[Chapter-delegates] Follow-up: Serious considerations to dissolve the Cambodia ISOC Chapter

[Bryan Tan]

Cutting through the entire mass of text, it seems the only real grouse is
on funding. I would not be surprised if an organisation as diverse as ISOC
would have deviances over many issues and I would not pretend to expect
consensus over everything including an infographic. I can empathise over
funding issues and from my experience most if not all NGOs face that
struggle. Perhaps the more established Chapters can share their experience.

Bryan
ISOC-Singapore


On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 10:33 PM, Eduardo Diaz
<eduardodiazrivera at gmail.com>wrote:

> Chantra:
>
> I can empathizes with your chapter grievances after reading your mail . If
> the decision to close the chapter goes forward at least try to keep
> together board members and the current membership through an informal group
>  even if the group is not a legal entity. After all, you were able to do
> many things the way you are set up at the moment.
>
> Eduardo
> ISOC-Puerto Rico
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 4:45 AM, Chantra Be <chantra.be at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear Chapter Representatives,
>>  Dear ISOC central and Asia-Pacific leaders and staff,
>>
>>
>> This mail is written after long considerations in the Executive Committee
>> of the ISOC Cambodia Chapter, discussed together with the members of our
>> Advisory Board.
>>
>> It is to propose – unless real and practical alternatives are identified
>> within the following month – to call a meeting of all members of our
>> Chapter for the purpose of taking a vote to dissolve the ISOC Cambodia
>> Chapter.
>>
>>     We are looking forward to responses from all concerned recipients of
>> this mail.
>>
>>     The reasons for considering this serious step can be summarized under
>> the following three headings:
>>
>>         1. Structural Constraints
>>         2. Experiences
>>         3. Impressions
>>
>>
>>     1. Structural Constraints
>>
>>     The Cambodia Chapter of the Internet Society started to function in
>> 2010, since 2011 under revised Bylaws - designed according to advice from
>> ISOC international, before voted upon by our membership, which say among
>> others:
>>
>>   *  Article I. - Name
>>
>>     2. The Chapter shall be established as a non-profit organization
>> under the laws of Cambodia.*
>>
>>     The Executive Committee of the ISOC Cambodia Chapter tried to
>> implement the requirement in Number 2 above, by contacting the relevant
>> section of the Ministry of the Interior. It turned out that the legal
>> setting up of a non-profit organization would require to follow specific
>> regulations in which a physical office (not only a point of communication)
>> has to be established and operated.
>>
>>     Our efforts to receive financial assistance from ISOC international
>> (an organization with a budget self-described as “In 2011, ISOC projects
>> that total revenues will exceed $30 million for the first time”) were
>> turned down, as the priorities set there do not include institutional
>> support for Chapters. The advice to do substantive local fund raising would
>> have required in our situation to be an established organization already.
>>     Without such assistance, we do not see it possible to set up and
>> operate an office for the ISOC Cambodia Chapter according to the legal
>> national registration framework.
>>
>>     2. Experiences (with some quotes from the past)
>>
>>     When, in August 2012, Ms. Duangthip Chomprang, the ISOC Manager for
>> Regional Affairs (Asia) from the Asia Pacific Regional Office, announced to
>> visit Cambodia, we welcomed this as an opportunity to discuss our situation
>> with her. Unfortunately, she refused to have a meeting with our chapter to
>> discuss our problems. In response the following mail was sent to her and to
>> the other ISOC regional staff in Singapore, after due deliberations with
>> our Advisory Board and Executive Committee:
>>
>>     -------- Original Message --------
>>     Subject Message from our Advisory Board and the Executive Committee
>>     Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:40:15 +0700
>>     From: President of ISOC Cambodia <president at isoc-kh.org>
>>     To: Duangthip Chomprang <chomprang at isoc.org>, Rajnesh Singh <
>> singh at isoc.org>
>>     CC: Ong Pisey <treasurer at isoc-kh.org>
>>
>> *    Dear Thip,
>>
>>     After having received your mail, rejecting our request to serious
>> discuss the crisis for our Chapter, created as a result of the general
>> situation and legal requirements in Cambodia in the meeting, and the
>> refusal to ISOC staff to positively pay attention to our situation, we do
>> not think it would be appropriate to cooperate, as a Chapter, with
>> organizing a meeting for your 1 - 2.5 hours event, for which you would like
>> to invite the Members of the Cambodia Chapter and other non-Chapter
>> members. To discuss fundamental problems within ISOC, affecting the whole
>> membership, only among officers, as you suggest (which has been tried in
>> vain by email so far) would not be in line with our history to promote and
>> practice open communication – high values regularly lifted up among the
>> goals of the Internet Society world wide and in its slogan: the Internet is
>> for everyone.
