Facebook: Is it Unhealthy for Families?

17th June 2011

Dear friends

Invitation to Participate at a Public Forum “Facebook: Is it Unhealthy for Families?”, 25th June 2011

We are from EMPOWER (Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor), a
non-governmental organisation whose main concern is to improve the awareness and welfare of marginalized communities, especially women and girls. Empower, working in partnership with Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Sisters
in Islam (SIS) is organizing a public forum titled “Facebook: Is it Unhealthy for Families?” We would like to invite you and members from your organisation to participate in our forum.

Recently, Dato’ Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil remarked at the Dewan Rakyat on 29th March 2011 that, “in the context of family and marriage, extensive use of social websites can bring about unhealthy implications” [http://komunitikini .com/kl-selangor /ampang/shahriza t-facebook-can-bring-unhealthy -implications] .

Given that the 2008 statistics show that Malaysia has a total of 15 million internet users, this forum will act as a platform for the public to engage with policy and law makers to discuss the implications of any actions that may be taken on social media. The forum will give feedback to policy makers on the impact of social media on family, accessibility, freedom of information,
human rights and personal safety and privacy.

The details of the forum are as follows:

Date: Saturday, 25th June 2011
Time: 9.30 am – 12.30 pm
Venue: De Palma Seminar & Conference Centre
15th Floor, Menara PKNS
Jalan Yong Shook Lin
46050, Petaling Jaya
Selangor

The tentative program is as follows:

0930 – 1000 Arrival of Guests, Refreshments & Registration
1000 – 1010 Welcoming note by Empower
1010 – 1025 “Social Media, Family and Online Security” – Mr. Aziz Adam from Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia
1025 – 1040 “Social Networking, Freedom of Information and Right to Information” – Mr. Hasnol bin Hassan Ariff from CyberSecurity Malaysia
1040 – 1055 “Facebook, Social Media and Impact on the Family” – Ministry of Women,
Family and Community Development (tbc)
1055 – 1110 “The Use of Facebook, Internet Security and Impact on Young People” – Mr. Sean Ang from Southeast Asian Centre for e-Media
1110 – 1230 Open forum & closing, followed by lunch We look forward to your positive response. Attached is a copy of the registration form which you can fax to us at 03-77844978 or email to <empower05@gmail. com> by 20th June 2011.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at 03-77844977 or 016-220 8784 for further information on this forum.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Maria Chin Abdullah
Executive Director