Malaysia's proposed news exchange mechanism gets NAM backing

The news exchange mechanism for non-aligned countries, a Bernama brainchild which eventually became a Malaysian project, has finally received the support of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Senior officials preparing the agenda for the Sixth Conference of Ministers of Information Non-Aligned Countries (Cominac) VI have endorsed the proposed NAM News Network (NNN). Information Ministry Secretary General Siti Balkish Mohamed Shariff said a workshop would be organised within the next three months to enable interested NAM members to discuss ways to establish a practical and workable mechanism for the NNN. The proposed internet-based portal is aimed at presenting news on NAM countries from their own perspective for them and the world. Bernama, has been entrusted with the project, given its experience in handling similar initiatives. NNN would replace the inactive Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP)

Amman recovers from unprecendented bombings...

It was obvious to feel apprehensive about going to Amman especially after three of the city's hotels had just been hit by suicide bombers last Wednesday. I was supposed to fly to Amman on Friday to attend the News Agencies World Council meeting and was not sure if the gathering would proceed in the wake of the unprecendented bombings. A few phone calls to Amman finally made me decide to go on the trip after having been assured that the situation was not as bad as had been thought.
Indeed I found that the city going through its normal business although security at hotels were stepped up. The authorities had announced several arrests following the attacks which were blamed on the Al Qaeda in Iraq led by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi.
I had a pleasant surprise when during a tour to the Citadel, I overheard three women speaking in bahasa Malaysia. As it turned out, they were from Malaysia and working in Abu Dhabi as nurses. No, the bombings did not stop them from continuing with their visit programme to Jordan. The chanced meeting inspired me to file a report .

Three long years...

On this significant day, I am reminded of the time when my group of boisterous post-graduate mates first met for the Strategic Communication (stracomm) class. Despite meeting the professor for the first time, we had lots to talk about. A number of ideas were floated on the communication projects that we would undertake for the whole semester. One that gained all-round immediate support was to start a Yahoo internet group called Stracomm. It would be the channel for us to communicate in between our once-a-week classes, discuss assignments and projects, bla, bla, bla. But just like most blogs, such internet group channel slowly waned out over the years and die a natural death. I hate to let it go and wrote the following note in the hope of getting the desired response.

"Dear Cefu and friends,
Three long solid years have passed since we started stracomm. Wouldn't it be fun if we had a time machine then to enable us to look into the future? We could have observed then how we eventually went our separate paths. Many have reached better ground, been rewarded and heading for a brighter future. Some may still be on the way forward while some could still be struggling on the long, painful journey in life.
Whatever it is, here's wishing everyone a Selamat Hari Raya. Maaf Zahir dan Batin. I'm only human yang tak sunyi daripada kesilapan.
Shah, sorry for all the 'teh tarik' promises which never really turn out. I know for sure, though, that the next time you're enjoying your 'teh tarik', you will look back with a smile at the time when we had our Raya celebration at UPM. No, I'm not reminding you about the satay but the good times we had as post-graduate students. I still have the CD recorded by Ismadi for memories sake.
To Cefu, wherever you are, all the best. I hope you have found your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
To all, take care and I'll always cherish the UPM days.

Fondest regards,
azz"