There is only one thing stopping you from getting ahead in life. Its true. Really.
And its not the usual suspects. It has nothing to do with the economy, nothing to do with your background and nothing at all to do with knowing the right people.
Yes, I know this sounds like crazy talk. I used to think it was difficult to get ahead UNTIL I listened to a mad genius who showed me a better way. A much better way.
(more about him and his site in a moment)
First of all let´s take a quick look at how to get what you really want.
-- How To Get Whatever You Want in 3 Steps --
1. Define a Precise Goal
This is not rocket science. State what you do want and be specific about it. e.g. I work 40 hours a week to earn $100,000 a year. Another example - I have an enjoyable, active social life and meet friends three evenings a week.
2. Follow a Proven Strategy
This is easier than it seems at first.
Simply follow the lead of people who have already achieved what you want.
For example, if you want to make more
friends - find someone who knows a lot of people and ask him how he does it. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
3. Let Go of Blocks to Success
I will be direct with you here.
This is the BIG stumbling block that stops sincere, smart, hard working people from having all that they want.
Until you let go of your internal blocks to having it all you will struggle to have more happiness, wealth and better relationships.
To be frank, letting go of these success blocks can seem almost impossible. And to make even a little progress is very difficult.
The Good News
Thankfully, letting go is a natural ability we all have. We just need to relearn how to do it.
And there are a few people who have mastered this valuable ability. I personally know one guy who also loves to teach people like you and I. This is the mad genius I mentioned earlier.
(He is a best selling author, a highly
respected seminar leader and he loves
helping people to become happier.)
Imagine if this respected expert would come to your home, take you by the hand and show you how to drop these success blocks for once and for all.
What Would Happen?
You´d become more successful than ever, you´d also be happier and have much less stress and worry.
These are the kinds of results you can
expect. Why? Because thousands of people have already done this by listening to this amazing guy.
Dr Ismail Aby Jamal
Born in Batu 10, Kg Lubok Bandan, Jementah, Segamat, Johor
Thursday, December 4, 2008
In Southeast Asia — especially Indonesia and Malaysia — vast tracts of logged forest have been converted for rubber and oil palm plantations.
Logging roads cut deep into pristine rainforests, opening up once remote areas to colonization, subsistence and industrial agriculture, wildlife exploitation, and other forms of development.
An interview with Tropical Salvage's Tim O'BrienSalvage logging offers hope for forests, communities devastated by industrial loggingRhett A. Butler, mongabay.comDecember 4, 2008
As currently practiced, logging is responsible for large-scale destruction of tropical forests. Logging roads cut deep into pristine rainforests, opening up once remote areas to colonization, subsistence and industrial agriculture, wildlife exploitation, and other forms of development. Timber extraction thins the canopy, damages undergrowth, and tears up soils, reducing biodiversity and leaving forests more vulnerable to fire. Even selective logging — the dominant form of timber extraction in the tropics — is damaging. Once timber of commercial interest is harvested, forest land is increasingly burned to create grazing pasture or land for farming. In Southeast Asia — especially Indonesia and Malaysia — vast tracts of logged forest have been converted for rubber and oil palm plantations. Land that is not converted for agriculture is often colonized by grasses that prevent forest recovery.
Photo by Rhett A. Butler
While recent years have seen the emergence of sustainable harvesting techniques and certification systems like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for timber, many ecologists believe that industrial logging of old-growth rainforests in inherently unsustainable. Selectively logged forests biologically impoverished relative to unlogged forests and far more susceptible to future clearing. Nevertheless demand for wood products continues to grow. China is expected to import more than 100 million cubic meters of industrial roundwood by 2010, much of which will go into finished products shipped off to Europe and the United States. As much as 60 percent of this is illicitly sourced. Meanwhile in Brazil domestic hunger for timber is fueling widespread illegal logging of the Amazon rainforest. Armed standoffs between environmental police and people employed by unlicensed operators are increasingly common.
Tim O'Brien, founder of Tropical Salvage. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tropical Salvage, a Portland, Oregon-based producer of wood products, is avoiding these issues altogether by taking a different approach to meet demand for products made from high-quality tropical hardwoods. The company salvages wood discarded from building sites, unearthed from mudslides and volcanic sites, and dredged from rivers and reservoirs in Indonesia and turns it into premium wood products. In the process, Tropical Salvage is putting formers loggers to work and supporting a conservation, education and reforestation project on Java. Tim O'Brien, founder of Tropical Salvage (tropicalsalvage.com), says the idea for the company came during a 1998 visit to Indonesia. In his tour of several islands, O'Brien was struck by the volume of wood discarded as wooden structures were being replaced by concrete and rebar ones. At the same time he was appalled by a tract of beautiful and biologically-rich primary rainforest laid waste by logging near Gunung Leseur National Park. "It looked like a particularly psychotic episode of vandalism," he told mongabay.com. "A place that had been one of the most biologically diverse spots on earth since time immemorial had, in the course of a few months, been reduced to an eerie, silent ruin of power-saw litter. It was ominous and affecting." "The rightness and wrongness of our management of tropical forests might be aptly illustrated by looking down the line formed by a still standing primary forest abutting a clear-cut forest," he continued. "The cut side appears exactly like what it is: reckless squander driven by short-sighted business interests. The forest's role as an invaluable multi-faceted resource is ended. The living side illustrates a world in which we thoughtfully and respectfully observe, interact with, derive pleasure from and learn to use the full spectrum of life's phenomena."
O'Brien with Agus Rafiqkoh, who leads the Tropical Salvage team in Indonesia. According to Kevin Havice, O'Brien's associate at Tropical Salvage, "Without Agus, Tropical Salvage would not be possible."
O'Brien was inspired to launch a wood-products company that wouldn't contribute to the sort of scene he had witnessed. He was also moved to support a project — the Jepara Forest Conservancy — that would help restore what has been lost. "Tropical Salvage has provided the seed capital for and significantly helped to shape and implement the Jepara Forest Conservancy, an Indonesian non-profit "yayasan" formed by a group of citizens from Jepara and Kudus concerned about environmental degradation and sustainable economic development on the Mount Muria peninsula, located in north central Java, Indonesia," he said. "Guiding the Jepara Forest Conservancy's vision are principles that forestry-based climate change mitigation projects must be fully integrated with climate change adaptation strategies and that environmental protection is best achieved by working together with site communities to combine environmental objectives with generating sustainable livelihoods and cultural resilience." In a December 2008 interview with mongabay.com, O'Brien discussed his work with Tropical Salvage and the Conservancy. AN INTERVIEW WITH TIM O'BRIEN
Mongabay: How did Tropical Salvage get started and what was your inspiration? Tom O'Brien: The idea for Tropical Salvage occurred during a visit to Indonesia in 1998. Two observations encouraged the idea. First, wherever I traveled in Java, Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa, I noticed old wooden structures being replaced by new structures built from concrete and rebar. In many instances no plan existed to re-use the old beams, boards and poles. Old, hand-hewn wood deriving from mature, tight-grained, tropical hardwood trees was fueling cooking fires. The idea was also inspired by a visit to Gunung Leseur National Park, in western Sumatra. In a week of trekking, we encountered an astonishing array of wildlife, including six different species of primates, monitor lizards as long as canoes, several types of snakes, numerous exotic birds, butterflies and other small creatures, and a fantastically diverse population of enormous trees in which most of the creatures made their homes. Along the way, we also encountered a vast area of recently clear-cut primary forest. It looked like a particularly psychotic episode of vandalism. A place that had been one of the most biologically diverse spots on earth since time immemorial had, in the course of a few months, been reduced to an eerie, silent ruin of power-saw litter. It was ominous and affecting.
Primary and logged forest in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
The rightness and wrongness of our management of tropical forests might be aptly illustrated by looking down the line formed by a still standing primary forest abutting a clear-cut forest. The cut side appears exactly like what it is: reckless squander driven by short-sighted business interests. The forest's role as an invaluable multi-faceted resource is ended. The living side illustrates a world in which we thoughtfully and respectfully observe, interact with, derive pleasure from and learn to use the full spectrum of life's phenomena. The experience in Sumatra was so disturbing that I couldn't passively absorb it into a complex world's expanding landscape of unsettling experience. Living in the "age of information," when science has made clear the dependency of human quality of life on eco-system integrity, asserting a more active role in contributing to tropical forest conservation seemed a useful course to follow.
Mongabay: What is your primary area of operation? Do you work in areas where logging as a source of employment has declined to due resource depletion? Tom O'Brien: We work mainly in central and eastern Java but have also sourced from Sumatra, Lombok and Sumbawa. Yes, logging as a source of employment has declined precipitously on all of the islands where we work. Also, quality of life among the islands' inhabitants has declined as a result of diminished ecosystem services caused by irresponsible clear-cut logging strategies.
Mongabay: Is it unusual for a U.S.-based wood products seller to have a vertically integrated system with direct harvesting overseas?
Tropical Salvage craftsmen at work. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tom O'Brien: Yes, it is. Furthermore, not having a vantage allowed by vertical integration makes it difficult to know sourcing streams. For example, China currently supplies most of the world's wood furniture. Experts who study the supply streams that feed this enormous material demand estimate that over 60% of wood used by Chinese manufacturers to answer the developed world's demand for furniture, flooring and other wood products is illegally sourced - through relationships with corrupt political and military officials in Russia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Laos. Some documentation certifying "responsible sourcing" - "phytosanitary certificates" in Indonesia, for example - can be easily bought from corrupt government employees, thus further obscuring sourcing scenarios.
Mongabay: Harvesting timber from lakes, volcanic deposits, and landslides must present many challenges. Are harvesting costs significantly higher than conventional-logging? Is there enough "salvageable" timber to make this a long-term model? Tom O'Brien: Yes, our wood sourcing strategies pose more logistical challenges than straightforward forest or plantation wood harvests. Our labor costs are higher, as we employ many more hands to deconstruct structures or work trees out of rivers, the ground and landslide debris piles. Much of our wood is significantly less expensive because we've learned to use a variety of species, distressed by a variety of conditions, that weren't previously regarded as appropriate to building furniture.
Salvaging timber from rivers. Courtesy of Tropical Salvage
While we know enormous resources of salvageable wood exist in many areas of Indonesia, which is among the world's woodiest places, we're uncertain about what that might translate into as a long-term model for a broader competitive market. While appreciation of our work and products is growing, the distressed and expressive grains of many of the woods we use have a limited appeal that might not ever drive a large market.
Salvaging entombed wood from volcanic soil and buried timber from an oil palm plantation. Courtesy of Tropical Salvage
Mongabay: Do you see potential to expand the Tropical Salvage model to other parts of the world? Tom O'Brien: Yes. We recently sent a first shipment to London. The reserved, more sober and perhaps more traditionally inclined English are still mulling what to make of it.
Mongabay: What about on the sourcing to Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia? Tom O'Brien: We do see potential for that, and we have discussed the idea -- though for the present and the short-term future, we have no definite intention of pursuing it. We are confident that this kind of work could make a difference in people's lives there, and that there is great wood to be salvaged be salvaged in those places. There are other factors that contribute to the success of our business in Indonesia, notably:
the skilled craftsmen to employ there (North Central Java has a long tradition of furniture-building and woodworking); and
convenient logistics/shipping infrastructure (our facility on Java is very close to Semarang, a major port)
We simply don't know much about where there might be appropriate existing wood products industries in South America or Africa (of course, training people in areas of economic hardship is always a possibility, too). We have imagined that the logistics/shipping facilities in central Africa are probably sparse, which could make it difficult/expensive to operate there.
Mongabay: Are you going to seek FSC-certification or does it not apply to the sort of harvesting you do?
Production warehouse. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tom O'Brien: If building projects seeking LEEDS certification show more interest in our work, we'll seek FSC certification in order to participate in those projects. So far, achieving FSC certification hasn't been relevant to the work we do. Additionally, our perspective on reasonable wood sourcing diverges with FSC in that, due to alarming diminishment of primary tropical forests and the ecosystems they sustain, we don't believe any remaining primary tropical forests should be harvested, selectively or otherwise, to answer demand in the international marketplace. We believe science has strongly made the case that the values of these forests to human quality of life for their biodiversity, watershed protection, soil stability and carbon sequestration supersedes their value in answering consumer market desires for furniture and flooring derived from favored exotic woods.
Mongabay: How are customers responding to your offerings? Do customers show interest in other ways to support conservation in Indonesia? Tom O'Brien: Tropical Salvage is a growing niche business. Some customer responses have been enthusiastic, some quizzical and others reserved. As I noted, we're still unsure of what size market might exist for our somewhat innovative interpretation of beautiful and meaningful wood furniture. Many customers are very interested in and supportive of the issues we address by integrating business with social and environmental activism focused in Indonesia. Many sales are significantly influenced by our social and environmental work. However, if the products were not on their own, independent of TS's mission objectives, well made, uniquely beautiful and good value the business could not exist.
Mongabay: How are locals responding to your efforts?
Tim, Agus, and Agus' wife and daughter. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tom O'Brien: Many Indonesians were perplexed when we began building products for the international marketplace using materials they regarded as garbage. Many, in fact, laughed out loud. Over time, though, as we've become and remained a stable employer while many other local furniture producers for mainstream markets have succumbed to competition from China and the global economic decline, we've gained considerable credibility and respect. Our assertive environmental education and forest restoration initiatives – tied to creating jobs - have compounded this credibility and respect. It has been wonderful to observe an evolution of perspective that has occurred among many of Tropical Salvage's employees. When we began the company, many employees were visibly unhappy with having to apply their efforts and skill to unfamiliar and very strangely sourced woods. Their previous furniture construction experience was limited to using straight-grained, uniformly hued, mostly plantation grown teak and luan mahogany. They thought the traditional formula, which was effectively popularized by the colonial Dutch some four-hundred years ago, equaled credibility in the international – developed world – marketplace. I think they considered Tropical Salvage's business strategy a little embarrassing and shameful. Today, employees greatly prefer more uncommonly expressive wood grains and odder sourcing stories.
