Lenovo model a successful marriage of East and West

Saturday December 20, 2008
Lenovo model a successful marriage of East and West
SHANGHAI BUNDBy CHOW HOW BAN

PC manufacturer Lenovo is not more Chinese nor more American. While its core business is China, its largely-diversified customer base is worldwide.
NEWLY-NAMED Forbes Asia Businessman of the Year William J. Amelio was once again posed the question that had to answer in his job interview with Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi three years ago.
Having spent three years at the Chinese home-grown computer-maker as CEO, he is better positioned to answer the question on the company’s view of US-China relations.
He was not about to succumb to describing Lenovo as more Chinese than American, or vice versa.
“We are a company that believes in neither it is the rich, developed nor developing countries that we are looking into, but rather opportunities all across the world,” Amelio said at a recent interview the magazine arranged for the award winners.
“We position ourselves as truly global, as we have a board of directors who are more international than any other company’s, and we have different task forces to achieve that.”
Amelio and Lenovo chairman Yang Yuanqing were named Businessmen of the Year for guiding the Chinese home-grown company on the path to global success.
Yang, tapped by Liu at the tender age of 29 to be his successor, masterminded the US$1.25bil (RM4.3bil) deal to acquire US-based IBM’s personal computing division in 2005, making the Chinese company an international player.
Yang has since moved from Beijing to Raleigh, North Carolina, in the United States, where one of Lenovo’s principal operations centres are located (the other two are in Singapore and Beijing) to better understand American culture and management practices.
The company started off reselling computer products before making its first computer in 1990. Over the years, it has become the market share leader in China; and the IBM acquisition made it the No. 3 global PC vendor after Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
However, third quarter figures showed Lenovo falling to fourth spot with consolidated sales of US$4.3bil (RM14.9bil), behind Acer, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
Though the company is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and more than 50% of its shares are owned by public shareholders, critics are still puzzled by possible political interferences in the company’s globalisation move. About 42% of Lenovo’s shares are held by Legend Holdings Ltd, mainly funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an agency of the Chinese government.
Yang said Lenovo had even secured investments from TPG Capital, General Atlantic LLC and Newbridge Capital LLC when the PC maker announced its IBM acquisition, and that there were members on the board from the private equity firms to ensure good corporate governance.
The reported declines in PC shipments to the Asia-Pacific and America in the third quarter notwithstanding, Lenovo continues to gain ground in China, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The company posted US$1.9bil (RM6.6bil) (44% of the total) in consolidated sales in China, up 11%, with a 12% growth in PC shipments. It continues to lead the China market with a share of 29.2%.
“In the course of the last several quarters, we saw, first, India slowing down as a nation, then PC shipments as well, and Russia. China has slowed down significantly, and this has a big impact on our growth rate overall,” Amelio said.
However, the CEO said the company was very optimistic about the outlook for China and its dominating presence in the country.
“People talk about core business. For us, our core business is in China, and our largely diversified customer base worldwide. These are two factors that give us confidence to protect our market share,” Yang said.
“We will also continue to invest in key growth areas such as emerging markets. We must sharpen our weapons to prepare for the next round of growth opportunities.”
In the wake of the economic crisis, the company reckoned that there have been opportunities to buy over other computing-related companies with good valuation.
Rumours are rife of Lenovo looking to acquiring Fujitsu-Siemens’ PC division and Positivo Informatica SA, the biggest PC maker in Brazil, after it lost out to Acer for Europe’s Packard Bell last year.
Amelio said he had no news of any deal at the moment but he expected that there would be more consolidation in the industry during the downturn.
“I think the biggest question, and one of the most important lessons I have learned in my life, is how to buy low and sell high,” he said.
“But, unfortunately, nobody could quite figure out how to do it, maybe except for Warren Buffet (ranked by Forbes as the richest man in the world).
“With equity values down at good rates, there are some potentials in respect of acquisitions across the industry.”
On possible job cuts in the company and restructuring, Amelio said that in the current financially constrained environment everybody was working diligently to reduce costs and expenses.
“All ideas are on the table, and we will announce some substantial restructuring,” he added.
Amelio and Yang team up well. They even play on the same doubles team in the company’s table tennis tournaments.
Forbes Asia feels that the “not quite East or West” global business model carved out by the duo will be a worthwhile lesson for companies expanding across national and cultural boundaries.
“When we brought Amelio in, we had to make sure he and Yang didn’t get into some type of culture war over the business model,” said William O. Grabe, a Lenovo board member.
Instead of getting into a culture war, they integrated their different, but complementary, business skills and experiences. Under their guidance, the company has seen a greater presence in the United States and in the global map.
“My wish is for the company to become one of the leaders in the industry. I hope that Lenovo could be a well-accepted company across the world, like we already are in China,” Yang said.
Thursday December 18, 2008
The future of online news is mobile
WIKIMEDIA BY OON YEOH

According to a survey, mobile phones will be the dominant way people connect to the Internet by 2020. And people will not think of these things as phones – they willl simply be lenses on the online world.
THE mantra that the future of the Internet is mobile has been echoed for some time now. Its time will surely come, but not that soon.
According to the Future of the Internet III survey recently released by Pew Internet Project and Elon University of North Carolina, by 2020, mobile phones will be the dominant way people connect to the Internet.
The report is part of a survey (aptly conducted through online means) with nearly 600 Internet activists, technologists and ICT writers, as well as nearly another 600 stakeholders. The respondents were asked to comment on the impact of networked technologies on world societies by 2020.
Although the number of people interviewed was not big, and it’s not a formal survey in the way that political surveys are conducted, it is an important document that gives us a record of the current thinking among experts about the future of online life.
Pew researchers sought responses to a series of online questions on scenarios set in 2020, including whether the mobile phone will be the primary Internet device, about personal versus professional time, and about digital rights management.
The researchers found that many expected mobile phones to function more as computers than a voice communication device. In other words, they will become more like laptops in terms of functionality and usage.
“By 2020, I don’t think it will be so easy to distinguish between a mobile phone and a laptop,” said Steve Jones, co-founder of the Association of Internet Researchers and associate dean at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “These will blend into a general mobile computing category of device (for which we probably don’t yet have a name).”
Not everybody is so bullish about the potential of the mobile phone as an Internet device. Hal Varian, chief economist at Google said: “The big problem with the cell phone is the user interface, particularly on the data side. We are waiting for a breakthrough.”
Still, the majority believe that the mobile phone might actually be a better alternative for providing Internet access than cheap computers as championed by the One Laptop Per Child initiative.
That might be hard to imagine now, as high-end smart phones – the kind suitable for accessing the Internet – can cost as much as a laptop. Phones such as Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry are still the preserve of the business class and are certainly not commodity devices.
However, that may change with the advent of phones powered by Google’s Android operating system, which is offered to phone makers for free (so they can keep costs low). Leading phone-maker Nokia is also eyeing the target segment commonly referred to as “the bottom of the pyramid”, to sell it low-priced Internet-enabled phones.
“By 2020, we’ll have standard network connections around the world. Billions of people will have joined the Internet who don’t speak English,” said Susan Crawford, founder of OneWebDay and an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board member, within the report. “They won’t think of these things as phones either – these devices will be simply lenses on the online world.”
Of course, in order for people to access the Internet through the mobile phone, wireless connectivity has to be steady. The report says that many expect there to be a set of universal standards making it easier for users to maintain a consistent connection to the Internet.
Another point which was met with broad agreement was that voice and touch would become key means of interacting with computing devices. In other words, don’t be surprised to see people talking to their computers. In addition, touch-based input would have been so advanced that you can expect to see a small, handheld device be connected to a full-sized virtual keyboard which can be displayed on any flat surface.
Currently, the Internet is a hotbed of content piracy – music, movies and, increasingly, e-books. When it comes to curtailing such things, the prediction is gloomy. Most res­pondents said they don’t expect things to improve for content owners.
Those seeking to enforce intellectual property laws will remain locked in a continuing battle with software pirates who will find new ways to copy and share content without payment, the study said. In other words, copyright protection will not make major advances.
The study also found that “few lines divide professional time from personal time” – such is life in the digital age. But the survey found that professionals are happy with the way work and play are “seamlessly integrated in most of these workers’ lives”.
If you want to read the detailed report, you can download it at http://tinyurl.com/5aq54t. This is Pew’s third report in the series; further reading can be found in its 2005 and 2006 surveys.
Oon Yeoh often reads his news on his E71 Nokia phone. You can visit his mobile-ready website www.oonyeoh.comto read more of his writings.
Sunday December 14, 2008
Familiarity breeds compassion
STRAY THOUGHT WITH A ASOHAN

