3rd Asean Media Forum Kicks Off In Singapore Friday

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Dec 17 (Bernama) -- The 3rd Asean Media Forum (AMF) kicked off in Singapore Friday, with focus on harnessing social media to promote Asean community building. The AMF was initiated by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in 2009, with the assistance of the FriedrichEbert Stiftung of Germany, and supported by the Asean Secretariat. AMIC secretary-general Sundeep Muppidi told Bernama here: "We do this right after the Asean Forum and this year, we focus on how to harness social media to promote Asean community building. "This year, we have added a special workshop to the AMF in an attempt to leverage online communities to create an Asean senior citizens network." At Friday's event, he said AMIC had invited media professionals and practitioners from various Asean countries to share their views and ideas on how social media could be used to serve the community and play its role towards good governance and other aspects. He said this forum was also to support AMIC's initiatives in creating greater cooperation among them, especially to contribute towards better understanding and community building within the Asean region. Sundeep said Asean member nations had embarked on a project to create a single community out of 10 nations by 2015. Speakers at the AMF include Maria Ressa, former senior vice-president, ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs, Philippines, who presented a keynote address entitled 'Social Media - A Threat or Opportunity for Asean Community Building'. There was also a panel discussion on Social Media and Impact on Governance in Asean, which focused on how social media networking could have an impact on better governance and fight corruption in the Asean region. Among the panelists include U Pho Naing Lin, chief editor, Popular News, Myanmar; Palphok Rodloytuk, Associate Dean, School of Liberal Arts, Shinawatra University Thailand; and, Kai Ping Yong, Chinese Language editor, Malaysiakini, Malaysia. Second panel discussion centred on how Asean Media and Information exchanges could be made possible and barriers to overcome by panelists Yuli Ismartono, Managing Editor of Asiaviews, Indonesia, Asmawar Samat, Under Secretary of the South-South Information Gateways, Malaysia and Moe Thuzar, Lead Research (Socio-Cultural), Asean Studies Centre, Singapore. -- BERNAMA