Mongabay: Tropical Salvage has an ambitious conservation project. Can you elaborate on this effort? Tom O'Brien: Tropical Salvage integrates business with social and environmental activism because we understand the business community must join the lead in seeking solutions to unprecedented challenges to our world's social and environmental integrity. In Indonesia, we create good, steady, eco-positive jobs and implement conservation, forest restoration and environmental education programs. In the United States, Canada and Europe, we advocate and strive to embody best responsible practices in the marketplace.
Jepara Forest Conservancy site. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tropical Salvage has provided the seed capital for and significantly helped to shape and implement the Jepara Forest Conservancy, an Indonesian non-profit "yayasan" formed by a group of citizens from Jepara and Kudus concerned about environmental degradation and sustainable economic development on the Mount Muria peninsula, located in north central Java, Indonesia. Guiding the Jepara Forest Conservancy's vision are principles that forestry-based climate change mitigation projects must be fully integrated with climate change adaptation strategies and that environmental protection is best achieved by working together with site communities to combine environmental objectives with generating sustainable livelihoods and cultural resilience. We will address climate change issues in ways that build just and equitable partnerships between communities in the developed and developing worlds. We identify challenges to equity arising from two conditions: 1) From effects of climate change on poor communities who are not cause contributors and lack resources to respond to them; and 2) From the developed world's reluctance to adopt a "reduce first, offset last" carbon emissions policy which can lead to forestry-based carbon offset business models focused on offsetting developed world excesses to the distress of developing world ecosystems and cultures. Working through a broad stakeholder partnership based on international trade innovations, we aim to establish a very visible model program to demonstrate these principles can and should be integrated. Project Description
JFC will shape land-use on the site to answer challenges caused by deforestation and climate change. The project will integrate a climate change mitigation facility with environmental restoration strategies that are climate change adaptive and build local food security, cultural resilience and sustainable economic opportunities [2]. Our proposed project is planned in two stages: Stage 1: Demonstrating a concrete quick win The first stage is intended to demonstrate the capacity of our partnership to effectively address community needs through restoration of ecosystem services and development of sustainable livelihood strategies. Although we will not develop a carbon offset facility in this first stage, we plan to demonstrate the efficacy of our methods for our application for certification to the Climate Communities and Biodiversity standards in stage 2.
Jepara Forest Conservancy site. Photo by Edward Wolf
Through the community-based GIS mapping conducted by Starling Resources we have identified a 34 ha site in the village of Kunir for this first stage). The site was chosen for its relatively easy access, degraded forest conditions and its highly forest-dependent community. Currently nearly all of the households in Kunir base their livelihoods on the use of the degraded protected forest (hutan lindung) above their village for subsistence agriculture. The forest degradation is a result of illegal logging activities that occurred between 1999 and 2004. Results of interviews and meetings with community members have clarified community perceptions of the importance of ecosystem goods and services provided by the protected forest. The community members have identified several high-priority concerns for direct negative impacts to their health and livelihoods caused by degradations of these services. These impacts include damage to homes from high winds, landslide risk, soil degradation and erosion, and disappearance of natural sources of clean water The reforestation initiative will practice principles of a "tumpangsari" (forest garden) which combines planting productive perennial species - to stimulate economic opportunity and establish a reliable local food source - with planting a broad mixture of native botanical species, many of which yield non-timber forest products that have traditional local uses, to intentionally revive and multiply the area's ancestral biological diversity. Additional project aims are to protect the area's threatened natural sources of clean water, re-establish forest root-systems to abate soil erosion and reduce episodes of landslides, re-establish a forest canopy to buffer against strong winds, and expand forestland surrounding the site's core of primary natural forest, which contributes importantly to sustaining a population of endangered Javan ebony langurs, among other species. JFC's agreement with Perum Perhutani commits to a schedule to plant 60% native species and 40% agro-forestry species—such as coffee, cacao and cashew—and to practice organic cultivation.
Tropical Salvage warehouse. Photo by Edward Wolf
JFC will create economic opportunities for communities located near the project site by tailoring business strategies to increase product values. Specifically, product value enhancements will include: (1) converting entirely to organic cultivation; (2) creating facilities to refine and package (to add value to) products in order to sell them directly to markets where end products are assigned significantly higher value; (3) enabling JFC's product set to become part of a strong and growing market presence already established by Tropical Salvage, and thereby benefit from support and loyalty of Tropical Salvage's existing wholesale and retail customer base; (4) asserting a strong and broad brand presence that emphasizes the products' enablement of a unique set of environmental and social benefits – good, steady, eco-positive jobs, cultural resilience, environmental education, and reforestation initiatives that protect watersheds and value native biodiversity. (Protection of the Javan ebony langur, or "lutung," will importantly assist in shaping JFC's brand.) Through their advantageous market qualifications, we expect products deriving from JFC's organic forest garden to generate revenues that will create sustainable jobs in scalable numbers.
A Carbon Offset Credit Producer
Stage 2: Ramping up In stage two we will expand the scope of the project to include the additional 226 ha of land specified in our MU with PP. During this stage of the project we will establish a carbon offset facility. We plan to produce offset credits certified through the Carbon, Communities and Biodiversity system. Among the available certification systems, we see the CCB as most alligned with our goals and principles, although we will exceed their standards to answer equity concerns. As our project is a partnership between Indonesia and North American-based partners, we will market the credits in the US and Canadien voluntary market. In its role as a carbon offset facility, JFC has two main goals. First, we see sales of carbon offset credits playing an important role in establishing a sustainable funding stream to realize the project's reforestation, conservation and community empowerment objectives. Our reforestation plan is not designed to optimize the carbon sequestration potential of the site, but rather, to find an equitable balance between carbon sequestration capacity and site community needs.
Seedlings for reforestation of Jepara Forest. Photo by Edward Wolf
Our second goal is to serve as a model and a learning opportunity for best practices in the developing carbon trading markets, both voluntary and regulated. We are well-positioned to optimize carbon neutrality as an integral part of our branding strategy. Two of the partners, the Institute for Culture and Ecology and Tropical Salvage are based in Portland, Oregon. In recent years, Portland has established itself as a national leader in the USA for sustainability initiatives and in particular for innovation in the development of carbon trading mechanisms and, more broadly, ecosystem services marketplaces. Through efforts such as the Oregon-led Western Governors Climate Initiative, and the Willamette Valley Ecosystem Services Marketplace, Oregon bas become the place other US states and federal players look to for guidance in developing legitimate structures and governance practices. By engaging these initiatives, our project can significantly raise awareness about the crucial role of equity and justice as it pertains to carbon trading. The Institute for Culture and Ecology will take the lead in marketing credits generated by the project, using existing relationships with businesses committed to first reducing emissions before considering the purchase of offset credits. As one example, a coalition of more than 40 wineries in the Willamette Valley has committed to attaining carbon neutrality. Working through the Natural Step methodology they are making major strides in reducing emissions associated with their operations. However, due to systemic issues such as transportation, reduction to climate neutrality is not possible through emission reduction alone. They plan to bridge this gap through the purchase of offset credits. IFCAE has initiated discussions with this group and motivated their interest in eventually purchasing CCB-certified credits through our project. Many other examples could be cited. By establishing partnerships between our carbon offset facility and such businesses, we plan to establish a model of best-practices in the integration of climate change mitigation with mandates of equity and justice. As stated in a recent paper of Verchot, Van Noordwijk et al [3], "Agroforestry offers the potential to develop synergies between efforts to mitigate climate change and efforts to help vulnerable populations adapt to the negative consequences of climate change. The research agenda in this area is fairly well defined. Yet, much is already known and putting these ideas into practice on the ground with small-scale farmers will allow us to learn important lessons through practical experience." Our project promises to offer just such an on-the-ground effort. In addition, due to our involvement with partners in Portland, our project has the potential to be a high-visibility model of best-practices and ethical standards in the developing carbon offset market. Applying best practices international trade to build a strong and sustainable social and economic bridge between rural Indonesia and metropolitan America, Canada and Europe, we will facilitate cross-cultural understanding and respect. We are aware of the need for long-term accountability to the community in these market-based approaches and we will ensure that control of all agreements will lie entirely with the site communities. In "Equity and justice in climate change adaptation amongst natural-resource-dependent societies" [4], Thomas and Twyman find that developing "economic space and capacity for diversification beyond and within natural-resource use" is crucial to addressing the adaptation needs of vulnerable communities, as is enhancing the "policy space that allows local level innovations and responses to evolve". Through our public-private partnership approach and collaboration with Perum Perhutani, we aim to achieve exactly these results.
Mongabay: What are the future goals for the Jepara Forest Conservancy?
Tropical Salvage wood products.
Tom O'Brien: In the same way Tropical Salvage has evolved as a kind of sustainable wood-use lab, the first JFC forest restoration site is intended, to some extent, to serve as a sustainable land-use lab. Assisted by sustainable-business entrepreneurs, NGOs and academia, we will refine our understanding of organic agro-forestry techniques applied in forest gardens, we will explore potentials for developing products (agro-forestry, eco-tourism, carbon off-set credits) deriving from the site and seek efficient market entries for them, and we will collect data to track and understand both the area's biodiversity and the forest's rate of carbon sequestration. Successes we might realize we aim to replicate in other forest restoration opportunities located in Indonesian mountain watersheds.
Mongabay: How can people here in the U.S. support your efforts? Where are your products sold? Tom O'Brien: Buy Tropical Salvage products. Donate money to the Jepara Forest Conservancy through The Institute for Culture and Ecology or Global Giving. (IFCAE receives 10% of such donations for their considerable administrative tasks.) Buy JFC products when they come to market. Tropical Salvage product vendors are listed on Tropical Salvage's website. Many of these vendors will also sell JFC products.
Tropical Salvage
Jepara Forest Conservancy
Global Giving - Jepara Forest Conservancy
References
1. Naylor, R.L., et al., Assessing risks of climate variability and climate change for Indonesian rice agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007. 104(19): p. 7752.
2. Although we have not conducted a census to determine average household income, anecdotal evidence from our participatory mapping—community-based GIS mapping of the site was conducted by Starling Resources (starlingresources.com) in March - May, 2008—finds that household income is very low and is vulnerable to further degradation of the local environment. Thus, building economic resilience in the community is a high priority.
3. Verchot, L., et al., Climate change: linking adaptation and mitigation through agroforestry. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2007. 12(5): p. 901-918.
4. Thomas, D.S.G. and C. Twyman, Equity and justice in climate change adaptation amongst natural-resource-dependent societies. Global Environmental Change, 2005. 15(2): p. 115-124.
An interview with Tropical Salvage's Tim O'BrienSalvage logging offers hope for forests, communities devastated by industrial loggingRhett A. Butler, mongabay.comDecember 4, 2008
As currently practiced, logging is responsible for large-scale destruction of tropical forests. Logging roads cut deep into pristine rainforests, opening up once remote areas to colonization, subsistence and industrial agriculture, wildlife exploitation, and other forms of development. Timber extraction thins the canopy, damages undergrowth, and tears up soils, reducing biodiversity and leaving forests more vulnerable to fire. Even selective logging — the dominant form of timber extraction in the tropics — is damaging. Once timber of commercial interest is harvested, forest land is increasingly burned to create grazing pasture or land for farming. In Southeast Asia — especially Indonesia and Malaysia — vast tracts of logged forest have been converted for rubber and oil palm plantations. Land that is not converted for agriculture is often colonized by grasses that prevent forest recovery.
Photo by Rhett A. Butler
While recent years have seen the emergence of sustainable harvesting techniques and certification systems like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for timber, many ecologists believe that industrial logging of old-growth rainforests in inherently unsustainable. Selectively logged forests biologically impoverished relative to unlogged forests and far more susceptible to future clearing. Nevertheless demand for wood products continues to grow. China is expected to import more than 100 million cubic meters of industrial roundwood by 2010, much of which will go into finished products shipped off to Europe and the United States. As much as 60 percent of this is illicitly sourced. Meanwhile in Brazil domestic hunger for timber is fueling widespread illegal logging of the Amazon rainforest. Armed standoffs between environmental police and people employed by unlicensed operators are increasingly common.
Tim O'Brien, founder of Tropical Salvage. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tropical Salvage, a Portland, Oregon-based producer of wood products, is avoiding these issues altogether by taking a different approach to meet demand for products made from high-quality tropical hardwoods. The company salvages wood discarded from building sites, unearthed from mudslides and volcanic sites, and dredged from rivers and reservoirs in Indonesia and turns it into premium wood products. In the process, Tropical Salvage is putting formers loggers to work and supporting a conservation, education and reforestation project on Java. Tim O'Brien, founder of Tropical Salvage (tropicalsalvage.com), says the idea for the company came during a 1998 visit to Indonesia. In his tour of several islands, O'Brien was struck by the volume of wood discarded as wooden structures were being replaced by concrete and rebar ones. At the same time he was appalled by a tract of beautiful and biologically-rich primary rainforest laid waste by logging near Gunung Leseur National Park. "It looked like a particularly psychotic episode of vandalism," he told mongabay.com. "A place that had been one of the most biologically diverse spots on earth since time immemorial had, in the course of a few months, been reduced to an eerie, silent ruin of power-saw litter. It was ominous and affecting." "The rightness and wrongness of our management of tropical forests might be aptly illustrated by looking down the line formed by a still standing primary forest abutting a clear-cut forest," he continued. "The cut side appears exactly like what it is: reckless squander driven by short-sighted business interests. The forest's role as an invaluable multi-faceted resource is ended. The living side illustrates a world in which we thoughtfully and respectfully observe, interact with, derive pleasure from and learn to use the full spectrum of life's phenomena."
O'Brien with Agus Rafiqkoh, who leads the Tropical Salvage team in Indonesia. According to Kevin Havice, O'Brien's associate at Tropical Salvage, "Without Agus, Tropical Salvage would not be possible."
