Week in Review: The Internet, messaging apps and elections

By Karamjit Singh September 11, 2015

Singaporeans vote today, better informed than they have ever been
What’s Next welcomes AM-Met-Life Insurance CEO Ramzi Toubassy

Week in Review: The Internet, messaging apps and elections READING Benjamin Cher’s excellent piece on the intersection of technology, specifically the Internet, with politics gave me a sense of deja vu as the main points made were similar to a story DNA executive editor A. Asohan wrote on the impact of technology on the last Malaysian polls in 2013.

The key impact is this: With Singaporeans casting their votes today to pick their leaders for the next five years, you can bet that their choices were determined after a much more open discussion about the pros and cons of the parties wooing their votes.

The decades-old, heavy pro-government stance of the entrenched media has been upended by empowered citizens setting up their own news sites and blogs to give a different view of the issues that concern Singaporeans.

And let’s not forget the increasing role messaging apps play today in the dissemination of news and opinions in text, visual and video form. I personally suspect that this will be the main medium through which the next election in Malaysia will be fought over.

This liberating effect of the Internet and messaging apps on access to information clearly ranks as such technologies’ biggest impact on the socio-economic environment of developing countries especially.

With What’s Next: The Business Impact of Disruptive Technology conference only two weeks away, let me warmly welcome Ramzi Toubassy, chief executive officer (CEO) of AM-Met-Life Insurance Bhd, on board as a Provocateur.

His participation really has me looking forward to the two sessions on banking and insurance as you will have Ramzi and Teh Maimunah of Hong Leong Islamic Bank Bhd acting as Provocateurs, to either agree or disagree, with the presentations by Accenture’s head of Digital in Asean Nils Michaelis, and digital disruptor Ganesh Kumar Bangah of MOL Global.

For instance, Malaysia’s central bank Bank Negara Malaysia has given MOL approval for its e-wallet. Ganesh is hugely excited about this and the opportunities that lay ahead. Should the banks and their CEOs be worried? What will Maimunah’s response be to this?

So make sure you get your tickets for what will be a conference that talks about real issues around how business is being disrupted by technology, and not just about technology itself.

And I am also super pleased to welcome Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the national ICT agency of Malaysia, to What’s Next as its Supporting Presenter.

According to MDeC chief operating officer Ng Wan Peng, “Disruptive technologies such as mobile connectivity, the IoT (Internet of Things), big data and cloud may be a challenge to traditional business models, but it is important for businesses to take the risk and innovate to disrupt the disruption itself.”

Excited about the content of the conference, Ng adds: “With the exciting lineup of speakers and thought-provoking topics at the inaugural What’s Next conference, MDeC is more than happy to support DNA reach out to ICT startups and businesses to discover insights and findings on how disruptive technologies can reshape business models.

“This is undoubtedly aligned with our mission for business to embrace the Digital Malaysia national agenda.”

Digital Malaysia is the national initiative to transform the country into a digital economy by the year 2020.

What’s Next: The Business Impact of Disruptive Technology (#WhatsNextDNA) will take place on Tuesday, Sept 29, from 9am-5:30pm at the Cyberview Resort & Spa. Tickets cost RM980, with a group rate of RM730 (for three or more). To book your tickets, go here.

And I forgot to mention, What’s Next also welcomes a trio of moderators who probably rank among the best in Malaysia – Kho Hsu Chuang and Freda Liu of BFM Radio and Sophie Kamaruddin of Bloomberg TV Malaysia.

So you know there will not be a boring moment throughout the day. I’ll see you there!

Editor’s Picks:

Singapore’s polls, where politics intersects with technology

NTT Data acquires iPay88’s Malaysian operations

Patrick Grove goes ‘wild digital,’ has a crazy dream

Concern and confusion greet Indonesia’s new smartphone rules

Indonesia aims to beat Malaysia in Internet access by 2019

Apple upsizes iPad, moves closer to becoming a PC

DNA Test: Fitbit Charge HR and Jawbone UP3 are for the fitness-minded

Previous Instalments:

Week in Review: Small fish will eat the big fish