>>
>>     The situation and this response has been shared and discussed with
>> the Members of the Advisory Board of our Chapter and is unanimously
>> supported.
>>
>>     Norbert Klein
>>     President, ISOC-KH*
>>
>>
>>     The five members of our Advisory Board at that time were (reflecting
>> the stipulation of our Bylaws “The Advisory Board of five members, from
>> important sections of the ISOC Cambodia Chapter membership”):
>>
>>         the Head of the IT in Education Section in the Ministry of
>> Education
>>         the Editor in Chief of a leading Cambodian daily newspaper, who
>> is at the same time President of the Club of Cambodian Journalists
>>         the President and CEO of a major broadband providing ISP
>>         a senior staff member in the office of the Council of Ministers
>> of the Government of Cambodia, and
>>         one student.
>>
>>
>>     Nevertheless, I and the former president of the ISOC Cambodia Chapter
>> participated in the meeting which Ms. Duangthip Chomprang organized to
>> present her PowerPoint slides about the Internet Society. There was even
>> one with a headline related to human rights concerns – but the rest of this
>> page of this slide was blank, and she quickly explained that such issues
>> are not dealt with here, because they are new for ISOC.
>>
>>     Our Chapter never received any sign that Mr. Rajnesh Singh, the ISOC
>> Regional Bureau Director for Asia-Pacific – nor other ISOC personnel - were
>> concerned how to find a solution for the dilemma we were facing. Actually,
>> during the years of our existence as a Chapter, we never received any mail
>> whatsoever from the ISOC Regional Bureau Director Asia-Pacific, except for
>> circular announcements.
>>
>>     Subsequently, mail to the ISOC Manager for Regional Affairs (Asia)
>> did not receive any response.
>>
>>     This attitude of ISOC Regional Staff, refusing to discuss with us our
>> problems, resulted already in the September 2012 Annual General Meeting in
>> disappointment and restricted expectations towards the ISOC international
>> setup.
>>
>>     When ISOC staff is discussing "standard performance" of Chapters, how
>> is "standard performance" defined and measured? Only for Chapters? Is it
>> standard performance that a Regional Officer announces and brings
>> non-members to a "Meet and greet" (who say that two hours ago they did not
>> know what the Internet Society is), but the Regional Officer encourages
>> them to become members - OK - and to stand as candidate two weeks later for
>> Chapter leadership? - Is it standard procedure that I learn from a mailing
>> list that the Regional Office is "working within the government to provide
>> more support and knowledge" – we do not know until now what this is. Who is
>> monitoring performance over what?
