End of the 2009 Challenge

1. The 2009 Title Challenge

From not wanting to believe we could mount a title challenge, to ruing the fact that this could have been our year but for the unfortunate home draws against the lesser clubs. To me, it was a simple question of belief, which in the beginning was emerging but did not have the fullest conviction. Yet after the destruction of RM and MU, we could see the measured performances against all-comers, the ability to raise our game to not just win, but destroy the opposition. By then, of course, MU had the advantage – four, and then six points ahead, leaving the challenge to die after MU’s Arsenal draw.

What was most encouraging was the whole team structure – the formation, the performances, the substitutes, and embedded successfully throughout the whole core and exuding from its pores the mentality, the character and the confidence of winning regardless of who they face. It’s a most scary proposition now that the team in on the brink of domination if they can continue on this trajectory. The only concern would be that the additions to the squad this summer may have the unintended disruptive effects it had when trying to bed in Keane into the side early on in the season. The solution to that was his ejection though perhaps other considerations played their part too, as in his dropping value relative to his meager attacking contributions. Other additions this summer may not have similar outcomes.

I remember writing about Alonso and his impact in the Sunderland game after replacing Plessis (what happened to him?!), and I’m pleased that he had sustained that level of performance throughout the season. He stood out as the engine room of the team enabling all the other mechanisms to move and work in synchronicity. I believe without Alonso, and he has been a mainstay throughout the season, the challenge wouldn’t have been on at all. He would be my man of the season, and if he does leave to be replaced by Barry, I would be truly disappointed.

2. Building a future

I am in the process of finding my hedgehog, the overlap between what makes me the best, what can drive my economic engine and what drives my passion. It’s an important quest, and who knows if I do find it or not? But it should make for an interesting quest.

Islamic finance faces legal tussle

No bed of roses is cosy, certainly not for implementation of
syariah-based financial system. Let's hope that this serves to inculcate
a greater amount of resolve amongst the practitioners of the system. A
successful implementation of an Islamic-based financial system, and
thereby creating an alternative system to the interest-based,
material-oriented capitalism which overrides ethics and morality in its
decision flow, could signal a viable alternative political and social
order also based on a Syariah orientation.

Any which way, my sparring session with Fadzlan over lunch, gave this
nugget upon reflection of several PAS personalities. If you want to
handle and lead people, see how best you can lead yourself.. Ie your
self-discipline. Do you smoke, do women, treat others kindly, solicit
sex inappropiately, flirt, etc?

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From: http://www2.themalaysianinsider.com/lite/articles.php?id=26195

Legal wrangles to test Islamic banking as boom fades

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 - A wave of debt defaults is set to hit Islamic
banks as deals sour amid the global slowdown, testing the legal
framework and stability of an industry already facing the biggest slump
in its 30-year history.

The global economic downturn that punctured Islamic banking's growth
bubble is also expected to bring many shariah financing structures under
the legal microscope for the first time in centres such as Dubai,
Bahrain and Malaysia.

But the expected increase in commercial disputes raises questions about
whether conventional legal systems can deal with the highly specialised
niche industry which has evolved into a US$1 trillion (RM3.52 trillion)
industry handling government and corporate debt.

It could also test the foundations of the Islamic banking system, which
the Asian Development Bank estimates is growing by 10-15 per cent a
year, but which some bankers and lawyers say stills lack a strong
cohesive regulatory and legal framework.

Judges will have to weigh conventional law and sharia (Islamic law) used
in contracts, and legal uncertainty over key contract provisions could
hurt the industry's ability to bounce back when the global economy
recovers.

"The industry will be watching to ensure any legal disputes are settled
in a transparent manner which gives certainty to the contract terms
entered into," said Davide Barzilai, a London-based Islamic finance
lawyer with Norton Rose.

"If there a string of cases which result in contracts being overturned
by the court for breach of sharia alone, then this could have a material
impact on the growth of the industry."

Fuelled by a recent rush of oil money, Islamic bankers innovated on the
basic financing model, taking it beyond sale and profit-sharing
contracts to more complex derivatives which are harder for courts to
deal with.

Islam's rules on transparency kept shariah banks from subprime mortgage
loans that mauled Western banks, but their vast exposure to the property
sector, especially in the Gulf, is taking a toll as global real estate
markets slide.

Gulf Arab companies deemed most vulnerable to the downturn include large
United Arab Emirates (UAE) real estate developers, such as Dubai-listed
Islamic mortgage firms Amlak and Tamweel.

CRUNCH TIME?

Defaults and litigation are expected to jump as the ailing world
economy, tough financial markets and stalled projects make it harder for
firms to repay banks and asset values plummet.

Over half of the residential and commercial property projects due for
completion in Dubai between 2009 and 2012 have been cancelled or
suspended, Jones Lang LaSalle said in March.

But Islamic banking's legal framework is as fragmented as other aspects
of the industry, with little case law to guide judges. Many judges are
also unskilled in shariah, and the relationship between Islamic and
secular law is unclear.

"It's a contest between shariah law and common law," said Islamic
banking lawyer Mohamad Illiayas.