We relate more to those who most resemble us, and we empathise most with those we can relate to.
EARLIER this week, International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin suggested that the Government sponsor hotel lodgings for the residents of Selangor’s Bukit Antarabangsa area who had been forced to evacuate their homes in the wake of last Saturday’s landslide.
Another newspaper reported that it was a done deal, and Muhyiddin had to clarify that it was merely something the Government was considering. In any case, my immediate reaction when reading that story was, “Well done, YB”.
Then I read other stories in The Star that day: Residents in a whole lot of other areas living in fear of landslides as well; thousands of others affected by floods in Malacca, Terengganu, and Pahang; follow-up stories on the bus crash near Tangkak, Johor, that killed 10.
It was nearly Biblical, like the End of Days, especially when you consider how relatively safe Malaysia is from natural disasters compared with most other countries.
Then I had a nasty little thought, one that produced more than a twinge of guilt because lives have been lost and uprooted, and we all should be reaching out to those in need.
But, but ... why do the folks of Bukit Antarabangsa need hotel accommodations when the flood victims in mostly rural areas have to be satisfied with makeshift relief centres or school canteens?
It’s an insensitive thought, I know, and even offensive to some, I’m sure. But think about it: Why? Do certain classes of victims deserve better treatment?
And why isn’t anybody pissed off about the implications of an unfair society that prizes its more well-heeled people? It’s not as if an “upper-class” person feels his loss more keenly.
Perhaps it’s because – and here’s the sticky part – we can probably relate more to people who are on the same level as us, or a few rungs higher, on the social ladder than we can to the people below us.
The people on the same level as us are just like us, the people above are what we aspire to be, and, sadly, we’re probably just happy to have escaped the struggles of the ones below us.
This is a generalisation, so don’t get your knickers in a twist or your jockeys in a knot. Within every strata of society, there are compassionate people who can look beyond all this and empathise with just about any other person. If you’re one of them, I salute you.
But let’s be honest here, there are too few of these kinds of people.
The empathy we feel doesn’t necessarily have to be linked only to social class but can also be tied to culture and race. And culture can be more all encompassing than we’d like to think, thanks to modern mass media and their built-in and sometimes, to be fair, inadvertent biases.
Didn’t we all feel the shock and horror of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, beaming into our living rooms that terrible day in 2001, more keenly than we did, for instance, the botched US military strike against an Afghanistan wedding party last month? If that had happened to Western families, the media (and not just the US media) would have given us the life stories of the people killed, and we all would have felt that loss and tragedy more keenly, and would have clamoured harder for heads to roll.
The “Blackwater trial” is currently going on in Washington, in which five military veterans employed by Blackwater Worldwide are being tried for killing 14 innocent Iraqis and injuring dozens more in an unprovoked attack in Baghdad in 2007.
The shooting by the largest US security contractor in Iraq has sparked international condemnation and launched US Congressional hearings, news agencies noted in reports last week. There has been a lot of coverage of the terrible deed, but how many of us know the names of the Iraqis killed?
Substitute Iraqis there with Somalians and Rwandans. We don’t even have to be racist about it – what about Georgians and Bosnians and others? Or Central and South Americans?
Sure, we sympathise with such victims, no matter their race, creed, or colour. Any half-decent person who watches the news will feel something for them. But we don’t necessarily empathise with them.
Like it or not, most Malaysians relate more readily to Americans than we do to Iraqis. We’re mostly a middle-class multicultural society; they’re mostly a middle-class multicultural society.
But more importantly, there is the dominance of the United States in so many different spheres, from entertainment to the Internet. We’re all exposed to the pervasiveness (and some would say, the perversity) of US pop culture and media. There is no escape.
There’s nothing wrong with empathising more readily with people you can relate to. We’re always more protective of “our tribe”, it’s encoded in our behavioural patterns for survival, even if the definition of “our tribe” has been dramatically transformed over the centuries.
The trick is expanding our empathy and compassion to include people very different from us.
· A. Asohan, New Media Editor at The Star, can relate to anyone, anywhere in the world who wants Liverpool to win the Premiership!
Sunday December 7, 2008
Failing the test of public reason
SHARING THE NATION BY ZAINAH ANWAR

The more the religious authorities are bent on regulating our lives in the name of Islam, the more defiant Muslims will become. Why should so many Muslims who have practised yoga and not felt their faith undermined be bound by an edict that addresses a problem that does not exist?
The National Fatwa Council edict that made practising yoga haram and the subsequent uproar are symptomatic of many things that is wrong with the way we understand Islam in this country and how we use it as a source of law and public policy.
And thus the fear and opposition to the idea of an Islamic state and rule by syariah law.
It needed the Prime Minister to clarify the fatwa which sowed confusion because the Chair of the National Fatwa Council, Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, had stated that, “Doing yoga, even just the physical movements, is a step towards an erosion of one’s faith in the religion, hence Muslims should avoid it.”
I received a flurry of e-mail and text messages from family, friends and strangers on the fatwa. What is going on in this country? What kind of mindset rules this country? Should they just give up on Malaysia and prepare to emigrate? How can they persuade their children living abroad to come home to a country that makes yoga haram?
A young friend googled fatwa and found in every piece of writing she read that fatwa is an advisory opinion only; how has it come about in Malay­sia that it becomes a criminal offence to violate a fatwa that has been gazetted, she questioned?
Well, it is Bolehland for all the wrong reasons. As early as 1997, Sisters in Islam (SIS) submitted a memorandum to the then Prime Minister about the shocking provisions in the Syariah Criminal Offences Act (SCOA), many of which have no precedence in Islamic legal history and practice, violate constitutional provisions on fundamental liberties and conflict or overlap with the Penal Code.
Public outrage
Among the most outrageous are two provisions which state it is a criminal offence to defy, disobey or dispute a fatwa, or to give, propagate or disseminate any opinion contrary to any fatwa that is in force! This really tantamounts to thought policing that criminalises differences of opinion! Not even Saudi Arabia makes it a crime to violate or dispute a fatwa.
Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed ordered the Attorney-General’s Chambers to review the SCOA. But we don’t know the outcome of that process, or if it ever took place.
SIS commissioned two research papers examining the SCOA on constitutional and Islamic juristic grounds. Both experts concluded that the SCOA is a deeply flawed piece of legislation. We have submitted our report to the Govern­ment.
The late Tan Sri Harun Hashim who sat on the Syariah Technical Committee said he had recommended to the committee that criminal law be taken out of syariah jurisdiction and all criminal matters should come under the Penal Code. That was why the SCOA was not submitted for review in the government exercise to establish uniformity of all state Islamic laws in the late 1990s.
But it is obvious that over the past few years, the strategy is to expand syariah jurisdiction, not limit it according to law.
The public outrage over the yoga fatwa serves notice to the authorities that Malay­sians and Muslims today are far more confident of their knowledge of Islam and far more aware of their rights and liberties in a democratic state.
Prof Hashim Kamali who now heads the International Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies had warned in his research paper on the SCOA that a law that seeks to regulate a citizen’s life to the minutest detail cannot be enforced fully and equally, and will only result in selective prosecution and victimisation.
And in the end, he said, this was likely to erode the credibility and survival of both the law and the law-making process.
Malaysia must learn from Iran. When a government that rules in the name of Islam fails to deliver on the aspirations of the people, then this failure is seen as the failure of Islam.
Widespread public criticism and defiance of rules and regulations to regulate the moral behaviour of its citizens and to suppress the thinking of dissenters have given birth to a reformist movement that brought women, young people, academics and religious clerics into the open to challenge the official Islam of the state.
An Islamisation process that implements pre-modern conceptions of Islamic law which are so out of touch with the realities of Iranian lives today has led disenchanted Iranians to believe that Islam has no answers to the myriad problems and challenges they face.
Many clerics in Qom, some of whom have been prosecuted and jailed for their differing views, now seek to separate religion from state power.
The dogmatism of the religious authorities and the Islamists in Malaysia will forever make their insistence for Muslim unity wishful thinking.
The more the religious authorities become bent on controlling and regulating our lives in the name of Islam, the more defiant Muslims will become.
Because in our subjective experience of what it is that they forbid, be it practising yoga or dressing or behaving like a tomboy, or celebrating the festivals of our friends of other faiths, we do not experience what it is they say we are supposed to experience. That our faith will be eroded or that we would be attracted to the same sex or that we would be led astray to behave like the so-called infidels.
The public anger over the yoga fatwa is because so many Muslims who have practised yoga, some for decades, have not for a moment felt their faith undermined. They have experienced no inner conflict between doing yoga and their religious convictions. So why should they be bound by an edict that addresses a problem that does not exist in their subjective experience of yoga?
In the Islamic tradition, only those who sincerely believe in the truth of the advisory opinion of the mufti or mujtahid (jurist who strives to find the correct answer) are morally bound to adopt the fatwa. Not others. And never legally bound.
More debate ensued when some of those in religious authority then pronounced that questioning the fatwa is tantamount to questioning God. This is a favourite tactic used to silence dissent. Cloak yourself and your actions in the divine will, in order to force compliance.
But what the rakyat see is just a group of fallible human beings making a decision on a problem that they don’t experience, and then imposing that solution on those who do not need it.
Formidable power
As the Islamic juristic scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl said, the discourse of Shari‘ah enables human beings to speak in God’s name, and effectively empowers human agency with the voice of God. This is a formidable power that is easily abused, he wrote.
The classical jurists in the early period of Islam never claimed certainty or infallibility. They ended every pronouncement with “And only God knows best”. Theirs was but a humble and honest individual effort to try and understand God’s revelation.
The maxim that every mujtahid is correct, that every mujtahid will be rewarded, implies that there could be more than a single correct answer to the same question. That is why the doctrine of binding precedent did not develop in Islamic jurisprudence.
The opinion of one mujtahid can never be regarded as the final wisdom in understanding the infinite message of the Quran. Another ‘alim can give an equally valid opinion based on his learned understanding of the text.
In the context of a modern democratic state where public law and public policy are open to public debate and pass the test of public reason, then any law made in the name of Islam must also go through this process. If not, that law becomes unenforceable.
The fact that public uproar has led the Cabinet to intervene over the past many years to overrule decisions made in the name of Islam, be it a ban on a Sheila Majid or a Michael Jackson concert, to the arrest of young people and women caught in raids, to attempts to set up snoop squads by state governments, means that a policy that fails the test of public reason, in the end, becomes untenable.
While most might agree that smoking is bad for their health, most would not agree that smoking should be criminalised. Perhaps that is why the Selangor state authorities saw it in its wisdom not to enforce their gazetted fatwa that smoking is haram.
If not, their syariah courts would be overwhelmed and their prisons overflowing with smokers and, more likely, the state government and economy might just grind to a halt because these recalcitrant smokers just do not have the willpower to stop. Or could the reason just be simple, that it is men who will be affected most, so let’s close one eye.
Sunday November 30, 2008
Teaming up for an uphill task
INSIGHTBy JOCELINE TAN

