1. Open Government, Open Data and Digital Rights in Constrained Environments of Malaysia
Kharil Yusof
Malaysia is defined by CIVICUS global alliance of civil society as a country where civil society organizations (CSO) are working in an obstructed environment. [1] There is no Freedom of Information Act (Federal), no public asset or interests disclosure. Freedom of expression is restricted through Sedition Law, Communications & Multimedia Act, misuse of Official Secrets Act, Universities & University Colleges Act and Print and Presses Act. There are also institutional constraints for CSOs with laws restricting freedom of association and non-profit status.
This has resulted in an environment where government data availability in higher middle income countries like Thailand and Malaysia performed worse than lower middle income countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam [1]. With high levels of Internet penetration and large number of young digital natives, online freedom of association and expression has also been curtailed through disproportionate legal measures for on-line activities as well as Internet censorship of independent news and political websites.
This environment requires innovative approaches in improving government transparency through building digital tools for collaborative acquisition and sharing of limited government data. As well sourcing for alternative socio-economic data through traditional CSO methods such as community social audits.
The talk will cover introduction to open data & civic tech, open data tools and approaches used locally in Malaysia and internationally. It will cover some cases of how lack of government data and statistics, as well as suppression of this information and freedom of expression impacts good governance and communities. Finally the talk will also touch upon the importance of digital rights, as avenues for democratic participation increasingly depend on digital tools and the Internet.
[1]https://monitor.civicus.org/country/malaysia
[2]http://opendatabarometer.org/3rdedition/regional-report/east-asia-and-the-pacific/
About Khairil Yusof:
Khairil Yusof coordinates project implementations, funding, engagement and overall direction of Sinar Project. There he works on open government and open parliament initiatives. He also helps conducts training to help build technical capacity for other civil society organizations. Has extensively worked with various government agencies, private sector and civil society for ICT for development issues.
2. ICT Development in Indonesia, from Social Media to Sustainable Digital Economy
Enda Nasution
Since the beginning of the wave of digital technology coming in to Indonesia in the 1990's the adoption of ICT in many aspects of Indonesian life has been started slowly and only use by several groups of early adopters. However, the availability of affordable mobile connectivity combined with social media platforms has pull Indonesia to the digital age where it touches almost every layer of how Indonesian communicate and interact.
Cultural aspect influence this swift change into digital culture and it has affecting the very fabric of relationships between individual, organizations, corporation and even government, national and locals.
ICT has changed the landscape how Indonesian consumed daily information and that resulted in behavioral changed on what to buy, what to believe and whom we choose as our leaders.
Challenges from lack of infrastructure in the geographically vast country to hardliners Muslim groups, to law that restrict freedom of expressions, persist as few of the many problems to solve in this near future. But optimism abound where now Indonesian can hear how political campaign, ecommerce business, startups and digital democracy mentioned in the same breath.
About Enda Nasution
He is quite famous for the social network in Indonesia and he is dubbed as the father of blog in Indonesia (bapak blogger Indonesia) and produces articles and papers on internet and social net. He has now his own website for social communication media, Sebangsa.com
3. Corporate Forest and Land Grabbing in Riau, Indonesia
Made Ali
The Indonesian government has started to pave the way for corporate forest and land grabbing for the industrial forest and oil palm plantation in the Riau province since 1980s. The government control on the grabbing has been weak and, therefore, many companies have operated their business without proper permissions. And this weak control has not only caused the oligopolistic control of land, but also caused the devastating destruction of natural forest including peat swamp forest and the serious fire and haze issues.
The government effort to strengthen the control such as the establishment of Peat Restoration Agency (BRG) is not bringing persuasive fruits. The owners of these companies both at the national and local levels have close connections with the powerful and greedy political elites. And, macro economically speaking, these economic activities are the quintessential source of economic growth in Indonesia. In this presentation, I will show the land grabbing patterns, ownership and politico-economic grabbing network in Riau, Indonesia, utilizing the satellite maps and field observation.
About Made Ali
Vice Coordinator of Jikalahari (Environmental Conservation Network in Riau province). He has a deep knowledge about the corporate land grabbing in Riau and he is active to fight against the environmental destruction and deforestation by oligopolistic corporations and to save the environment with multi-stakeholders