Why aren't you here?
My wife asked an interesting question before I left for Kuala Lumpur. After hearing me talk about the much lower than usual number of registrations and all of the last minute cancellations, what did I think was the primary reason people weren't coming. I started to answer and realized that I didn't really know. I have heard different reasons from different people, mostly related to expense or safety (because of the current state of affairs in the world or the fact the Malaysia is predominantly muslin country, barely). I'm also guessing that many US goverment employees have had trouble securing permission and/or funding from their agencies to attend (mine wouldn't fund me but did officially allow my travel).
In any case, I would be interested in hearling from folks that would have normally attended the symposium. Why did you decide not to come? Post your answers in the comment field below (or click the comment link). Don't be shy. This could be an interesting exercise and helpful information for future symposia planning.
My personal feeling is that KL certainly isn't any more dangerous than being in Washington DC at the moment. So no concerns there. Malaysia is also very culturally diverse. Great pains seem to be taken here to be culturally sensitive to the large numbers people of mulsim, indian and asian descent. It appears to be as tolerant a place as I have been. The expense gave me a bit of pause, much more will come out of my own pocket than usual, but I think it will be well worth every penny. And it's certainly very cheap once you get here.
Comments
Greetings Michael-
Good question. For me, the travel also was to come entirely out of pocket but I had planned for that for months. I had tickets and hotel reservations in hand.
The decision to not attend came down to the possibility that air travel schedules on the return trip may well be disrupted if war is declared. This was not a choice I made lightly and only at the last minute as I gathered as much information as possible and got perspective from my more well-traveled colleagues.
Both government employees and even the travel agent agreed that travel schedule disruption was a real possiblity. Right now my University
responsibilities are very heavy and are especially critical right after the symposium. Being away and risking delayed
return at this critical time was not considered to be in the best interest of my Department or my University.
My guess is that this reason is probably not typical. As to the safty question -- both my previous visit to Malaysia and State Department's
travel advisories indicated that it was safe, given normal precautions. I doubt many of us have the experience to judge what is truly safe and what is not these days. Rather, we accept calculated risks. In this case, the risk to safty in KL was not one that I considered to be greater than normal.
Cheers!
Jeanette
Posted by: Jeanette Wyneken | March 17, 2003 01:21 PM
Hi, Michael,
I would have attended, but the distance is just too far in terms of hours (22-23 hrs. one-way) on the plane and cost of airline tickets. My heart is with all the attendees, and I would encourage any of you who are so inclined to contribute on-line comments regarding the Symposium in K.L. I suggested having an on-line presence to several people, but didn't invoke too much of a response.
Thank you, Michael, for maintaining and upgrading seaturtle.org with the blog concept. And, I look forward to being reunited with old friends and meeting some new people at next year's STS2004 which I understand is slated for Costa Rica.
Greetings from Maryland.
Dean Hey
Posted by: Dean Hey | March 17, 2003 01:25 PM