Author: Soraj

Market Leaders, Regulators Join for “Meaningful Broadband”

Chulalongkorn University, February 24, 2009

In the first alliance of its kind, Thailand’s top mobile executives today joined an alliance with the country’s telecommunications regulators, intent on paving the way for “meaningful” broadband” which they think could boost and transform the country’s economy.

Though new data for OECD (oecd.org) and elsewhere suggests that broadband by itself stimulates economies, the coalition aims to enhance this benefit through by formulating regulatory innovations, public-private partnerships, new economic modeling and innovations in software design.

“Now that legal hurdles are being removed, there is an urgent need for ICT stakeholders in Thailand to pool research efforts and formulate policies and practices that will make broadband of optimal benefit for all Thais.” said Prof Setaporn Kuseepitak of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC.) Besides NTC, also joining the Meaningful Broadband Working Group were chairmen and CEOs of the country’s powerful telecommunications operating companies including AIS, DTAC, True Corp., and CAT. (Participation of TOT
was pending confirmation as of Feb 23.)

The announcement of the new alliance was made at Chulaongkorn University in an event sponsored today by Nokia Siemens Network and hosted by the chairman of the university’s governing board, Dr. Charas Suwanwela. The Working Group was founded by the University’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology (CEST.)

“Building on the approach used by the Obama Administration in the United States, the coalition puts high-speed internet in a starring role in a model of economic stimulus. But the approach goes further by also seeking to do so in a way that preserve Thai values and fosters a ‘sufficiency economy,’,” said University of Washington’s Craig Warren Smith, one of the founders of the worldwide movement to close Digital Divide. He is now a visiting professor at Chulalongkorn based at the CEST where he is helping to organize the Working Group.

“Telecommunications has emerged as the leading growth sector in Thailand’s economy. This effort hopes to find new ways to leverage the industry’s strength for the benefit of all Thais,” said Professor Prasit Prapinmongkalkarn, an NTC Commissioner.

“ We are delighted to support this initiative,” said Mr. Ricky Corker, Country Director of Nokia Siemens Networks Thailand. “As a leading global enabler of telecommunications services, we’re committed to building a sustainable future for broadband. With the kind of cooperation expressed by the Working Group, Thailand can emerge as a global innovator in broadband development,” he added.

“The working group can help us to consider how broadband can boost human resources in the new Thai economy,” said Mr. Sathit Limpongan, Chairman of CAT, who doubles as Thailand’s Deputy Finance Minister. Last week, the Finance Ministry announced a 1.9 trillion baht stimulus plan that incorporates investments in broadband infrastructure.

Being meaningful means being affordable,” said DTAC CEO Tore Johnsen. “We are keen to share our experiences in extending broadband to every Thai citizen no matter where they work or live.”

“Content is a driver of broadband,” said Supachai Chearavonont President and CEO of True Corp, a diversified media corporation that is also the third largest mobile company. “Though this collaborative effort we seek a way to extend access to interactive learning for even the most low-income Thais.”

“Six years ago, the Kingdom of Thailand became a world innovator by building a public/private alliance for the first national low-cost PC project. Now, with broadband, stakeholders can go so much further,” said Andrew McBean, former country director of Microsoft-Thailand.

The next step for the Working Group, say its members, is to invite the Kingdom of Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit to join a discussion about how broadband could assist the policy goals of a whole range of ministries.

Report of the Symposium on “Buddhism in German Philosophy and Literature”

Chulalongkorn University
February 6 – 7, 2009

Nineteenth century Germany saw an influx of ideas flowing in from the East. It is well known that thinkers such as Schopenhauer in the early period of the century was influenced by Indian philosophies such as Buddhism and Hinduism, as new translations became available in European languages or key canonical texts such as many Buddhist sutras and the Bhagavadgita. Thus the age was an important fermentation period, one that profoundly changed the outlook of many aspects of European culture, most notably perhaps in Germany itself. Through Schopenhauer the ideas received from the East percolated through thinkers and writers as diverse as Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, and perhaps a little surprisingly Bertold Brecht.

The Symposium on “Buddhism German Philosophy and Literature: An Intercultural Dialogue” was held at the campus of Chulalongkorn University from February 6 to 7, 2009, and it was quite well attended, considering that there are many events in the university and the specific nature of the topic. The meeting was supported by the Goethe-Institut in Bangkok, and was jointly organized by the Center for European Studies and Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, both belonging to Chulalongkorn University, and the Thousand Stars Foundation, an independent non-profit focusing on research and other activities in Buddhism in Thailand.

