GE13 considerations: what should the outcome be?

1. A DA process would begin with identifying a decision statement and then identifying the objectives of the decision. In this case, what is the best possible GE13 outcome for Malaysia?
2. Best outcome will be where:
• the long-suffering Malaysian rakyat get their rights protected against injustice, such as what Abu Bakar had said in his ascension as the first Caliph, I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me; and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God wills; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God wills. Obey me so long as I obey God and His Messenger. But if I disobey God and His Messenger, ye owe me no obedience. Arise for your prayer, God have mercy upon you.
• the economy moving steadily in the right-direction, which we can clarify further to mean that private businesses get a chance to prosper and grow, where proactive government policies create a level playing field to promote 
• a leader for the leaderless malays, setting a malay-muslim development policy that replaces the what was then necessary but now needs tweaking NEP, one that builds upon 'let's help the helpless malays' (and look at the political support we are getting!) to one that builds on the policies espoused by Saidina Abu Bakr about egalitarianism, firstly amongst the malay community and then amongst the wider community until such time meritocracy is fully workable (notice the subtle insinuation that meritocracy brings). To that end, I fully expect the GLCs to be where they are supposed to be - an open, diverse community without the artificial barriers that has been built-in within the policies, the government ministries to be scaled down and has greater multi-ethnic representation at all levels and not so much a quota-filling exercise (not to mention less politicking please). And all this must be done while ensuring the "helpless malays" change the subsidy mentality - hence a strong mandate is required for one or the other.

Dogmatism of Islamic Finance: Middle-East standards vs Malaysian-standards

This Vellfire business is made unnecessarily complicated by lack of an initial uninformed choice. Choice was of financing from Rajhi waving the Middle-Eastern corner against Maybank Islamic waving the Malaysian standards. Below are my findings:

1. Standards
Rajhi uses BBA - ie Bank purchases car and sells to customer at upside with staggered financing payments. Pure sale-purchase agreement and opts out of the hire-purchase conditions. The SPA absorbs any of the conditions within the HP Act that does not contravene the Syariah to protect the bank.

Maybank uses the typical Malaysian standard that tacks on Syariah-compliant contracts to existing transaction.

This is where philosophies differ. Whilst Rajhi's standards are stricter and more compliant given the fundamental structure of the transaction, are we to say that the contracts entered with Malaysian islamic banks are not? If so, where? Is it in the intention of the banks as a hillah? If so, who decides on this? Is this allowed on the basis of daruriyyah, which incidentally is difficult to ascertain, just as it is difficult to ascertain hillah on the part of the bank.

I would suggest that the daruriyyah is in the form of having a stronger Islamic bank presence against the conventional bank presence, and to argue one is better than the other is futile and only encourages meaningless cannibalisation of the same niche customer market. In this situation, the preference is with the Middle East standards only if other criteria are evenly matched. To use an inappropriate word in this case, I would suggest that the customer is agnostic in terms of standards as long as there is Syariah compliant acknowledgment by an established and reputable Islamic finance regulator.

2. Customer orientation and protection
The BBA allows banks to set a security deposit if required. I'm not sure of the equivalent in the AITAB but I dont recall of any such conditions. The other departure will be the purchase price with the dealer, where the Bank will pay full amount regardless of booking fee, in which case customer will have to bear ther burden of recovering the booking fee from the dealer later. To note that even in the BBA, a JPJ K3 form allowing repossession is similarly required.

These departures need to be communicated to the customer as well as the dealer upfront, as in this case, I'd need to bear the risk of non-retrieval of the booking fee, especially so when there are certain conditions that I have agreed with Jack how the final product will look like, ie pro-bono accessories of LCD, colour change, and what have yous have been agreed beforehand.

At the same time the rates are 2.48% pa, much higher than what I had asked for at 2.45%. And without ascertaining with me, the loan tenure was set at 9 years when I was actually considering 6 years. Maybank didnt flinch when I asked 2.40% and eventually agreed on 2.42%.


3. Services
This is the weakest area of the lot. After 2 weeks of haggling, I've yet to cross the finish line. With clearer expectations, I would be able to understand these changes but perhaps not at this stage. With 4 people running around and motivation flagging when Saudi dignitaries are expected to visit and all, I need to pull the trigger.

My promise though was this - I'll be back to consider them when the time comes later.

Wisdom-oriented direction

1.       I’d like to achieve wisdom. The kind where I can read what this mat Salleh write, and I don’t go into automatic naivete mode thinking how great their research has been, but that it is merely a teaser to their greatest strength, which is to market and influence others to believe in their superiority. The internet does not help to overcome this inferiority complex.

2.       So what should happen is that the automatic reflex is to chunk up the information up to understanding people’s motivations, which are by and large driven by materialistic and capitalistic tendencies.

