ASEAN Regional Bloggers Conference 2011

Written by Delwin Keasberry Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:19

Greetings Readers! I am blogging from colourful Kuala Lumpur at the moment. I am here for a mate's wedding and for a few other projeks. I recently attended the 1st Malaysian - ASEAN Regional Bloggers Conference together with @AnakBrunei and @RanoAdidas. The theme across the weekend was "Blogging Mindfully and Responsibly", with workshops on topics such as "New Media - Double Edged Sword", "Parameters - The fine line between what's allowed and what's not", "Corporations and blogging", etc.

Group photograph (picture courtesy of @RanoAdidas): Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with ASEAN regional bloggers (that's me on the far right)

The highlight of the conference for me was to be in the same place at the same time with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. More than that, I got to hear them speak on a variety of topics including democracy and digital democracy, censorship, broadband, education, regulations, responsible blogging, etc.

The Twitter hashtag for the conference was / is #ASEANBloggers, and as you can imagine, there were many many tweets sent throughout the weekend. These were some from the morning address by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

On top of the workshops and VIP speeches, there was plenty of opportunity to rub shoulders and connect with other bloggers from ASEAN and some of the event sponsors and coordinators, and discuss current uses and predict future trends with like-minded social media practitioners. I even crossed paths with one of the Twestival coordinators from the Philippines, @TonyoCruz. Small world.

The ASEAN delegates with former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad

I got to shake their hands!

Group picture with @hyvhuynh, @blogie, @hermansaksono, @tonyocruz and @caligarn

It is always a good thing to speak to people outside of your normal circle at these sort of events as a reminder to keep a regional and global perspective. It was interesting speaking to people from different sides of the Malaysian political fence, I learned a lot from listening to stories of how "Blogging Mindfully and Responsibly" meant different things based on cultural contexts, it was insightful hearing an expert from a Telco give his opinions on the necessary evolution for bloggers.

Beyond all these, for me, it was the first gathering with other brothers and sisters from ASEAN. In fact, after the conference, I tweeted...

They say one of the most important things in life is to show up; I am so glad I did. Many thanks to Tony Yew and the rest of Blog House Malaysia for hosting us and coordinating this conference. Big Love!