After the opening the ceremony presided by Prof. Dr. Pirom Kamolratanakul, President of the university, the session in the morning of Friday, 6 February began with a brief talk on “Remarks on Philology and Buddhist Studies, with Special Reference to German Philology and Manuscript Studies” by Dr. Peter Skilling. He provided the audience with some details about German contribution of scholarship on Buddhist studies. The next paper was by Prof. Volker Mertens on “Buddhism in the European Middle Ages,” where he talked about the reception of Buddhist ideas through Europeans who get the opportunity for contact with the East during the 11th century when the Mongols were in their ascendancy. This was perhaps the first record of European contact with Buddhism (not counting the Romans or the Greeks, where the evidence was not clear).

Then the papers by Prof. Dr. Pornsan Watananguhn and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinrich Detering investigated the influences and the reception of Buddhist ideas in German literature. The authors discussed were Karl Gjellerup, the Danish writer whose work “The Pilgrim Kamanita” was very well known in Thaiand through translation, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, and Bertold Brecht. The reception of Buddhism by these writers was both positive and negative. As these writers became aware of Buddhist ideas, they gave their own responses, which were reflected in their writings. Thomas Mann, for example, was deeply influenced by Schopenhauer, and the idea of the unknowable will and the Buddhist conception of suffering figures prominently in the discussion during the Symposium.

Three more papers dealed with Buddhist influences in German literature, namely those by Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Dieter Borschmeyer, who focused on Mann’s “Die vertauschten Köpfe,” and Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, who talked about the writer Friedrich Rückkert and his views on Buddhism. Finally, Prof. Dr. Adrian Hsia talked about Hermann Hesse and his “transcultural reception” blending Buddhism, Hinduism, Protestantism and Catholicism together.

Then there were papers by Thai philosophers, starting with a keynote address by Prof. Preecha Changkwanyuen, whose paper was entitled “Exchange of Religious Cultures between East and West.” Then Prof. Dr. Somparn Promta talked about “Literature in Buddhist Perspective,” which though it did not touch upon the question of reception of Buddhism in German culture directly, did in fact contribute significantly through his analysis of literature according to Buddhism. Afterwards there were two more papers, by Dr. Soraj Hongladarom and Dr. Theptawee Chokevasin, whose topics were “Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics of the Will and Nagarjuna’s View on Emptiness” and “Heideggian and Theravada Buddhist View on the Motility of Life” respectively. Dr. Soraj’s paper was a detailed analysis of Schopenhauer’s argument compared with the Buddhist master Nagarjuna. The topic was what was actually meant by “nothing.”

The Symposium ended with a session where everybody convened and gave their viewpoints on a variety of topics. Not surprisingly the topics of Buddhist and Christian dialogs dominated the discussion. The participants talked about how Buddhism and Christianity could be reconciled, and how much of the ideas of pantheism and the philosophy of Spinoza (which, by the way, perhaps found its way into Schopenhauer) could be found in these literary works.

That was to be expected from an academic meeting. The participants in any case agreed that there should be a second meeting after this one. The topic is far too important and too rich just to let this particular event pass by without any further action.

MEANINGFUL BROADBAND

A Launch event for the Centre for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University (by invitation only)

Time: 24 February 2009, 9.00 am. – 2.00 pm.
Venue: Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

Agenda:
9.15 am. Opening by host Dr. Charas Suwanwela, Chairman of Governing Board, Chulalongkorn University
Overview of the day’s proceedings, Prof. Soraj Hongladarom,
Director, Center for Ethics of Science and Technology

9.20 am. Keynote from Prime Minister Hon. Abhisit Vijjajiva: Towards a New Thai Economy and Workforce: Finding the Optimal Role of Broadband (to be confirmed)
A Response to the Prime Minister’s Remarks on Behalf of the Private Sector: Mr.Ricky Corker, Director Nokia Siemens Networks

9.40 am. What is Meaningful Broadband; Towards a “Compact” linking
Public and Private Sectors. Prof Craig Warren Smith, Senior Advisor, Human Interface Technology Laboratory, University of Washington:Craig Warren Smith

10.00 am.- 12.00 noon Presentation: Towards a “Compact” between public, private and academic sectors.