The fierce contests taking place in Umno mean that sweeping changes in the party hierarchy await Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he takes over as Umno president. But will it be the dream team that his supporters talk about?
MARCH next year will be a hot month for Umno. And it will have nothing to do with the weather but everything to do with politics.
The Umno elections in March will be quite unprecedented in the party’s history. Virtually every top party post, from the deputy president down, is being contested.
Although there will not be a contest for the Umno presidency, there will be a change, with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak taking over from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Najib, who won the post with a near perfect sweep of the nominations, is now president-elect of Umno.
The transition at the very top has been smoother than most had dared to hope for. The credit has to go to, first, Abdullah for the dignity with which he has handled the situation, and also to Najib for the way he has conducted himself as the Prime Minister-in-waiting.
The large number of contests means that Najib could be looking at an entirely new Umno team in March.
The last time the deputy president post was contested was in 1986. This time, there are three candidates vying for the post that Najib is vacating.
The fight for the three vice-president posts suggests that new faces rather than incumbents will form the next batch of Umno vice-presidents.
This is also the first time that the top posts in all three wings, Youth, Wanita and Puteri, are being concurrently contested.
There are three men fighting to be the next Youth leader and eight young women elbowing their way to the Puteri leadership.
Should challenger Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil beat incumbent Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz for the Wanita Umno leadership, it would mean new people in charge of all three wings, a sort of first for Umno.
The race for the 25 supreme council seats will likely see first-timers making up about one-third of the seats, with senior and younger faces comprising the other two-thirds.
In short, sweeping changes down the line await Najib when he takes over as Umno president next year.
“The feeling among Umno members is that they have to contest to effect change. They think the incoming leader requires a new team,” said one Umno Youth official.
The party, said former ministerial aide Juhaidi Yean Abdullah, has been in need of an overhaul for some time now.
But it took the shocking outcome of the last general election to finally make party members do something about it.
The slow renewal process in Umno has been identified as one of the main problems for the party’s lack of appeal among voters, especially the younger set.
“Politics is getting younger and people cannot cling on to a post indefinitely,” said Juhaidi.
The stagnated renewal has also led to a certain insensitivity about the way society has evolved and that is what is meant when party critics say Umno is out of touch.
“People said the last elections were a wake-up call for Umno. To me, it was more like the last call. If we don’t change, people will exchange us for another party,” said Penang Umno politician Datuk Seri Dr Ibrahim Saad.
Throughout the nominations race, Najib has quite assiduously refrained from any specific show of preference for any of those contesting for posts, be it his future deputy or the next Youth chief.
The nominations for posts have always been a grassroots process and any interference would have drawn resentment.
Besides, as many have pointed out, the grassroots voice is very powerful this year. This was all too evident at the Youth and Wanita levels where those on the floor, as they say, exerted their will over those on the stage.
Najib has quite astutely allowed people power to prevail at this stage of the party elections.
But those close to him reckon he will show his hand closer to March.
“He may, in the tradition of past Umno presidents, speak indirectly about his team. He is a polished person; he’s not going to say it directly and we’ll have to read between the lines.
“At the very least, he will drop hints about who he prefers as his deputy. The deputy president is very important because he also becomes the Deputy Prime Minister. It is only right that Datuk Seri Najib has a say,” said Pahang Umno information chief Datuk Sharkar Shamsuddin.
The popular assumption is that Najib has his eye on Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as his No. 2. He has not said anything to the effect but he has, in private conversations, acknowledged Muhyiddin for opening the floodgates for change. He has said that Muhyiddin was the one who stuck out his neck, then others jumped on for the ride.
Both men, noted a senior journalist, demonstrated their teamwork when they were in Lima for the Apec Summit.
When Singapore Premier Lee Hsien Loong offered to make an iconic investment in the Iskandar region as a symbol of commitment between the two countries, Najib conferred with Muhyiddin and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim. Then he called to brief the Prime Minister. Only then, and some 24 hours later, did he announce it to the press corps.
While Sharkar talks rather idealistically of Najib’s Dream Team., others are not so sure he is going to end up with anything close to one.
Umno politics often has a logic all of its own. The best man does not always win.
Umno members tend to rate likeability as highly as ability and the likeable man has, at times, turned out to be quite disappointing. It explains why there are so many intelligent, dynamic and capable Malays in this country but not enough of them in Umno.
Then there is the money factor which further hinders the right people from making it in Umno. The stream of money politics during the nominations race will likely grow into a river by March.
A political blogger who goes by the non de plume Sakmongkol has, with great irony, termed it “ringgit democracy”. He is so right. Money politics has become so ingrained among givers and takers that it is now part of the political culture.
“Whatever it is, no cartoon characters running Umno, please. That will only push more Malays to Pakatan Rakyat in the next elections,” said Juhaidi.
The next general election is indeed Najib’s top priority.
“It is the uppermost concern on his mind. He means to keep the Barisan Nasional in power and he does not intend to be the PM only until the next elections,” said a member of his staff.
For Umno to do well in the elections, it will have to usher in leaders who are also acceptable to people outside the party.
“There is no point in electing heroes in the party who cannot help Umno win in a general election. That would be what we Malays call syiok sendiri (self gratification),” said Dr Ibrahim.
Najib will also have to face some tough challenges after he takes over. The effects of the smear campaign linking him to the Mongolian murder case has yet to fade away.
But there is no denying that there are very few in Umno who can parallel his experience and calibre.
He cut his political teeth at age 23 and has gone through the rungs. No one else in the region, not even Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong, comes close in terms of the training he has had for the top job.
A Dream Team would be too much to ask for. What Najib needs is for Umno to pick a competent team to work with him.
Sunday December 21, 2008
Let’s learn block by block
ON THE BEATBy WONG CHUN WAI

Johor’s RM750mil Legoland theme park offers an opportunity to attract more tourists to the country, provided the operators run it right.
The people of Johor are said to be a little let down that they would not be getting a Disney­land as expected or, to be more precise, had hoped for, in the Iskandar region.
They had wished for a Disneyland to compete with the proposed Universal Studios in Singapore.
Admittedly, Legoland does not have the same kind of appeal when put against Disney­land. But the decision to choose the Danish toy block makers, which already has similar theme parks in the United States, Denmark, Germany and Britain, isn’t too bad an idea.
Splashing fun: Some of the attractions at one of the four Legoland Parks around the world. The parks are located in the United States, Denmark, Germany and Britain.
The RM750mil theme park, to be based on Lego’s coloured construction blocks, will be Lego’s first Asian theme park.
The 58.6ha project – the size of 72 football fields – is a joint venture between Iskandar Investment Berhad, which coordinates the development in the zone, and theme park operator Merlin Entertainment.
Not known to many Malaysians is the fact that Merlin Entertainment operates Madame Tussauds wax museum and the London Eye.
Legoland Malaysia will open in five years’ time, but there are plenty of hard lessons to be learned before it is opened.
For theme parks to work in Malaysia or Singa­pore, there is a need for plenty of air-conditioning.
The Genting Highlands theme park works well because of its cool weather while the Sunway Lagoon park is water-based.
Singapore has two bad experiences with theme parks – its Haw Par Villa with its over 1,000 statues based on Chinese myths and folklores closed shop in 2000 after 67 years.
Another fiasco was the 12ha Tang Dynasty theme park, based on the ancient capital of Chang An, which has been demolished. It was a multi-million Singaporean dollar disaster.
Malaysians and Singaporeans hate walking in theme parks under the hot sun. We want our air-conditioning.
Disneyland would never work in Malaysia or Singapore. The actors in Mickey Mouse costumes would suffer from dehydration and heat stroke. It would also not be possible to have those colourful parades every night.
Imagine the long queues, if we have the high number of visitors, under the hot sun. It works in Hong Kong because the weather is mild and surely not humid.
There is also a need for a large expatriate staff for Disneyland to work and, again, we have a lousy reputation where a Bangladeshi labourer seems to find it easier getting a work permit than an expatriate professional.
Universal Studios in Sentosa would work because the attractions would be located in large air-conditioned studios.
But what Johor needs to work on would be to expand the entertainment complex to include a wax museum and Johor Eye – which Merlin Entertainment has the experience and also the rights.
Johor should also seriously consider setting up a large aquarium modelled after Shang­hai’s Ocean Aquarium with 10,000 sea creatures. Even Manila has its own Ocean Park now.
With the Iskandar region located near the bay, there is every reason to put up a world-class aquarium and it will work because it would be air-conditioned. Currently, the aquariums in Langkawi, the KLCC and Penang can hardly match the big ones in major cities.
The days of tourism depending on natural scenic sites are over. Tourist attractions need to be created as the competition becomes sharper but, along the way, crucial lessons need to be learned.
Saturday December 20, 2008
Food hawkers the new folk heroes
INSIGHT DOWN SOUTHBy SEAH CHEAH NEE

