Thursday, April 30, 2009

CIJ is distributing WPFD Memorabila!

On May 3, which is the globally designated World Press Freedom Day, CIJ will be handling out memorabila for press freedom lovers to commemorate and spread the message of press freedom and free expression. There will window stickers, posters and leaflets up for grabs! Catch us at:

Date: 3 May 2009
Venue: Central Market, Kuala Lumpur
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Come and take as many "freedom memorabilas" as you want and help spread the word!

Media Under Najib Forum: Speaker Profile (Wong Chin Huat)

Wong Chin Huat
Wong Chin Huat is the Chair of the Writer Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI), an advocacy group for free and competitive media environment formed after the political takeover of Nanyang Press by the ruling Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in 2001.

He is also a founding member of Civil Society Initiative for Parliamentary Reform (CSI@Parliament), a group of social activists working with lawmakers on legal, institutional and policy changes including Freedom of Information Act at both federal and state levels.

A political scientist by training and a journalism lecturer by trade, Wong Chin Huat is based in Monash University Sunway Campus. He is completing his PhD on electoral system and party system in West Malaysia at University of Essex, UK.

Media Under Najib Forum: Speaker Profile (Tricia Yeoh)

Tricia Yeoh

Tricia Yeoh is attached to the Selangor Menteri Besar’s Office as Research Officer. She graduated with a Bachelor of Business and Commerce in Econometrics from Monash University and a Masters in Research Methodology from the University of Warwick.

She was previously the Director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, at which she now sits as Member of its Advisory Panel. At the CPPS she was conducting socioeconomic research and analysis on a range of public policy issues, including national unity, young Malaysians, budget transparency and development. .

She was also Asia-Pacific Regional Co-ordinator, acting as consultant to the Revenue Watch Institute, an international non-governmental organization based in New York, working on transparency of the extractive industry together with civil society organizations and governments in Southeast Asia.

Her current work involves working on research and coordination of policies to be implemented for the State of Selangor. This includes social and economic policies that require input and engagements with the private sector, academia, civil society and the media. Her opinions as political analyst have been quoted by a range of international media, including Al-Jazeera, Bloomberg, the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, The Economist magazine, and local media including the Sun, The New Straits Times and the Star.

She has represented Malaysia in a number of international conferences, presenting papers on the issues of economics, human rights, transparency and accountability amongst others. Former columnist at The Nut Graph, she attempts to maintain a blog, but otherwise writes opinion pieces in local media when time permits.

She is member of the National Human Rights Society, HAKAM, and is founding member of Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI) and Revolution of Hope (ROH), the latter two organizations as bodies bridging the divide between intellectual public policy and Christian theology for the sake of national unity. Her ultimate objective is to build a mature and developed Malaysian society.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Media Under Najib Forum: Speaker Profile (Zaharom Nain)

Zaharom Nain

Zaharom Nain is an associate professor of communications at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has been teaching at USM for more than two decades, after receiving his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Communication Studies from Coventry University and the University of Leicester, England.

He is co-editor of two books, Communication and Development: The Freirean Connection (Hampton: 2001) and Who Owns The Media: Global Trends and Local Resistances (Zed/Southbound: 2004) and has authored more than 80 book chapters, journal articles and conference papers.

He has been a consultant to the Geneva-based United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Malaysian agencies such as PETRONAS and the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research (MIER).

He was awarded a Fulbright Professorship to lecture in the University of California, San Diego (1998-1999), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship to conduct research at Sophia University, Tokyo (1995) and was a Visiting Fellow in 2004 at Simon Fraser University (Canada), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne (USA) and the University of Utah (USA).

His background and research interests are in the sociology of communications and the political economy of the media. He is presently co-editing a volume of critical studies on the media and popular culture in Asia and conducting research on the media and Malaysia-Singapore relationships. This October, he will again be in the United States as a Fulbright Specialist, principally in the state of Vermont, speaking in a variety of settings.

He believes he writes better than he speaks, having contributed columns to Malaysian newspapers such as The Star and the New Straits Times, and alternative media, such as Malaysiakini, The Nutgraph and Aliran Monthly.

He is a member of Aliran and is privileged to have served on Aliran’s exco and editorial board for a couple of terms.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

WPFD2009- Public Forum on "Media Under Najib: Hope or Disappointment"

Dear friends,

World Press Freedom Day is back again! The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is celebrating it on this 10 May. In the last 6 years, CIJ has commemorated this day, which falls on 3 May, through public activities that included exhibitions, talks and concerts. This year, we will be organising a public forum at the Annexe, Central Market on 10 May, on the topic "Media Under Najib: Hope or Disappointment".

The panel speakers are:

  • Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the Science University of Malaysia, Mr. Zaharom Nain
  • Political analyst and Chairman of Writers Alliance for Media Independence, Mr. Wong Chin Huat
  • Special Assistant to Selangor state Chief Minister, Ms Tricia Yeoh

The forum will touch on, among others:

  1. Exploring the prime minister's options viz-a-viz clamours for reform on one side and calls for entrenchment of the status quo on another
  2. Current and future trends that may affect or involve the media and free expression.
  3. What Malaysia needs badly in terms of reform on press freedom and expression and whether Najib can deliver them

Date: 10 May 2009 (Sunday)
Time: 11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Venue: Annex Gallery, Central Market

Join us for a lively discussion! See you there!

For more information please call Wai Fong at 03 4023 0772 or email waifong@cijmalaysia.org