O'Brien was inspired to launch a wood-products company that wouldn't contribute to the sort of scene he had witnessed. He was also moved to support a project — the Jepara Forest Conservancy — that would help restore what has been lost. "Tropical Salvage has provided the seed capital for and significantly helped to shape and implement the Jepara Forest Conservancy, an Indonesian non-profit "yayasan" formed by a group of citizens from Jepara and Kudus concerned about environmental degradation and sustainable economic development on the Mount Muria peninsula, located in north central Java, Indonesia," he said. "Guiding the Jepara Forest Conservancy's vision are principles that forestry-based climate change mitigation projects must be fully integrated with climate change adaptation strategies and that environmental protection is best achieved by working together with site communities to combine environmental objectives with generating sustainable livelihoods and cultural resilience." In a December 2008 interview with mongabay.com, O'Brien discussed his work with Tropical Salvage and the Conservancy. AN INTERVIEW WITH TIM O'BRIEN
Mongabay: How did Tropical Salvage get started and what was your inspiration? Tom O'Brien: The idea for Tropical Salvage occurred during a visit to Indonesia in 1998. Two observations encouraged the idea. First, wherever I traveled in Java, Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa, I noticed old wooden structures being replaced by new structures built from concrete and rebar. In many instances no plan existed to re-use the old beams, boards and poles. Old, hand-hewn wood deriving from mature, tight-grained, tropical hardwood trees was fueling cooking fires. The idea was also inspired by a visit to Gunung Leseur National Park, in western Sumatra. In a week of trekking, we encountered an astonishing array of wildlife, including six different species of primates, monitor lizards as long as canoes, several types of snakes, numerous exotic birds, butterflies and other small creatures, and a fantastically diverse population of enormous trees in which most of the creatures made their homes. Along the way, we also encountered a vast area of recently clear-cut primary forest. It looked like a particularly psychotic episode of vandalism. A place that had been one of the most biologically diverse spots on earth since time immemorial had, in the course of a few months, been reduced to an eerie, silent ruin of power-saw litter. It was ominous and affecting.
Primary and logged forest in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
The rightness and wrongness of our management of tropical forests might be aptly illustrated by looking down the line formed by a still standing primary forest abutting a clear-cut forest. The cut side appears exactly like what it is: reckless squander driven by short-sighted business interests. The forest's role as an invaluable multi-faceted resource is ended. The living side illustrates a world in which we thoughtfully and respectfully observe, interact with, derive pleasure from and learn to use the full spectrum of life's phenomena. The experience in Sumatra was so disturbing that I couldn't passively absorb it into a complex world's expanding landscape of unsettling experience. Living in the "age of information," when science has made clear the dependency of human quality of life on eco-system integrity, asserting a more active role in contributing to tropical forest conservation seemed a useful course to follow.
Mongabay: What is your primary area of operation? Do you work in areas where logging as a source of employment has declined to due resource depletion? Tom O'Brien: We work mainly in central and eastern Java but have also sourced from Sumatra, Lombok and Sumbawa. Yes, logging as a source of employment has declined precipitously on all of the islands where we work. Also, quality of life among the islands' inhabitants has declined as a result of diminished ecosystem services caused by irresponsible clear-cut logging strategies.
Mongabay: Is it unusual for a U.S.-based wood products seller to have a vertically integrated system with direct harvesting overseas?
Tropical Salvage craftsmen at work. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tom O'Brien: Yes, it is. Furthermore, not having a vantage allowed by vertical integration makes it difficult to know sourcing streams. For example, China currently supplies most of the world's wood furniture. Experts who study the supply streams that feed this enormous material demand estimate that over 60% of wood used by Chinese manufacturers to answer the developed world's demand for furniture, flooring and other wood products is illegally sourced - through relationships with corrupt political and military officials in Russia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Laos. Some documentation certifying "responsible sourcing" - "phytosanitary certificates" in Indonesia, for example - can be easily bought from corrupt government employees, thus further obscuring sourcing scenarios.
Mongabay: Harvesting timber from lakes, volcanic deposits, and landslides must present many challenges. Are harvesting costs significantly higher than conventional-logging? Is there enough "salvageable" timber to make this a long-term model? Tom O'Brien: Yes, our wood sourcing strategies pose more logistical challenges than straightforward forest or plantation wood harvests. Our labor costs are higher, as we employ many more hands to deconstruct structures or work trees out of rivers, the ground and landslide debris piles. Much of our wood is significantly less expensive because we've learned to use a variety of species, distressed by a variety of conditions, that weren't previously regarded as appropriate to building furniture.
Salvaging timber from rivers. Courtesy of Tropical Salvage
While we know enormous resources of salvageable wood exist in many areas of Indonesia, which is among the world's woodiest places, we're uncertain about what that might translate into as a long-term model for a broader competitive market. While appreciation of our work and products is growing, the distressed and expressive grains of many of the woods we use have a limited appeal that might not ever drive a large market.
Salvaging entombed wood from volcanic soil and buried timber from an oil palm plantation. Courtesy of Tropical Salvage
Mongabay: Do you see potential to expand the Tropical Salvage model to other parts of the world? Tom O'Brien: Yes. We recently sent a first shipment to London. The reserved, more sober and perhaps more traditionally inclined English are still mulling what to make of it.
Mongabay: What about on the sourcing to Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia? Tom O'Brien: We do see potential for that, and we have discussed the idea -- though for the present and the short-term future, we have no definite intention of pursuing it. We are confident that this kind of work could make a difference in people's lives there, and that there is great wood to be salvaged be salvaged in those places. There are other factors that contribute to the success of our business in Indonesia, notably:
the skilled craftsmen to employ there (North Central Java has a long tradition of furniture-building and woodworking); and
convenient logistics/shipping infrastructure (our facility on Java is very close to Semarang, a major port)
We simply don't know much about where there might be appropriate existing wood products industries in South America or Africa (of course, training people in areas of economic hardship is always a possibility, too). We have imagined that the logistics/shipping facilities in central Africa are probably sparse, which could make it difficult/expensive to operate there.
Mongabay: Are you going to seek FSC-certification or does it not apply to the sort of harvesting you do?
Production warehouse. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tom O'Brien: If building projects seeking LEEDS certification show more interest in our work, we'll seek FSC certification in order to participate in those projects. So far, achieving FSC certification hasn't been relevant to the work we do. Additionally, our perspective on reasonable wood sourcing diverges with FSC in that, due to alarming diminishment of primary tropical forests and the ecosystems they sustain, we don't believe any remaining primary tropical forests should be harvested, selectively or otherwise, to answer demand in the international marketplace. We believe science has strongly made the case that the values of these forests to human quality of life for their biodiversity, watershed protection, soil stability and carbon sequestration supersedes their value in answering consumer market desires for furniture and flooring derived from favored exotic woods.
Mongabay: How are customers responding to your offerings? Do customers show interest in other ways to support conservation in Indonesia? Tom O'Brien: Tropical Salvage is a growing niche business. Some customer responses have been enthusiastic, some quizzical and others reserved. As I noted, we're still unsure of what size market might exist for our somewhat innovative interpretation of beautiful and meaningful wood furniture. Many customers are very interested in and supportive of the issues we address by integrating business with social and environmental activism focused in Indonesia. Many sales are significantly influenced by our social and environmental work. However, if the products were not on their own, independent of TS's mission objectives, well made, uniquely beautiful and good value the business could not exist.
Mongabay: How are locals responding to your efforts?
Tim, Agus, and Agus' wife and daughter. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tom O'Brien: Many Indonesians were perplexed when we began building products for the international marketplace using materials they regarded as garbage. Many, in fact, laughed out loud. Over time, though, as we've become and remained a stable employer while many other local furniture producers for mainstream markets have succumbed to competition from China and the global economic decline, we've gained considerable credibility and respect. Our assertive environmental education and forest restoration initiatives – tied to creating jobs - have compounded this credibility and respect. It has been wonderful to observe an evolution of perspective that has occurred among many of Tropical Salvage's employees. When we began the company, many employees were visibly unhappy with having to apply their efforts and skill to unfamiliar and very strangely sourced woods. Their previous furniture construction experience was limited to using straight-grained, uniformly hued, mostly plantation grown teak and luan mahogany. They thought the traditional formula, which was effectively popularized by the colonial Dutch some four-hundred years ago, equaled credibility in the international – developed world – marketplace. I think they considered Tropical Salvage's business strategy a little embarrassing and shameful. Today, employees greatly prefer more uncommonly expressive wood grains and odder sourcing stories.
Mongabay: Tropical Salvage has an ambitious conservation project. Can you elaborate on this effort? Tom O'Brien: Tropical Salvage integrates business with social and environmental activism because we understand the business community must join the lead in seeking solutions to unprecedented challenges to our world's social and environmental integrity. In Indonesia, we create good, steady, eco-positive jobs and implement conservation, forest restoration and environmental education programs. In the United States, Canada and Europe, we advocate and strive to embody best responsible practices in the marketplace.
Jepara Forest Conservancy site. Photo by Edward Wolf
Tropical Salvage has provided the seed capital for and significantly helped to shape and implement the Jepara Forest Conservancy, an Indonesian non-profit "yayasan" formed by a group of citizens from Jepara and Kudus concerned about environmental degradation and sustainable economic development on the Mount Muria peninsula, located in north central Java, Indonesia. Guiding the Jepara Forest Conservancy's vision are principles that forestry-based climate change mitigation projects must be fully integrated with climate change adaptation strategies and that environmental protection is best achieved by working together with site communities to combine environmental objectives with generating sustainable livelihoods and cultural resilience. We will address climate change issues in ways that build just and equitable partnerships between communities in the developed and developing worlds. We identify challenges to equity arising from two conditions: 1) From effects of climate change on poor communities who are not cause contributors and lack resources to respond to them; and 2) From the developed world's reluctance to adopt a "reduce first, offset last" carbon emissions policy which can lead to forestry-based carbon offset business models focused on offsetting developed world excesses to the distress of developing world ecosystems and cultures. Working through a broad stakeholder partnership based on international trade innovations, we aim to establish a very visible model program to demonstrate these principles can and should be integrated. Project Description
JFC will shape land-use on the site to answer challenges caused by deforestation and climate change. The project will integrate a climate change mitigation facility with environmental restoration strategies that are climate change adaptive and build local food security, cultural resilience and sustainable economic opportunities [2]. Our proposed project is planned in two stages: Stage 1: Demonstrating a concrete quick win The first stage is intended to demonstrate the capacity of our partnership to effectively address community needs through restoration of ecosystem services and development of sustainable livelihood strategies. Although we will not develop a carbon offset facility in this first stage, we plan to demonstrate the efficacy of our methods for our application for certification to the Climate Communities and Biodiversity standards in stage 2.
Jepara Forest Conservancy site. Photo by Edward Wolf
Through the community-based GIS mapping conducted by Starling Resources we have identified a 34 ha site in the village of Kunir for this first stage). The site was chosen for its relatively easy access, degraded forest conditions and its highly forest-dependent community. Currently nearly all of the households in Kunir base their livelihoods on the use of the degraded protected forest (hutan lindung) above their village for subsistence agriculture. The forest degradation is a result of illegal logging activities that occurred between 1999 and 2004. Results of interviews and meetings with community members have clarified community perceptions of the importance of ecosystem goods and services provided by the protected forest. The community members have identified several high-priority concerns for direct negative impacts to their health and livelihoods caused by degradations of these services. These impacts include damage to homes from high winds, landslide risk, soil degradation and erosion, and disappearance of natural sources of clean water The reforestation initiative will practice principles of a "tumpangsari" (forest garden) which combines planting productive perennial species - to stimulate economic opportunity and establish a reliable local food source - with planting a broad mixture of native botanical species, many of which yield non-timber forest products that have traditional local uses, to intentionally revive and multiply the area's ancestral biological diversity. Additional project aims are to protect the area's threatened natural sources of clean water, re-establish forest root-systems to abate soil erosion and reduce episodes of landslides, re-establish a forest canopy to buffer against strong winds, and expand forestland surrounding the site's core of primary natural forest, which contributes importantly to sustaining a population of endangered Javan ebony langurs, among other species. JFC's agreement with Perum Perhutani commits to a schedule to plant 60% native species and 40% agro-forestry species—such as coffee, cacao and cashew—and to practice organic cultivation.
Tropical Salvage warehouse. Photo by Edward Wolf
JFC will create economic opportunities for communities located near the project site by tailoring business strategies to increase product values. Specifically, product value enhancements will include: (1) converting entirely to organic cultivation; (2) creating facilities to refine and package (to add value to) products in order to sell them directly to markets where end products are assigned significantly higher value; (3) enabling JFC's product set to become part of a strong and growing market presence already established by Tropical Salvage, and thereby benefit from support and loyalty of Tropical Salvage's existing wholesale and retail customer base; (4) asserting a strong and broad brand presence that emphasizes the products' enablement of a unique set of environmental and social benefits – good, steady, eco-positive jobs, cultural resilience, environmental education, and reforestation initiatives that protect watersheds and value native biodiversity. (Protection of the Javan ebony langur, or "lutung," will importantly assist in shaping JFC's brand.) Through their advantageous market qualifications, we expect products deriving from JFC's organic forest garden to generate revenues that will create sustainable jobs in scalable numbers.
A Carbon Offset Credit Producer
Stage 2: Ramping up In stage two we will expand the scope of the project to include the additional 226 ha of land specified in our MU with PP. During this stage of the project we will establish a carbon offset facility. We plan to produce offset credits certified through the Carbon, Communities and Biodiversity system. Among the available certification systems, we see the CCB as most alligned with our goals and principles, although we will exceed their standards to answer equity concerns. As our project is a partnership between Indonesia and North American-based partners, we will market the credits in the US and Canadien voluntary market. In its role as a carbon offset facility, JFC has two main goals. First, we see sales of carbon offset credits playing an important role in establishing a sustainable funding stream to realize the project's reforestation, conservation and community empowerment objectives. Our reforestation plan is not designed to optimize the carbon sequestration potential of the site, but rather, to find an equitable balance between carbon sequestration capacity and site community needs.
