According to NRD director-general Datuk Jariah Mohd Said, the new MyKad adheres to international standards and does not easily damage, which would overcome the quality and durability issue raised by certain quarters.

She added that although it is not compulsory, the public are encouraged to change their MyKad to the new ones.

New MyKad security features curbs forgery originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 3, 2012.

However, its quarterly growth has been sliding steadily in 2011, from 17% in Quarter 1 to 8% in Quarter 4. In Quarter 4 2010, it was growing at 21%.

2010 was the year when Facebook went on hyper-drive growth on users acquisition front in Asia. However, 2011 was the year when Facebook downshifted a gear or two. The decline is expected to continue as many Asian nations are reaching saturation level.

Total Facebook users in Asia increased from 168 million on October 1 2011 to 181 million on December 31 2011, a quarterly growth rate of 8%.

Indonesia continues to be the top Asian country on Facebook with 42 million users. But India will dethrone Indonesia soon. [UPDATE: India has surpassed Indonesia to become Facebook's biggest country in Asia.]

Facebook users in India has been growing by the double digits throughout 2011. On January 1 2011, India has 17 million Facebook users. By the end of the year, the country has 41 million users!

Other than India, eight other countries registered double digits growth throughout 2011, namely Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and Laos (see Table 3). However, only three countries are growing at rates higher in Quarter 4 compared to Quarter 3, namely Japan, South Korea and Mongolia. And South Korea registered the highest single quarter growth of 82% in Quarter 1 2011.

How accurate are these estimations? Read here.

Facebook in Asia: A Growth Story (2011) originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 1, 2012.

There are now over 12 million Facebook users and possibly, hundreds of thousands of Twitter users in Malaysia. Social tools are becoming more pervasive. In 2011, the tools are a force to be reckon with.

Malaysians (and elsewhere) used social media tools to amplify their dissatisfaction about various issues – from election reform to proposed Bill to government initiatives. Not only protests though. In 2011, we also saw a high-profile Malaysian CEO posting his unvarnished thoughts/opinions on social media, a record breaking tweetup, and a marriage proposal that went massively viral worldwide!

These days, whatever happens offline, the news get propagated across social networks. Whatever happens in social media space gets attention in the physical world.

In the past 365 days, there were many interesting things happening in the Malaysian social media scene. Here are some of the most notable, memorable ones.

MALAYSIAN EMAIL PROJECT The national Email project aims to provide unique email ID to every Malaysian citizens who are 18 years and above. The total investment of the project is RM50 million by 2020. It will be spearheaded by Tricubes Bhd, in collaboration with Microsoft.

After the project was announced by the Prime Minister, a public uproar ensued. It was ridiculed by many on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.

100 APOLOGY TWEETS Back in January 2011, Fahmi Fadzil had tweeted that an acquaintance had been poorly treated by Blu Inc Media. He later apologized but Blu Inc Media demanded compensation for defamation and an apology in newspaper. Both parties however settled the case with Fahmi agreeing to apologize 100 times with 100 tweets, over three days (starting June 2, 2011).

This is probably the first time a legal settlement with Twitter in starring role.

#OPMALAYSIA End of May 2011, the Malaysian Commission of Multimedia and Communications issued a directive to all ISPs to block 10 file sharing sites. This prompted outrage not only Internet users but also Anonymous Group. The hackers group issued a warning about impending attacks on Malaysian websites. On June 16, the group launched Distributed Denial of Service attacks on 200 Malaysian websites (60% are Government’s websites).

RM1.4 MILLION NATIONAL PRICE CHECKER, HACKED On June 7, 2011, the Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism launched the 1Malaysia Pengguna Bijak portal which allows users to check the prices of consumer goods sold at 1,255 retail outlets across Malaysia.

Three days later, hackers exposed security vulnerabilities of the RM1.4 million portal and posted details of 2,000 accounts online.

TOURISM MALAYSIA’S RM1.8 MILLION FACEBOOK SPENDING In June 2011, a spokesman for the Tourism Ministry revealed that a whopping RM1,758,432 was spent on developing six social media campaigns to promote Malaysian tourism, drawing criticism from several quarters for flagrant overspending. On the same day the Tourism Ministry made the announcement, Malaysian netizens created a Facebook page called ‘Curi-Curi Wang Malaysia’ – a play on the Tourism Ministry’s ‘Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia’ campaign, loosely translated as “stealing Malaysia’s money”.