3.       Big question is, am I already afflicted? Take today’s call from a potential DF buyer. It was quite clear that I wanted the deal to be purely on price, but did I need to be unnecessarily harsh? Even with the agent? Where is my akhlak? It is in moments like this that I despair of what I have become after almost four years here. Nevertheless this is what I need to overcome. Ensure the automatic response is the ones not meant to impress the capitalists, but one where I can use the brief transactional exchange to further the image of Islam, to please Allah.

4.       It then becomes quite clear that I’d need to fill up my spiritual self with love of the Word of Allah, as that IS wisdom. How far apart have I gone? I need to come back. As it is, this already a poor influence on others in my family.

5.       Then it comes back to this Decision. The risks. The potential opportunities. All driven with sustaining the current lifestyle – but the real non-variable should be that family development will go by the rails / guidance that has been shown in light of this Wisdom. Hubbud-dunya wakara hiyatul mawut. Again, such a sensitive decision and how I need to deal with this with akhlak.

6.       Then the question is how do I deal with the naysayers, even those close to me? Challenge is to derisk all possible initiatives carefully, and to take care that it’s not about not taking risks, but to take carefully evaluated risks.

7.       But the other point is on courage and determination. And this comes from my relationship with Allah. The tawakkal part. While at the same time ensuring that I commit fully to the project. There is no shortcut. There is no exit. And realizing that the relationship with Allah is not because I have something that I want or need, but it is because He is the Almighty  Creator that I bow down to.

8.       And then again realizing how far away I’ve dropped off to. And how far is the distance that I need to close, but only then comforted by the fact that if I walk towards Allah, Allah will run towards me. I have had my share of the darkness. This is but one of those episodes. Do I then throw my hands up in the air or do I try to find a light?

Clarity of thought and disciplined execution

Questions for discussion:

1. Macro-societal trends: Malaysian society is so crass and callow, racism is rearing its ugly head by those people claiming that they are being discriminated against. Age-old issues issues left unresolved- ie chinese vernacular schools, malay asset ownership, across the board subsidies etc - primarily in the name of compromise, rather than justice and equality has given rise to new dissatisfaction levels. Society is so embroiled in classifications now, by race, by age, by gender, by sexual orientation, by religious beliefs, and within the religion itself by partisanship, by employers, by economic wealth and lack of wealth - we are being torn apart at the seams. Is unity a necessity? From a shallow viewpoint, we can get by being tolerant to all, as we have done for a good number of years before but it is clear that one tinderbox being lighted, and killings will begin. It feels like that time now. We do need to select the outcomes based on certain scenarios. Who do we trust to bring about change, healing and catharsis? A proper scenario analysis on governing parties, policies, potential changes in terms of opening up of the democratic space, empowerment of youths and ideas, and the reinforcing of an objective, rationale, merit-based culture more akin to Islamic ideals but seemingly according to some right-wing cheap politicians, a danger to Islamic proto-malay interests. Discussion should be based on where the trends are heading to, and what flexibility we must have on a personal and institutional level to do what we must do to bring betterment to society.
2. Personal finances: Alhamdulillah has been ok in the past 12-18 months. The trick is to grow this exponentially. This means change on a personal level - to have a marketing orientation, influencing and listening disposition, a calm, forbearing, patient and powerful exterior. As much as this isnt my natural instinct, there is a need to find people who can carry this outlook.

Kalau takut dipukul ombak...

1. Issue is: when does risk-taking transform into recklessness? When you fail is probably the right answer. But when do you succeed, if ever? When you don't give up when faced with failure but persist until you succeed with every ounce of determination and grit that you could possibly summon from every living pore, cell, protein, sweat, blood and tears.
2. A bit like the Texas Hold Em game too - you risk such that you'll still live to fight another day, you dont gamble unnecessarily, and when the conditions are such that you feel you have the circumstances, support and extenuating factors on your side do you raise the stakes to a tolerable and acceptable risk. And if you still fail, you have just been reckless!
3. But it's not the failing that counts, it's the getting up. So, in that sense, the mindset must be sharpened to not allow a defeatist mentality to creep in, to think of personal failures, to lack courage to move forward. The steps must be in the right direction, building pace until it moves forward towards winning, and conquering, and growing, and staying there, insyaAllah. If at first, you fail, try and try again. So the setting up of the mindset should be there first and foremost.

