BUM2009 Has the SIRprise Speaker confirmed coming!

From bum2009.wordpress.com:

May 14, 2009...2:43 pm
NEWS FLASH: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will hold a Dialogue at BUM2009!


Mystery Guest - Tun M

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14, 2009:

Yes,that “surprise speaker” we listed in the tentative Programme Outline – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad — has confirmed his participation at BUM2009 to be held at the Lake View Club, Subang Jaya on Saturday, 16 May 2009.

BUM Organising Committee Co-chair Sdr Ahirudin Attan aka Rockybru just confirmed that the former Prime Minister, who has established himself a “leading Blogger’s place” with the launch of chedet.com on May Day (May 1 LABOUR DAY) last year (coinciding with BUM2008), will hold an hour-long Dialogue, most likely preceding or just after the originally planned Afternoon Session.

BUM2009, flagged off as the Bloggers Event of the Year to mark World Press Freedom Day (which falls on May 3rd), focuses on both the old and new media, with special reference to the role of blogs and bloggers. The organisers have gotten a bit more ambitious and want editors from the mainstream media (Fourth Estate) to sit at the same table with their new media (Fifth Estate) brothers and sisters and discuss common issues.

Online journalists Steven Gan and Fathi Aris Omar and MSM newshounds Citizen R Nadeswaran of theSun, a regular at BUM, have also confirmed their participation, so also MP-Blogger YB Jeff Ooi and YB State Assemblyman-Blogger Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, along with civil society activists like Dr KJ John and lawyers Art Harun and Philip Koh.

“Have they failed us?” is a question that can be asked of the mainstream media as well as the new media, said Rockybru, Interim President of the National Alliance of Bloggers (All-Blogs).

For the first time in three BUM outings, a session to be conducted wholly in Bahasa Malaysia to be chaired by Sdri Helen Ang, and will feature several leading Bloggers, including Berita Publishing’s Datuk A Kadir Jasin, and former Suara Keadilan editor, Faisal Mustaffa.

The Chairman of BUM2009 (YL Chong) says for this year, there is room for only 200 bloggers and Bloggers-to-be! That’s going to be a problem, especially now that we have confirmed that the “Surprise Blogger” is helicopter-ing in for the Event!