YLDA @ CALD Communications Workshop
2005-10-13

Exploring the internet: (L-R) Youth Initiative's Deependra Chaulagain, KNYM's Sok Vilay, and YLDA web developer Narwin Espiritu.

While weblogs and podcasts are used by others for pure fun, YLDA?s young media specialists now know how these technological innovations are brought into play for politics and campaigning. In fact, you might just see these new applications in the Youth Initiative (YI), Khmer Nation Youth Movement (KNYM), and YLDA websites in the near future.

YLDA member organizations with active, independent websites were invited to attend the 3rd Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) communications workshop in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Deependra Chaulagain (YI-Nepal), Ms. Sok Vilay (KNYM-Cambodia), and Ms. Anne Elica?o (YLDA secretariat) joined the four-day activity. Also present was Mr. Narwin Espiritu, web developer for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) and technical support provider for YLDA?s website. The workshop was hosted by the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia and supported by FNF.

YLDA Program Officer Anne Elicano chats with Sdr. Hoo Saw Ho, Secretary General of Gerakan Youth/td>

Deependra, Vilay, and Anne, who manage content for their respective websites, learned internet usage strategies from CALD members and observer political parties. Key issues discussed were how to bridge the ever-widening digital divide, cyber activism and cyber terrorism, and how to strengthen the network of media specialists using the net. All participants visited Kuala Lumpur?s Cyberjava, an information and technology hub popularly tagged as the ?heartbeat of internet in Malaysia.?

Thanks to CALD, expect to see ?under construction? posts mushrooming and better, more innovative websites to come.

View the workshop?s blog at www.caldcloggers.blogspot.com.

Garda Bangsa Garda Bangsa was formed in 1998 following the successful political reform spearheaded by students and other campus activists to depose the tyrannical regime of President Suharto. The organization was founded by Abdurram Wahid, a former adviser of President Suharto who resigned following an escalation in government corruption and political management by the administration. He championed "Responsible Openness" within the government system and proposed the establishment of a Reform Committee in order to mitigate poor governance within the administration. His calls were left unheeded and so he eventually withdrew support for the government and joined the efforts advocating for reform in the government. Read more...