Several cyberactivists in Malaysia were recognised for their pioneering work on the Internet at an 'awards' presentation during the launch of the book, Asian Cyberactivism, in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

MGG Pillai (left), a veteran journalist, was noted for his prolific contributions on current affairs, which began almost 10 years ago with his Sangkancil listserv and now, mggpillai.com.

Other recipients were Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin (left) from freeanwar.com, Zulkifli Sulung (right), harakahdaily.net, Rosli Ismail, agendadaily.com, while the DAP was accredited for being the first political party to go online.

Retired accountant

But the person who stole the show was Yap Yok Foo, 58, who is affectionately known in Malaysia's cyberworld as 'Uncle Yap'.

A retired chartered accountant, Yap (right) gave an account of how he started his online presence.

"When my son went to the UK to study, he told me, 'Pa, please keep me in touch with Malaysian news'," Yap told a crowd of 50 people who braved the traffic gridlock in Mid Valley to attend the function.

He eventually started the BeritaMalaysia listserv in 1995, which has over 1,000 subscribers.

Yap's biggest lamentation?

He said his eldest son Kenneth, whose parting exhortation in October 1994 inspired the daily news collection which spawned the BeritaMalaysia mail-list is no longer a subscriber.

"Nevertheless, I'll keep going because its always nice to receive emails from far-off places such as Germany from fellow Malaysians who say how much they appreciate this news service," said Yap.

The cyberactivists received a free copy of Asian Cyberactivism, a 664-page anthology of essays by 19 contributors from a variety of countries and disciplines, covering a range of topics with the central focus on cyberactivists, their achievements and challenges.

Freedom of information

But it was all too clear during the Valentine's Day launch that freedom of speech cannot happen without freedom of information, a point put across by News Straits Times associate editor Rehman Rashid who spoke as a discussant at the launch

"The primary task is getting to know stuff," he said, referring to the cacophony of voices in the public sphere that drown out important information.

Rehman put the issue in the context of online activism, and the challenges that activists using the Internet face.

Well-known and popular online activist, blogger Jeff Ooi, who took part in the hour-long roundtable discussion, concurred with Rehman.

"You need to put context to the vast amount of information out there," said Ooi, who is also a consultant and a columnist in a business journal.

He said there was a need for credibility as a blogger, and he received advice and guidance on responsible journalism from people working in the profession.

Speakers at the launch included two of the book's co-editors, Steven Gan, editor-in-chief and co-founder of malaysiakini, and James Gomez from the Bangkok-based Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the publisher of Asian Cyberactivism.

Other speakers were book reviewer Oon Yeoh, author and journalist; Masjaliza Hamzah from Sisters In Islam, and Fathi Aris Omar, freelance writer and malaysiakini columnist.

KJ John, who is vice-president of Strategic Interventions in Mimos, a government think-tank which has spearheaded the country's development of information technology, gave the keynote speech.

The launch was jointly hosted by the Malaysian distributor of the book, Gerakbudaya.