In search of wisdom

1. Just left a consultant-moderated session, and again feeling a mixture of rage and emptiness. Consultant mentality is about deconstructing a problem, finding a position within those elements and reconvening and packaging the findings nicely. In a policy development scheme, this is extremely dangerous as authorities can develop regulations, rules based on misconceived problem statements and observations. More often than not, the loudest voice gets the largest say. The difficulty is to develop the parameters that a consultant should work in, and there is the key to utilise consultants.
2. Equally, in search of wisdom, the "engineer" trails behind an "architect" mind-set well-educated in philosophy and humanities. The wisdom of the crowds is an oxymoronic paradox, just a get-out clause to reduce the required effort to come to a determination of a solution. Nothing beats the wisdom and the acceptance of guidance from the creator, the divine provider. The search of wisdom must begin with accepting the role of the creator in providing a "template" for existence, a roadmap for living.
3. So, where to? There is an opportunity to shape the direction of education this Sunday. Posing the right questions will be a right start?
4. In the meantime, speaking of bio-based economy, the agenda-driven stakeholders are a law unto themselves. The regulators need to be equally as vocal and to provide the guidance for the stakeholders to know that regulation should be in place, the incentives and the barriers are there. The policies should also be time-sensitive that there are avenues for review and limitations. Market forces can determine the winners in this. Regulations should be interventionist, but minimal to create the environment for the sector to grow, and the redistributive element to kick-in.

Climate change, sustainability and green in Malaysia - rant 1

1.       I’ve seen quite a few write-ups on this subject within a Malaysian context, and I can say that they have all been a disappointment. There were some that I had high hopes for, but again with all things ghost-written by a management consultant, the format, fonts, graphs are all there in all its pretentiousness, but very little by way of what needs to be executed and with strong courageous statements on what are the things that needs to be done. What was the last passionate, courageous statement that I have heard spoken on this context? The 40% conditional commitment by the PM in COP15 in 2009. And even then, what I’m hearing from the executioners down the line is that this was a stumble, poorly defined policy measure where it should be taken as a conviction to fully carry this through. Now, that in its entirety is what is missing in this country – a true, resolute commitment from the soul of what needs to be done, and then move mountains to do it.

2.       Just to add on to the consultant-speak, I remember my consulting days when we were engaged to help translate the Iskandar Development tome, a massive, voluminous work that promised much and delivered little. I have no idea how much of that tome is of use. Have I also addressed before the prostitution of a consultant that contradicted its own tome when asked to re-do an assessment of innovation in Malaysia just 2-odd years on? Huge frustration is an understatement. But this is what happens when the positioning is that we’ll try to attract attention to the things that we do with glossy write-ups, and then fail to continue that by developing the necessary manpower and expertise to carry it through. And oftentimes, the expertise that comes across are the ones without the necessary passion, but loud-mouthed enough ie articulate to impress, and not enough to understand the real issues. Ok, now that I have got the moaning off my chest, perhaps I can relook at the issues again in a bit more detail.

3.       What are sustainability issues? Again, like innovation, it is systemic. You cant adopt bits and pieces, and hope we are transformed overnight. Look at Liverpool, struggling to reclaim its throne. I’m impressed with Dalglish, that while still marginally not as good in terms of results as good as Rafa had (pre09-10), you can see the imposition of a new philosophy which can only be good in the mid-term. It takes balls to impose a philosophy to something which is already pretty good, and its thanks to Hodgson as it was his failings that meant this new philosophy has to imposed. I digress. But this is the crux of the issue.

4.       We can import Feed-in Tariffs, and have 3 years of solar pv quotas sold out within 2 hours. But beyond making Malaysian contractors some margins on installation, where is the indigenous technology going to come from? How do you effect, rather than impose, innovation? Is there a demand for these productivity enhancements? Are we happy with what we have? Is mediocrity the consequence of accepting a lowered bar? What then drives people to seek a higher bar? Increased profits? What is the motivation? Family? Money? Recognition? What is the regulatory role to raise this bar?

5.       And now back to the climate change and sustainability issues. Where are we after the COP15 announcement in 2009, apart from still chasing our tail? Kyoto will likely expire and we’d need to know what the alternatives can be. If the CDM market is no longer there, where then is our role in the greater scheme of things. Apart from palm oil trying to outdo European lobbyists allegations of destructive practices, and thereby inculcating sustainability principles in RSPO, (again looking tenuous at the moment), what are the other motivating factors to preach and practice sustainability.

6.       Again, the western world and their corporate representatives, are no saints and are just as hypocritical in using carbon footprints and declarations of carbon neutrality. This isn’t a question on moral obligation. This is purely a marketing and business perspective.

7.       To force the issue out in the open is to say that business, finance, profits reward green and sustainability practices, the better you are at this the more rewarded you are. This is the position in Canada when they effectively said they will no longer be signatories to whatever the Kyoto protocol looks like post-2012. The materialistic philosophy driving the corporate world now has driven this position. But that’s looking at the corporate world as the most significant influencer of sustainability issues. I would like to suggest that the biggest influencer is really society.

8.       Just like the Arab Spring is condemnation of dictatorial regimes, it will be a matter of time when the aggravation will be directed to the corporates. And when it does, facebook, twitter, foursquare and what have you will determine which companies will be rewarded for their faith in building a better world, with or without government intervention, with or without discussions on impact to profit margin. In the meantime, I would like to see the building up of capabilities into this area and conversant in the policy-making, techno-economic, financial considerations and societal and welfare considerations.