Almost every worker, businessman or student eats at a food centre every day, making the hawker a central figure in the fight against inflation.
IN TODAY’S crisis, what group of people do Singaporeans most likely accept as their regular heroes – politicians, company CEOs or bankers?
Answer: None of the above!
I believe it is the simple food hawkers who keep their prices low in adverse conditions, something that exerts a major, repeated impact on every family.
Let me explain my choice.
Recently, I was attracted by a queue in front of a suburban hawker stall that was selling breakfast at a price I thought had long been extinct in Singapore.
An overhead sign reads “Economic Beehoon (rice vermicelli) @ S$1.60”, a simple, nutritious dish that included a fair portion of vegetable and an egg.
During these harsh times, with the cost of living at a 26-year high, vendors who sell food at this price are few and far between.
They have become Singapore’s new unsung heroes.
The majority of their peers have followed the trend and raised prices to as high as possible.
During these trying times, hawkers who go that extra mile to help their regulars keep costs down are a heaven-sent to Singapore’s middle class.
Their biggest fans are, of course, the lowest 25% of the nation’s poor, who earn less than S$1,200 (RM2,900) a month. Half of them make no more than S$900 (RM2,180).
The people who queued up for a simple, cheap breakfast that morning – avoiding other costlier dishes – were mostly low-income earners. A few, however, were white-collar workers.
“I can’t raise the price. Many of my customers can’t cope with an increase,” said the vendor. Because the prices were kept low, he had to sell more to maintain profits.
Oil and some imported goods are now cheaper, and there’s worry about deflation ahead, but they mean little to people struggling with the high costs of electricity, food and public transport.
Hawker food is what is making life more tolerable for the Singaporean family.
Official statistics show that despite spiralling costs, the majority, or 65%, of hawkers had kept to their prices.
Almost every worker, businessman or student eats at a food centre or a coffee shop every day. It’s become the culture. His income is affected by what he is charged for food.
This makes the hawker, and the average S$2.50 (RM6) working meal he charges, a central figure and a decisive factor in the fight against inflation.
Thanks to these vendors, a thrifty Singa- porean who eats out twice a day needs to spend no more than S$8-S$10 or RM19.40-RM24.20 (plus drinks), among the lowest of all the global cities.
And those who can keep a meal down to S$2 (RM4.85) are gaining recognition these days as the new heroes.
A local reporter who made a study of Singapore’s hawker scene wrote: “I just don’t know how they can still afford to do so in this age of inflation and uncertainty.
“But there are some kind-hearted heroes out there who can still dish out a mean bowl of prawn noodles at S$2.”
Singapore is, of course, being transformed into a hub city of foreign wealth and talent, for which there is a price.
It is also approaching – or has arrived – at the high cost structure of rich international cities in America, Europe and Japan. A weekend movie ticket here costs S$10.
The current crisis is producing other heroes in the eyes of Singaporeans outside the policy-makers upon whom the public still relies for relief.
There are two other consequences. One is a decline in the people’s dependency on the government, and the other is a readjustment of who they consider are their heroes.
A retired architect said that too many things had gone wrong here and too many price increases had been unwarranted. “We can no longer depend on the government to help us. We have to rely on ourselves.”
National heroes are in short supply in tiny Singapore because of its short history.
In these heady days, they come from the little people – from the religions, from volunteers who work tirelessly to raise funds for, or provide free food to, the worst sufferers.
Public donations to charity last year hit a record S$820mil (RM1.9bil), 50% more than in 2006. The bigger stories come from those who contribute efforts to help the poor, the sickly and the aged, the dysfunctional families and abused children.
With retrenchments increasing, more people in wealthy Singapore are queuing up for free food.
The phenomenon will make social work (shunned by many youths because of its low pay) grow in importance in the years ahead. Some of the cases:
> The Singapore Buddhist Lodge serves up to 5,000 free meals to the needy each weekend, a 30% rise this year. They include foreigners; all are fed as long as the food lasts, no questions asked.
Once a donor drove up with 900 bottles of cooking oil.
> The Central Sikh Temple serves free vegetarian Indian meals to 600 daily; the rising food cost is affecting handouts.
> Some 1,200 single and poor families are getting food rations from a joint effort by a Taoist and a Hindu temple. Another smaller monastery gives free meals to 200 people every day.
There are many others – too numerous to mention – including a host of contributing Muslims and mosques.
This decline in reliance on the government shows society’s maturity. In the past, people relied too much on official help.
But, for the ruling party, this may result in less public bonding, with a political price to pay in future elections.
Thursday December 18, 2008
It’s hard to beat the system
A WRITER'S LIFE BY DINA ZAMAN

We prematurely write off people as failures on the flimsiest whim. But a straight As student does not necessarily possess the right humanistic values.
ONE thing that piqued me at the UOX event in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, last Saturday was who were those kids who came to while away a few hours dancing to live bands and hanging out with their friends?
It was a young, lively and energetic crowd. They wore sunnies, tight skinny jeans and displayed a nonchalance only the young can carry off. They were cool, they were young and they were having fun. But after that, what? Who are they at home and in school?
I will not dare assume that these kids are the urban poor and academic failures.
They could be all-star students for all I know, but in that sea of young faces, I wondered who’d have a future and who’d be doomed, not just through his or her failure at school, but because of the external factors surrounding him or her, such as poverty, not belonging to a family well connected to the powers that be, for instance. Not being at the right place at the right time, nor talented or pretty enough.
I am not going to say that they are of the wrong ethnic make-up, because I know many bumi kids, who are in the same shoes as their non-bumi peers, who did not get the opportunities they deserved. They’re are the NEP Invisibles, the kids who slipped through the cracks.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, he observed: “… because we so profoundly personalise success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung. We make rules that frustrate achievement. We prematurely write off people as failures.
“We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail. And, most of all, we become passive. We overlook just how large a role we all play — and by ‘we’ I mean society — in determining who makes it and who doesn’t.”
He detailed how the Canadian Junior League hockey teams select their players. A high percentage of the boys picked to be players are born in the first three months of the year.
As Gladwell said, it has nothing to do with the moon and stars.
In Canada the eligibility cut-off date is Jan 1. If a potential player turns 10 on Jan 2, he may have to play with someone else who does not turn 10 until the end of the year.
So you can have potential stellar hockey players in Canada, and other countries who have similar selection processes in other sports like football but who are not born at the right time and do not meet the selection dates.
We’re talking about the vanquishing of budding hockey/soccer stars, simply because they were born at the wrong time.
Now what happens next? The selectors stream these young players, who then are privileged to have differentiated experiences.
In a simulated environment, coaches tell you that you are great, the world belongs to you, all you need to do is train and focus, and all the good in the world will belong to you. It is not difficult to believe you are the best, you deserve the best.
Even if one of the selected players is slightly less able than the others, in such a simulated superior environment, he runs a mean streak. He will be afforded that because he has the supporting environment to back him up.
Now what of other young boys who may be as talented and have the capabilities to be world class hockey players, but do not make the cut simply because they were born in the wrong month?
They don’t make the grade. As simple as that. Now, apply this to Malaysia.
Smart kids of a certain ethnic make-up qualify to enter residential schools, which also afford superior experiences. Equally intelligent children of wealthy means go to overseas boarding schools. Whether they will be the next Bill Gates is debatable, but these children are advantaged.
What happens to a Malaysian child who may not be as intelligent as his above mentioned peers, but possesses talents and capabilities which may surpass them? Very few will cut it.
We Asians pride ourselves on how academically and professionally superior we are; we hustle, study hard, just so to be among the ranks of those who have arrived.
These are the values that we, young and old, see that must be acquired. Rare is that parent who is content to leave a child to muddle about in life, pleased with the little he has.
You can be industrious, pious, but what values do you have? And what confidence do you have? Is it a confidence that is superficial, handed down by our parents, and you do not dare go against the rules?
A straight As student does not necessarily mean he or she will have the right humanistic values.
If you had read the Star Business last Saturday, you would have come across P. Gunasegaram’s essay on how to be successful in Malaysia. For a kid who has no connections, no looks or wealth and the smarts, everything will seem too bleak.
Parents and teachers have their hands tied; the authorities juggle amidst war-cries that the system has failed every student in the country.
Academics and intellectuals go to forums and write important essays on the de-construction of the education system, which will be talked about for awhile, and then forgotten.
We need less rhetoric. We need effective and proven solutions. Then perhaps, these kids will not end up as Mat Rempits or as disenfranchised teens slouching about the corner.
And what the young can do is first find their voice and then use it.
The writer can be contacted at dzawriterslife@gmail.com. She works for a non-profit organisation.
Wednesday December 17, 2008
Let’s focus on what we can do
MUSINGSBy MARINA MAHATHIR

IT’S been a long time since I’ve made my lists, so in keeping with recent issues I thought I would make a list of fatwas (edicts) I’d like to see.
Now, some people think that I have something against fatwas. Actually, I think fatwas can be helpful in providing guidance to Muslims on how to conduct their lives. But I do have issues with fatwas that deal only with petty things while ignoring much more important things in life.
What’s more, most fatwas seem to be only about what you cannot do, rather than what you can do.
Having seen how the National Fatwa Council will respond to individual complaints and suggestions for fatwas, I thought I would come up with a list of “Can Do” fatwas they should consider issuing.
None of them will attract punishment if not adhered to, at least not in this world. But I think they would go a long way towards making Muslims, and even non-Muslims, better people. So here goes.
We should have fatwas that:
1. Tell people that the only way to make money is to work hard.
No get-rich-quick schemes that promise you can earn thousands in a week, no pyramid plans, no going to bomohs, no cosying up to the influential, and certainly no bribery and corruption.
2. Say that women can be leaders in any field or workplace, as long as they treat those they lead with equality and fairness.
And those men who have problems with women being leaders are forgetting that the Prophet Muham- mad used to work for his wife Khatijah; and that everyone considered Aishah, the youngest of his wives, a respected leader in her community.
3. Emphasise that the best men are those who never neglect their wives and children, even when they are no longer married to the wo- men.
Therefore, men who abscond from their duties are not to be excused or celebrated in any way.
4. Say that the best parents are those who stay home and read with their children and help them with their homework every school night.
5. Emphasise that the best Mus- lims are those who read the Quran and work to understand it.
6. Say that discriminatory attitudes towards people different from ourselves are not allowed in Islam.
7. Outline ways in which we should show consideration for one another, such as by keeping public toilets clean, not throwing rubbish everywhere and not parking indiscriminately so that other people are inconvenienced.
8. Point out that envy and jealousy are the worst traits anyone could have, especially when other people are successful.
The good Muslim should be happy for others when they are successful and not begrudge them or cast aspersions on their abilities.
9. Encourage charity to be active and not passive.
Charity means actually devoting time and effort to doing something to help others and not merely writing cheques. Charity also means helping those truly in need and not just to get attention.
10. Underscore that a good Muslim is one that is polite and well-mannered, and should never curse, swear and act in an offensive manner to others, especially women, the disabled and people from other communities.
This is not least because such bad manners reflect poorly on one’s upbringing and is therefore disrespectful to one’s own parents.
11. Take to task judges in any court who are biased towards anyone based on sex, race, religion or creed.
12. Declare fatwas and laws that are unjust as null and void.
13. Encourage people to be happy by doing what makes them happy, such as by making music, creating art or engaging in sport, as long as they don’t harm anyone else.
And if these things offend anyone, they have to say clearly why they are offended so that they do not spoil everyone else’s fun.
14. Remind people that nature is a gift from God and should not be taken for granted, nor disrespected and exploited.
Disasters are not to be blamed on God when there are perfectly human explanations for them. Keeping our rivers, forests and air clean is the duty of each of us, not someone else’s.
15. Emphasise that learning and being knowledgeable is also a duty because it helps us to be better people and citizens.
Furthermore, we should learn from far and wide and especially learn science and technology.
16. Encourage people to deal with real-life problems with contemporary solutions and not pretend they don’t exist, or deal with them through unjust solutions or hocus pocus.
17. Assures people that life is not a booby trap where you spend all your time trying to avoid small mistakes out of fear of major retribution.
God is Ever Merciful and Com- passionate and understands that you’re only human.
That’s my fatwa wish list for 2009. May at least some come true!
Wednesday December 24, 2008
A hesitant first step
Reflecting on the lawBy SHAD SALEEM FARUQI