• Towards a Meaningful Regulations: Prof. Sethaporn Cusripitck (NTC Commissioner)
• Towards the Broadband-enabled Reform of Basic Education : Dr.Paron Isarasena, Commission on Basic Education, Ministry of Education

12.00 – 12.30 p.m. Conclusion and press conference

12.30 – 13.30 p.m. Lunch with video presentation of interactive learning with children from KMUTT model school

MEANINGFUL BROADBAND

A By-Invitation-Only Seminar at Chulalongkorn University, February 24, 2009

Meaningful Broadband, a half day event and press conference hosted by Chulalongkorn University on February 24, 2009, is designed for a select group of 40 leading ICT stakeholders from government, business and academic sectors in Thailand. The event, which presents a model for the optimal deployment of high-speed internet in ASEAN countries, is sponsored by the Nokia Siemens Network.

Held at a time when US President Obama has given a starring role to high-speed internet as a factor in US economic stimulus, the event on February 24 will consider how a “broadband ecosystem” might trigger benefits to low-income Thais as well as the Thai citizenry as a whole. Drawing upon an innovative model called Meaningful Broadband that is being prepared for deployment in Indonesia, the meeting will consider how high-speed internet could have meaningful impacts in Thailand as well.

The core concept of Meaningful Broadband is that it does not refer to a single device or a single software application. Rather it refers to the formulation of a complex national “ecosystem” of products and services with four aspects: 1) backbone, 2) Last Mile, 3) devices, and 4) content. In this model the term, “meaningful” has three aspects: usable, affordable and empowering. By operationalizing this idea, regulators and technology-developers could gain the criteria needed to measure the impact of broadband technologies on citizens.

Interwoven and reinforced with public policy and new investments,this ecosystem could intertwine public and private sectors together into new strategic alliances anchored by public-private partnerships and reinforced by regulatory innovations. As it turns out, the academic sector has an important stake in the successful deployment of broadband and is itself a potential force in every aspect of the ecosystem.

In the background of this meeting is an important innovation that has emerged from the young Obama Administration in the US. Broadband received $9 billion in federal investments and, more importantly, an additional $120 billion in human-resources development investments were allocated by US Congress so that the educational and workforce-development systems could be transformed through broadband.

Prior to the US example, most governments have assumed that human-resources infrastructure and technology investments would only pay off in the long-term. But the advocates for this approach in the US have argued that the stimulus to the economy and the payoff in jobs could be immediate. Could the same logic work for Thailand?

To set the context for this discussion, the gathering will consider a model for the formulation of “meaningful” broadband ecosystems, formulated by Prof Craig Warren Smith, who first began working with the Kingdom of Thailand when he was professor of Science and Technology Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. This year he is in residence at Chulalongkorn University’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and serves as an organizer of the February 24 session.

Prime Minister Abhisit himself has been invited to offer his own views on this topic and we have also invited the chairman of Thailand’s regulatory agency, National Telecommunications Commission to explain NTC’s framework for interacting with the private sector regarding broadband. Finally, the gathering will announce a research agenda for assessing these options and considering a path forward.

*Free to the public*

Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University
and
Goethe-Institut Bangkok

in cooperation with
Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Thousand Stars Foundation

organise

International Symposium

“Buddhism in German Philosophy and Literature: An Intercultural Dialogue”

6 – 7 February 2009

Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University

Programme

Friday 6 February 2009

8.00 – 8.45 Registration

8.45 – 09.15 Asst. Prof. Dr. Charit Tingsabadh, Director of Centre for European Studies atอChulalongkorn University, reports to the President of Chulalongkorn University

Opening Remarks
Prof. Pirom Kamolratanakul, M.D.
President of Chulalongkorn University

Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director, Goethe-Institut Bangkok

9.15 – 9.30 Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soraj Hongladarom

Dr. Peter Skilling, École française d’Extrême-Orient, Bangkok
Remarks on Philology and Buddhist Studies, with Special Reference to German Philology and Manuscript Studies

9.30 – 10.05 Prof. Dr. Volker Mertens, Free University Berlin, Germany
Buddhism in the European Middle Ages

10.05 – 10.20 Tea and Coffee

10.20 – 10.55 Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, Université Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi
Friedrich Rückkert und der Buddhismus

10.55 – 11.05 Questions & Answers

11.05 – 11.40 Prof. Dr. Pornsan Watananguhn
German Section, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
On the Reception of Buddhism in the Literary Work of
Gjellerup, Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse

