Link Asea

Traveling by air to attend meetings, conferences or training sessions in another Australian or international city is expensive in terms of flight costs (say around $300 for domestic and $2000 for international flights), hotel and taxi expenses (around $150 per night plus $140 for taxis), and living allowances (averaging around $100 per day). Increasingly important also is the cost to the environment with typical CO2 emissions (on a per seat basis on a jet) ranging from around 110 kg for a 1000km flight on a Boeing 737 and 800 kg for a 6000km seat in a Boeing 747.

Compare this to the cost of using the the newest and most “real” video conferencing equipment now available. This is known as telepresence. At around $200 per hour the cost for a telepresence conference is significantly cheaper with the added benefit you do not have to leave your office. (Here's a link to an overview of the technology from Tandberg

Fortunately the Australian government, through Lindsay Tanner as Minister for Finance is taking a leadership role in providing video conferencing facilities to government. The Minister has allocated nearly $14m to install telepresence facilities in Australian, State and Territory governments. Providing high speed internet access throughout Australia is another government priority. In addition big business is increasing the use of video conferencing as a core communication tool and even SMEs like Link Asea are testing the new technology that will allow secure high quality multi point video conferencing from home computers.

So the infrastructure is being rolled out. The challenge now is to ensure it is embraced within companies and government agencies. To do this we need to understand the incentives and disincentives for increasing their use.

The main disincentive is that many people like travel with all the opportunities it affords to stay in nice hotels, accumulate frequent flyer points and avoid doing the dishes after dinner. This issue is one for management to address.

Proponents of video conferencing and other IP based business tools must also be proactive by unequivocally demonstrating the power of the new communication options. Advocates for using this technology need to demonstrate that telepresence and other new technologies represent powerful new options for delivering training, holding conferences, facilitating group support, creating professional networks and for holding negotiations.

To kick this off this process, we will build up a store of information on the new technologies on this website. Anyone interested in promoting the technologies as a green and effective alternative to travel is welcome to post comments and articles of their own. At the end of the day the Link Asea team believes that using modern communication technologies is good for business efficiency and great for the environment.

Posted by Colin Lonergan at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The outpouring of affection and adulation after the death of former President Corazon Aquino signified not only a grateful people’s mourning, but also a celebration of what she fought and stood for. The hundreds of thousands who lined the 30- kilometer funeral route both wept and applauded, as the casket bearing her remains passed by.

Cory embodied the pride and hope of a long beleaguered nation. She was the first female in modern history who successfully led the struggle against the dictatorship and who was installed by the people to restore democracy in her country.

The 1986 People Power revolution served as an exemplar of nonviolent movements around the world. Since then, people power had ushered in democracy in Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, South Korea, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and South Africa.

Cory not only led her people to freedom. She also demonstrated the value of integrity in governance. She did not cling to the emergency powers she had right after the revolution. Instead, she chose to convene a constitutional commission, which was tasked to frame the fundamental law that would provide the framework for the newly restored democracy.

She upheld the constitution and remained an incorruptible leader throughout her six-year presidency. Even if she came from a landowning family, she pushed for the passage of an agrarian reform law.

23 years have passed since the People Power revolution. National morale is at its lowest. Corruption and criminality are widespread. Trust in government has been severely eroded. Most congressmen are pushing for constitutional change in order to extend their terms of office. Poverty and social inequality have gotten worse. The economy’s survival depends on remittances from overseas workers.

In 1986, as we saw millions of Filipinos massing to defy army tanks in defense of freedom, we said to ourselves: “Never again will our rights and dignity be trampled upon by a tyrant.” But now, we realize that the morality play did not end with the fall of the dictatorship in 1986. The struggle between good and evil goes on to this very day in Philippine political life.

Many of us had wrongly assumed that the “Cory magic” was gone. But now, we find strength and encouragement in what we witnessed in the past week. Through their outpouring of love and support for Cory, Filipinos reaffirmed their dedication to democracy. The overwhelming turnout in the streets, despite the inclement weather, should serve as a warning to those who have designs to undermine our hard-won freedom. The memory of Ninoy and Cory Aquino remains a force that will continue to energize and sustain the people’s idealism. We hope that the recent demonstration of national unity is a prelude to a better Philippines.

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Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta was a member of the Constitutional Commission convened in 1986 by then President Corazon Aquino. He served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 2003-2006, and is currently Professor Emeritus of De La Salle University.

Posted by Wilfrido Villacorta at 12:56 PM | Permalink

Just a few days ago on 1 August 2009, Corazon C. Aquino, 11th President of the Republic of the Philippines, died. She served as president of her nation for six years, from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female president of the Philippines, and was one of a remarkable line of Asian women (including Indira Ghandi in India, Benazir Butto in Pakistan, Mrs Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, and Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia) who have been leaders of their country in recent years.

"Cory", as she became universally known as in the Philippines, came to office under dramatic circumstances.   I have a vivid memory of hearing, one Sunday morning in August 1983 at home in Canberra, the incredible newsflash on ABC radio that her husband "Ninoy" Aquino had been brazenly assassinated at Manila airport. It seemed unbelievable. He had been gunned down, in broad daylight, while stepping onto the tarmac off the plane as he was returning from exile in the United States. Millions of Filipinos believed that the then-president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos -- or his wife Imelda -- was behind the murder. In retrospect, it was the beginning of the end for Marcos. And in death, Ninoy Aquino became a much greater threat to Marcos than while he lived. Across the whole nation, Ninoy's memory became a symbol of freedom, and of resistance to the crumbling Marcos regime.

For the next two years, discontent with Marcos and his crony-led government increased. And then, in early 1986 in a desperate attempt to bolster his position, an increasingly embattled Marcos called elections. Reluctantly, with widespread public support, Cory Aquino took up her husband's political cudgels and agreed to run for the presidency.

Marcos rigged the elections and declared himself the winner. For a few tense days in February 1986, it looked as if he might hang on. But huge demonstrations in support of Cory began to spread across Manila. The streets of EDSA, the vital ring road that circles around Manila, were crammed with hundreds of thousands of people. Marcos resisted, calling out the tanks. And the crowds of "people's power" resisted as well, calling on the Filipino people for support. Pictures of large crowds of nuns from the Catholic Church defying the tanks in the streets of Manila were flashed around the world. And then the military deserted Marcos as well. It was clear that the game was up when top military figures Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos withdrew their personal support for Marcos and called on him to resign.

Marcos soon fell. He fled the Malacanang palace by boat in a wretched dash across the narrow Pasay River to a waiting helicopter and sought asylum in the United Stages. Cory had won. She became the "people's president" of the Philippines.

Cory thus became an iconic leader and much-loved president of the Philippines. Her campaign colour, yellow, was seen everywhere in the months and years that followed. Her presidency was not always smooth sailing. Sections of the military sometimes openly opposed her. There were a number of attempted coups in Manila during the late 1980s which undermined economic confidence in the Philippines and greatly complicated the task of government of the nation. But none of the challenges to her presidency succeeded. She handed over power peacefully in scheduled elections in early 1992 to Fidel Ramos, one of the people who had delivered vital political support to her at the peak of the crisis six years earlier.

Cory Aquino led her nation with unbending courage in a time of great need. And she did so, emboldened by astonishing support from all quarters across the Philippines. The story of Cory's opposition to Marcos, her period as president, and the honoured place that she holds in the hearts of the Filipino people is now one of the most treasured parts of the history of the nation itself.

Posted by Peter McCawley at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)