In just 2.5 days, the Page got over 80,000 Likes. In less than a week, it garnered more than 122,000 fans, about three times that of the Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia Facebook page then. The message on its homepage said: “We can prove to the government that we do not need to spend 1.8 million ringgit for a successful fan page. We want our mismanaged money back!”

The official Tourism Malaysia Facebook Page has since surpassed its target of 120,000 Likes by December 2011. The Page now has over 300k Likes.

BERSIH 2.0 RALLY #BERSIH2 The Bersih 2.0 rally was a demonstration aimed at ensuring ensure free and fair elections in Malaysia held on 9 July 2011 as a follow-up to the 2007 Bersih rally. The rally, organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), was supported by Pakatan Rakyat, the coalition of the three largest opposition parties in Malaysia, but was deemed illegal by the government. The police vowed to stop any rallies from taking place on the planned date on the grounds that all public gatherings without police permits are illegal. Estimates of the turnout ranged between 10,000 to over 20,000.

In the days preceding and following the rally, both supporters and opposers alike turned to social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as platforms to share information in a continuous virtual conversation. The combination of these three was a powerful tool to garner support for as well as to vehemently criticise Bersih.

PURE, UNADULTERATED TONY FERNANDES ON TWITTER In early December 2011, Fernades, the head honcho of low cost airline, Air Asia, traded barbs with the Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad in the press and on social media networks, with each blaming the other for new budget terminal KLIA 2’s bloated cost – from an initial cost of RM2 billion to now RM3.9 billion.

Tony Fernandes used his Twitter and Facebook to express his opinions about the bloated cost issue. He also responded to various questions raised by his followers. Of course, this is nothing new from Mr Fernandes. The AirAsia CEO is an ardent social media user for several years now and post updates regularly on his social media accounts.

8TV RAMADHAN ADS TV station 8TV posted a Ramadhan public service announcement video on August 1, 2011. The video immediately attracted criticism and complaints. It was reshared tens of thousands of time on Facebook and Twitter.

Image credit

At first, the Ahmad Izham Omar, COO of Media Prima Bhd (parent company of 8TV) shrugged off the negative reactions by the online community. Within 48 hours, the ads was pull off air.

#OCTTWTUP, THE WORLD’S LARGEST TWEETUP On October 22, 2011, telco DiGi held an OctTwtFest at their Shah Alam headquarters, and in just a short span of nine hours, the OctTwtFest managed to reach one of its main purposes – to break the previous Guinness World Record for the biggest tweetup of 1,935 participants in Boston – as more than 2,000 Twitter users made their way to the telecommunication provider’s headquarters.

COMPUTING PROFESSIONALS BILL 2011 #CPB2011 Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is drafting a bill, called Computing Professionals Bill 2011, which registration and certification of IT workers before they can work on projects related to the “Critical National Information Infrastructure.”

Local tech community go to social networks to express their dislikes of the proposed Act. Vague and confusing details in the draft led to misinformation and misinterpretation. The Ministry issued a press release the following day and held an Open Review Day. This didn’t seem to convince the community about the need of the Act.

This prompted reactions from Malaysians – tech workers and politicians alike.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA KUNG-FU OF “YOK MAN” The Rice of Yok Man, part of a social media campaign by a Bak Kwa (dried meat) supplier Wing Heong Food Industries, is a big hit on social networks.

To date, the video has garnered more than half a million views with over 215,000 Likes and over 125,000 Shares on Facebook. It got more than 250 mentions on Twitter, more than 550 mentions on Google+. The video also received positive comments from many on Facebook and Twitter.

A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL CRAFTED USING INTERNET MEMES In what is truly a heartwarming love story, a man performed an intricate proposal to his girlfriend using of all things, Internet memes. Malaysian Timothy Tiah, co-founder of Nuffnang.com, wanted to come up with a creative way to propose to his longtime love, Audrey Ooi, so while she was dining with friends at Neroteca, a restaurant in Malaysia, he came to the restaurant window performed an intricate proposal using a series of Internet memes. To do this, Timothy displayed posters with messages using popular internet memes such as the Socially Awkward Penguin, Y U NO Guy, Victory Baby and Impossibru.

