AGL 38.20 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.55%)
AIRLINK 211.50 Decreased By ▼ -4.03 (-1.87%)
BOP 9.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-3.27%)
CNERGY 6.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-3.98%)
DCL 9.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-1.85%)
DFML 38.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.73 (-1.87%)
DGKC 96.86 Decreased By ▼ -3.39 (-3.38%)
FCCL 36.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.41%)
FFBL 88.94 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 14.98 Increased By ▲ 0.49 (3.38%)
HUBC 131.00 Decreased By ▼ -3.13 (-2.33%)
HUMNL 13.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-1.39%)
KEL 5.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-3.16%)
KOSM 6.87 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-6.15%)
MLCF 44.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.97 (-2.11%)
NBP 59.34 Decreased By ▼ -1.94 (-3.17%)
OGDC 230.00 Decreased By ▼ -2.59 (-1.11%)
PAEL 39.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.53 (-3.76%)
PIBTL 8.38 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-2.33%)
PPL 200.00 Decreased By ▼ -3.34 (-1.64%)
PRL 39.10 Decreased By ▼ -1.71 (-4.19%)
PTC 27.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.31 (-4.63%)
SEARL 103.32 Decreased By ▼ -5.19 (-4.78%)
TELE 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-3.89%)
TOMCL 35.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-1.34%)
TPLP 13.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-2.75%)
TREET 25.30 Increased By ▲ 0.92 (3.77%)
TRG 64.50 Increased By ▲ 3.35 (5.48%)
UNITY 34.90 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.17%)
WTL 1.77 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (2.91%)
BR100 12,110 Decreased By -137 (-1.12%)
BR30 37,723 Decreased By -662.1 (-1.72%)
KSE100 112,415 Decreased By -1509.6 (-1.33%)
KSE30 35,508 Decreased By -535.7 (-1.49%)

ASEAN must maximise the use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media to engage the region's citizens, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on July 19. Speaking to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers on the island of Bali, Yudhoyono expressed support for the establishment of an ASEAN blogger community.
"For the first time, and in contrast to just four decades ago, we are facing a reality where the frequency and depth of contacts between our citizens - through cable television, email, Twitter, Facebook - far exceed the formal contacts between government officials," he said.
"Indonesia, being the world's second largest Facebook nation and third largest for Twitter, knows this very well." ASEAN must "get into the act" and be "creative and open-minded in harnessing the power of technology to promote people-to-people contact," he said.
"The establishment of an ASEAN blogger community is one innovative idea, and more should follow." ASEAN, with nearly 600 million people, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The more developed member-states such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have witnessed explosive growth in the use of social networking and microblogging sites even if overall Internet penetration remains low.
Yudhoyono often sends mixed messages about free expression and social media. The centrist ex-general has warned that the "Internet frenzy" is destroying traditional values, has backed a crackdown on porn websites and has lashed out at people who "use online media to spread lies" about corruption.
Human rights activists criticise Yudhoyono for approving a 2008 law which sets tough penalties for online defamation, saying it has been used to intimidate critics and whistle-blowers.
A Facebook support group garnered more than 100,000 members, and a court eventually threw out the case against her. But the Supreme Court recently reinstated her conviction and she is now serving six months of probation.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011

Comments

Comments are closed.