>>
>>     When the Cambodian government mandated internet cafe owners to set up
>> surveillance cameras in their shops and register the names of all customers
>> -
>> http://thediplomat.com/asean-beat/2012/12/27/cambodias-war-on-internet-cafes– in 2012, and later declared almost all Internet cafes in the capital city
>> to be illegal as they were closer than 500 m to any school
>>
>>
>> http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5062&Itemid=207
>>
>>     and
>>
>>
>> https://www.google.com/search?q=Penh+%22500+meter%22+internet+cafe+school&lr=&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DHktUsr4M4fRkgXZt4CgBQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=564#facrc=_&imgrc=vHrInVRwY-NCdM%3A%3BB07fhLsihMLmKM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Flivinginpp.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F12%252F874-map-internetbuffer_zoom-1.jpg%253Fw%253D459%2526h%253D600%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Falfredmeier.me%252F2012%252F12%252F15%252Fcomplete-ban-on-internet-cafes-in-central-phnom-penh%252F%3B459%3B600
>>
>>     - a number of legally established NGOs raised their voices together,
>> addressing such actions of the authorities; the ISOC Cambodia Chapter was
>> not part of it, as we are – legally speaking – a non entity. And surely
>> this would also not have helped the “local fundraising” which ISOC staff
>> outside of our situation had recommended
>>
>>     3. Impressions (again with some quotes from the past from the
>> Chapter-Delegates List)
>>
>>     During the following months a process of discussion for a revision of
>> the bylaws of ISOC international was going on, reflected also on the
>> Chapter Delegates List. During this process, a number of other ISOC Chapter
>> representatives were hoping for a revision which would give a clearer
>> position to the Chapters – as “members” of ISOC with a substantial
>> representation on the ISOC Board of Trustees - so that members concerns
>> would have an institutional voice in ISOC decision making (former voices
>> from the Chapters List: “...the Board does not yet understand that the
>> primary role of many Chapters locally and in other contexts is as
>> participants in Civil Society. From that point of view a 50:50
>> representation on the Board of Chapters on the one hand and the industry on
>> the other hand would be more appropriate - and would I believe be applauded
>> internationally”). – “There is still no overarching statement... as to the
>> objectives of the ISOC. This would be useful, particularly if it clearly
>> specified the civil society dimension of the work of the Internet Society”
>> - that such a hope was considered to be not important for formalistic
>> reasons by ISOC central staff shows exactly the reason, why there is such a
>> wide discrepancy to the expectations of Chapters in certain societies.
>>
>>     The greetings on the ISOC Portal: “Join - Join today and help shape
>> the future of the internet” create assumptions which are not substantiated
>> in the ISOC structures.
>>
>>     The results of the ISOC bylaws revision show again a top down
>> structure, where the Chapters of ISOC are not Members of ISOC, but are
>> under the oversight of ISOC international, and ISOC international continues
>> to regulate chapter affairs (a possible area of tension or conflict
>> “...might be good to point out that in some countries such a document might
>> as well go against national laws, in the best case, or be considered as an
>> attempt to spread foreign influence in the country {which, again in some
>> cases, might be illegal}”), including the possibility to suspend a Chapter,
>> while ISOC international does not seem to have a similar procedure of
>> suspending an Organizational Members from industry, in case their position
>> might be in conflict with fundamental values of the Internet Society.
>>
>>     In spite of the ISOC slogan “The Internet is for everyone” it's setup
>> does not show this orientation clearly. When a member enters the Member
>> Login on the ISOC portal here:
>>
>>     https://portal.isoc.org/EBusiness/Home.aspx
>>
>>     (is it for “business” that one enters?) one is greeted with
>>
>>     “Make a Contribution”
>>     “Contributions are fully tax-deductible!”
>>     “Donate”
>>
>>     In how many of the countries where there are ISOC members is this
>> true – contributions to ISOC are tax-deductible?
>>
>>     That there is a wide difference of opinions about the nature of ISOC
>> became obvious time and again on the Chapter-Delegates list; I quote just
>> some examples:
>>
>>     Some ISOC old time members took “strong exception to an infographic”
>> or said “my jaw dropped when I saw this” infographic, originating from the
>> World Economic Forum about “The Future of the Internet,” which had been
>> recommended for distribution and wide use by ISOC leadership. - The problem
>> is not that there are different opinions; the problem is that it seems that
>> such fundamental differences of opinion do not have an appropriate platform
>> for discussion towards a broader or even common understanding.
>>
>>     Who is ISOC when the Chapters are not Members? “...there are NOT two
>> parties. There is one: the Internet Society.” - “But what we have got....