"Cases have gone to court where there is a problem of conflicts and
inconsistencies but the English courts have always ruled in favour of
common law."

He cited a 2004 case involving Shamil Bank of Bahrain where an English
court refused to apply shariah law to a murabaha contract (a popular
contract of sale). The court said two systems of law cannot govern one
contract.

In Malaysia, home to the world's top Islamic bond market, only a handful
of cases have come before the high courts in almost three decades, with
most involving basic home loan cases.

Judges' expertise has been in focus after some courts questioned the
validity of the bai bithaman ajil contract, a type of deferred payment
sale, sowing confusion in the industry.

The contract was recently declared valid by an appellate court, but
Malaysian authorities now plan to force judges to refer to national
shariah advisers when handling Islamic finance cases.

"Looking purely at the formal qualifications and experience of judges,
it would be hard to expect them to be fully aware of all the relevant
intricacies of Islamic finance," said Megat Hizaini Hassan, an Islamic
finance lawyer with Zaid Ibrahim.

In the Gulf Arab region, law firms have started to build up Islamic
finance expertise but their skills is almost exclusively limited to
consulting banks on deal structures and drafting contracts, and most
have yet to see a court room from inside.

Islamic finance disputes can be referred to arbitration by specialists
but many Malaysian cases still go court. In Bahrain, such cases have
mostly gone to dispute resolution committees staffed by judges and
specialised central bank officials.

But arbitration is not problem-free, either.

"We will still have to resort to common law at one stage or the other,"
said Illiayas. "Even after the arbitration award is given, if you want
to enforce that award you still have to go to court." - Reuters

Post-US trip trauma: Establishing structures for the future

1. I noticed that I havent posted for close to two months now. Just plain busy, cos then I was deep into execution of an acquisition (my first to boot), then with the PSDM training I conducted, and then the 2 week traveling and its after-effects, and only just trying to catch my thoughts now.

2. Part of the question I’ve been grappling with now is trying to identify what my interests are. I know I came into SWF with a determination to contribute towards RE. I retained my interests in energy through CIRED. I tried to kickstart things while obligingly trying to catch up with ls and biotech stuff. I guess my US jaunt rather jolted me into the reality of the world of innovations and how technology diffusion and commercialisation is created within the real-world now. No whimsical philosophising, just getting into the scheme of things and making sense of a commercial, material and capitalistic world to create something lasting and good.

3. I guess I cant run away from the philosophising if I want to contextualise the innovations and technology development within an Islamic perspective. But really, there’s no conflict or disconcordance. There’s merely standing for what is right and finding ways to allow Islamic thought to reign and float above the chaos.

4. Before I get into greater details there, perhaps, there’s also the need to ensure before I lose myself, and primarily before fz gets back that I structure my thoughts and ideas for the future. Envisioning can create the generative force and motivation I hope to live off for the next few years. It’d also hopefully create a firmness of thought and principled stance that could stand me on good stead when I try to unleash my assertiveness onto the positions I intend to develop and hold.

5. The grounding that I have in systems thinking and scenario planning should assist me to project and understand trends and relevant consequences into the future. It’s that future which should hold some form of relevance onto where we intend to develop and strategise and where we intend to form our path.

6. That path should include how technology is created, commercialised and utilised for the benefit of the ummah. I should define ummah here more generally to be that of mankind rather than that with artificial state borders as we have now, yet cognisant that primarily, the intended recipient of the benefits should be national interest first and foremost.

7. Projection and predicting the future is never easy because of the variability of the multiple factors. The endeavour, which should be a good and noble intent, must be taken with a commitment and seriousness never before matched in my previous projects, indeed calling for a basic retooling and realigning of my life and personality to suit this calling – this epiphany. I should make this my pursuit, with the final destination accruing to the benefit of the muslim ummah in particular.

8. To do this, I should think of structures and ways to peg the various imperceptible changes, and allow further analysis to be conducted. And that, in a nutshell, is what I have concluded after my US trip.

Integration of utilities

I came across the following press release about the state of the Scandinavian power utility whilst hunting for info on Bakun and the current submarine cable model, NorNet– and the argument for efficiency and least cost generation is a compelling one. Just think if we do not have so much cheese with kiasu-ness and being territorial and playing politics, TNB should possibly own Singapore’s electricity utilities, while buying bulk supply in an optimal ratio from internal power plants and IPPs.

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Source: http://www.statnett.no/en/The-power-system/About-the-power-system/Exchange-of-power/

The Nordic region and Europe

(11/4/2008)

Trading with other countries is important for Norway for several reasons.

The exchange of power with other countries is important for a number of reasons. In general, an increase in trade between countries results in more effective utilisation of power resources. The competition between power generators is reinforced, resulting in the most efficient generating resources being used at any one time. Overall, this will help to reduce the costs for end users, and at the same time strengthen the ability to overcome many different challenges. The exchange of power between countries also helps to make the power system and power market larger. This makes the system more robust and better able to face a wide variety of challenges.