The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill promises many laudatory things but moves very reluctantly and in half-measures towards its goals.
IT WILL take considerable time and require the faith and determination of many courageous people to rekindle the comforting glow of independence, integrity and erudition within our judicial institutions. The task is huge.
In an earlier article on Nov 26, I outlined 13 areas for corrective measures.
It is with satisfaction that I note that some small but significant steps in the right direction have already been taken by the Conference of Rulers, the Prime Minister and Parliament. These steps must be applauded.
The latest measure is the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2008 – a controversial piece of legislation that promises many laudatory things but moves very hesitatingly and in half-measures towards its goals.
Positive aspects: The bill contains 37 sections and many worthwhile provisions.
> In the preamble and in section 2 the bill reiterates the importance of judicial independence and imposes a duty on the Prime Minister to uphold and defend this core feature of a rule of law state.
This is fine. Only that it is surprising that the PM was singled out for this great task. Everyone has a duty to defend judicial independence. Threats to it come not only from the political executive, but from Parliament, corrupt elements within the judiciary, wily lawyers and unscrupulous corporate figures.
> Previously the PM relied almost exclusively on the advice of the Chief Justice for all appointments and promotions to the superior courts.
We know that due to factionalism within the judiciary this advice was often deeply flawed. Other senior judges played only a nominal role in the consultative process. Stakeholders like the Bar Council and other public interest groups had no say whatsoever.
Now a panel of nine members of the Judicial Appointments Commis­sion consisting of five judges and four “eminent persons” will have a right to advise the PM. This is im­­mensely better.
> Sections 21(1)(b) and 29 permit qualified aspirants to apply for selection. This will remove the need for corrupt middle men to broker appointments.
> Under section 5(1)(f), consultation with stakeholders like the Bar Council is mandated in the choice of the four “eminent persons”.
> The criteria for selection of judicial nominees is spelt out in considerable detail in section 23. This will promote transparency. A significant provision is that judges with three or more pending judgments are barred from appointment and, presumably, from promotion.
> A pleasantly surprising provision is section 21. It outlines the functions and powers of the Commission in a very broad way.
Besides selecting names for the PM’s consideration, the Commission has the power to recommend programmes to improve the administration of justice and to make other recommendations about the judiciary.
Clearly there is potential here for reformative ideas to gain an airing.
> Under section 25 a Commission member who is being considered for selection is disqualified from participating in the deliberations. This is in line with the seminal principle of natural justice – nemo judex in causa sua – that no one should be a judge in his own cause.
Despite the above laudable provisions there are some serious but surreptitious problems of unconstitutionality in this bill.
Violation of Articles 122B and 122AB: These Articles of the Constitution prescribe a detailed and multi-tiered process of consultation before judicial appointments and promotions are made to the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Courts. Four steps are discernible.
First, when a vacancy arises, the PM seeks the counsel of judges. The Chief Justice (in all cases), the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Judges of the High Courts (in appointments to their courts) advise the PM. Second, the PM advises the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Third, the King consults with the Conference of Rulers. Fourth, the King makes the appointments.
The constitutional issue is that the bill creates a parallel and prior procedure for judicial selection. The bill’s consequence is that at the initial stage there are two sets of procedures and two sets of advisers to perform the same task.
This is likely to result in two clashing nomination lists to reach the PM. In such a case the one borne out of constitutional procedures and by constitutionally created bodies will prevail because the Constitution is supreme and Parliament is not.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz is claiming that there is no violation of the Constitution as the JAC Bill procedure does not supplant, but merely supplements and precedes, the Articles 122B and 122AB procedures. There is some substance to this argument.
The bill does not openly take away the discretion of the PM to advise the King. The Monarch’s power to consult with the Conference of Rulers prior to the making of appointments is also unaffected.
But one cannot deny that at the initial stage there are two sets of authorities and two sets of procedures to shortlist and select candidates for the PM’s consideration. The Commission is usurping the functions of senior judges to whom the task was allocated by the Consti-tution.
Violation of Article 159(3): The Government should have amended Articles 122B and 122AB of the Constitution by substituting the provision for consultation between the PM and top judges with a new provision for binding advice to the PM from a constitutionally constituted Judicial Appointments Commission
A Constitution Amendment Bill to replace 122B and 122AB procedures with the JAC procedures would have required a two-thirds majority under Article 159(3).
Despite the Government’s lack
of such support in the Dewan Rakyat, Barisan Nasional could have tried
to forge a bipartisan majority in Parliament. Indications are that the opposition would be prepared to cooperate.
However, the Government rejected this modality of change. It went for an ordinary Act of Parliament. The JAC Bill provides a “pre-Article 122B and 122AB” nomination procedure to assist the Prime Minister.
The four ex-officio judges who are members of the JAC under the new bill are also part of the constitutional process of advising the PM.
If they are bound by the JAC deliberations, then Articles 122B and 122AB are clearly being displaced and the bill is, in its pith and substance, a constitutional amendment in disguise without compliance with constitutional procedures.
Likewise, if the PM is bound by the JAC recommendation, then a conflict with Article 122B is apparent.
Administrative law: The JAC Bill puts the top-four judges, especially the Chief Justice who is the Chairman of the JAC, in an administrative law dilemma.
Having participated in the JAC decision to prepare a nomination list, the nation’s top four jurists are disqualified on the nemo judex in causa sua principle from participating in a different forum for the same purpose.
Having expressed their minds once, they should recluse themselves. However, being recipients of a higher constitutional duty under Articles 122B and 122AB to render advice, they are entitled to disregard the JAC determination and exercise their own discretion.
Paradoxically, this is what administrative law will require. Its principles forbid the recipient of a power from acting mechanically under the dictation of another.
Rights of Sabah and Sarawak: Under Article 161E(2)(b) no amendment shall be made to the Constitution without the concurrence of the Yang di-Pertuas Negri of Sabah and Sarawak as regards the appointment, removal and suspension of judges of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak.
The JAC Bill does indeed deal with appointment of judges to the Borneo courts. However, it is drafted as an ordinary Act of Parliament and not a constitutional amendment.
On the face of it, Article 161E should not apply. But this is over-simplistic. Parliamentary descriptions do not matter. What the bill says is not as important as what the bill does.
In many cases courts have ruled that legislation can be condemned as “colourable” if it seeks to achieve forbidden purposes whether directly or indirectly.
The forbidden purpose here is to alter the manner in which judges of the Borneo courts will be selected without the concurrence of the Governors of these states.
In sum, I see several constitutional conundrums.
First, whether the provisions of the JAC Bill violate Articles 122B and 122AB? The unconstitutionality arises because a Commission is created to usurp the constitutional functions of the Chief Justice and the other three top judges.
Second, does this bill put the Chief Justice and the other three top judges in an unconscionable conflict of interest situation whereby they have to sit in two separate capacities to give advice to the same person (the PM) on the same subject matter?
Third, if the bill seeks to bind the PM to the JAC recommendation, then this is a clear fetter on Article 122B’s discretion.
Fourth, if this bill, in its pith and substance, is a constitutional amendment to Articles 122B and 122AB, then was the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority met?
Fifth, as the constitutionally entrenched rights of Sabah and Sarawak under Article 161E are affected by this bill, does it matter that the bill is in the form of an ordinary Act of Parliament and not a constitutional amendment as is required by Article 161E?
Sixth, if the JAC Bill does not seek to replace the flawed parts of Articles 122B and 122AB, then it is of very little use and only a half-measure to curb the evils of factionalism, corruption and political brokering in the matter of judicial appointments.
>Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi is Professor of Law at UiTM
Monday December 22, 2008
China slows down, economies worry
GLOBAL TRENDSBy MARTIN KHOR

The theory of Asia ‘decoupling’ from the world recession is disproved, as China’s economy is rapidly slowing, with millions of jobs lost and a review pending on its export-led strategy.
WHAT a difference a few months make! When the US sub-prime mortgage crisis was evolving, many analysts theorised that Asian economies were “decoupled” from the Western economies, and would continue their strong growth, especially with China pulling the rest along.
Last week, I attended a conference in Beijing during which the mood was grim and gloomy. Most participants not only presented evidence of a significant slowdown of China’s economy in recent months, but also predicted that the country’s export-led model of development was over and a new development strategy must be found.
It is clear we cannot expect China’s traditional high growth to keep the Asian or the world economies afloat. Instead, China may be hit harder than many other countries.
The conference, organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the country’s top policy think tank, was to mark 30 years of success in China’s opening up to the world. By the time it was held, the main topic had turned to the effects of the global economic crisis on China.
In fact, Chinese policy makers and thinkers are going through a re-thinking of their economic and social policies, as the global crisis has hit the country much more seriously than perhaps anyone had predicted.
A large part of China’s high growth (10% a year or higher) and its dramatic increase in foreign reserves (to almost US$2 trillion now (RM6.9tril)) was driven by manufactured exports.
But recent months have seen the closure of export-oriented firms. Around 670,000 small firms have closed this year and 6.7 million jobs vanished, many in Guangdong, due to the global crisis, according to State Council advisor Chen Quansheng.
The Human Resources Ministry reported last week that 4.85 million jobless migrant workers had returned to their hometowns and villages by the end of November and more than 10 million migrants are now out of work.
The situation may even be worse. Dr Geng Xiao, Director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center in Beijing told me that in his estimate 20 million jobs have been lost as the industries based along the Chinese eastern coast that were producing textiles, shoes, toys, steel and construction materials have closed.
This reflects the slump in exports as well as in consumer spending. In November, for the first time in many years, China’s export revenue actually fell.
Industrial output growth slowed to 8% in October. Total electricity output fell by 7%, an ominous sign as electricity use is the first indicator of the overall state of the economy.
In the domestic economy, vehicle sales were up by only 7.7% in November while the sales of building materials were 33% down in November and private housing sales in January-November were 20% below the same period a year ago.
Small and medium-sized enterprises were already in trouble at the beginning of this year. Their profit margins were hit by cost increases caused by rising raw materials prices, the appreciation of the local currency, implementation of new labour laws including minimum wages, new tax and export rebate policies, and shortages of land supply and credit.
By mid-year, economic analysts were already talking about “the end of low-cost textile exports”. Policy makers were aiming at phasing in higher value-added industries.
Then, the financial crisis turned into a real-economy recession in the US and Europe in the past few months. The fall in consumer demand in the West is transforming the problems into a major crisis in China.
At least four foreign experts at the conference last week predicted that the export-led model is over for China, at least for the next several years as the West’s recession will deepen and last many years, and consumer demand for Chinese imports is going to plunge.
Most explicit on this point was Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf, who said “the old export-led growth model has now hit the buffers and the time for radical change is now”.
Almost all agreed that the way forward is for China to boost its domestic engines of growth, especially through an increase in its consumer expenditure, which last year was only 35% of GNP, probably the lowest such ratio in the world.
How to get Chinese households to spend more is a complex question, given the rise in unemployment and the economic uncertainty, and the penchant of the Chinese to save for a rainy day. This is a long-term solution. In the short run, it is easier to boost government consumer spending, such as through house construction.
In November, the government announced a fiscal stimulus package of more than US$600bil (RM2.07tril) over two years, including for infrastructure, low-cost housing and schools. This was hailed around the world as a contribution to boosting world demand. As China’s leaders have said, their country’s biggest contribution to the world economy will be to keep its own economy growing.
But it is unlikely that fiscal stimulus alone will be enough to prevent a significant slowdown that will shave many percentage points off the economy’s usual 10%-plus growth.
The global crisis may in fact cut the growth of China by more percentage points than the loss of GNP growth points in the US, major European countries or Japan.
This will affect other developing countries through reduced demand in China for commodities and intermediate products. The rapid softening of commodity prices is a sign of this.
The “decoupling” thesis is thus being turned around its head. Things will get worse for developing countries like Malaysia before they finally get better.
Sunday December 21, 2008
The people’s interest should come above all
THE STAR SAYS...

