Last week, eHomemakers’ Ching Ching was invited to speak at the eAsia 2007 conference. Delegates from 54 different nations gathered at this three-day event to discuss and deliberate on opportunities for a digital Asia – in government, health, education and development.

About an hour commute on Malaysia’s efficient metro system, and I arrive in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s newly built federal government administration and international conferencing centre. Wide roads, a variety of shining modern bridges, a stunning mosque floating on a lake, architecturally striking buildings surrounded by plazas or sitting upon lush hills – everything is so clean, grand and empty. Absolutely surreal to one whom has become habituated with KL’s buzzing, diverse and chaotic urban landscape. Putrajaya is beautiful and impressive in an artificial sort of way, and I feel like I may have accidentally traveled to the UAE. The conference center is also super grand and the air conditioning really intense.

The Malaysian government welcomes us with a video demonstrating the kind of digital opportunities it seeks for its citizens. In this world, a family in Sarawak can communicate with their university-going son in the city via broadband video conferencing. The son gives them a tour of his campus and they meet all his friends. Dad talks to his son from the flat screen TV, Mum talks to him through a screen in the kitchen’s fridge (seriously). She opens the fridge and notices she’s running low on milk. No worries, the fridge automatically places an order at the local supermarket for milk and the supermarket delivers it to her house. This is really impressive considering how often I lose broadband access in my modern Kuala Lumpur home, and how I find myself often yelling at the TV because our satellite can’t pick up my favorite HBO shows. Well, big visions can’t hurt I guess.

I walked into the conference with only the basic definition of a telecentre, and walked out attempting to predict the future of telecentres along with the movement’s experts. Not only did I learn a ton, I also made some very interesting new friends. My particular favorites include two fellows who started the multi-award-winning e-Bario, which introduced computers and internet to a secluded community called Bario. Located in northern Sarawak, Bario is home to the Kelabit indigenous people. ICT’s have helped the Kelabit emerge from isolation, embrace education and forge new paths in Malaysian society to take control over their community’s own future.

Academics, government officials, corporate members, and NGO representatives each shared their methods, successes and challenges in their quest to bridge the digital divide by introducing e-centres and technology to underserved communities. Things are very exciting and the movement is picking up considerable momentum as IT companies realize that there’s profit to be made serving those at the bottom of the pyramid. I heard all about many innovative programs including GrameenPhone in Bangladesh, Nokia’s Text2Teach in The Philippines, Agribazaar in Malaysia, community e-centres in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Uganda, and the Philippines. I was getting very excited about where this movement could go.

But the reality is that while Malaysia has built around 900 telecentres costing approximately $70,000 each, eHomemakers is struggling to even get used computers donated for their members. I guess helping poor urban housewives isn’t considered part of bridging the digital divide. Meanwhile, our women have work experience and are ready and willing to work, but without the funds for the necessary equipment, they remain unemployed and struggling to provide for themselves and their families. Perhaps some are forgetting that the “digital divide” is not just a matter of bridging a geographical gap, but also an economic and social one.

Ching Ching’s turn to speak came on the third day of the conference. She challenged the participants to ask themselves, “Where is the ICT4D movement going and who has been purposefully neglected?” She was the only conference participant that discussed the concept of cyber-telecentres – an overlooked possibility in today’s modern world. With Asia’s urban population growing to 70 percent of the whole population by 2010, it seems vital that the ICT4D not only concentrate on rural expansion but also consider how it will deal with the growing number of urban migrants. Those who risk being left behind exist in both the rural and urban sections of the developing world. As Malaysia moves from “developing” to “developed,” will urban accomplishments such as Putrajaya overshadow the needs of those being left behind?