Seedlings for reforestation of Jepara Forest. Photo by Edward Wolf
Our second goal is to serve as a model and a learning opportunity for best practices in the developing carbon trading markets, both voluntary and regulated. We are well-positioned to optimize carbon neutrality as an integral part of our branding strategy. Two of the partners, the Institute for Culture and Ecology and Tropical Salvage are based in Portland, Oregon. In recent years, Portland has established itself as a national leader in the USA for sustainability initiatives and in particular for innovation in the development of carbon trading mechanisms and, more broadly, ecosystem services marketplaces. Through efforts such as the Oregon-led Western Governors Climate Initiative, and the Willamette Valley Ecosystem Services Marketplace, Oregon bas become the place other US states and federal players look to for guidance in developing legitimate structures and governance practices. By engaging these initiatives, our project can significantly raise awareness about the crucial role of equity and justice as it pertains to carbon trading. The Institute for Culture and Ecology will take the lead in marketing credits generated by the project, using existing relationships with businesses committed to first reducing emissions before considering the purchase of offset credits. As one example, a coalition of more than 40 wineries in the Willamette Valley has committed to attaining carbon neutrality. Working through the Natural Step methodology they are making major strides in reducing emissions associated with their operations. However, due to systemic issues such as transportation, reduction to climate neutrality is not possible through emission reduction alone. They plan to bridge this gap through the purchase of offset credits. IFCAE has initiated discussions with this group and motivated their interest in eventually purchasing CCB-certified credits through our project. Many other examples could be cited. By establishing partnerships between our carbon offset facility and such businesses, we plan to establish a model of best-practices in the integration of climate change mitigation with mandates of equity and justice. As stated in a recent paper of Verchot, Van Noordwijk et al [3], "Agroforestry offers the potential to develop synergies between efforts to mitigate climate change and efforts to help vulnerable populations adapt to the negative consequences of climate change. The research agenda in this area is fairly well defined. Yet, much is already known and putting these ideas into practice on the ground with small-scale farmers will allow us to learn important lessons through practical experience." Our project promises to offer just such an on-the-ground effort. In addition, due to our involvement with partners in Portland, our project has the potential to be a high-visibility model of best-practices and ethical standards in the developing carbon offset market. Applying best practices international trade to build a strong and sustainable social and economic bridge between rural Indonesia and metropolitan America, Canada and Europe, we will facilitate cross-cultural understanding and respect. We are aware of the need for long-term accountability to the community in these market-based approaches and we will ensure that control of all agreements will lie entirely with the site communities. In "Equity and justice in climate change adaptation amongst natural-resource-dependent societies" [4], Thomas and Twyman find that developing "economic space and capacity for diversification beyond and within natural-resource use" is crucial to addressing the adaptation needs of vulnerable communities, as is enhancing the "policy space that allows local level innovations and responses to evolve". Through our public-private partnership approach and collaboration with Perum Perhutani, we aim to achieve exactly these results.
Mongabay: What are the future goals for the Jepara Forest Conservancy?
Tropical Salvage wood products.
Tom O'Brien: In the same way Tropical Salvage has evolved as a kind of sustainable wood-use lab, the first JFC forest restoration site is intended, to some extent, to serve as a sustainable land-use lab. Assisted by sustainable-business entrepreneurs, NGOs and academia, we will refine our understanding of organic agro-forestry techniques applied in forest gardens, we will explore potentials for developing products (agro-forestry, eco-tourism, carbon off-set credits) deriving from the site and seek efficient market entries for them, and we will collect data to track and understand both the area's biodiversity and the forest's rate of carbon sequestration. Successes we might realize we aim to replicate in other forest restoration opportunities located in Indonesian mountain watersheds.
Mongabay: How can people here in the U.S. support your efforts? Where are your products sold? Tom O'Brien: Buy Tropical Salvage products. Donate money to the Jepara Forest Conservancy through The Institute for Culture and Ecology or Global Giving. (IFCAE receives 10% of such donations for their considerable administrative tasks.) Buy JFC products when they come to market. Tropical Salvage product vendors are listed on Tropical Salvage's website. Many of these vendors will also sell JFC products.
Tropical Salvage
Jepara Forest Conservancy
Global Giving - Jepara Forest Conservancy
References
1. Naylor, R.L., et al., Assessing risks of climate variability and climate change for Indonesian rice agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007. 104(19): p. 7752.
2. Although we have not conducted a census to determine average household income, anecdotal evidence from our participatory mapping—community-based GIS mapping of the site was conducted by Starling Resources (starlingresources.com) in March - May, 2008—finds that household income is very low and is vulnerable to further degradation of the local environment. Thus, building economic resilience in the community is a high priority.
3. Verchot, L., et al., Climate change: linking adaptation and mitigation through agroforestry. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2007. 12(5): p. 901-918.
4. Thomas, D.S.G. and C. Twyman, Equity and justice in climate change adaptation amongst natural-resource-dependent societies. Global Environmental Change, 2005. 15(2): p. 115-124.
Elaf Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic Investment bank announced the appointment of Mr. Helmi Haruna Rashid as the General Manager for Treasury and Capita
Elaf Bank appoints a General Manager for Treasury and Capital Markets
Posted on
Thursday, 4 December 2008, Industry Sector Banking, Country Bahrain, Client(s) Elaf Bank
Elaf Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic Investment bank announced the appointment of Mr. Helmi Haruna Rashid as the General Manager for Treasury and Capital Markets (“TCM”).
Aside from heading the Bank’s treasury operations, Mr. Haruna Rashid will also manage and lead the TCM team in order to grow the Bank’s investment portfolio as well as developing new Islamic investment and hedging tools.Mr. Haruna Rashid began his career in 1994 at the Central Bank of Malaysia, in the reserve management department. At the Central Bank, he was involved in foreign exchange, fund management and multi-currency portfolio managements. Mr Haruna Rashid later joined CIMB Bank Kuala Lumpur in 2001 as a non-ringgit trader before moving to Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia in 2002 as part of the Asian Fixed Income regional team.In 2005, Mr. Haruna Rashid moved to Bank Muamalat Malaysia as a Senior Vice President and the Head of Treasury & Capital Markets. Bank Muamalat is the second largest full-fledged Islamic bank in Malaysia. At Bank Muamalat, he was involved in the country’s first Islamic Profit Rate Swap and the inaugural Islamic Cross Currency Swap transactions. Mr. Haruna Rashid holds B.A. in Economics from The University of Manchester, U.K.“Elaf Bank is proving once more that it is an avant-garde financial institution when it comes to the selection of its human assets. An international mix amongst Elaf Bank’s personnel fosters better interaction and helps with the development of innovative products in the Islamic Finance industry,” said Dr. Jamil Jaroudi, the Chief Executive Officer of Elaf Bank.“Malaysia and Bahrain were the first two Islamic markets for sukuks. This appointment reiterates Elaf Bank’s mission statement of helping develop the Islamic secondary capital market and project itself as a market maker,” added Dr. Jaroudi.“Like the Middle East, the Southeast Asia, Malaysia in particular, is an active and growing market for Islamic banking and financial products. However, the level of flows between the two regional markets is still small when compared to the size of the two markets. Joining Elaf Bank gives me the chance to build a bridge between the Elaf Bank and the local Islamic banks in Malaysia. It will give me the opportunity to put to use my extensive experience in the Malaysian Islamic market and eventually introduce new concepts and ideas in the Kingdom,” said Mr. Haruna Rashid.
Notes and contacts
About Elaf BankElaf Bank (Formerly known as the Sokouk Exchange Centre Bank - Tadawul) is a Bahrain-based, Islamic, wholesale bank regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and operating with an investment banking license (“Elaf” or the “Bank”). Elaf was established in June 2007 with a paid-in capital of USD200 million and an authorized capital of USD500 million.Elaf offers a range of investment banking services to corporate clients, institutional investors, and high net worth individuals encompassing advisory services focused on the debt & equity capital markets, as well as asset management services. The Bank’s primary focus is to originate, structure, and offer financial products that will strengthen the current state of the primary and secondary market for Sukuk.Elaf’s shareholders base include AREF Investment Group, the International Leasing & Investment Company (ILIC), Kuwait Investment Company (KIC - owned largely by the Kuwait Investment Authority, the investment arm of the Kuwaiti government), Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Soukuk Holdings, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group.
Posted on
Thursday, 4 December 2008, Industry Sector Banking, Country Bahrain, Client(s) Elaf Bank
Elaf Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic Investment bank announced the appointment of Mr. Helmi Haruna Rashid as the General Manager for Treasury and Capital Markets (“TCM”).
Aside from heading the Bank’s treasury operations, Mr. Haruna Rashid will also manage and lead the TCM team in order to grow the Bank’s investment portfolio as well as developing new Islamic investment and hedging tools.Mr. Haruna Rashid began his career in 1994 at the Central Bank of Malaysia, in the reserve management department. At the Central Bank, he was involved in foreign exchange, fund management and multi-currency portfolio managements. Mr Haruna Rashid later joined CIMB Bank Kuala Lumpur in 2001 as a non-ringgit trader before moving to Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia in 2002 as part of the Asian Fixed Income regional team.In 2005, Mr. Haruna Rashid moved to Bank Muamalat Malaysia as a Senior Vice President and the Head of Treasury & Capital Markets. Bank Muamalat is the second largest full-fledged Islamic bank in Malaysia. At Bank Muamalat, he was involved in the country’s first Islamic Profit Rate Swap and the inaugural Islamic Cross Currency Swap transactions. Mr. Haruna Rashid holds B.A. in Economics from The University of Manchester, U.K.“Elaf Bank is proving once more that it is an avant-garde financial institution when it comes to the selection of its human assets. An international mix amongst Elaf Bank’s personnel fosters better interaction and helps with the development of innovative products in the Islamic Finance industry,” said Dr. Jamil Jaroudi, the Chief Executive Officer of Elaf Bank.“Malaysia and Bahrain were the first two Islamic markets for sukuks. This appointment reiterates Elaf Bank’s mission statement of helping develop the Islamic secondary capital market and project itself as a market maker,” added Dr. Jaroudi.“Like the Middle East, the Southeast Asia, Malaysia in particular, is an active and growing market for Islamic banking and financial products. However, the level of flows between the two regional markets is still small when compared to the size of the two markets. Joining Elaf Bank gives me the chance to build a bridge between the Elaf Bank and the local Islamic banks in Malaysia. It will give me the opportunity to put to use my extensive experience in the Malaysian Islamic market and eventually introduce new concepts and ideas in the Kingdom,” said Mr. Haruna Rashid.
Notes and contacts
About Elaf BankElaf Bank (Formerly known as the Sokouk Exchange Centre Bank - Tadawul) is a Bahrain-based, Islamic, wholesale bank regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain and operating with an investment banking license (“Elaf” or the “Bank”). Elaf was established in June 2007 with a paid-in capital of USD200 million and an authorized capital of USD500 million.Elaf offers a range of investment banking services to corporate clients, institutional investors, and high net worth individuals encompassing advisory services focused on the debt & equity capital markets, as well as asset management services. The Bank’s primary focus is to originate, structure, and offer financial products that will strengthen the current state of the primary and secondary market for Sukuk.Elaf’s shareholders base include AREF Investment Group, the International Leasing & Investment Company (ILIC), Kuwait Investment Company (KIC - owned largely by the Kuwait Investment Authority, the investment arm of the Kuwaiti government), Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Soukuk Holdings, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group.
One of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals is to expand access to education and ensure quality education delivery
We need to seek strategies for improving education — NERDC boss
Written by Olubusuyi Adenipekun
Thursday, 04 December 2008
One of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals is to expand access to education and ensure quality education delivery. Major operators of the nation’s education system are therefore expected to come up with innovations towards meeting this target.
Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof Godswill Obioma
The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Education, is one of these key players which has been at the forefront of improving education in the country.
A fortnight ago, it organised and sponsored a two-day national conference on educational reforms for sustainable development in Abuja where it brought together big wigs in the education and non-education sectors essentially for seeking strategies for achieving quality education delivery.
The Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof Godswill Obioma, in this exclusive interview, speaks extensively on the fundamental principle behind the conference and the value which it has added to the education sector.
Excerpts:
Why this national conference in the first place?
The essential thing is that we like to improve education quality. That is the most important thing and you will recall that in the last couple of years we have had Millennium Development Goals and one of the goals in that MDGs is to expand access to quality education.
Specifically, that we must seek ways to expand access and provide quality education. So, one way to do that is to seek strategies to improve education and that is essentially what we are trying to resolve in terms of what to teach, in terms of who to teach and in terms of products, finding innovations in education delivery.
That is the fundamental principle for having this national conference.
The theme of the conference is Educational Reforms for Sustainable Development. What informed the choice of this theme?
We need education for development. Education is an instrument par excellence for social and economic reconstruction. Education drives development. Developed economies depend on education to build human capital especially now that we talk about knowledge management and innovation.
We will need to develop human resource to build up knowledge and to manage knowledge. And so, economies that have evolved - Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Asian Tigers and also the first world economies like Britain and so on - all depend on human capital. And what brings about human capital is education.
So, we need to create the strategy for ensuring development that will also be sustainable. We need to take a second look at our educational system and ask what has gone wrong. What do we do to improve it? How do we move forward? And so, we need education for development and hope that development will be sustainable. That is what informed the choice of the theme.
And what is the essence of the conference concept paper which you presented?
Usually in a conference of this nature, there is the need to keep invited scholars, lead paper presenters and resource persons focussed. And if you don’t articulate the concept properly, there is the tendency to veer off the focus. So, the essence of the concept paper is to keep the conference in focus of the main theme, of the sub-themes such that the discussions would meet the target of the conference.
While presenting the concept paper, the first thing I said was that reform in a global context has strung borders as the world has become smaller, the space has disappeared and communication has improved. Information Technology has improved and knowledge management has also improved. So, these have made it possible for different countries to evolve strategies to meet knowledge management.
And in Nigeria, what has happened in the last four years is that we have adopted a development strategy which is the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS). In NEEDS, the role of education is very paramount.
It is to be used to eradicate poverty, to create wealth and of course to use education to empower the people, to change their values more positively. So, we have to link education and situate it properly for the achievement of NEEDS target.