>> is an exceedingly one-sided dispute resolution policy! In this context, who
>> is ISOC? Clearly, the employed staff have no mandate or authorization to
>> exercise powers over Chapters. So, who is going to do these things: 'place
>> ... in a probationary state', etc.”
>>
>>     At a former time it was stated on the Chapter-delegates List: “So as
>> the paper is today: why should any chapter want to sign it? Would you sign
>> a contract that only holds obligations but rather no benefits? Even not if
>> you would be willing to fulfill the obligations! Or is the benefit in being
>> a chapter as such? In using the name 'Internet Society' (as the Internet
>> Society of China does)? Rather not - we are membership organization and any
>> subgroup of members can probably organize themselves as e.g. 'Open ISOC
>> Members Circle, Miami West' or so. - So if ISOC expects a commitment from
>> its chapters it should commit something in turn.”
>>
>>     Conclusion
>>
>>     Given this situation of not having a “listening ear” in ISOC and
>> responses from ISOC international or regional for our concerns, we suggest
>> to our members to start the dissolution of the ISOC Cambodia Chapter – and
>> to do it in an ordinary way according to the Bylaws:
>>
>> *    Article XII. - Dissolution of the Chapter
>>     1. Dissolution of this Chapter by consent of the members shall
>> consist of unanimous agreement of all its officers together with a majority
>> vote at a meeting which has been publicized in advance to all members of
>> the Chapter for the purpose of taking this vote.
>> *
>>     We would therefore call for such a meeting to discuss the dissolution
>> of our Chapter, or not to do so in case practical and timely ways would
>> show up within one months from sending out this mail. Such a meeting shall
>> be convened as follows:
>>
>>     Location: #8, St. 352, BKK1, Phnom Penh (Open Institute new office)
>>     Date and Time: October 26, 2013 at 2:00PM
>>
>>     We regret to see no other way but to suggest these steps.
>>
>>     At the same time I would like to state that the use of the Internet
>> in our country has bee increasing considerably, and in all of these,
>> members of our Chapter are involved:
>>
>>         There are over 1,100,000 Facebook users,
>>         BarCamps - http://barcamp.org/w/page/405173/TheRulesOfBarCamp -
>> have not only been held annually since 2008 in the capital city of Phnom
>> Penh with hundreds of participants every time, but also in six provincial
>> centers during the last and the present years,
>>         a self-organized Hackerspace center -
>> http://hackerspaces.org/wiki - is in operation since some years
>> providing a space for hard- and software learning and exchange,
>>         Last year, our Chapter invited the top leadership of all ISPs and
>> all Mobile Phone Providers in Cambodia, in response to communications with
>> the Asia Pacific Network Information Center -http://www.apnic.net - to a
>> meeting with the APNIC Director on IPv6. Recently, the Director General of
>> the Ministry of Post informed us that subsequent discussions with APNIC
>> will lead to establish IPv6 systems in Cambodia in 2014.
>>         Recently, after informal operations for two years with local
>> enthusiasm and international support towards its establishment, “Open
>> Development Cambodia” - www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net - an online hub
>> compiling freely available data to help consolidate access to up-to-date
>> information and maps about land usage, land concessions and other
>> critically important information related to the economic and political
>> developments of the country. It was established as a non-profit
>> organization under the laws of Cambodia. Both I and our former Chapter
>> president were involved in these efforts, and we were now invited to be on
>> their Board of Directors.
>>
>>     I mention these examples to indicate that the communication society
>> in Cambodia is very active. No coordinating body exists in the country for
>> questions of human rights and communication freedom. We regret that our
>> efforts to establish an ISOC Chapter did not receive the necessary
>> institutional support.
>>
>> Be Chantra
>> Secretary, ISOC Cambodia Chapter
>> chantra.be at gmail.com
>> **
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
>> to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
>> Chapter Portal (AMS): https://portal.isoc.org
>>
>
>
>
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