THE Cabinet’s decision to defer Sime Darby’s proposed take­over plan of the National Heart Institute (IJN) is certainly a welcome relief. An outright rejection of the idea, however, would have done more to allay concerns and anxieties.
The IJN was set up as a statutory body, through an act of Parliament using taxpayers’ funds, 16 years ago. It was never designed for commercial consi­derations.
Its function has remained the same – treating heart disease sufferers, particularly patients who cannot afford the high costs imposed by private medical centres, and charging affordable rates for those who have the means to pay.
Over the years, IJN has also helped in the training of our cardiac specialists and towards the setting up of heart units in various government hospitals throughout the country.
While it has its share of deficiencies, like long queues of patients awaiting treatment and surgery, there is no denying that IJN has earned its reputation as an iconic centre for medical excellence.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has clarified that the Government had earlier only agreed in principle to the proposal and that the Economic Planning Unit and key ministries involved would now undertake a comprehensive study.
But why is an in-depth study only being commissioned after resounding negative feedback to a plan that had been kept carefully under wraps until recently?
If transparency is an integral component of corporate governance, it has not been demonstrated in this proposed deal.
The Malaysian Medical Asso­ciation and prominent personalities in the fraternity, including many directly involved in the start and development of IJN, have either expressed their reservations over Sime Darby’s takeover proposal or questioned its mode and motives.
Experience has proven that privatisation can only result in one sure thing – higher costs. For government hospitals, this has already been seen with the procurement of medicines, equipment maintenance, waste disposal, cleaning and laundry services over the past 15 years.
In the case of IJN, Najib has given an assurance that the Govern­ment will not abandon or sacrifice its social responsibilities.
We trust that the decision, when finally made, will be in the interest of the people and not for any corporate gain.
Sunday December 7, 2008
Taking a more moderate line
By SUHAINI AZNAM

The changing face of PAS is attracting today’s ‘modern’ Muslims as well as non-Muslims. While the party remains consistent in its commitment to Islam, its younger leaders have shed their physical and psychological robes and turbans.
TWO decades after shouts of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) rang out in the still night air in the PAS stronghold of Marang, Terengganu, frightening “infidels” after a packed ceramah, the nation has seen the birth of a PAS supporters club – comprising non-Muslims.
This is the target group PAS’ younger generation of leaders are wooing, for, in a decade, it is they who will inherit the party.
The jostling has already begun. The lines being drawn between the conservative ulama and the younger moderates are geared to the party election anticipated in mid-2009.
Ironically, Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, despite his stature as PAS Mursyid’ul Am (spiritual leader), is the iconic figurehead for the moderates.
His protege, PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa, is expected to take on incumbent Nasharuddin Mat Isa for the deputy president’s post.
The latter, meanwhile, is seen as the favoured successor of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, an ulama of the old school, although he, too, in the early 1980s, was considered a “young Turk”.
If Kelantan is solidly behind their Tok Guru Nik Aziz, Terengganu is similarly 100% behind Haji Hadi and his band of al-Azhar University graduates. It is in the racially mixed west coast, erupting most recently in Selangor, that both streams of opinion play a tug of war.
Late last month, Selangor PAS Commissioner Datuk Dr Hassan Mohd Ali removed Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad as deputy commissioner II and Hulu Kelang assemblyman Saari Sungip from the state’s 11-man Dewan Harian (PAS management committee), following a series of “differences in opinion,” as Khalid put it.
At 51, Khalid and Saari are considered PAS’ new wave of Muslim intellectuals. Both were labelled as being of the Erdogan group – after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan – for their liberal stance on a clutch of issues.
The perjorative term painted them as supporters of PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but their removal had less to do with their Anwar links than with differences in state level party policy.
“Khalid was a good sport about it,” said a PAS leader, requesting anonymity.
“He admitted that he and Dr Hassan had not been seeing eye to eye on several issues, from as early as former mentri besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo’s invitation to talk about forming a joint state government soon after March 8.”
At that time, there were even rumours of Hassan being offered the MB’s post in such a scenario. The talks fizzled out and PAS remained with the PKR to eventually form the Pakatan Rakyat, together with the DAP.
Sensitive issues
Nevertheless, thorny issues remained. One was a highly publicised integrated pig farm in Ladang Tumbuk, Selangor, which Khalid feels could be “run professionally and if possible cleanly”. It did not make sense to him for those of other races to import all their foods. There would be a “ruckus among non-Muslims” since their food import bill would be too high.
More recently, Dr Hassan submitted an alternative list of names to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, of the PKR, after the latter appointed the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) deputy general manager, a Chinese woman, to serve as acting head of the state corporation. Dr Hassan’s list comprised entirely of Malays.
In late November, when Selangor PAS tried to ban the sale of alcohol in sundry shops and 7-eleven outlets in the state, Khalid disagreed. He felt that “banning alcohol is not practical when Muslims comprise only 51% of Selangor’s population.”
Khalid does not want the press to “fan the flames” between Dr Hassan and himself. He does not want to hear their differences formalised into talk of factions. As one of the more open PAS MPs, he had scored points among non-Muslims when he attended a church service in Shah Alam, saying: “I am the MP of all my constituents, including Umno members if they would have me,” adding with a laugh “many of them had in fact voted for me.”
Being accommodative Muslim professionals “who can absorb differences”, Khalid, Saari and like-minded colleagues see themselves as the “big fishes in a small pond”.
“If 90% of PKR are graduates, PAS is more diverse,” said Saari.
Saari officially joined PAS in 2004 after two decades of participation with Muslim movements, initially as a student leader in the United Kingdom and later as the first president of the Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) founded in 1990. He has written some 40 books on various aspects of Islam.
To top off his credentials, Saari had twice been detained under the ISA, first for “a tough 16 days” for his involvement in the nascent Reformasi movement in 1998 and subsequently in Kamunting from 2001-03. Today he is a much sought-after speaker nationwide.
He had twice stood on the Keadilan ticket, in a Kuala Langat by-election in 1999 and Paya Besar, Pahang in 2004.
“When Anwar was released, I told him I wanted to be active in PAS, without any ill feeling with Keadilan. I just wanted to give the best that I have to PAS,” said Saari of his return to more familiar ground.
Now Saari wants decision-making to be more open and regulated.
“There should be no pre-council meeting when the Dewan Harian already comprises only 11 members.
“The merits of our arguments should be based on the quality of our debate, rather than emotion.”
For PAS to grow stronger, its leaders should “not bulldoze (ideas) through, or sweep them under the carpet,” said the professional. He believes that in negotiating, one should either “agree, or agree to disagree” on issues.
“Before the election, we kept saying that we are for all. Now is the time for us to prove it. Suddenly PAS seems to be placing more importance on Melayu. We are over-sensitive. We should be talking more with the DAP.
“Since we are in Pakatan, the leadership must show that we are together. Our main opponent is Umno,” said Saari.
“In a coalition, getting from here to there is not as easy as when we are on our own,” Khalid conceded.
However, having known Anwar since his Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia days has made them more receptive to the PKR way of thinking. Certainly, neither has second thoughts in endorsing Anwar as the next prime minister. “He is the person who can get the allegiance of the different groups,” said Khalid pragmatically.
He echoes a stand made even before the 1999 general election among Keadilan, DAP and the late PAS president Datuk Fadzil Noor, who agreed that if the Barisan Alternatif won, Anwar would be the prime minister even though he was then under detention and did not stand, recounted Kota Baru MP Datuk Wan Abd Rahim Wan Abdullah.
“That agreement stands to today and need not be replaced with another.”
Reasonable expectations
Since Anwar’s self-imposed Sept 16 deadline to take over the federal government failed to materialise, his fan club has diminished. Anwar addressed their disillusionment at last weekend’s PKR convention.
But among his PAS allies, the criticisms were almost non-existent.
“PAS does not have high expectations,” explained Wan Rahim.
“To be able to get five states between us was already a big surprise.”
Still, it is not inconceivable that PAS and Umno might yet work together again.
Already Umno and PAS have held three rounds of Malay unity talks at the highest level, between no less than the party presidents of each. These talks ceased after PAS leaders at its party assembly last August drew fire from the rank and file.
Leading the charge was Nik Aziz himself. Today, he and Terengganu PAS Commissioner Datuk Mustapha Ali are the only two from PAS’ top hierarchy who were party to the 1970s cooperation between PAS and Umno. PAS became a founder member of the Barisan Nasional in 1974. In 1978, PAS was evicted after it opposed the Barisan’s attempt to pass the Emergency Ordinance through Parliament.
This was followed by 18 years of bad blood during which PAS worked with a clutch of tiny parties like Nasma, while Umno backed Berjasa and Hamim to try to topple PAS in Kelantan.
“Today, 10 of PAS’ top 12 leaders have no experience of working with Umno and being played out,” said Wan Rahim.
It was those memories that had led Nik Aziz to famously say “one should never be bitten twice by the same snake coming out of the same snake hole.”
Both Malay-based parties have since evolved. The question before PAS now is whether it is to be more Malay or Muslim in its direction.
“It’s the same thing,” said Wan Rahim simply.
“Malay equals Muslim and vice-versa.
“We are practical. We acknowledge our limitations in a multi-racial society. And we have been consistent since 1951 in championing Islam.”
This consistency has won it respect and friends, even among urban Malays who are not its natural constituents. A few confessed that if PAS were to contest in Kuala Lumpur, they would vote for it.
But they are not PAS’ targets.
“PAS has to focus more on the rural areas, including Felda schemes, where people are less educated and have less exposure to information apart from the Government media and Malay national dailies,” said Wan Rahim. “This is where Umno has long held sway.”
“PAS will have to deliver these rural constituencies. DAP cannot and PKR does not have the grassroots.”
“It is up to PAS,” he added.
Wednesday December 24, 2008
Najib: National Land Council to decide on State’s move to award freehold titles
By MAZWIN NIK ANIS