We could see NEEDS, SEEDS, LEEDS and NEEDS 11 and these dovetail into the 7-point agenda of Mr. President. The 7-point agenda also talks about human capital development and it relies on education to achieve that.
You could see education in the whole aspect of the new thinking of government, especially as the vision is to put Nigeria among the 20 biggest players in the world economies by the year 2020. You can see education, NEEDS, SEEDS, NEEDS 1 & 11 and 7-point agenda all coming into play in a flux.
So, that is why I made references to all of that in my presentation.
One of the sub-themes of the conference is “Educational Reforms for What, Who and Why? “Can you expatiate on this?
In the process of effecting a change, you need to know exactly what you want to do. You need to ask basic questions. For instance, why am I doing what I’m doing? What has gone wrong with what I’ve done before?
This is called strategic thinking. If we want to bring about change or reform in any system, we should ask ourselves why we want to carry out the reform. We need to justify it especially in the context of the country. Hence the question, why are we doing the educational reforms conference, for what and for who?
The existence of a functional curriculum is very crucial to any educational reform programme. But most of the textbooks for the new 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum are yet to be published. How do you intend to address this challenge?
The implementation of the curriculum was to start in September last year. It didn’t start because the approval process was not completed and again we thought that the textbooks, at least for Primary 1 and JSS1, would be ready. And the NERDC was given the mandate to review those books. So, it was decided at the National Council on Education that implementation would begin from this year. And that gave us the window to begin to review the books. I will say we have made a lot of progress. The textbooks review started six months ago with major publishing companies. But I can assure you that primary 1 books in the core areas from some of these publishers are out now.
But, to what extent have the publishers implemented the agreement that NERDC signed with them early this year at Ibadan on prompt publication of basic education textbooks?
We signed an agreement and we agreed that because the implementation of the curriculum will start from Primary one and JSS 1, we should strive within the last quarter of the year to ensure that these books are out; and I’m sure that some of the books are out already. They have made a lot of progress.
Apart from textbooks, equipment need to be purchased for schools before the basic education curriculum can be successfully implemented. To what extent has government gone in providing the needed equipment?
Even though this area is beyond my mandate, I know that the Universal Basic Education Commission is to intervene in the provision of instructional materials which include the kind of thing you are talking about. And I know also that government provided funds to do that. One of the clearest indicators that that is being done is that the curriculum we developed was printed from intervention funds and distributed nationwide to all public schools.
I recall also that states are expected, based on their needs, to bring up what they desire to be able to access those funds. So, government at federal level, through UBEC, is to assist the states and the states are expected to provide facilities and materials and so on, to facilitate the successful implementation of the curriculum. I believe that is being done.
Does the 9-year Basic Education Curriculum cater for non-formal education?
The translation of the basic education curriculum for the use of adult learners is being done by the Mass Literacy Commission both at the federal and state levels. We have given them copies of the curriculum for the 9-year basic education programme and the essence is for them to translate it for the teaching of adult learners.
How do we ensure an adequate funding of education in Nigeria?
Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office tackled this issue in his presentation at the conference titled: “Options for Sustainable Funding of Education In Nigeria”.
He gave us alternative ways of funding, both in terms of structure, in terms of drive, in terms of source and he promoted the idea of the participation of the private and public sectors in funding education.
How would you assess the just concluded national education conference?
First of all, I think people were excited. There were over 500 people at the hall on day one of the conference. And there were over 300 people who came for dinner on day two of the conference. These are professionals drawn from education sector and non-education sectors. So, I would say the conference was successful based on the extent of those who attended it.
Again, if you look at success from the benchmark of quality of papers, we have the likes of Professor Pai Obanya, an international education consultant, Professor Ivowi, former Executive Secretary of NERDC, we had the likes of Professor Mkpa A. Mkpa, the Vice Chancellor of Abia State University, we had Professor Nur Alkali, a former Vice Chancellor, we had Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, the D-G, Debt Management Office, we had Professor Grace Alele-Williams, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin, who all showed enormous interest in the conference.
Then, we had scholars, both from Universities, Colleges of Education, NGOs, Civil Society who came to make presentations and everybody was happy. And if you also look at the outcome in terms of the communique released, you will realise that the conference was a huge success. The communique made critical suggestions on how to improve education quality.
How would you get all the recommendations of the communique across to government for implementation?
I’m going to make a report to the Honourable Minister of Education.
We are essentially a parastatal that reports to the Minister, and as a parastatal, one of our mandates is to encourage conferences, encourage promotion of research and encourage discussions at this level.
So we will forward the report of this conference to the Minister of Education and I believe that the Minister will use it very productively in improving quality. That is the way to get across to government.
Economic Slowdown Time To Revisit Fundamentals, Say HRM Analysts
Economic Slowdown Time To Revisit Fundamentals, Say HRM Analysts
By Izham Shuhaimi Ahmad
By Izham Shuhaimi Ahmad
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 (Bernama) -- Despite the economic slowdown plaguing the Asian-Pacific region, most companies intend to retain talented and skilled workers in the next three years, say Human Resource Management analysts say.Though the analysts see Asia-Pacific will remain the growth engine for the world economy, the key to weather the slowdown is to strike a balance between human resource priorities for short-term imperatives against long-term opportunities.A recent survey on the "Impact on Human Capital Strategy" in the region by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global consulting firm on people and financial issues, contain some recommendations for human resource professionals to consider to avoid redundancy and irrelevancy among employees and companies in an uncertain economic environment.In a media briefing today, Vivek Nath, Watson Wyatt Country Manager Malaysia, said the survey findings are for companies to assess the impact of the current economic and business environment on the people and workers' perception and to execute appropriate strategies and tactics to "weather the storm."In quoting the data, sourced from the Economic Intelligence Unit, as of November 2008, Vivek said the GDP growth of the Asia-Pacific countries, excluding Japan, registered 8.3 per cent in 2007, is projected to be at 6.5 per cent in 2008 and is forecast to be at five per cent in 2009.Japan's GDP growth in 2007 was 2.1 per cent and is envisaged at 0.4 per cent and forecast to be at 0.0 per cent in 2009, while China will be 11.9 per cent (2007), 9.6 per cent (2008) and 8.0 per cent (2009)."This shows Asia-Pacific (minus Japan) remains the growth engine for the world economy," he said.With most companies in the Asia-Pacific (except Japan), having a growth agenda, reflects the region's economic dynamism, he said, adding that employers are expected to retain their workforce over the next three years."Nevertheless, companies will have to balance on cost control, maintain employees' strength and prepare for future staffing challenges," he said.Vivek said one of the challenges is to balance between attracting and retaining talented and critical skilled staff against the rising cost of managing human capital."What Watson Wyatt would recommend among strategies to address this issue of retaining workers is to revisit the fundamentals of human resource practices," he said.These include subscribing to a total reward philosophy, rewarding meritorious performance and to redefine "Employee Value Proposition", a workers' perspective to find meaning to stay and work for a company.Meanwhile, Ho Chee Seng, Asean Practice Leader of Benefits Consulting Practice for Watson Wyatt Malaysia, told reporters at the briefing that one of the tactical solutions to stay ahead under current circumstances is for CEOs to regularly and honestly communicate with employees by updating about business prospects."Flexibility is important in the sense that top management should also review incentive and bonus plans and re-allocate right people in the right place," he said.In this context, Ho said companies are recommended to introduce special recognition programmes for employees who made a difference in generating revenue.From the survey findings on the "Impact of Economic Crisis in Asia-Pacific and Malaysia", both the analyst and consultant agreed that all companies would have to respond and deal with the present concerns in every employees' mind - Will I have a job tomorrow? Will the company survive tomorrow?"-- BERNAMA
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is focused on reforms as part and parcel of his exit plan.
Man on a missionPrime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is focused on reforms as part and parcel of his exit plan.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is focused on reforms as part and parcel of his exit plan. He speaks to R. NADESWARAN and TERENCE FERNANDEZ on the changes he aspires to achieve before he leaves in March, as well as the obstacles in his path, and hopes Malaysians can set their differences aside and think about what’s best for the nation.
theSun: Datuk Seri, you have certain unfinished business which you are trying to settle before you leave office in March. Please tell us what your priorities are.
Abdullah: I’ll come straight to the point. I want to focus on key reforms. I admit that these are reforms which I should have done a long time ago; but what to do? That’s a long story … anyway, here’s what I want to deal with – corruption, judicial appointments commission and the special complaints commission (on enforcement agencies). These are the three important areas which I want to focus on because if we don’t address them, this nation will be in trouble.
Let’s start with corruption.
This has to do with integrity. One of the programmes I had initiated was the National Integrity Institute. This is one initiative, where you try to imbue quality and the credibility in the individual civil servant.
But how does this translate into having a civil service with integrity?
There are two ways to fight corruption – curative and preventive. If you just concentrate on curative, every time you get rid of one person, another fellow will come in. There will be no end. So you must concentrate on preventive. Preventive must go on as then it will deal with the curative aspect. You talk about corruption, it is corrosive, and it will affect our competitiveness, affect people’s belief in us and also affect people’s support for us.
If they don’t support us because they believe we have no integrity, and corruption is rife, semua habis!
But corruption is so widespread. How are you going to tackle something that has been festering for years in the three-four months that you have left?
It is not easy, I know. Some would say almost impossible. Corruption is not confined to the government service, even the private sector … everyone is tainted with some kind of perception of being involved in corruption.
But I assure you that as soon as the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) Bill is tabled in Parliament, (the first reading is on Dec 10) I will see Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed (ACA deputy director-general) or Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan (ACA director-general) (who have been tasked with drafting the Bill). They are good men! Very honest. Both of them have promised that they will deliver and they have delivered.
Of course, Parliament is where it will be reviewed and discussed, so I hope everyone will look beyond partisan lines and vote for what is best for the rakyat.
We don’t think you should worry about this. How would Lim Kit Siang, Hadi Awang and Anwar Ibrahim explain to their constituents that they had failed or refused to support something that is good for the rakyat?
This is why I want all of us – from both sides of the divide – to think about what’s in the best interest of the people. Just because you are Opposition you vote against the Bill, this is not the way. But I am confident that everyone, my Barisan Nasional friends and my Opposition friends included, will support it. This is going to change how the ACA works. Mind you, you will see a different kind of ACA. One with clout and one that responds and is answerable to the rakyat.
Anyone who opposes the Bill would have something to hide – especially, if those opposed are from the ruling coalition.
Well, I suppose that would be the public perception.
What about the judicial reforms?
Judicial appointments are equally important. People must believe that the judiciary is a judiciary of integrity. If people have confidence in the judiciary then we won’t have to worry as we have someone who will look after our rights, someone who will defend us, someone we can appeal to.
And in my plan I want to establish a panel that will be responsible for the appointment of judges. That’s why these three are important as they are interlinked – judiciary, ACA and complaints commission These pillars are very, very important.
There was opposition to the composition of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC). How did you manage to meet halfway with critics; and what guarantees are there that the JAC will perform the functions they are set out to do independently?
Firstly, I would not call it ‘opposition’, but differing opinions. This entity is very important to many stakeholders and as such, all groups have their opinions on what would be the best composition for the Commission. My task is to come to a workable compromise, after much listening and discussion with all major groups.
All groups come with certain assumptions about what will work, based on their research as well as their biases. This is normal – all groups have certain pre-conceptions but we all meet halfway when we discuss and see that the Commission will meet its core function, which is to propose the best names for judicial appointments based on clear criteria.
The JAC’s independence will be seen from the conduct of its members. In terms of procedure, there will be no interference from the Executive in the nominations of the judicial candidates. The members of the Commission will meet among themselves and decide on names based on secret ballot voting. In fact, we need to safeguard against interference or inappropriate pressure from all parties, not just the Executive. But I think this will be limited because there is a clear merit-based criteria as well as the character of the members of the Commission.
But how does one explain the choice of Tan Sri Zaki Azmi as chief justice? You have a former Umno legal adviser who leaped-frogged to the highest judicial position in the country.
Yes, but he was Umno legal adviser long before he was appointed (to the Bench). Anyone can engage him as a lawyer, but I know him as a man of integrity. He doesn’t mess up his work and has done a good job, so if he is assigned to another job, I know he will do it right.
He has already said that he won’t have anything to do with Umno. And he is ordering a lot of changes. He is a good man who provides leadership.
Was he your only choice?
Of course, I had a few people in my mind. I won’t discuss this of course, but he was the best candidate. The critics will make noise if he rules against them. But if he rules in their favour, he is a good judge, right? But anyway, the
judicial appointments committee will go through the names and see who will be on the Bench, and as long as we have good people on the panel, we will have good people on the Bench.
Datuk Seri when you speak of the reforms to these three pillars of justice, you must also address the public’s perception of the Attorney General (A-G)’s Chambers. As it stands, the A-G’s Chambers is viewed as the government’s legal adviser, so when it comes to cases that involve politicians and government personalities, there is the perception that the A-G is biased.
These concerns will be addressed through the reforms to the judiciary and the ACA that will take place.
Sir, if the system does not provide fair prosecution, your whole plan will fail. One good example: When Raja Petra Kamaruddin was released, the A-G’s Chambers appealed, but when Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted, the A-G decided not to appeal. It is about public perception.
We will see what form of mechanisms to use. We haven’t lost touch with that. As in the anti-corruption initiatives, the senior public prosecutor can decide on the charges.
There was resistance to the setting up of a complaints commission on the police before. Why would those opposed to any sort of reform to enforcement agencies, especially the police be any different now?
I don’t think that anyone is opposed to ‘reform’. But different groups want to be heard, to give their input into the design of the reform. That is why the situation now is very different. The police have been more involved, as well as other enforcement groups. There are many things to be worked out but the important guiding philosophy for me is that the Bill must be workable – it must be acceptable to both the police, the ex-Royal Commissioners as well as other civil society groups. As in all things, this means coming to a workable compromise. It is a difficult process, but it is worthwhile.
When you started off five years ago, we were all supportive of you. What went wrong along the way? Was there opposition to your reforms and plans?
