[Rigf_program] IGF in Indonesia cancelled

[Waltraut Ritter]

Hi, 

 

The official IGF website posted this news:

 

[NEW] The UN is in touch with the organizers to discuss relevent aspects of
the meeting. Contarary to rumours currently circulating, neither the IGF
Secretariat nor UNDESA have recieved any official notification of a
cancellation of the meeting. 

 

Regards

 

Waltraut

 

Hong Kong

From: rigf_program-bounces at aprigf.asia
[mailto:rigf_program-bounces at aprigf.asia] On Behalf Of Ang Peng Hwa (Prof)
Sent: 26 July 2013 11:21
To: program at aprigf.asia
Subject: [Rigf_program] IGF in Indonesia cancelled

 

Folks,

 

This is sad but official: the Indonesian organizers have cancelled the IGF.
The announcement was made by the chair of the organizing committee (a
businessman) after a meeting with the minister and the civil society group.

 

There is a news report in Bahasa Indonesia at
http://inet.detik.com/read/2013/07/25/135130/2314218/328/kurang-dana-forum-i
nternet-dunia-batal-digelar-di-bali.  Use Google translate and you will be
able to read.

 

I had met the civil society organizers just this week. They were asking for
possible tips on fund raising. After exploring the options, we concluded
that they had approached most of the likely sponsors. Yes, there were some
possibilities they had overlooked but these were not many.

 

According to the news report, out of the US$2.2M (Rp22 billion) budget, they
had raised US$900k. The Ministry had given US$250k. So they had a shortfall
of US$1.05M.

 

Third party sources I checked (i.e. Not the Indonesians themselves) said
that one major cost was that the UN had asked for US$900k to fly personnel
and security apparatus to the meeting. 

 

Knowing a little of the inside story, I would say the situation is more
complex than one might have guessed. Next year is the election year for
Indonesia. So companies are asking: if I support you now but you do not win,
what happens? Then two weeks before the IGF, there is the APEC meeting in
the same venue. So the feeling that is Indonesia will be on the world's
stage at that time already. Meanwhile, the Minister of Communication, whose
ministry oversees the IGF, is under allegations of corruption. It's one of
those series of unfortunate events.

 

Regards,

Peng Hwa

 

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