11.40 – 12.15 Prof. Dr. Heinrich Detering, University Göttingen, Germany
Hesse, Brecht and Thomas Mann: Buddhism and Other Influences

12.15 – 12.30 Discussion

12.30 – 14.00 Lunch

14.00 – 14.35 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Volker Mertens
Prof. Dr. Adrian Hsia, Emeritus Professor of German,
McGill University, Montreal, Canada and Honorary Professor,
School of Chinese Studies, Hong Kong University, China
Catholicism / Protestantism versus Hinduism / Buddhism: On Hesses’s
Transcultural Reception

14.35 – 14.45 Questions & Answers

14.45 – 15.20 Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Borchmeyer, Professor Emeritus, University
Heidelberg, Present position : Präsident der Bayerischen Akademie
der Schönen Künste (President of the Bavaria Academy of the Beautiful Art)
Thomas Manns “Die vertauschten Köpfe“

15.20 – 16.00 Discussion

Saturday 7 February 2008

9.30 – 10.00 Moderator: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Borchmeyer
Key Note Speech by Prof. Preecha Changkhwanyuen
Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn
University and Chair of Centre for Buddhist Studies, Chulalongkorn University
East-West Divan on Buddhism: An Intercultural Dialogue

10.00 – 10.10 Questions & Answers

10.10 – 10.25 Tea and Coffee

10.25 – 11.00 Prof. Dr. Somparn Promta,
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Literature in Buddhist Perspective

11.00 – 11.35 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics of the Will and the Buddhist View on Emptiness

11.35 – 12.10 Dr. Theptawee Chokvasin, Suranaree University of Technology
Heideggian and Theravada Buddhist View on the Mortality of Life

12.10 – 12.30 Discussion

12.30 – 14.00 Lunch

14.00 – 15.00 Round Table Discussion
Moderator: Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director of Goethe-Institut Bangkok
All speakers

15.00 Final Remarks
Dr. Ulrike Lewark
Deputy Director, Goethe-Institut Bangkok
Asst. Prof. Dr. Charit Tingsabadh
Director, Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University

Craig Warren Smith, PhD
Founder,
Digital Divide Institute

Just as 2008 was the big year of the big push in cell phone penetration, 2009 will be the year in which mobile phone users upgrade to broadband. Well, that’s what the “mobile supply chains” hope for, at least. It is the one bright light in Southeast Asia’s economy. But the industry’s marketers and financiers are nervous. So far, they have not yet generated the “killer applications” (killer apps) that will cause billions of low-income cell phone users to upgrade to fast internet. Less then a decade ago, in Europe, a “telecoms bust” occurred sending telecom markets into the doldrums for years when cell phone users found no need to access internet through their cell phones. It will happen again unless the marketers join forces with government and academia to generate killer apps that are meaningful to mass of low-income citizens.

This time stakes are must higher – both for the commercial sector and for society itself – that this new Big Push in broadband will succeed.

According to Goldman Sachs, $2.4 trillion has been spent within emerging markets in preparation for this year’s effort to achieve a massive leapfrogging into high speed internet via cell phones. While the handset sales are declining among the affluent parts of the economy, mobile penetration in the low-income sector of emerging markets remains recession proof.

Recognizing this, some of the world’s most successful companies – Google, Facebook, Microsoft, HP, Intel – have reshaped their products and services to piggyback on handset makers and telco operators. They hope to meet the needs of the “next billion” consumers including those who earn just US$1,000 per month. In Thailand, most of the wireless carriers are blitzing the media with promotions for embrace smart phones, embedded with Third Generation of “3G” fast internet. A bevy of industries from advertising, consumers products, and banking are waiting to turn mobile broadband into new revenue streams. It is perhaps the only bright light in the new global economy.

For the public at large, the stakes are even higher. Facing an inevitable recession, the new Thai government can help its citizens inexpensively by entering into public-private partnerships with these commercial supply chains and rethinking telecommunications regulations to enhance the public benefit that emerges from mobile broadband. They can activate a trend that the world bank calls “m-development” in which mobile technologies are used to bring interactive education to the uneducated, achieve massive small business growth among the poor, strengthen democracy, fight global warming. (See WorldBank.org/m-development.) The list goes on and on. In fact, the government, academia, civil society and the business sector itself should make sure that the killer aps that drive mobile broadband actually help Thai citizens, not harm them with addictions and frivolous entertainment. Achieving these beneficial applications is one of the aims of the Institute for Meaningful Technologies, a joint venture between Chulalongkorn’s Center for Ethics of Science and Technology and Digital Divide Institute, which will be launched this year, with the prime sponsorship of Nokia Siemens Network in Thailand.