Reforms are not easy. I have tried so, so very hard and it is not easy. I know. I tried with the IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and MisconductCommission) , see how difficult it was? You can’t just rush in and bulldoze through and have a "I don’t care a damn" attitude.
So there were elements out to sabotage your efforts.
I wouldn’t call it that but it was not easy to get people on the same page.
But you had 90% of the mandate – not just from Umno, but from the rakyat! People who would normally vote Opposition voted for Barisan Nasional. You could have capitalised on this overwhelming support.
Yes, my dear friend, but my survival is in Umno! If Umno doesn’t want me what can the 90% do? That is the system, unfortunately. This is not like (electing) the president of the United States who is appointed directly by the people (laughs).
Maybe you need to reform Umno first before you reform the agencies.
Ah well …
Pemudah was one of your master strokes. (Chief Secretary to the Government) Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan is doing a great job, but do you think it’s a bit too late?
Well, I won’t deny it, but we could have started earlier. It is doing well. But you must remember my manifesto in 2004 was not a manifesto to be implemented in four years. That manifesto is for the second half of the period towards 2020. That’s the national mission! National mission is not for a four-year period. Without national mission you cannot achieve much.
And what is this national mission?
In talking about national mission, it must be based on the premise of developing our human capital. I’m not talking about human resource, but quality human capital. We have to make sure they are dedicated, physically resilient, have moral integrity … these qualities we must have. If we don’t have quality human capital, forget about national mission! You can have quality machines that can do all the work but ... machine is there (and) you don’t want to use it or don’t know how to use it, (are) lazy, can’t be bothered! Thirty functions, but you only use three, mana boleh pakai?
Creativity and innovation is the way. Machines just do the work for you. If you are stupid, the machine will not be able to do the work also.
Human capital development is about education and developing a first class mentality, a value added mentality. The clerks work differently today than the clerks of yesteryears. There is a revolution in the development of human capital now. Management gurus are everywhere! This is how we can go forward, by adding quality and value. It is going to be difficult, but we can do it.
It sounds all good, but we need a tangible beginning. Where do we start?
Close the disparity gap. We should not talk about ethnic gap, we must talk about economic gap … When I introduced the corridors of development, they were for equal distribution of …
Wealth?
Opportunity! Not wealth! Opportunities … this is what developing the human capital is all about – providing equal opportunities to create wealth. Good quality schools in the villages that can produce brilliant students, but if you get lousy schools, teachers not trained … where in the urban areas, you have good schools, but in the rural areas, lousy schools. This is injustice, that’s why the equal distribution of opportunity is important. We are talking about the economic gap not the ethnic gap. This is the whole idea of the economic corridors.
You talk about human capital development, but are all parties within the BN on the same page on this? It seems that politicians prefer popular figures than those who can actually do the work. Look at the MIC, there are so many intellects out there who are willing to contribute to the upliftment of the Indian community. However, they complain that they can only do so through the MIC.
The system can prevent; the system can promote. It depends on the people and the leadership. But yes, I agree that you must have people who can work. It is not a popularity contest. There used to be accusations that the leadership is anti-intellect. But now, in the cabinet there are many I think who are qualified to do the job.
The component parties in the BN after the last elections are being increasingly aware of the importance that the party has to rebuild its credibility and its capability to serve.
You visited the Immigration Department soon after taking office. Your initiatives brought a lot of support and we saw some changes in the administration of the department. But then your officers and even some ministers were not on the same page. One said set up task force; others said set up committees, while some did not move at all! What went wrong where?
I know! I know! Different people have a different view of how their departments should be running. Some people tackle issues differently. While I may want to see immediate results others may want to take their time in doing things.
But should they not be given goals and deadlines?
This is how I do it: I tell them these are the objectives given to you, the period given to achieve. How you do it is up to you but I want it. I want this! And that you have to deliver to me. Maybe to some it is not an appropriate style, it has its weaknesses as some people need to be taught, to be guided. I have a tendency where I put down the objectives; I give you the budget to do it; so I want it done.
One thing we seldom see is that even with change in ministers, it is the same civil servant who implements things. But if civil servants become subservient to the administration, to the ministers, then there is a tendency of putting paid to your plans.
The setting up of Pemudah is based on the fact that if you want everyone to do their jobs correctly, you have to spell it out in detail. General rules result in so many interpretations and this leads to delays. Pemudah goes into details on what needs to be done and how it needs to be done.
Pemudah deals with the system. You must get the systems right, regulations right, instructions must be written out and understood clearly. We cannot leave everything to the imagination or everything to the initiative. We have to prescribe it. On the subject of motivation and self improvement, it is handled by other agencies like Intan and the National Integrity Institute to ensure the quality of civil servants and that this is the right man for the job in terms of attitude towards work. This is back to human capital again. How to add value to the person who is going to undertake all these tasks!
So it is up to the individual on how he views his job and if he has the backbone to stand up to superiors who work contrary to the national mission?
The whole institution is to the rakyat. Everyone works for the rakyat but the culture of the work is that you have to work as a team and you cannot be working for yourself or some individual. You must be loyal to the team, you try to dribble by yourself like in football, you will never go through.
Datuk Seri, we didn’t have the space to write for such a long time. People can now voice their opinions more vocally and publicly. Do you regret loosening the reins?
All this freedom of speech and all that ... I have given the space but it must commensurate with responsibility … a sense of balance and proportion is very, very important.
If you want to exercise your right to speak, yes, go ahead, but you must be mindful of your responsibilities. You claim the right to speak; you must also listen to others.
Every PM wants to be remembered for something. Is this your legacy? The reformation of Malaysia?
I don’t know if people are conscious about leaving a legacy or just doing the right thing while you have a chance to do so. This is what I am doing. If the people say what Pak Lah is doing is good, then good-lah! So when I decided on the development of the soft infrastructure – the heart, the human being – a long-time colleague of mine said: "Tell Pak Lah he chose something to do that people find it difficult to see.
"Ask him to do something that people can see. Human capital development nobody can see!"
But it is okay because I believe that 2020 cannot be achieved without a quality, dynamic human capital.
Some opine that in pursuing development during the Mahathir years, this nation had lost its soul and values, and Pak Lah is trying to regain our lost identity as a people with high moral and ethical values. Is that a correct assessment of the last five years?
If I have to do something I will. You do something when you are given a task, the value of what you do whether it is good or not, it is for the people to judge. If they like good, if not too bad.
But yes, it is very difficult to change some mindsets and I wish I had started on some of these (reforms) earlier. I hope everyone as human beings just remembers to do what is right, no matter how difficult it may seem.
Updated: 10:10AM Thu, 04 Dec 2008
Economic Recession in USA
Economic Recession in USA
I am concerned about Recession that happens globally. It happened to us (Malaysians) once in the year 1997. That year was bad. My friends, those who were under scholarship could not continue their study to overseas. Those who were under scholarships from International Giant Corporations like BP, Shell or Petronas would have the opportunity to fly. They were lucky. Those who were supported by Malaysian Government and were studying in UK had to come back. They were called back. Our currency was really bad compared to Pound Sterling which was Ringgit Malaysia 7.50 to one Pound Sterling. Motivation to study dropped down for us that were doing A-level course for a preparation to study overseas. We were demotivated. We said Goodbye to Aberdeen, Scotland. We said bye to Eiffel Tower too. Those were our targets during summers if we managed to be there. Our currency (Malaysian’s Ringgit) value dropped tremendously in terms of its value compared to dollars (USD). Our currency had less value due to the work of speculators that kept daunting our government. Preventive measurements were taken in order to stop it from being worse. One of it was pegging our currency. We did not want to be the next Indonesia.
It did not just happen to my country only as it affected the whole South East Asian regions. After ten years, the cycle starts again. Now, it happens here. It means it happens globally because we are using the same economic system. This fact is very interesting as we are in fact in the same ship. Every country is affected badly. My friend used to tell me that recession will continue to happen in every 10 years. It has deep impact upon me, as during the years, I can see major changes that happen to our socio economic and people are worried. In fact, this issue matters so much to me as we (my wife and I) don’t want to be called back due to Economic Recession that happens globally. I really hope we can finish our education here. Few months ago, I have been discussing this matter with my wife telling her that if worst comes to worst, maybe we just should apply to be research assistant here. This worry leads me to follow major economic changes that happen in USA and Malaysia too. I always get myself informed.
In 1997, when the first wave of recession happened, I was in the hospital at that moment where a doctor was cleaning up my hands from blood. I was involved with minor accident, but after receiving a paged, he looked worried and hurriedly left me. He directed a hospital attendant to continue his unfinished work. I asked the hospital attendant and got to know that a business man just slit his throat with a razor due to the excessive crash of BSKL. The doctor hurried to the ICU to save this man’s life.
I was clueless at that moment. Later on from the news, I realized suicide actions due to the recession were many. In Jakarta, protestors use this momentum to end the tyrannical era of Soeharto a year after that. Due to the chaos and instability, Americans were being evacuated within 24 hours from Indonesia especially Jakarta. Chronologically, more chaos and demonstration were held everywhere in this region. There were demonstrations against IMF solutions to interfere into the Indonesia economy. The injection must be taken in order to save the economy from the abrupt of bankruptcy. Indonesians mostly refused because it is a trend of silent colonialism. However, they did not have much choice. As for Indonesians and Malaysians, we believe once you take IMF injections, you will let International foreign banks to interfere into your policy. In fact, as a result of this, as one of the largest Muslim population in this world, Indonesians can not stop Playboy to be sold in the country. Their markets are open as wide as sky. Luckily for Malaysians, our currency reserve in off shore banks are strong enough, we had ability to peg our currency.
In Malaysia, Bailout was being declared by Mahathir Mohamad in order to save Malaysian Ringgit from becoming more worst in terms of its value. He used money from Danaharta which mainly gets its money from the export of petroleum. Here, the bailout comes from tax payer’s money. He did not have so many obstacles as he is already our prime minster at that moment but here,in United States when bailout is being introduced, two nominal were winning every American heart on how they are going to use it to save American Economy. Americans made decisions by participating in the 2008 elections. Every presidential candidate was given enough time to proof and convince Americans. I am amazed by how democracy is really implemented in terms of this. I just love the statements in Deb Riechmann’s article when he mentioned that two presidential candidates, John Mc Cain and Barack Obama, were made aware of the summit and they were supportive of the idea. This is another expectation to see how open we should be together even though we are from different camp. As for me, I dare not to comment about the actions taken by Mahathir Mohamed fearing that the same disaster might happen to me as what happen to Anwar Ibrahim. Plus, I am under Government’s scholarship. Malaysians are not so open when it comes to criticizing the policies or leaders. Internal Security Act will wait for those who go against the current.
“The New York Times, Wednesday, October 29, 2008: 2 Rivals Plans on Fiscal Issue Add to Deficits.”
I love reading and analyzing anything related to recent recessions that affect this country though I am not an economist. Firstly, it puts me into realization of how powerful it is, because the problem that starts from the Lehman Brothers, continued and spread to all over the world, and at the end, it becomes a global recession. This put me into another perspective that we are inter related to each other. We are using the same system. I can say, it is not just technologies that abide us together like a spider web, but indeed it is the same economic system that is being implemented all over the world. It is capitalist economic system. In addition to that, this system is being supported by the advancement of globalization forces. Not to forget exactly as what being mentioned by Bush that any international effort should preserve what he calls democratic capitalism- free markets, free enterprise and free trade. We have internet, we have powerful communications, and thus the ideas can be accepted vastly without having any problems.
Under the economic system that we use together, we can come into our own consensus to determine the level of modernization and economic growth of every country in this world and they are determined by GDP growths. Not just that, the solutions are expected to be various as key players are many. I predict, the solutions must be creative too as it involves many countries and nations. A report dated on October 23, 2008 by Deb Riechmann from Associated Press titled,” First summit on global crisis set for Nov. 15” mentioned about this whereby the summit is intentionally to bring together leaders of Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and etc to bring about and discuss different approaches about what needs to be fixed with the system.
Also, in terms of news coverage (USA and Malaysia) it is almost the same subject. Economic matters so much, that’s why it is the same. Further more, Malaysians as any other countries, look forward to know what happen here in order to prepare. As hip hop waves hit USA first, it hits Malaysia too. The matter is time. The trend will come here soon. We live in the era of globalization.
Technology is secondary when it comes to this. The important issue to discuss here is the economic system. It is tool to execute our philosophies of life, on how we exchange, produce and consume goods. Importantly to address is our decision on what system of economic that we choose and we use it to manage. The system now is having problem again after it attacked Asia in 1997. This time was not a second attack on America, in fact since 1945-2007; they are at least 10 recessions happened here. For economic giant like Japan or United States, it comes every 25 years. Due to this fact, there is a voice in Malaysia to replace this capitalist economic system. It seems this cycle will continue again after 7 or ten years from now as no real cure has been found so far. It leave to some interpretation from my country that it is not compatible anymore. Further more, the economy system that is being used is based on the philosophy of materialism that is totally alien to Muslim’s principles ways of life which is Sharia.
This recession can only be understood when we can accept the fact that interest from borrowers are used to mobilize the economy. Credits will be offered and lots of them can not pay the loan. It will create financial bubbles. Secondly, Federal Reserve will allow printing more money which then will lead to inflation. It leads to inflation as lots of money in the market will drop the money values itself. It is important to mention that Dollars that we have today is valueless because it is paper which is not backed by gold or silver. It is based on commodity and shares market. As I will explain below, the shares market is more based on speculations and it is considered gambling.
This again reflects greed on behalf of lenders. When I interviewed my American friend, he told me that when he was in 60 banks that will send credit cards so that you will use it to spend thriftily. In a way, it is very convenient as it is easy, but in reality if we look at it closely, we will realize how dangerous it can be as you will have to pay the interest that will keep accumulate. At the end of the day, if you can’t pay it, you will be bankrupt.