The video went massively viral across the globe. It was mentioned on many media sites like Gizmodo, Mashable, The Next Web, and also made it on “Most Viewed Today” list on YouTube.

What a lovely way to end 2011!

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2012!

Image credit side mirror.

Review 2011: Most Notable Moments in Malaysian Social Media Scene originally appeared on GreyReview.com on December 30, 2011.

With a total Internet users of 17.5 million, the Facebook penetration in Malaysia is just a whisker shy of 70%.

From January 2011 to December 2011, the Facebook user base has been growing at an average rate of 26%. The growth rate is markedly reduced compared to the last year’s rate of 87% (March 2010 – December 2010). The growth rate is expected to decline further in 2012, with the increasing level of Facebook penetration in this country, continuing privacy concerns, onset of Facebook lethargy, and onslaught of emerging new online time sucks.

Source: Facebook

Image credits: Facebook logo, Kuala Lumpur skyline

Facebook in Malaysia Hits 12 Million Users, 70% Penetration Rate originally appeared on GreyReview.com on December 20, 2011.

IKEA Malaysia is celebrating Chrismas on Facebook with its “It’s Time to Celebrate” app. The app is accessible via its Facebook Page. The following illustrates how IKEA currently setup its Facebook Page to welcome new fans (specifically, those who haven’t Like the Page yet):

Step 1: A new fan goes to www.facebook.com/IkeaMalaysia.

Step 2: The fan will see “Request for Permission” page:

Figure 1: Request for Permission

Step 3: Click “Allow” and land on a Likegate page.

Figure 2: Likegate

Step 4: Click “Like” to see thes “It’s Time to Celebrate” page.

Figure 3: Afterlike

Step 5: The fan clicks the Afterlike page image to go to IKEA – It’s Time to Celebrate Facebook app (apps.facebook.com/ikea_party_malaysia).

Figure 4: IKEA – It’s Time to Celebrate App on Facebook

As shown above, a new fan will see the Request for Permission first. Seriously, do you really want to welcome your new fans with a Request for Permission page? As a fan, why should I add the app without knowing anything about it other than the app’s name? Unless IKEA Malaysia is desperate to access the new fans’ personal details (name, emails, etc.), the setup simply adds friction to fan acquisition.

Instead of using the Permission page as the starting point, IKEA Malaysia should just direct its new fans to the Likegate page (as in Figure 2). This is a well established approach to increase fan count, among others (as Red Bull’s page below).

Another issue is the absence of detail about the “It’s Time to Celebrate” on the Afterlike page (see Figure 3). No clear instructions for fans. Click on the page image, it will bring the fan to the IKEA’s app (Figure 4).

Ideally, the Request for Permission page should appear after clicking the Afterlike page, before landing on the app. By this stage, fans know more about the Christmas promotion, ready to use the app, and should expect to see the Request for Permission page.

Undoubtedly, the “It’s Time to Celebrate” app is a nicely done app. If only the route leading to the app is nicely done too.

Figure 5: Likegate on Red Bull Facebook Page

The Problem with IKEA Malaysia Facebook Page originally appeared on GreyReview.com on December 15, 2011.

those assets, systems and functions that are vital to the nation that their incapacity or destruction would have a devastating impact on National economic strength or National image or National defense and security or Government capability to function or Public health and safety.

An IT asset, system and function can be considered as CNII as long as it is vital to the nation. How vital? As long as it is vital enough to cause a devastating impact to the country as the result of its incapacity or destruction.

We know digitalization is inevitable across the globe. IT systems are playing more and more significant and mission critical role in all facets of society, including the way we conduct commerce, the way country defends against threats, health care management, and many more.

As more and more IT systems eventually become vital to the nation, CNII will soon refer to the entire IT industry in Malaysia.

So, does the use of “CNII” in the proposed Act a trojan horse merely act to placate immediate resistance but a sinister long-term intention to exert control over the Malaysian IT industry? Where and how can the government draw the line?

Alleviating the professionalism within the IT industry is a good intention. With pervasive digitalization, the status of IT workers too have been alleviated, at par with other professionals like doctors, civil engineers, architects, etc. In the name of professionalism, the proposed Act will impose control, rules and regulations.

But IT geeks and nerds are The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules…

Critical National Information Infrastructure, CNII (also known as Information Technology) originally appeared on GreyReview.com on December 13, 2011.

