya (Selatan)
CONTACT: Tony Pua (012.2220086)

It's a decent cafe on the ground floor of high rise apartments near the Shell petrol station where University students go for their photostats. I think wifi is available for you to blog and podcast/phone-cast from there. Here is the location map.

I know it's a working day. If you can't make it, please forward the message to your friends.

Continue reading "First they came... for us Malaysians!" »

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (48) | TrackBacks (0)

I have experimented with Facebook for several months now.

I decided to sleep through it when Friendster and MySpace made the raging rave in social networking tools. But when Facebook.com came around with the open applications in May, I got hooked.

To put it simply, Facebook is an uncanny combo of a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme interlaced with the theory of Six Degrees of Separation. It's a killer app that glues you to insane loyalty, and you keep going back to the homepage several times a day.

Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg (purportedly a Harvard dropout) has the right formula for Facebook -- you need to publish your real identity to make it work for you -- and he mouse-traps real people with real connections on one common page!

I am writing a detailed copy of my user experience in the up-coming edition of SURF! magazine. There is a sneak preview in my CNet Asia blog, Lemak Lamang.

I am telling you how human beings are voyeurs in disguise, and how Facebook satisfies all your Freudian desires in the cyberspace.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

There was a problem with one of the network cards on the server, making this site inaccessible from 10am through 3pm. A thousand apologies.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Frankly, I can only promise you blogging on a 'best effort' basis -- because TM Streamyx is giving me only 'best effort' connection in the last few days.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)

We are in an effort to promote blogging across the multi-lingual platform in the country.

Nanyang Siang Pau, a vernacular newspaper, is organising a public forum targetting the youths this Saturday. It will be conducted primarily in English, with splashes of Mandarin if needs be. Admission is free.

Malaysian Bloggers: A Challenge to Opinion Space?
Date: Saturday, 12/5/07
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Auditorium, Nanyang Siang Pau HQ, Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya

Speakers:
1. Tony Pua, Financial Advisor to DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng
2. Jeff Ooi, Malaysian Blogger
3. Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Special Assistant to Parti KeADILan Advisor, Anwar Ibrahim
4. Soon Li Tsin, Blogger and Malaysiakini Journalist

Moderator:
Dr. Ei Sun Oh, Lecturer, Speaker, Columnist & Blogger

We hope to get as many bloggers and fans of blogs to attend this event. Contact Ms Thing Thing at 012-213 7250 or 03-7872-6913 for details.

The event is supported by Persatuan Belia Xiang Lian, ntv7 and Spritzer.

Meanwhile, both Rocky and I have shared our views with the online audience on what we observed having survived another World Press Freedom Day, via Malaysiakini.tv.

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) will hold a Blog Forum, titled Blogging Explosion and the Impact on Corporate Reputation on May 25 (Friday), 3-6pm at Hilton Kuala Lumpur, KL Sentral.

This blogger will be a guest speaker to present some case studies.

To place a reservation, please contact Ms Masayu or Ms Tracy at 03-2095-4433. Or email secretariat@iabcmalaysia.com. More details tomorrow.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have come to realise that this blogger was on American airwaves on World Press Freedom Day! Via theCICAK:

Kathy Corcoran, former San Jose Mercury News staff writer, produced a story about theCICAK for KQED, a San Francisco public radio station. It was aired on Pacific Time, a weekly magazine that focuses on Asian issues in the United States and abroad. Corcoran spoke to Poh Si Teng, the magazine’s director and co-founder, and Jeff Ooi.

Listen to it here and post your comments on this page.

It's quite memorable to tell my family that the Dad was featured on Al-Jazeera and Freedom House as on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, this year.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 06:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning, my legal team filed a new striking-out application against the amended claims against this blogger by New Straits Times Press Bhd (NSTP) and 3 Others, namely Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin bin Aun and Brenden John a/l John Pereira.

My lawyers had entered in the Summons in Chambers filed today that the plaintiffs' amended Statement of Claims dated February 12, 2007 is EMBARRASSING.

For the record, and as mentioned earlier in this blog yesterday, the plaintiffs of the defamation suit -- NSTP and 3 Others -- amended their Statement of Claims in February AFTER I had applied to have the suit struck out in January. My lawyers had called the plaintiffs' original (January) claims, served via Messrs Shearn Delamore, FATALLY DEFICIENT.

I was advised that withdrawing my January application to have the claims struck out became necessary after the plaintiffs amended their original Statement of Claims in February.