I am very careful when it comes to spending, even though my credit report is good. They give you extra credit so that you will spend and use the specialties but at the end, the interest rate is high. It is like luring you into a deep hole. This actually happen in Malaysia too as many sales representative will come and find government servant in order for them to accept and have a credit cards offer by their bank. Once they get your phone number, they will make a call in the name of advertisement. A lady once offered a date with her in order for me to take and use American Express. I kindly rejected her offer by saying, how much the company pays you in term of it so that you will hook me up with this debt. Harsh?
“Dow again takes a dive” by Ellen Simon. It says “Louder warnings of a deep recession and weak corporate earnings took the Dow Jones industrial average down 514 points amid fears that government intervention won’t be enough to prevent global economies from faltering” The idea of free market must be free from government intervention. It solely depends on itself, the capitalist and the customer relations. Government can not be interfered in it because, it is afraid that those in power will manipulate the opportunity to use the bail out helping the cronies or any conglomerates that have good ties with them. That happened in Malaysia. As the result, wealth will be on the hand of a few rather than to the mass. Due to seriousness of this problem, Congress has to intervene and as the result, the bailout from taxpayers money will be used to save Conglomerates.
When I read a book written by Naomi Klein, it becomes a fear when Leteliar said that the free market rules is a another wave of dictatorships, they were not creating a perfectly harmonious economy but turning the already wealthy into the superrich and the organized working class into the in disposable poor.
Issues from the readings that were most significant to you.
Some people manage to manipulate the fall index of Dow Jones by buying shares as the prices are very low. They expect it will rise again and then sell it back when the price goes high so that they will generate income. It is easy money for those who have capital to buy it. It depends on luck actually, it is like gambling. What about if the index of Dow Jones keep falling? They will be on trouble then as the shares that they buy will loose its value. It becomes cheaper. It is like gambling because it is unpredictable. It is no worry here as the Congress already promises that it will have bail out that will give life to the USA economies. In Malaysia, those who are driven by greed keep buying shares hoping that the price will be raised again but unluckily for them, the help came late. The Index keep crashing day by day and left them hopeless and on the edge of bankruptcy. The easiest way for them is by committing suicide.
Maybe it is not an issue here, as I have never heard about anyone committing suicide in USA due to recession or bankruptcy dealing with shares in Dow Jones. I highlight this issues that from my perspective is important because firstly, from our cultural and religious points of views, life is very much valuable, committing suicide is out of context as it must not be our choice. Failure in business is not the end of day. There will always be ways to go out from the problem. There will always somebody to help you out. There will always be someone who cares about your problem. That is a beauty of living and being human. We are interconnected and being responsible towards each other. Everyone is not an island. Those who are commit suicide, based on our religious ruling, is doomed to be in Hell, unless God forgives he/she. It is like abusing the faculty of mind, that is to think and decide what is wrong and what is right. Taking our own life is giving up the ability to use minds to decide on our own actions. In fact, animals don’t simply kill themselves although they don’t have faculty of minds to differentiate what is good or bad. They only have instinct to survive. Why must we, then as human fall below their level? Secondly, any drive/intention or action that is directed by greed, can lead to disaster. It is putting your capital into market forces that is unpredictable during this time. It is highly risky. Is not it like a gambling? At the same time, it is putting your hope into a game. You don’t have power over this game as the rules and the results are not determined by you. There are other major key players here. Indeed it is very speculative. It is not that I am against taking risks but I prefer to take risks to the things that I have knowledge that I can succeed. Thirdly, I believe by giving your capital in order to buy low price shares during the time of recession, is helping the capitalist economy but at the same time, allowing yourselves to participate on the expense of others miseries. During recession, people will loose their jobs that will give bad impact not only on our socio economic life, but also for traders or speculators, they will short sell the shares and generate incomes for themselves. Further more, the bail out comes from taxes payers’ expenses. The injection will be given to the banks by bailing out them, (as everybody involve with banks nowadays) who’s in return will charge interest to us. In fact, banks will always seek to maximize profit from lending. Are they more equal to us? As a matter of fact, we (tax payers) absorb their risks and the reaps are for bankers. I don’t blame the bankers as they are merely workers. What we must look upon to re evaluate the economy system that we use now.
Fifth, I realize Economic Turmoil that happens here, affecting my country in term of food and petrol prices. In our local newspaper back home, there were demonstrations putting pressure to Malaysian government to lower down the petrol price as we are a nation that produce and export it to overseas. Petrol price should be lowered from the profits that we make by subsidizing it (the cost). Petrol does not belong to certain individuals or corporate, so it goes with the profit and in fact, it should be returned back to Malaysians by lowering the prices. The 3 Billion USD profits should be liquidized so that the effect of global recession won’t be affected so much on Malaysians. As a result from various demonstrations, Malaysian government provided USD 400 rebate per year for every household, but I believe it is not enough as other goods prices are sky rocketed too, and other Malaysians could not agree more than me. They prove it during election 2008. Five states are now in the control of opposition party. This is the biggest lost for Barisan National. Malaysians have spoken.
What ideas or questions relevant to issues of personal/professional concern were raised for you?
As Economic Turmoil has so many effects, it is important for educationists to provide circle of supports to those who are badly affected. I did mention about the suicide rates among shareholders. They might be solely bread winner for our students. It is important to always keep us alarmed not just on major cases (suicide cases or involving in crime as they way to attain money) but minor as well (losing jobs) as it will affect our students performances. Schools must work together with other elements of social supports available in community in order to overcome problems related to it. It is the time to take care of each other. The key point is to make students realize that they are not alone and are always welcome to get help as everybody is being affected by it. It might not be obvious that the problems do exist and teachers must be highly sensitive to detect them by being concerned and care about students. In order to avoid the insensitivity of teachers towards students, it is crucial to have pre assessments of students’ background. This will give knowledge and information whose going to be in the dire list for the teachers. It gives alert siren that helping intervention is needed. At the same time, assumption is not good. Thorough checking and assessments must be done professionally and ethically.
It opens the opportunity for teachers to integrate their lesson plans to related topics. In this case, teaching students how to manage their finance or comparing the benefits and the disadvantages of using credit cards are among the examples. I can tell them to be very careful to spend their parents’ credit cards limits to buy and wish for presents during Thanksgiving as overspending will make Bank happy due to excessive interest charges that the parents have to charge. At the same time, emphasizing the concept of being thankful to God and make students realize their parents capabilities to spend the money. The gist is to be thankful to God not particularly on that particular day but in fact everyday. I think that is integrative enough.
It is important to address here that circle of supports must be diversified in their frame of actions and well organized. These two criteria are important as first, we don’t know whose going to be the clients as our students are diversified, and the intervention helping process must be accordingly and suitable to the culture of students. Ignoring this fact will create more problems instead of help. Religious organizations, social clubs and etc can work hand in hand with school community.
Implications on me:
Economy system that we adopt, implement and use is the force that moulds the society today. The society becomes what it is due to the economy policies. It comes from policy makers after thorough studies have been done by intellectuals to decide which models are the best. Every model has its own philosophy where of it is originated from. Understanding the society needs us to look at the economy system as the whole. In order to understand the economy system, it is important to reflect back its own philosophical nature of origins/orders. It is called understanding worldviews.
Westerns worldviews of capitalism have been mould for centuries, due to the impact of Enlightenment, which is grounded in the name of science. In the name of science too, corruption and despotism in the Church is greatly repudiated, thus starts the age of secularism. Secularism itself is an active process reducing religious matters to a matter of individual preference. This was the breeding ground of emancipation from religion that later becomes catalyst for atheism. It is very horrible as religion as the safeguard of our collective conscience is deeply negatively affected by utilitarian (capitalism) points of views. Based on utilitarianism, moral values is assumed on what gives pleasure is good and what causes pain is bad, thus good and bad or right and wrong were to be determined by the measurable criteria of pleasure and pain. What is important is individual human self interest as we are driven for that. It is very horrible thinking. It denigrates the status of me from human to the beast that matters fulfilling self interest/desires only.
These sets of worldviews create the society now. In the USA past history, I believe, in the name of progress and economy which was based on above worldviews, slavery was not an option for them. It was a must. It is okay to enslave human so that the farms will have workers. We need to eat, so it’s okay to lynch Black American so that farms will be continued to be operated, and we have corns to eat. We will not starve to death during incoming winters. That’s their thinking. From what I read in our textbooks during class discussion, I will always believe slavery is the system. Also, I believe most that the system creates slavery. The system now creates global and powerful slavery that it affects every strata of society. We become the slave of those who have control over the economy. For example, in the name of profit making, it is okay to use woman body to advertise, it is okay to impose concept that beauty belongs to those who have Pamela Anderson’s body (don’t worry, I am not imagining her body now), child slavery is still continue up until today due to the fact that they have low wages and the lists of cruelty are on and on.
I am not a communist because I am against it, also by believing in socialism means putting a seed of atheism into my soul. However, I believe that the economy system that we are using now is not compatible anymore; firstly, I already explain where it is originated from in the above paragraphs. That’s the reason I said that it is not compatible. It is based on human greed. Secondly, from my experience, recession is a vicious cycle. Now, it happens again at the centre of capitalist system, now beginning from 2008. It happened to us in 1997. I can see that it is a complete ten years and the cycle goes on. If the system is compatible, why continuous financial aids do not work? Why the vicious cycle keep coming back again? I won’t be shocked if there will be another recession in any regions within 5 years or 10 years. Indonesia followed the solutions by IMF, but it does not help at all. If the system works, why the solution by IMF does not work at all? It is still among the poorest country in South East Asia region. In fact, when I collected news article on what were happening in Malaysia and USA, there were demonstrations on food crisis in Indonesia. The prices of food soared high. It affects Malaysians too. When I called my mom, she complained about the price of rice and flour which are high, at the same time asking about the price here at WalMart. It created tension and panic among Malaysians. Those who have money will buy excessively to make stocks afraid that the prices will go up again though preventive measurements have been taken in order to stop it such as controlling the price and even punishing merchants that hide them. People hurriedly go to the shops to grab food. Anyway, here, it does not happen. I can see that when it comes to proper planning of managing crisis, the panic and tension can be avoided.
That’s the implication of the importance of good managements that should be have among Malaysians leaders and its citizens too. Secondly, based on this, it creates a realization that we always have to be prepared ahead of time. We have to be aware of what happens around us so that during emergencies, we won’t be panicking and stay calm. In addition, with the good financial management, we do play a small role in affecting the economy. If the small portions combine, it might make give an impact towards the economy.
I am concerned about Recession that happens globally. It happened to us (Malaysians) once in the year 1997. That year was bad. My friends, those who were under scholarship could not continue their study to overseas. Those who were under scholarships from International Giant Corporations like BP, Shell or Petronas would have the opportunity to fly. They were lucky. Those who were supported by Malaysian Government and were studying in UK had to come back. They were called back. Our currency was really bad compared to Pound Sterling which was Ringgit Malaysia 7.50 to one Pound Sterling. Motivation to study dropped down for us that were doing A-level course for a preparation to study overseas. We were demotivated. We said Goodbye to Aberdeen, Scotland. We said bye to Eiffel Tower too. Those were our targets during summers if we managed to be there. Our currency (Malaysian’s Ringgit) value dropped tremendously in terms of its value compared to dollars (USD). Our currency had less value due to the work of speculators that kept daunting our government. Preventive measurements were taken in order to stop it from being worse. One of it was pegging our currency. We did not want to be the next Indonesia.
It did not just happen to my country only as it affected the whole South East Asian regions. After ten years, the cycle starts again. Now, it happens here. It means it happens globally because we are using the same economic system. This fact is very interesting as we are in fact in the same ship. Every country is affected badly. My friend used to tell me that recession will continue to happen in every 10 years. It has deep impact upon me, as during the years, I can see major changes that happen to our socio economic and people are worried. In fact, this issue matters so much to me as we (my wife and I) don’t want to be called back due to Economic Recession that happens globally. I really hope we can finish our education here. Few months ago, I have been discussing this matter with my wife telling her that if worst comes to worst, maybe we just should apply to be research assistant here. This worry leads me to follow major economic changes that happen in USA and Malaysia too. I always get myself informed.
In 1997, when the first wave of recession happened, I was in the hospital at that moment where a doctor was cleaning up my hands from blood. I was involved with minor accident, but after receiving a paged, he looked worried and hurriedly left me. He directed a hospital attendant to continue his unfinished work. I asked the hospital attendant and got to know that a business man just slit his throat with a razor due to the excessive crash of BSKL. The doctor hurried to the ICU to save this man’s life.
I was clueless at that moment. Later on from the news, I realized suicide actions due to the recession were many. In Jakarta, protestors use this momentum to end the tyrannical era of Soeharto a year after that. Due to the chaos and instability, Americans were being evacuated within 24 hours from Indonesia especially Jakarta. Chronologically, more chaos and demonstration were held everywhere in this region. There were demonstrations against IMF solutions to interfere into the Indonesia economy. The injection must be taken in order to save the economy from the abrupt of bankruptcy. Indonesians mostly refused because it is a trend of silent colonialism. However, they did not have much choice. As for Indonesians and Malaysians, we believe once you take IMF injections, you will let International foreign banks to interfere into your policy. In fact, as a result of this, as one of the largest Muslim population in this world, Indonesians can not stop Playboy to be sold in the country. Their markets are open as wide as sky. Luckily for Malaysians, our currency reserve in off shore banks are strong enough, we had ability to peg our currency.
In Malaysia, Bailout was being declared by Mahathir Mohamad in order to save Malaysian Ringgit from becoming more worst in terms of its value. He used money from Danaharta which mainly gets its money from the export of petroleum. Here, the bailout comes from tax payer’s money. He did not have so many obstacles as he is already our prime minster at that moment but here,in United States when bailout is being introduced, two nominal were winning every American heart on how they are going to use it to save American Economy. Americans made decisions by participating in the 2008 elections. Every presidential candidate was given enough time to proof and convince Americans. I am amazed by how democracy is really implemented in terms of this. I just love the statements in Deb Riechmann’s article when he mentioned that two presidential candidates, John Mc Cain and Barack Obama, were made aware of the summit and they were supportive of the idea. This is another expectation to see how open we should be together even though we are from different camp. As for me, I dare not to comment about the actions taken by Mahathir Mohamed fearing that the same disaster might happen to me as what happen to Anwar Ibrahim. Plus, I am under Government’s scholarship. Malaysians are not so open when it comes to criticizing the policies or leaders. Internal Security Act will wait for those who go against the current.