PUTRAJAYA: The Perak government will have to put on hold its intention to award freehold land titles to those residing in settlements and new villages.
This is because states which want to do so will have to get the approval of the National Land Council to ensure there is uniformity in procedure and policies.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Perak had during the council’s meeting yesterday, voiced its intention to award freehold land titles to those living in settlements and new villages.
However, the decision would have to be deferred until the council has held an in-depth discussion on the matter.
“We have a policy where states cannot make unilateral decision on issuing freehold land titles. Such titles are usually given to land that is to be used by the Federal Government, for public use and under special circumstances.
“The National Land Council will convene a special meeting soon to enable the state to present its working paper and for us to discuss their proposal.
“Until the council makes a decision, Perak cannot award the land titles to the people concerned,” he told reporters after chairing the National Land Council meeting at the Implementation and Coordination Unit here yesterday. It is learnt that the state’s intention would involve around 2,800ha of land.
Najib also said the e-tanah pilot project, currently being tested in Penang would be extended to Malacca and Negri Sembilan next year.
“If the project proves successful and beneficial, we will extend it nationwide.”
The e-tanah is an electronic land transaction system that promises a more modernised land office administration.
Published: Wednesday December 24, 2008 MYT 8:02:00 PM
Perak defies Putrajaya, to go ahead with freehold plan
By HAH FOONG LIAN and SYLVIA LOOI

IPOH: Perak will go ahead with its plan to issue freehold titles to the 149,000 house owners in 349 planned and 134 new villages despite objections from the Federal Government.
“The state government has instructed land offices to proceed with the processing of the applications from (house owners in) planned and new villages,” Perak senior executive councillor Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said.
He was responding to a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that the Perak government must first obtain the approval of the National Land Council before converting the leasehold to freehold titles.
Ngeh had earlier attended the Perak Water Board meeting chaired by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, who said the state need not wait for the council’s approval, but would submit a report to it.
“The report would be merely for discussion,” Nizar added.
Earlier, in a statement, Ngeh said: “The opinion of the (Deputy Prime Minister) that Perak cannot implement this until a decision is made by the council is at best misconceived.
“In the absence of any legal impediment, the state government can lawfully proceed to implement the proposed conversion of leasehold title to a title in perpetuity.”
From his reading of certain articles of the Federal Constitution and provisions of the National Land Code, Ngeh said, it was for the state authority, and not for the National Land Council, to decide whether the alienation of state land should be in perpetuity or leasehold.
“The action of the Perak government does not contravene any statutory provision,” he said.
Tuesday December 23, 2008
Refining the notion of governance
IKIM VIEWSBy DR MOHD ZAIDI ISMAIL,Senior Fellow/Director,Centre for Science and Technology

Good governance, in Islam, has a more refined description than the Western notion of ‘the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented’.
IT IS to be duly noted that one of the distinctive features of the religious, intellectual and scientific tradition of Islam is the utmost care given to the correct and precise connotation and denotation of terminologies, a feature rendered possible by the root system of the Arabic language.
As such, it is commonplace in this tradition for the conceptual content of a science, or an art, to have its most appropriate terminological form.
Good governance, being a topic of great relevance as much as a concept that points to a particular activity or process, cannot therefore be an exception to the aforementioned rule on terminological precision.
As it is a composite term, a clear understanding of its true meaning draws mainly on what is meant by its two singular terms “good” and “governance”.
Whereas neither of these two notions, “good” as well as “governance,” is new – in fact, they are as ancient as human society – we cannot deny that in the contemporary context, good governance has been much discussed in Western academic circles.
And as is widely perceived, the West, through its many representatives and agencies, has been championing its cause.
Muslims who are interested in addressing the foregoing cannot, therefore, avoid attending to the way, or ways, it has been understood and defined by their Western counterparts.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, for instance, describes “governance” as “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)”.
I personally do not think that any enlightened Muslim will have fundamental objections to this description of governance.
But what I think can be done is to offer a more refined description of it.
And such a refinement will come in the form of tadbir, as both theoria and praxis, as discussed in IKIM Views, Oct 28.
To recapitulate, one’s tadbir of any matter, or affairs, basically points to one’s act of relating it to its end or result. And insofar as human logic grants, such an act of relating can be either mental or extra-mental, intellectual or practical.
Hence, its descriptions in the religious, intellectual and scientific tradition of Islam as:
> “The mental act of looking into the consequences of the affairs so that a praiseworthy result will be obtained” (al-Baydawi, d. 791H);
> “The act of examining the outcomes by means of knowing what is good” as well as “the act of putting matters into effect in accordance with the knowledge of what will follow in the end” (al-Jurjani, d. 816H); and,
> “one’s disposing of, or reflection, pertaining to the outcome of an affair” (al-Tahanawi, d. 1158H).
At the very least, such descriptions demonstrate that governance is not simply about “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented)” but also about the substance of the decision-making, i.e. the end, the outcome, the result, and the consequence.
It is to be noted here, that goals or objectives, despite their being related in many respects to ends or outcomes, are not really synonymous. For not every aim will result in an outcome and, likewise, not every outcome achieves the intended aim.
On this account, therefore, there are some elements of unknowability about goals as something yet to be realised in the future, whereas outcomes, when referring to past events that are well documented, are more factual.
Nevertheless, Muslims strongly believe in God’s Pattern of Recurrent Acts (the Sunnatullah) which apart from appearing in the various forms of the cause-effect correlation, is manifested in history, especially as the rise and decline of nations and civilisations.
Granted the regularity of this Pattern of Recurrent Acts, it is partly to the past outcomes that our noetic observations should be directed in order to not only derive some meaningful lessons and useful insights with regard to the future, but also to avoid repeating similar mistakes, facing much the same pitfalls, and being trapped in essentially the same quagmire.
Published: Wednesday December 24, 2008 MYT 9:11:00 PMUpdated: Wednesday December 24, 2008 MYT 10:11:07 PM
PM: Strengthen spirit of understanding

KUALA LUMPUR: The people should reassess and strengthen the spirit of understanding among the communities which has been the basis of national unity, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
In his Christmas message, Abdullah said Malaysians must play their roles to further enhance ties among the multiracial and multireligious people.
“It would be naive of us to think that forging unity is the sole responsibility of the Government,” he said.
He said the task of forging unity rested on the shoulders of every citizen and the goodwill among the races must constantly be renewed so that the country could tackle problems in a multiracial society.
Such efforts should go beyond building tolerance and holding celebrations and should strive for greater understanding and more solid and sincere mutual appreciation, he said.
He said that as Christians celebrate Christmas among family and friends, the people should not forget the less fortunate, especially the victims of the recent landslides and floods.
“As we celebrate Christmas, let us extend a helping hand to those in need,” he added. — Bernama.
Published: Wednesday December 24, 2008 MYT 7:59:00 PMUpdated: Wednesday December 24, 2008 MYT 8:01:53 PM
Bomoh molesting young women, aided by his wife
By FARIK ZOLKEPLI

