Author Archives: Kounila Keo

About Kounila Keo

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." A journalist in the making, I have a lot to argue about and inform people...

ASEAN Bloggers Conference in Bali

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I am selected to announce the declaration resulting from the meet-up among ASEAN bloggers in Bali

A month ago, I landed in Bali for the first time in my life! Hey, I am not trying to sensationalize this. :-P Just as Ani and I were properly seated at a cafe in KLCC airport while transiting in Malaysia, we were surprised by the presence of Vietnamese bloggers: Tai Tran, Anh Minh and another blogger from Brunei, Kamurul.

I was invited to attend a blogging conference in Bali, along with others. Sadly, the blogger fellows from Myanmar couldn’t join us because they were stuck at the airport. They weren’t allowed to board the plane in Thailand by “mean” officials >__<.  They transited in Thailand, and were supposed to fly from Thailand to Bali. Actually, this time we missed them, not again in the future, I hope. And, the bloggers from Singapore didn’t turn up for some personal reason.

We were taken to Pop Harris (see the picture below, colorful, huh?) and just right after 6 hours of rest or so, we had to get ready for breakfast and took a bus to Museum Pasifika at Nusa Dua. Right over there, there were around 200 bloggers with about 10 people from other ASEAN countries in total.

Pop Harris  This was a high-profile meeting. ;-) The conference was also honored by the rather short speech of the Indonesian Minister of Telecommunication who hoped that the conference would unite the bloggers communities from different countries by being represented with a single voice before 2015. :)

Indonesian Minister of Telecom

All the representatives from ASEAN were given 10 minutes each to brief all the participants about the blogging and social media scene in their respective countries. Indonesia led first after which the Philippines was to speak next; then Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and finally Brunei. Seated at my place listening to the speakers, I was amazed at some facts and figures given out by them. About 43 million Indonesians are on Facebook, making it one of the biggest FB nations in the world, not to mention 2.7 million bloggers from various communities existing in Indonesia alone :P . Even though freedom is being restricted in Vietnam, Tai Tran and Anh Minh told me that there’re nearly 2 million bloggers in Vietnam. I was struck dumbfounded. What Indonesia, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand have in common is an abundance of large online communities where bloggers and micro-bloggers or social media lovers meet and hold talks. Though the size of online communities in Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia and Laos might be small for now, but this thing will change. Well, I’ll explain below by giving an example.

one-day event in Bali

Well, in Cambodia, I’m not sure we might have one thousand or ten of thousand bloggers. :-P There’s no directory that records the number of all cloggers (Cambodian bloggers) yet. Shouldn’t we have one? There’s some prediction that micro-blogging such as Facebook and 140-charactered Twitter is killing blogging, but I think bloggers can use micro-blogging tools to improve traffic of their blogging contents. Heh, more round-table discussions should be raised to shed the light on this. A threat or a synergy? Then, I told the quite bulging crowd that Cambodia’s Internet penetration is like from 7% to 10% as of 2011 (whole population ~15 million), and Cambodian Facebookers account for more than 400,000, about the size of the Bruneian population. :P It keeps growing, I tell you! In provinces, some young people know Facebook before they are aware of how to use emails, Google or Yahoo :P . I can verify this, so come and meet me.

Indah, Agus, Nondita and two other Indonesian friends (Left to right)
The speeches given by each of the ASEAN bloggers were followed by short talks given by Google and some people who have experience in tech start-ups in Indonesia. I am so proud of Indonesia for doing so well with its own tech scene. Young people are so keen on entrepreneurial things. Then, the participants were divided into 3 groups as everyone was asked to form Bali Declaration. It was certainly a long discussion by ASEAN bloggers who chipped in with their own ideas. Finally we made it with respect to each other’s country’s rule of law and political situation. Read here for ASEAN Blogger Declaration in Bali and watch a video of ASEAN Blogger Declaration too.

Our dinner farewell party and ASEAN blogger friends :-)

ASEAN Blogger Declaration, Bali 2011

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  1. We, the ASEAN bloggers, gathered in Bali, on 16th November 2011, aligned with the 19th ASEAN Summit, acknowledge the role and contributions of social media for the establishment of ASEAN Community 2015.
  2. We, the ASEAN bloggers, aspire to seek the freedom of expressions among us as enshrined in Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  3. We, the ASEAN bloggers, in the spirit of partnership and solidarity among the family of people from ASEAN countries, independent of political influence, are determined to use social media in the development of ASEAN’s political, economic, and social-cultural potentials with the aim to promote understanding among ASEAN people.
  4. We, the ASEAN bloggers, are determined to develop cooperation in all fields under ASEAN’s One Vision, One Identity, and One Community.
  5. We, the ASEAN bloggers, are committed to ethical and positive demeanor, respectful of the rights of authors attached to articles, photos, and videos, and other creative products.
  6. We, the ASEAN bloggers commit to:
  • Declare the 16th November as the ASEAN Bloggers’ Day.
  • Develop communication platforms, both at the national and the sub-regional levels, taking into account the interest of people participation in the rural areas of ASEAN countries.
  • Organize future activities to encourage closer contact among bloggers.
  • Mandate the Indonesian ASEAN Blogger Community President to coordinate and communicate to all their counterparts from ASEAN countries regarding development and progress achieved in accordance with the Declaration.

7. We, the ASEAN bloggers, encourage all bloggers to join our efforts in making this Declaration a reality.

Video via slurpy69 on youtube

Cambodia Participates in the First ASEAN Blogging Exchange

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Just a little (PR) article about myself here. :-P  I’m not doing an online campaign about myself at all =). Please bear with me!

I was very surprised to find it on the US embassy website, not to mention seeing my pictures on the US embassy Facebook page!

Why am I the only girl in this picture? Where are you, bloghers?

——–

Cambodia Participates in the First ASEAN Blogging Exchange

Released on December 2, 2011

Cambodian blogger Kounila Keo will be in Jakarta December 2-4, 2011 to participate in the first-ever exchange bringing ASEAN bloggers together to discuss the digital landscape in Southeast Asia.  On Saturday, December 3, the bloggers will attend ON|OFF, Indonesia’s largest national blogger gathering.  The bloggers will share insights and experiences from their home countries with hundreds of their fellow ASEAN online citizens from Indonesia.  Following the ASEAN Summit and related meetings in Bali last month, this program aims to promote online media as a tool for promoting a region-wide awareness of ASEAN and facilitate the exchange of ideas among ASEAN youth.

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh nominated Ms. Keo, the only Cambodian blogger attending ON|OFF, because she is recognized as a leading voice encouraging other Cambodian youth to participate in blogging.

Before attending ON|OFF, the participants will enjoy the hospitality of Jakarta’s blogger community, who will host an informal dinner in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia.  After ON|OFF, U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN, David L. Carden, will host a reception in honor of the bloggers.  On the Sunday morning, December 4, the ASEAN bloggers will participate in a panel discussion at the @america venue, the U.S. Embassy’s digitally interactive cultural center, in Pacific Place.

“The United States is honored to help welcome these ASEAN citizens to Jakarta to participate in these important programs.  We are committed to supporting the vision of an integrated ASEAN Community by 2015,” Ambassador Carden said.

These ASEAN participants are well-known in their home countries for their talented and insightful online postings.  This blogger program is a collaborative effort of the U.S. Mission to ASEAN, U.S. Embassy Jakarta, and U.S. embassies throughout the ASEAN region.  To follow the bloggers please visit ASEAN Blogging Exchange website.