No order as to costs

At the hearing in chambers before High Court Judge Abdul Malik Ishak this morning, it was decided that the first striking-out application (over the plaintiffs' original Statement of Claims) would be withdrawn with no orders as to costs.

The date for the hearing of the new striking-out application will be determined later.

With this development, the Court had fixed June 19 for the mention of the inter-parte injunction, alongside the hearing proper of my application to consolidate my case with Rocky's and for it to be heard in KL High Court S3 before Justice Hishamuddin Yunus.

Meanwhile, the ex-parte injunction that resulted in this blogger having to keep 15 allegedly defamatory postings off Screenshots still stands.

New strike-out application

In making the new application to strike out the plaintiffs' amended Statement of Claims dated February 12, my lawyers plead that it is embarrassing in that:

1 ) It failed to plead whether the purported defamatory imputations which have been given rise to by the various publications refers to EACH OF the Plaintiffs, or refers to ALL the Plaintiffs when read cumulatively; and

2 ) It also failed to indicate whether the allegedly offending publications are intended TO BE READ TOGETHER and that whether the imputations flow from the offending publications when read cumulatively.

My lawyers also plead that the said amended Statement of Claims failed to show the exact nature of the Plaintiffs' case against the Defendant, i.e. this blogger.

In summary, I have been advised by my lawyers that the amended Statement of Claims is EMBARRASSING in that:

1 ) I do not know the exact nature of the Plaintiffs' case against me;

2 ) I am left in uncertainty as to which imputations flow from each of the alleged offending publications and/or comments.

Prior to the new application to strike out the amended claims, my lawyers had written to Plaintiffs' solicitors, requesting for the matter to be remedied, but to no avail.

The plaintiffs were represented today by Rishwant Singh of Messrs. Shearn Delamore. I was represented by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Balan Nair.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

'But it's the the more popular media blogs that...' The Son-in-Law reportedly said he wanted to start a video-blog by year's end. And quote:

Said Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin: “I don't think we should over-react or generalise because there are many types of bloggers and the majority are just blogging their personal experiences.”

But, he said, the unsubstantiated and anonymous nature of discussion, particularly in media blogs, is of concern.

“Take the more popular media blogs: there are all kinds of crazy allegations out there. If there is to be credibility in blogs, then you have to address these issues,” he said. [...]

But that does not mean he does not believe in legal recourse when it comes to defamation.

“Some politicians react with clampdown calls but blogs are here to stay and they (bloggers) have to be responsible. They shouldn't complain if they're taken to court because, like everyone else, they're subject to the same rules of libel. People at the receiving end must have legal recourse and it's ridiculous to say that the state is coming down on you,” he said.

So, the target is media bloggers. Still very much Much ado over blogging.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

UPDATED VERSION. Recommended Sunday reading: Much ado over blogging by Joceline Tan. Quote:

It is a medium which they are still not too familiar with, going by the way Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor, the Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister, tried to talk his way through the firestorm.

Shaziman, an engineer by training, looks contemporary enough to understand the new media but his response to the issue was baffling, to say the least.

He reportedly told Parliament that Singapore had started registering bloggers and the government here may do the same. A few days later, he said the government merely wanted “to assess the situation and keep track of the number of bloggers in the country and on the information provided by them”.

He was totally unconvincing and, besides, there is no such registration of bloggers in Singapore.

That's a creative, and no doubt an effective way of calling a liar a liar, no matter it's in or outside Parliament.

Sorry ZAM, you went to Singapore not to kowtow but to learn, didn't you? Hadn't you asked us not to listen to untruths and falsehood?

Shaziman would have saved his arse had he, or his aides, redd the Singapore papers, dated July 7, 2006. Listen-lah to Mr Brown's episode which I blogged about, and how the story started and ended last year.

P/S: Roby Alampay, executive director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, warns in today's Sunday Star: You block at your peril.

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

My Singapore blogger friend, Mr Brown, did a podcast on the KTAK faux pas -- The Manglish is classic Shaziman ala Internet Department Interested to Oversee Technology, acronym (sic) IDIOT.

MP3 on Quicktime (File size: 2.1Mb, Running Time: 00:04:16).

Posted by Jeff Ooi at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Ku Nan may call her a jobless woman blogger, but Nila Tanzil is now an Arts & Fashion writer for The Star -- Malaysia's largest circulation English daily.

Did Ku Nan's boys in Jakarta tell the boss that Nila is actually a PR practiti