Interview with Yang Berhormat Jeff Ooi

(OOI Chuan Aun) Member of Parliament for Jelutong (in Penang) for the DAP and prominent blogger (Screenshots)

Biography:

Jeff Ooi is the Member of Parliament for the federal electorate of Jelutong. He has an MBA from the RMIT University, Australia, specializing in international management. Earlier, he graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in literature and political science from USM, Penang.

Jeff is an internationally sought-after speaker on Internet, new media, freedom of expression, state-sponsored internet filtration, and free and open source software. Since 2004, he has spoken in the USA, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Tunisia, India, Singapore, Cambodia, the Philippines and throughout Malaysia. He pioneered e-community in 1999 (www.usj.com.my) and social-political blogging in Malaysia in 2003.

In 2001 – 2002, Jeff was the founding member of Communications and Multimedia Content Forum and secretary of the Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum, respectively, two bodies tasked to draft industry codes under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. Before becoming a legislator, Jeff was an Internet and New Media consultant. He wrote a fortnightly column on K-economy in the Malaysian Business magazine, 2001-2006, and blogged on CNet Asia on consumer Internet and Electronics, besides being an Internet observer with FRANCE24 TV network. He published his first book in 2008, titled “i-Witness”, which focuses on knowledge-based economy and technology-driven change in the business world.

Jeff Ooi's blog was been dubbed "Malaysia's Most Influential Blog" by Malaysiakini, a popular local online news publication. Between March 6 and March 10, 2006, Ooi claimed that the total data downloaded by visitors to his blog was 50.58 gigabytes. He's also a pioneer in Malaysia's blogosphere. In June 2005, his blog (www.jeffooi.com aka Screenshots) was voted by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) as the winner of the Freedom Blogs Asia Awards.

Jeff Ooi also administrates a photography forum called Lensa Malaysia, which receives 200,000 page views per month. He is also the founder and administrator of USJ and Subang Jaya's own community forum usj.com.my, and was hired by CNET Asia as a tech blogger alongside other CNET Asia bloggers. He named his CNET Asia blog Lemak Lemang, a reference to coconut-flavored sticky rice stuffed in a bamboo container traditionally prepared by Malays.

Jeff contested in Malaysia’s General Election 2008 and was democratically elected as the Member of Parliament for Jelutong, Penang, when he beat the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional candidate by an enormous margin.

Jeff was appointed a member of the Board of Directors in Invest-in-Penang Berhad (InvestPenang), a state-owned agency formed to promote international and domestic investments. He is also a key mover in the Wireless@Penang project launched in 2008. In social work, Jeff is currently a director at the Centre for Policy Initiatives, a think-tank for civil society, alongside Dr Lim Teik Ghee and Dr Azly Rahman.

 

This video is still in post-production. The final version of this video will be uploaded to YouTube and made available through this website.