PRESS RELEASE
Bloggers Universe Malaysia (BUM) 2011 Forum to Feature Star-Studded Speakers
KUALA LUMPUR: A field of star-studded speakers has been lined up for the BUM2011 Forum to be held at the KLSCAH Auditorium on Saturday, June 11, 2011.
Themed “Bloggers’ Solidarity with the Press?”, the forum which is being held to mark “World Press Freedom Day” (which fell on May 3, 2011), will start at 7.45PM with a Keynote Address by Selangor’s Seri Setia State Assemblyman YB Nik Nazmi
Nik Ahmad on “Legislating Freedom of Information Act in Parliament”.
The forum that follows will feature Mr Cheam Toon Lee, a veteran journalist who had served as a former editor-in-chief in Sabah/Sarawak, Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, popularly known as Zunar, Malaysiakini cartoonist, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, former Bar Council president and current Bersih 2.0 chairperson, and Mr Hata Wahari, former senior journalist at Utusan Malaysia who was also serving as President of the National Union of Journalists when his employer sacked him from his job recently.
CPI director Dr Lim Teck Ghee said that with the political environment becoming more hotly contested and the mainstream media working overtime as cheerleader and fear leader for the establishment, it is vital that bloggers and those with integrity in the mass media quickly close ranks and provide Malaysians with truthful, fair and objective news and analysis.
“I hope this forum will serve to galvanise media practitioners and bloggers to reassert their adherence to the norms of journalistic ethics and independent reporting,” Lim added.
BUM2011 Organising Committee chairman YL Chong aka Desiderata said this year’s event almost never got off the ground as the Sarawak State elections came in April and interrupted the preparations as the previous BUM gatherings were all held in the month of May.
“Nevertheless, I was motivated to press ahead after learning about Hata Wahari’s plight of his sacking by his employer and that explains the theme for our fifth BUM outing,” he added.
Admission to the forum -- being co-organised by a group of bloggers in their individual capacities, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), and the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI Malaysia) -- is free and open to the public.
More background and updates on the event are posted at our dedicated website bum4msia.wordpress.com.
KUALA LUMPUR
June 7, 2011
Contact person: YL Chong at 012-9702285
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