KOTA TINGGI: A 50-year-old bomoh (witch doctor) with the assistance of his wife has been molesting young women since early this year.
Their activity was discovered only after a 19-year-old victim reported the matter to the police.
The victim had gone to the bomoh’s house in Bandar Tenggara here to get medication for muscle aches at about 8pm on Tuesday.
The bomoh started his “treatment” with reading her palm when suddenly his 43-year-old wife held the victim to the ground and covered her mouth.
The victim’s clothes were then removed by the bomoh who then molested her but the victim managed to free herself and ran out of their house.
Kota Tinggi OCPD Supt Osman Mohamed Sebot who confirmed the case said that police has since picked up the bomoh and his wife.
“We believe there are more victims who did not lodge police reports,” he said, adding that the bomoh was previously working as a lorry driver.
Rabu Disember 24, 2008
Tembok penghalang Yakjuj dan Makjuj dipaparkan dalam 'Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain.'
Oleh NURUL AIN MOHD. HUSSAIN
Patung Alexander The Great di Greece menjadi bukti pahlawan agung ini sangat dikenali di seluruh dunia dan diiktiraf sebagai pemimpin pertama yang berjaya menguasai negara di Timur dan Barat.
MENJEJAKI kisah sejarah semata-mata mungkin membosankan penonton, namun anda pasti teruja jika dapat menyaksikan tembok yang dibina untuk menghalang makhluk perosak umat manusia Yakjuj dan Makjuj yang pernah disebut oleh Allah S.W.T dalam Al-Quran.
Dokumentari Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain bakal menyingkap fakta serta kisah pahlawan agung yang berjaya menakluki dunia seperti yang tercatat dalam sejarah peradaban dunia.
Mengangkat kisah Nabi Zulkarnain atau Alexander The Great sebagai intipati cerita penonton akan dibawa menjejaki kisah sejarah pahlawan Islam yang agung ini sebagaimana yang tercatat dalam surah Al- Kahfi ayat 83 hingga 98.
Buah tangan sulung terbitan FM Production ini dijangka akan memberi impak serta mengubah perspektif masyarakat dunia mengenai peradaban dan sejarah tamadun Islam.
Menurut Penerbit Eksekutif FM Production, Zainal Rashid Ahmad, mereka mengambil masa selama dua tahun untuk menyiapkan dokumentari ini.
Menceritakan lebih lanjut mengenai bagaimana tercetusnya idea untuk menerbitkan dokumentari ini, Zainal berkata dokumentari tersebut diangkat daripada tesis seorang pelajar Doktor Falsafah dari Universiti Antarabangsa Islam Malaysia.
"Setelah membaca tesis pelajar terbabit secara terperinci dan saya terus mendapat ilham untuk mendokumentasikan semula kisah Zulkarnain berdasarkan persepsi sejarah Melayu dan Islam.
"Oleh kerana terdapat perbezaan di antara sejarah Melayu dan Islam mengenai Zukarnain, akhirnya kami mengambil keputusan untuk melihat kisahnya dari persepsi sejarah Islam," katanya dalam sidang akhbar pelancaran dokumentari Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain di Hotel PJ Hilton semalam.
Menurutnya, pihak penerbitan mengambil masa selama tujuh bulan untuk melakukan kajian secara terperinci mengenai fakta-fakta sejarah yang terdapat mengenai kisah Zulkarnain.
Ditanya mengenai cabaran untuk menyiapkan dokumentari ini Zainal berkata beberapa versi cerita serta pertindihan fakta mengenai kisah Zulkarnain menjadi halangan pada permulaannya.
"Terdapat beberapa versi cerita mengenai kisah Zulkarnain dan ia agak memeningkan kepala pihak produksi diperingkat awal. Namun setelah menjalankan kajian secara mendalam kami mengambil keputusan untuk mengikut sejarah Islam," ujarnya.
Pihak FM Production juga telah menerima dana sebanyak RM1juta daripada Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia menjadikannya antara dokumentari berkualiti tinggi yang pernah dihasilkan di negara ini.
Team produksi, FM Production turut diiktiraf oleh kerajaan Greece sebagai sebahagian daripada penyumbang sejarah Alexander The Great.
Jelas Zainal, apa yang cuba diketengahkan dalam dokumentari ini adalah ingin membetulkan persepsi perang yang sering disalah tafsir oleh masyarakat bukan Islam.
"Prinsip perang dalam Islam perlu dibetulkan dan Zulkarnain adalah antara tokoh pahlawan Islam yang mengetengahkan tiga konsep yang disarankan oleh Islam dalam peperangan.
"Tiga perkara penting itu adalah tidak mengambil hak-hak orang tua, kaum wanita serta kanak-kanak seperti mana yang diceritakan dalam surah Al-Kahfi," katanya.
Paling istimewa, team produksi FM Production telah berjaya menjejaki beberapa penemuan baru seperti penemuan lokasi tembok Yakjuj dan Makjuj dan lokasi laut berlumpur yang akan dirungkaikan dalam dokumentari berdurasi selama 60 minit ini.
Lebih mengujakan lagi apabila team produksi mereka diberi penghargaan oleh kerajaan Greece atas penemuaan terbabit.
"Kami pun sangat terkejut dengan penemuaan itu sehingga kerajaan Greece mengiktiraf hasil penemuaan tersebut. Kami turut diberikan satu patung Alexander The Great sebagai dan diiktiraf sebagai sebahagian pasukan penyumbang maklumat kepada sejarah Alexander The Great di sana," ujarnya ceria.
Menurut Zainal, tiga tokoh utama yang menjadi nadi penggerak dokumentari ini ialah Alexander The Great, Cyrus The Great dan salah seorang Raja dari Empayar Himyar.
Menceritakan lebih lanjut mengenai lokasi penggambaran dokumentari, Zainal berkata pihak produksi telah mengembara ke sembilan buah negara dengan merentasi tiga buah benua, Eropah, Asia dan Afrika bagi menjejaki sejarah Alexader The Great ini.
"Dengan kekutan team produksi seramai 20 orang yang dipecahkan kepada dua kumpulan kami akan membawa penonton mengembara ke negara kota-kota lama yang dikaitkan dengan Zulkarnain bermula dengan di Pella dan Acropolis (Greece), Alexandaria (Mesir), beberapa tinggalan sejarah penting di Yaman,Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan.
"Team produksi kami juga turut menjejaki kisah Zulkarnain di Rusia, selatan China dan beberapa daerah terpencil di Afrika yang dikaitkan dengan Cyrus The Great serta Raja Himyar yang dipercayai sebagai Zulkarnain," katanya.
Terbitkan filem Sallahuddin Al-Ayubi
Bertitik tolak daripada sejarah di era kegemilangan umat Islam, FM Production bakal tampil menghasilkan filem sejarah pertama di negara ini.
Filem tersebut diadaptasi daripada kisah pahlawan perang yang tersohor di era pemerintahan Khalifah Al-Rashidin, Sallahuddin Al-Ayubi.
"Pada ketika ini kami sedang mencari pelabur untuk melabur dalam projek terbaru kami yang dijangka menelan belanja sekitar RM2.2 juta.
"Jika hari ini dunia mengenali Julius Caesar, Napolean Bonarparte dan tokoh-tokoh perang di Barat yang berperang kerana menjajah orang lain.
"Tapi apa salahnya kita kembalikan ingatan kita kepada tokoh pahlawan Islam yang cukup disegani kira-kira 1000 tahun dahulu, Sallahuddin Al-Ayubi yang mengetuai tiga perang utama dalam kalendar sejarah Islam," katanya.
Jelas beliau terdapat satu ciri persamaan yang jelas dalam diri Sallahuddin Al-Ayubi apabila beliau turut mengamalkan tiga prinsip yang diamalkan oleh Zulkarnain dalam perang, iaitu memerdekakan hamba, wanita dan kanak-kanak serta tidak melaksanakan hukuman bunuh kepad musuh.
"Tajuk filem ini Sallahuddin Al-Ayubi dari Tikrit ke Al-Aqsa, ia bakal mengungkap kisah disebalik bandar Tikrit yang merupakan lahirnya Presiden Iraq, Saddam Hussien.
"Lebih istimewa tokoh tersohor ini telah memerdekakan Masjid Al-Aqsa dan umat Islam. Namun bukan itu sahaja kerana tokoh Islam ini turut memerdekakan orang Kristian serta masyarakat Jews di bawah cengkaman Raja Harods yang zalim," katanya.
Tambah beliau lagi, berdasarkan kisah tersebut mereka akan membuat penggambaran dalam standard filem yang mana ia akan dipasarkan diperingkat antarabangsa.
"Sejarah ini penting bukan hanya untuk produk tempatan malah untuk mengingatkan seluruh dunia ada seorang lelaki Islam yang tiga kali berperang dengan musuh dia tapi dia satu-satunya tokoh yang berpegang pada piagam perang," ujar Zainal.
Sementara itu, menurut Pengarah Eksekutif Astro Entertaiment Sdn. Bhd, Zainir Aminullah, berdasarkan sambutan yang mengkagumkan daripada penonton saluran Astro Oasis, pihak penerbitan merasa terpanggil untuk terus membekalkan program-program yang mempunyai nilai-nilai kerohanian.
"Dokumentari ini juga dapat memberi pengetahuan ilmiah yang sesuai dengan selera penonton yang mahukan inspirasi sanubari," kata Zainir.
Jelas beliau, dokumentari Alxander Bukan Zulkarnain juga bukan sekadar sebuah program biasa yang hanya boleh ditonton melalui televisyen kerana segala cerita disebalik tabir mengenai pembikinan dokumentari ini dapat dilayari bagi pengguna telefon bimbit yang menggunakan talian pra-bayar Celcom.
Tambah Zainir, Astro meras besar hati dengan usahasama untuk menjayakan produksi ini dalam membekalkan sebuah program hebat yang padat dengan unsur pembelajaran yang amat informatif.
"Hasil produksi ini bukan sahaja memberi pengajaran kepada penonton, tetapi telah menjawab segala keraguan serta persoalan mengenai perdebatan di antara identiti sebenar dua lagenda hebat dua zaman silam ini," katanya.
Sinopsis Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain
Dokumentari Alexander Bukan Zulkarnain ini membicarakan kepercayaan masyarakat Islam mengenai sejarah Zulkarnain seperti yang tercatat dalam Surah Al-Kahfi dan menyingkap persamaannya dengan tokoh pahlawan yang disanjung oleh Barat, Alexander The Great.
Tokoh ini dikatakan mempunyai ciri-ciri istimewa sehingga diberi kepercayaan membina tembok penghalang bagi makhluk perosak umat manusia Yakjuj dan Makjuj. Apakah keistimewaan beliau sehingga namanya tercatat dalam Al-Quran?
Persoalan mengenai siapakah Zulkarnain akan dirungkaikan dalam dokumentari selama lima episod ini dan akan disiarkan bermula 9 Januari depan, setiap Jumaat jam 10 malam di saluran Astro Oasis (106).
Rabu Disember 24, 2008
Ketua kerajaan perlu dihormati - Abdullah
TEHRAN: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi menegaskan bahawa mana-mana ketua kerajaan sekalipun tidak boleh dihina seperti apa yang berlaku dalam insiden membaling kasut ke arah Presiden Amerika Syarikat, George W.Bush di Baghdad, Iraq, baru-baru ini.
Perdana Menteri berkata pihak yang tidak berpuas hati dengan apa juga perkara boleh meluahkan perasaan mereka melalui cara lain.
"Saya sentiasa berpendapat kita tidak boleh menghina ketua kerajaan seperti itu," kata beliau pada sidang akhbar di akhir lawatan rasmi empat hari ke Iran di sini hari ini.
"Kita boleh mengambil tindakan, kita boleh mengeluarkan kenyataan keras jika perlu jika kita tak berpuas hati. Kita tak suka tentanglah, cakaplah dengan sekuatnya," katanya.
Namun tindakan bersifat menghina seperti membaling kasut tidak boleh dilakukan oleh sesiapapun, tegas Abdullah.Wartawan sebuah stesen televisyen yang berpangkalan di Kaherah yang bertindak membaling kasut itu dilaporkan menghadapi tindakan undang-undang. BERNAMA