Tag Archives: Philippines

The Nobel Peace Prize 2021

AFT congratulates Philippine’s Maria Ressa of Rappler and Dmitry Muratov of Russia’s Novaja Gazeta

On Oslo, 8 October 2021, The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.

Ms Ressa and Mr Muratov are receiving the Peace Prize for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.

Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. In 2012, she co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism, which she still heads. As a journalist and the Rappler’s CEO, Ressa has shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression. Rappler has focused critical attention on the Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign. The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country’s own population. Ms Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse.

Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions. In 1993, he was one of the founders of the independent newspaper Novaja Gazeta. Since 1995 he has been the newspaper’s editor-in-chief for a total of 24 years. Novaja Gazeta is the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power. The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media. Since its start-up in 1993, Novaja Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and ”troll factories” to the use of Russian military forces both within and outside Russia.

Novaja Gazeta’s opponents have responded with harassment, threats, violence and murder. Since the newspaper’s start, six of its journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaja who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya. Despite the killings and threats, editor-in-chief Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He has consistently defended the right of journalists to write anything they want about whatever they want, as long as they comply with the professional and ethical standards of journalism.

Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is convinced that freedom of expression and freedom of information help to ensure an informed public. These rights are crucial prerequisites for democracy and protect against war and conflict. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is intended to underscore the importance of protecting and defending these fundamental rights.

Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time. This year’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize is therefore firmly anchored in the provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will.

Related:

  • The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine goes to pressure and temperature sensing – read more
  • Watch A Thousand Cuts, the award-winning documentary featuring Maria Ressa, produced, directed and written by Ramona S. Diaz.

Source: MLA style: The Nobel Peace Prize 2021. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Fri. 8 Oct 2021.

Golf a-head with Deemples

Malaysia-headquartered golfing startup Deemples, popularly known as “the Uber for golfers”, is a golf app that allows users to find a golf partner to play with whenever and wherever.

Launched in 2017 with the aim of helping people find golf buddies and enabling them to organise games at preferred locations and time slots, Deemples has become a popular service among the golfing community, including golfers, golf courses and even golf tournament organisers. 

Deemples is a free app for golfers to help find, match and connect with other golfers whenever and wherever they are, to play a game of golf. It is currently present in five countries across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippines and Brunei. The app is available for both iOS and Android.

What types of games can you join or create on Deemples 

There are 3 game types in Deemples: 

  • Single flight 
  • Multi Flight 
  • Driving range 

Single flight is designed if you want to get a quick foursome in. It’s the most used game type by the majority of our golfers. Multi Flight was designed for larger groups, that perhaps hosts 2-3 flights over the weekend, or a social club that organises 5-6 flights every week, or a golf club or event organiser that wants to organise a full-fledged 36-flight tournament. Multi Flight makes it much easier for event organisers to coordinate, update, and communicate with their participants. 

Driving Range is designed so that Deemples caters not only to existing golfers but also to new golfers that want to get into the game. Golf is intimidating enough, where it’s tough for golf newbies to find out where to go, what to buy, what to bring, who to go with, what to wear, etc. We didn’t want new golfers to have to go through this alone, hence the creation of the Driving Range game type. Today, golf coaches and academies take advantage of this feature to also create clinics that enable new golfers or even seasoned golfers to have access to golf instruction and golf coaching at the driving range. 

Deemples is helping calculate golf handicaps 

Deemples scoring platform doesn’t allow you to key in your own scores, making it the fairest handicap system available. At the end of your game, you can key in your playing partner’s adjusted gross scores after applying equitable stroke control, but you cannot key in your own scores. Once you have at least 5 scores submitted by others on Deemples, the app will then calculate your handicap index and revise it every time a new score is submitted. This allows you to have a most trusted, peer-reviewed, peer-inputted, peer-approved handicap which you can apply on all your golf games. 

Remember, the Deemples handicap is not sanctioned by any local or international golf association, so it won’t be valid to use for official tournaments. But you may definitely use it for your personal calculations, and hopefully one day everyone will learn to embrace the fairness and methodology of the Deemples handicap system.