[Chapter-delegates] Follow-up: Serious considerations to dissolve the Cambodia ISOC Chapter
Veni Markovski
veni at veni.com
Mon Sep 23 20:00:28 PDT 2013
I don't quite follow why it has to be an NGO?
There are articles in the Civic code, which makes it possible to have an
entity, without legally registering it. I am sure that such provisions
exist in other laws (may be not all over the globe). To become a chapter
does not require to be a registered in court non-profit.
Right?
On 09/23/13 22:56, info at isoc.org.ec wrote:
> Several Chapters face the same kind of problems. We need work with
> support of several volunteers and partners because simply to have an
> office is not only to have a place.. It means to have people, pay
> taxes, social security for employees and legal representatives,
> accounting people, plus office equipment and much much more. Even If
> you share some space office you need a contract and so. Because of
> this, HQ made this very flexible and one way is not to be a formal
> NGO. Maybe this can work changing the bylaws
>
> Carlos Vera
>
> Internet Society Ecuador
> www.isoc.org.ec <http://www.isoc.org.ec>
> Síguenos @isocec
>
> El 23/09/2013, a las 3:45, Chantra Be <chantra.be at gmail.com
> <mailto:chantra.be at gmail.com>> escribió:
>
>> 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
>> <mailto:president at isoc-kh.org>>
>> To: Duangthip Chomprang <chomprang at isoc.org
>> <mailto:chomprang at isoc.org>>, Rajnesh Singh <singh at isoc.org
>> <mailto:singh at isoc.org>>
>> CC: Ong Pisey <treasurer at isoc-kh.org <mailto: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%25
>> 2F15%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
>> <http://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 <mailto: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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
--
Best,
Veni Markovski
http://www.veni.com
https://www.facebook.com/venimarkovski
https://twitter.com/veni
The opinions expressed above are those of the
author, not of any organizations, associated
with or related to him in any given way.
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