“The New York Times, Wednesday, October 29, 2008: 2 Rivals Plans on Fiscal Issue Add to Deficits.”
I love reading and analyzing anything related to recent recessions that affect this country though I am not an economist. Firstly, it puts me into realization of how powerful it is, because the problem that starts from the Lehman Brothers, continued and spread to all over the world, and at the end, it becomes a global recession. This put me into another perspective that we are inter related to each other. We are using the same system. I can say, it is not just technologies that abide us together like a spider web, but indeed it is the same economic system that is being implemented all over the world. It is capitalist economic system. In addition to that, this system is being supported by the advancement of globalization forces. Not to forget exactly as what being mentioned by Bush that any international effort should preserve what he calls democratic capitalism- free markets, free enterprise and free trade. We have internet, we have powerful communications, and thus the ideas can be accepted vastly without having any problems.
Under the economic system that we use together, we can come into our own consensus to determine the level of modernization and economic growth of every country in this world and they are determined by GDP growths. Not just that, the solutions are expected to be various as key players are many. I predict, the solutions must be creative too as it involves many countries and nations. A report dated on October 23, 2008 by Deb Riechmann from Associated Press titled,” First summit on global crisis set for Nov. 15” mentioned about this whereby the summit is intentionally to bring together leaders of Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and etc to bring about and discuss different approaches about what needs to be fixed with the system.
Also, in terms of news coverage (USA and Malaysia) it is almost the same subject. Economic matters so much, that’s why it is the same. Further more, Malaysians as any other countries, look forward to know what happen here in order to prepare. As hip hop waves hit USA first, it hits Malaysia too. The matter is time. The trend will come here soon. We live in the era of globalization.
Technology is secondary when it comes to this. The important issue to discuss here is the economic system. It is tool to execute our philosophies of life, on how we exchange, produce and consume goods. Importantly to address is our decision on what system of economic that we choose and we use it to manage. The system now is having problem again after it attacked Asia in 1997. This time was not a second attack on America, in fact since 1945-2007; they are at least 10 recessions happened here. For economic giant like Japan or United States, it comes every 25 years. Due to this fact, there is a voice in Malaysia to replace this capitalist economic system. It seems this cycle will continue again after 7 or ten years from now as no real cure has been found so far. It leave to some interpretation from my country that it is not compatible anymore. Further more, the economy system that is being used is based on the philosophy of materialism that is totally alien to Muslim’s principles ways of life which is Sharia.
This recession can only be understood when we can accept the fact that interest from borrowers are used to mobilize the economy. Credits will be offered and lots of them can not pay the loan. It will create financial bubbles. Secondly, Federal Reserve will allow printing more money which then will lead to inflation. It leads to inflation as lots of money in the market will drop the money values itself. It is important to mention that Dollars that we have today is valueless because it is paper which is not backed by gold or silver. It is based on commodity and shares market. As I will explain below, the shares market is more based on speculations and it is considered gambling.
This again reflects greed on behalf of lenders. When I interviewed my American friend, he told me that when he was in 60 banks that will send credit cards so that you will use it to spend thriftily. In a way, it is very convenient as it is easy, but in reality if we look at it closely, we will realize how dangerous it can be as you will have to pay the interest that will keep accumulate. At the end of the day, if you can’t pay it, you will be bankrupt.
I am very careful when it comes to spending, even though my credit report is good. They give you extra credit so that you will spend and use the specialties but at the end, the interest rate is high. It is like luring you into a deep hole. This actually happen in Malaysia too as many sales representative will come and find government servant in order for them to accept and have a credit cards offer by their bank. Once they get your phone number, they will make a call in the name of advertisement. A lady once offered a date with her in order for me to take and use American Express. I kindly rejected her offer by saying, how much the company pays you in term of it so that you will hook me up with this debt. Harsh?
“Dow again takes a dive” by Ellen Simon. It says “Louder warnings of a deep recession and weak corporate earnings took the Dow Jones industrial average down 514 points amid fears that government intervention won’t be enough to prevent global economies from faltering” The idea of free market must be free from government intervention. It solely depends on itself, the capitalist and the customer relations. Government can not be interfered in it because, it is afraid that those in power will manipulate the opportunity to use the bail out helping the cronies or any conglomerates that have good ties with them. That happened in Malaysia. As the result, wealth will be on the hand of a few rather than to the mass. Due to seriousness of this problem, Congress has to intervene and as the result, the bailout from taxpayers money will be used to save Conglomerates.
When I read a book written by Naomi Klein, it becomes a fear when Leteliar said that the free market rules is a another wave of dictatorships, they were not creating a perfectly harmonious economy but turning the already wealthy into the superrich and the organized working class into the in disposable poor.
Issues from the readings that were most significant to you.
Some people manage to manipulate the fall index of Dow Jones by buying shares as the prices are very low. They expect it will rise again and then sell it back when the price goes high so that they will generate income. It is easy money for those who have capital to buy it. It depends on luck actually, it is like gambling. What about if the index of Dow Jones keep falling? They will be on trouble then as the shares that they buy will loose its value. It becomes cheaper. It is like gambling because it is unpredictable. It is no worry here as the Congress already promises that it will have bail out that will give life to the USA economies. In Malaysia, those who are driven by greed keep buying shares hoping that the price will be raised again but unluckily for them, the help came late. The Index keep crashing day by day and left them hopeless and on the edge of bankruptcy. The easiest way for them is by committing suicide.
Maybe it is not an issue here, as I have never heard about anyone committing suicide in USA due to recession or bankruptcy dealing with shares in Dow Jones. I highlight this issues that from my perspective is important because firstly, from our cultural and religious points of views, life is very much valuable, committing suicide is out of context as it must not be our choice. Failure in business is not the end of day. There will always be ways to go out from the problem. There will always somebody to help you out. There will always be someone who cares about your problem. That is a beauty of living and being human. We are interconnected and being responsible towards each other. Everyone is not an island. Those who are commit suicide, based on our religious ruling, is doomed to be in Hell, unless God forgives he/she. It is like abusing the faculty of mind, that is to think and decide what is wrong and what is right. Taking our own life is giving up the ability to use minds to decide on our own actions. In fact, animals don’t simply kill themselves although they don’t have faculty of minds to differentiate what is good or bad. They only have instinct to survive. Why must we, then as human fall below their level? Secondly, any drive/intention or action that is directed by greed, can lead to disaster. It is putting your capital into market forces that is unpredictable during this time. It is highly risky. Is not it like a gambling? At the same time, it is putting your hope into a game. You don’t have power over this game as the rules and the results are not determined by you. There are other major key players here. Indeed it is very speculative. It is not that I am against taking risks but I prefer to take risks to the things that I have knowledge that I can succeed. Thirdly, I believe by giving your capital in order to buy low price shares during the time of recession, is helping the capitalist economy but at the same time, allowing yourselves to participate on the expense of others miseries. During recession, people will loose their jobs that will give bad impact not only on our socio economic life, but also for traders or speculators, they will short sell the shares and generate incomes for themselves. Further more, the bail out comes from taxes payers’ expenses. The injection will be given to the banks by bailing out them, (as everybody involve with banks nowadays) who’s in return will charge interest to us. In fact, banks will always seek to maximize profit from lending. Are they more equal to us? As a matter of fact, we (tax payers) absorb their risks and the reaps are for bankers. I don’t blame the bankers as they are merely workers. What we must look upon to re evaluate the economy system that we use now.
Fifth, I realize Economic Turmoil that happens here, affecting my country in term of food and petrol prices. In our local newspaper back home, there were demonstrations putting pressure to Malaysian government to lower down the petrol price as we are a nation that produce and export it to overseas. Petrol price should be lowered from the profits that we make by subsidizing it (the cost). Petrol does not belong to certain individuals or corporate, so it goes with the profit and in fact, it should be returned back to Malaysians by lowering the prices. The 3 Billion USD profits should be liquidized so that the effect of global recession won’t be affected so much on Malaysians. As a result from various demonstrations, Malaysian government provided USD 400 rebate per year for every household, but I believe it is not enough as other goods prices are sky rocketed too, and other Malaysians could not agree more than me. They prove it during election 2008. Five states are now in the control of opposition party. This is the biggest lost for Barisan National. Malaysians have spoken.
What ideas or questions relevant to issues of personal/professional concern were raised for you?
As Economic Turmoil has so many effects, it is important for educationists to provide circle of supports to those who are badly affected. I did mention about the suicide rates among shareholders. They might be solely bread winner for our students. It is important to always keep us alarmed not just on major cases (suicide cases or involving in crime as they way to attain money) but minor as well (losing jobs) as it will affect our students performances. Schools must work together with other elements of social supports available in community in order to overcome problems related to it. It is the time to take care of each other. The key point is to make students realize that they are not alone and are always welcome to get help as everybody is being affected by it. It might not be obvious that the problems do exist and teachers must be highly sensitive to detect them by being concerned and care about students. In order to avoid the insensitivity of teachers towards students, it is crucial to have pre assessments of students’ background. This will give knowledge and information whose going to be in the dire list for the teachers. It gives alert siren that helping intervention is needed. At the same time, assumption is not good. Thorough checking and assessments must be done professionally and ethically.
It opens the opportunity for teachers to integrate their lesson plans to related topics. In this case, teaching students how to manage their finance or comparing the benefits and the disadvantages of using credit cards are among the examples. I can tell them to be very careful to spend their parents’ credit cards limits to buy and wish for presents during Thanksgiving as overspending will make Bank happy due to excessive interest charges that the parents have to charge. At the same time, emphasizing the concept of being thankful to God and make students realize their parents capabilities to spend the money. The gist is to be thankful to God not particularly on that particular day but in fact everyday. I think that is integrative enough.
It is important to address here that circle of supports must be diversified in their frame of actions and well organized. These two criteria are important as first, we don’t know whose going to be the clients as our students are diversified, and the intervention helping process must be accordingly and suitable to the culture of students. Ignoring this fact will create more problems instead of help. Religious organizations, social clubs and etc can work hand in hand with school community.
Implications on me:
Economy system that we adopt, implement and use is the force that moulds the society today. The society becomes what it is due to the economy policies. It comes from policy makers after thorough studies have been done by intellectuals to decide which models are the best. Every model has its own philosophy where of it is originated from. Understanding the society needs us to look at the economy system as the whole. In order to understand the economy system, it is important to reflect back its own philosophical nature of origins/orders. It is called understanding worldviews.
Westerns worldviews of capitalism have been mould for centuries, due to the impact of Enlightenment, which is grounded in the name of science. In the name of science too, corruption and despotism in the Church is greatly repudiated, thus starts the age of secularism. Secularism itself is an active process reducing religious matters to a matter of individual preference. This was the breeding ground of emancipation from religion that later becomes catalyst for atheism. It is very horrible as religion as the safeguard of our collective conscience is deeply negatively affected by utilitarian (capitalism) points of views. Based on utilitarianism, moral values is assumed on what gives pleasure is good and what causes pain is bad, thus good and bad or right and wrong were to be determined by the measurable criteria of pleasure and pain. What is important is individual human self interest as we are driven for that. It is very horrible thinking. It denigrates the status of me from human to the beast that matters fulfilling self interest/desires only.
These sets of worldviews create the society now. In the USA past history, I believe, in the name of progress and economy which was based on above worldviews, slavery was not an option for them. It was a must. It is okay to enslave human so that the farms will have workers. We need to eat, so it’s okay to lynch Black American so that farms will be continued to be operated, and we have corns to eat. We will not starve to death during incoming winters. That’s their thinking. From what I read in our textbooks during class discussion, I will always believe slavery is the system. Also, I believe most that the system creates slavery. The system now creates global and powerful slavery that it affects every strata of society. We become the slave of those who have control over the economy. For example, in the name of profit making, it is okay to use woman body to advertise, it is okay to impose concept that beauty belongs to those who have Pamela Anderson’s body (don’t worry, I am not imagining her body now), child slavery is still continue up until today due to the fact that they have low wages and the lists of cruelty are on and on.
I am not a communist because I am against it, also by believing in socialism means putting a seed of atheism into my soul. However, I believe that the economy system that we are using now is not compatible anymore; firstly, I already explain where it is originated from in the above paragraphs. That’s the reason I said that it is not compatible. It is based on human greed. Secondly, from my experience, recession is a vicious cycle. Now, it happens again at the centre of capitalist system, now beginning from 2008. It happened to us in 1997. I can see that it is a complete ten years and the cycle goes on. If the system is compatible, why continuous financial aids do not work? Why the vicious cycle keep coming back again? I won’t be shocked if there will be another recession in any regions within 5 years or 10 years. Indonesia followed the solutions by IMF, but it does not help at all. If the system works, why the solution by IMF does not work at all? It is still among the poorest country in South East Asia region. In fact, when I collected news article on what were happening in Malaysia and USA, there were demonstrations on food crisis in Indonesia. The prices of food soared high. It affects Malaysians too. When I called my mom, she complained about the price of rice and flour which are high, at the same time asking about the price here at WalMart. It created tension and panic among Malaysians. Those who have money will buy excessively to make stocks afraid that the prices will go up again though preventive measurements have been taken in order to stop it such as controlling the price and even punishing merchants that hide them. People hurriedly go to the shops to grab food. Anyway, here, it does not happen. I can see that when it comes to proper planning of managing crisis, the panic and tension can be avoided.
That’s the implication of the importance of good managements that should be have among Malaysians leaders and its citizens too. Secondly, based on this, it creates a realization that we always have to be prepared ahead of time. We have to be aware of what happens around us so that during emergencies, we won’t be panicking and stay calm. In addition, with the good financial management, we do play a small role in affecting the economy. If the small portions combine, it might make give an impact towards the economy.
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