Here are two mobile broadband killer apps that could be shaped through public/private partnerships to benefit low-income citizens:

Mobile Banking: Mobile banking is already take off rapidly in low-income sectors where it meets pent-up demand; it could accelerate more quickly and more meaningfully with broadband. Most citizens in developing countries (and an estimated 65% of Thais) are unbanked. Those of us with bank accounts take them for granted. But the unbanked are stuck in an informal economy that often keeps them trapped in poverty. They are unable to get credit at reasonable rates; they must pay more for transferring remittances from family members who want to send money home; they are unlikely to be savers, and they lack any access to good financial planning and advice. Though the virtues of microcredit are much appreciated, only 100 million microcredit borrowers exist worldwide and most of them are run at a deficit. But a billion low-income cell phone users could easily get the benefits of banking in just five years, according to the World Resources Institute’s Allen Hammond. For banks that coax users to mobile banking, transaction costs drop from 33 baht per customer (when a bank branch is used) to less then one baht per customer when the transaction occurs over the mobile phone. Already companies like Wizzit, in South Africa, and GCash, in the Philippines, have started programs that allow customers to use their phones to store cash credits transferred from another phone or purchased through a post office, phone-kiosk operator or other licensed operator.

There are a lot of hurdles that stand in the way of mobile banking, such as the creation of secure, non-fraudulent payment systems which could be achieved through close coordination between telecom operators, banks, and governmental central banks. But the more significant need is that villages need a “point of presence” to help the unbanked become comfortable with mobile banking and to adopt new attitudes and skills that lead them towards accumulating savings, responsible use of credit, and small business skills. Government should rethink their total economic development strategies in light of mobile banking and the introduction of broadband into mobile banking systems.

Spiritual Computing: The second killer ap may surprise you: It is spiritual computing. It refers to mobile applications support the spiritual and religious values and rituals of users. Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon, one of the most respected Thai elders and proponents of local governance in Thailand, advocated the use of mobile technologies to further Buddhist observances and mindfulness. (See spiritualcomputing.com). which refers to the use of new technology to deliberately strengthen spiritual and religious values that are very much tied to economic survival and well-being among low-income citizens. In Indonesia, one of Asia’s hottest technology markets for low-income citizens, Bakrie Telco quickly added four million users in the crowded Indonesian market by incorporating Arabic chanting and five times a day prayer alerts into the company’s cell phones for low income users. Users get messages and slogans sent to them every day to support 24/7 observance of ethical principles. In Europe, Ramadan web sites are flourishing in which users share the experience of the fasting month through social networking.

There are lots of other potential killer aps too. They online gaming and multimedia applications that bridge the gap between education and entertainment. Since the next billion users have less formal education, they don’t have the cognitive skills that allow them to benefit fully from text-based communications. Through multimedia applications being developed in laboratories at Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute for Technology, adults can easily and enjoyably learn literacy, or rapidly enhance their English language skills. As Thailand and other Southeast Asian economies build their hospitality industries, lack of English skills it a major detriment to wealth and employment. All this could change if mobile broadband would be meaningfully embraced by the countries’ leaders. It is time for leaders of business, government and academia to roll up their sleeves and find ways to share the risks and rewards of bringing low income users step by step into broadband.

In Thailand, the government’s ICT Ministry and most of the telecommunications operators are finally aligned on this top playing catch-up by finally embracing 3G, or “third generation” fast internet.

Killer Applications and Wireless Networks

Portable devices are incorporated with more and more functionalities, such as photo/video camera, video phone, SMS, PDA, music player, video player, Bluetooth and Wireless LAN. Communication Networks for cell phones evolve around the need for increased bandwidth and better support for internet connections. The Killer Application for these platforms has to be compelling enough that users crave ownership of the latest devices and subscribe to these services, thus driving the future development of mobile networks and Internet.

Examples of current for-profit services provided by network operators:

* Google Maps on iPhone 3G with GPS
* News and Weather SMS Subscription services
* Email, Skype, Live! Messenger (SMS forwarding).
* Electronic Banking and Money Management
* Movie Showtimes and Ticketing
* In Japan, cellular subscribers can “call” vending machines to purchase something and have the item billed to their accounts.