BUT, if one didn’t skip Page 6 of the widely circulated draft version of the proposed Computing Professionals Bill 2011 (shown below), it is stated that the proposed Act “applies to the Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII)”.

What’s CNII? It refers to “those assets, systems and functions that are vital to the nation that their incapacity or destruction would have a devastating impact on National economic strength or National image or National defense and security or Government capability to function or Public health and safety” (page 7 in the Bill).

So, with my minimal knowledge of legal / legislation matters, I would say this Act DOES NOT cover ALL Malaysian tech people (contrary to many assertions, including mine). Unless you’re developing mission-critical systems to support the Malaysian economy, defense, public health and safety, this Act is probably of no relevance to you.

Malaysian website developers, Groupon cloners, Android apps developers, iOS game developers, e-commerce store operators, and many tech startup entrepreneurs, you are indeed safe from the “draconian” Computing Professionals Act 2011. You can now safely forge ahead and change the world.

But if you think the proposed Act sucks, you can voice your concerns during the Open Day Board of Computing Professionals Malaysia session at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation next Tuesday and/or support this online petition.

Computing Professionals Bill 2011 (Draft)

Malaysian Tech People, Ignore the Computing Professionals Bill 2011 Unless… originally appeared on GreyReview.com on December 9, 2011.

You walk into a local shopping mall one fine Sunday afternoon and notice a crowd gathering at the concourse area. You approach the crowd trying to find out what the fuss was about and then you see it: Darth Vader and his Imperial Stormtroopers have decided to drop on to our little third rock from the Sun to expand their Imperial might on us puny humans. But wait, they’re also on a drive to gather donations for charity?

Well, if that’s the case, then you may have just stumbled upon the 501^st Legion. Specifically, the Malaysia-Brunei Outpost of the 501^st Legion.

In Star Wars lore, the 501^st is the personal detachment of troopers assigned to Darth Vader. You see them accompanying Vader as he walks up the steps to the Jedi Temple to initiate the Jedi purge in “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”.

In the real world context, the 501^st Legion is an international fan-based organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of the villainous Imperial and nefarious characters from the Star Wars universe, such as the aforementioned Darth Vader and Imperial Stormtroopers, Imperial officers, Clone Troopers, bounty hunters etc. The organization was formed in 1997 by Albin Johnson from South Carolina. Today, it has more than 5,000 active members in 40 countries around the world, including Malaysia and Brunei. They are recognized and endorsed by Lucasfilm, the copyright holder to all things Star Wars.

The Malaysian local chapter of the 501^st was founded in January 2006 and currently has 19 members from all walks of life, from university students to professionals like accountants and lawyers.

Anyone above 18 years of age can join the Legion, but if you think you can buy an off-the-rack Halloween costume or some cheap knockoff to join, you’d be in for a disappointment.

“The 501st Legion has been spreading the magic of Star Wars through our authentic-looking costumes. We are dedicated to the movie-quality costumes of the “villains” of the Star Wars universe,” said Zulkarnain PS Muhammad, the commanding officer of the 501st Legion’s Malaysia-Brunei Outpost. This dedication to “screen accuracy” makes the members of the 501^st Legion appear like they have just walked off the movie set, he added.

Each of these 501^st Legion members has spent months and sometimes years making, painting and assembling their costumes. According to Zulkarnain, their individual costumes are the result of careful research, fabrication and a lot of hard work. And they’re not cheap; a basic set of Stormtrooper armor will cost you at least RM2,000, while a screen accurate Darth Vader or Boba Fett costume will probably set you back at least triple that.

However, the 501^st members aren’t just a bunch of guys (and gals) who love to dress up as their favorite movie characters just for the heck of it. They are also dedicated to put their resources to good use through fundraising, charity work, and volunteerism.

The Malaysia-Brunei Outpost members have made appearances for the SPCA World Animal Day in 2008, participated in the Thalassaemia charity luncheon in 2010, helped in gathering donations in aid of the Japanese Tsunami relief effort earlier this year and most recently, collaborated on a donation drive with the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the Malaysia International Toy Fair 2011. They will be making another appearance at the Family Carnival Charity Bazaar organized by Hope Worldwide on 7^th November 2011 held at the Padang MPAJ, Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur.

