Writers for Women's Rights Workshop

Have you ever disagreed with or felt angry about something a politician, or a reporter said or did, and wanted to raise your concerns but didn't know how? Have you ever felt like you have something to say about an issue, but didn't know who to tell? Come and see how you can use the media to voice your concerns, and bring about change. Learn how to write a letter to the editor, and make your voice heard. The AWAM's Writers for Women's Rights (WWR) will show you how to do this and how to use the media as a mode for activism. This will be a 1 1/2 hour session on Portrayal of Women in Media and How to Write Letters to the Editor.

The workshop is on 3 May at 4pm.

Trainer's profile:
Ng Tze Yeng runs Mosaic Street, a 4 person design and advertising outfit; and writes for Freespace, an opinion column in The Sun. She is on the AWAM's Working Collective and the co-ordinator for the Writers For Women’s Rights Programme. She loves feminism because it’s an ideology that helps her question ideologies, and challenge her own assumptions about herself.

Vizla joined the women's movement in Malaysia in 2005, when she began working at WAO. She joined AWAM's Writers for Women's Rights Programme (WWRP) in 2006, and is now in the Planning Team. She is also on WAO's Executive Committee. A full time student now, she is in training to become a Clinical Psychologist.

This event is open to the public - so, please do come if you have been itching to find out about media freedom issues and to get effective tips on writing letters to the editor - forward it on to friends who have been complaining about the news, and tell them here's a chance to do something! :)

Note: This workshop was wrongly stated in the banner as happening on Sunday, May 4. We wish to remind those interested to come on May 3 (Saturday).

May 4: Towards Media Law Reform-Speakers' Profile

Teo Nie Ching
Teo Nie Ching is the new member of Parliament for Serdang, and one of the eight-member team of MPs to table the Freedom of Information Act Bill in the parliament. Nie Ching is a lawyer and has been active in politics and human rights issue. Politics runs deep in her family. Her father was the secretary of the DAP Labis Campaign Committee, and her sister and brother-in-law are the Chair and the Deputy Chair of DAPSY in Labis respectively. In 2007 Nie Ching represented a UM student who was charged under the UUCA for political involvement and the Malacca pig farmers in the community's controversy with the state government. Nie Ching was also the commentator for AiFM and had a column in Nanyang Siang Pau.

Andrew Khoo Chin Hock
Andrew Khoo is the Bar Council's Co-Deputy Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee, having joined the Bar in 2006. He has been a practicing lawyer for 13 years, specializing in commercial and corporate laws and has a law firm of his own.




HR Dipendra
HR Dipendra has been a lawyer for eight years. A passionate believer in freedom of expression, Dipendra was part of the Southeast Asia Media Defense Network initiated by the Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) and University of Oxford. He is currently the chairperson of the Kuala Lumpur Young Lawyers Committee. Dipendra has an LLB from the University of London and master in law from the London School of Economics.

Moderator: Wong Chin Huat
Wong Chin Huat is the chairperson of the Writers Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI), a position he held since 2006. His involvement media freedom activism began in 2001, during the take over of Nanyang Siang Pau and the China Press by MCA. He was in the Committee Against Takeover (CAT) formed in response to the crisis. Prior to that he was the feature writer for Nanyang covering politics, social and cultural issues. Wong is a PhD candidate from the University of Essex and now lectures in journalism in Monash University, KL.