Watch the What is the 501st Legion? video:

Photo credits: Kal Fett and Azizul Rahman

501st Legion Malaysia-Brunei Outpost: The Force is Strong originally appeared on GreyReview.com on October 25, 2011.

Facebook acquired a Malaysian startup in 2010. Facebook is the only social web company with a development team in Malaysia.

Interested to join the 800 million users social networking giant? Apply here.

Facebook Software Engineering Job in Malaysia originally appeared on GreyReview.com on October 11, 2011.

Facebook now has over 800 million users worldwide, with 168 million are from Asia. In Quarter 3 this year, Facebook added 16.8 million new users in Asia (compared to 19.5 million in Quarter 2 2011). So far this year, the social network has added some 56 million new users; it started the year with 111 million Asian users. Its latest quarter-on-quarter growth rate is 11%. However, the rate has been somewhat slowing since end of 2010 – from 24% in Quarter 4 2010 to 17% Q1’11 to 15% Q2’11 to 11% Q3’11.

1. 57% of Facebook users in Asia can be found in the Southeast Asia region.
2. Internet users in India continue to embrace Facebook. As of end of Quarter 3 this year, India has a total of 36.4 million Facebook users, which is 4 million less than Indonesia. India will very soon surpass Indonesia to become the top Facebook country in Asia (and third-largest in the world).
3. Thailand surpassed Malaysia to become the 4th largest Facebook nation in Asia.
4. Users growth in Malaysia continues to stuck at single-digit. And Taiwan is challenging Malaysia for No. 5 in the list.
5. Facebook users in Japan continue to show impressive growth rate at 26%. In Quarter 2, users population grew by 33%. On January 01 this year, there were 1.8 million Facebook users in Japan. By the end of Quarter 3, total users jumped to 4.8 million.
6. Vietnamese Facebook users grew by 51% in Quarter 3 2011 and will soon replace Singapore in 11th rank.

How accurate are these estimations? Read here.

Facebook in Asia: Latest Stats on Total Users by Country [Quarter 3 2011] originally appeared on GreyReview.com on October 1, 2011.

The new Friendster was launched on June 28 this year, with a focus on delivering more Asia-centric gaming contents. At the same time, it aims to enable games publishers and developers to tap into the vibrant Asian gaming markets. As part of the relaunch, Friendster unveiled a new logo and moved its business operations from the U.S. to Asia (operates mainly from three Asian countries namely in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore).

Since the relaunch, the pioneering social network Friendster is showing positive signs of rejuvenation. So far, the social network has attracted over half a million new users and now includes over 40 premium games and hundreds of free-to-play games and applications. More interestingly, the relaunch has breathed life into its Monthly Active Users and Daily Active Users, which have increased by 50%, to date. Other interesting latest stats:

• More than 90% of the new users are now based in Asia.
• Nearly half of the new users regularly playing between one to five games in the last 30 days.
• Top 30% of these users typically spend more than 45 mins on Friendster during the last 30 days.
• More than 10% of the users have purchased virtual credits in Friendster to enhance their gaming experiences.

Friendster’s Chief Executive Officer Ganesh Kumar Bangah said: “Social gaming is rapidly gaining momentum in Asia. The early results attest to the fact that social gaming is proving to be creating deeper engagements and interactions for these young Asian users.”

The Road Ahead

Bangah further explained that the service continues to be developed and additional features are regularly being added in. Friendster has already added in Facebook Connect, which allows users to login to Friendster using their Facebook accounts. Last week, the new site allow users to select Simplified Chinese as their main interface. Popular gaming features such as chat and forums are expected to be introduced in the coming weeks. Though social games are free to play on the social network, exclusive in-game items can to be purchased via Friendster’s virtual currency, Friendster Coins.

In addition, Friendster has also introduced a free wireless Internet services (WiFi hotspots) at popular outlets such as Starbucks and Papa John’s Pizza across Malaysia.

Judging from the impressive uptake of Google+, the traction Friendster is getting the Asian region and the rapid growth of social entertainment site IMVU (just to name a few), there are still vast opportunities for new, innovative breeds of social networks to thrive in today’s Age of Facebook. Many new ones like Unthink and Lift are gearing up to enter the social networking space with their innovations. Collectively, these players may well shape the future of social networking in the post-Facebook era.

Friendster Growth Gaining Traction After Relaunch in Asia originally appeared on GreyReview.com on September 12, 2011.