For Norway, it is particularly important to be able to deal with situations with declining precipitation, as 99% of Norwegian power generation is based on hydroelectric power. The countries around us primarily use thermal power generation, and trading with them helps to improve the security of supply in Norway.

Norwegian hydroelectric power generation has a flexibility which can be valuable to our neighbouring countries. When consumption fluctuates rapidly in other countries, thermal generation can be both expensive and polluting to regulate compared with our hydroelectric power.

For Statnett, it is therefore important to work to ensure that effective market solutions are developed for the exchange of power between countries, and that sufficient investments are made in power lines which connect the markets closer together.

Karpal the irrelevant

Where do I start? Last month, I put up a post on despicable human traits - rather unintentionally I had placed some of Kaprpal's actions with other unfriendly, unyielding characters of our times - and being the self-professed expert at all legal happenings in Malaysia, and possibly this world - (witness his"jangan main-main dengan saya" remark yesterday) he may yet sue all who dare to criticise his shallow understanding of this country called Malaysia that he lives in.

I wish I'm bothered to find his quotes, outburst, tirade, whatever you'd want to call it yesterday, but in truth, Karpal is so irrelevant that I can't be bothered. In fact I am, but maybe I'll just rely from memory instead of wasting bandwidth to search for news reports.

He said something about Anwar causing problems to Pakatan and therefore should resign, yeah - he has been helpful to Pakatan's formation? For the first time, DAP has captured a state and numerous other parliament and state seats in Malay dominant areas instead of Jelutong and Ipoh Timur and he dare to voice this sort of statement? I wish I could turn clock back 10 years and reverse my decision on the only occasion I had ever voted in and had given my vote to this bugger's political party? His problems with accepting the Malay-muslim polity's desire for an Islamic state is legendary, perhaps heroic to those who think he dared to voice their opposition to something they cant understand, but at the expense of alienating the dominant majority race who do not want somenone who doesn't understnd these sensitivities to partake in this discussion, is helpful to Pakatan Rakyat? Puh-leeze.

I have no doubt that if there is someone else capable of leading PR compared to Anwar- of cobbling together this loose coalition on a more solid platform of a sustained principled fight of integrity and justice then there Anwar should do one and leave. Otherwise, telling Anwar to vacate and then creating a vacuum - for what - so that someone who has an honorary post of DAP Chairman, proving DAP is a multi-racial party of lots of chinese, not many indians and even less malays could try his luck at being the leader, when he cant even speak the malay language properly? OK, perhaps I'm being too much in putting this as a motive since at no point does he say he's interested in the post and goes as far as saying any other good leader should replace Anwar, but he says he's a seasoned politician after being in politics since 1974 and all that, but he's insisting on an action that can only weaken the party can only mean Karpal is a historical, archaic piece of fossil dependent on safe seats for his survival. Oh yeah, just to prove that the DAP Chairman post is honorary, care to remember the name of his predecessor and any of his previous press statements?

All in all - Karpal, just pack up your political bags and close the door as you leave!

Perak fiasco..

There is no case for defiance and acting irrationally. The law is clear, having had the required defections and the support, BN should form the new Perak state govt, no matter how shoddy, how low and how dirty the whole thing is. Let’s be principled here, the week earlier, when Mr Bota jumped, not many blinked an eyelid. DSAI looked triumphant indeed. When the same thing happened, with the roles reversed, the response was very much different. No matter that there was suggestion of a buyout if BN was the beneficiary, and the poor downtrodden souls in Pakatan actually gains support from believers in their “struggle”. Bullshit.

DSAI, LKS, Karpal – stop this bloody nonsense. TG Nik Aziz, TG Hadi Awang, Ir Nizar – stand your ground, take a principled stand, and end this standoff against the Perak Sultan, who I believe acted in the best interests of everyone. Why should there be additional wastage of expenses to have another round of elections just to prove how polarized Perak, or for that matter, the whole country is?

DAP and PKR cant control their ADUNs when temptations of *insert your own hypotheses here* arise. Gutless, guileless and unprincipled. It’s OK if there was an issue they had disagreed with, like the giving away of freehold land like the land belongs wholly to the state and the current generation. What actions we take echo in the future generations too, don’t you know? That was an unresolved issue, and if that was the beacon that attracted people to leave their party, that’s fine by me. At least it teaches the 18 DAP guys that running this multiracial country with a Malay-Muslim majority won’t be that easy. But no. defections come about after some silly press conferences about medical leave and barely believable, I’m being polite here, excuses.

Politics stinks – but PAS comes out of this smelling like roses.

Chosen hope over fear

OBAMA-hypeology

 

“Chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord”, “Harnessing the sun and wind and soil”.. and for sure other Obama soundbites will enter the lexicon as the craftily designed inauguration speech gets analysed to death. How to say a lot of things, move people towards optimism and hope, yet not lay on too much for people to bite you in 3-4 years time as the realities of the world’s problems set in.

 

We all live in hope that tomorrow, next year, 5 year’s time will always be better. But the values that remain is of how we touch the hearts of others, and of that I have been a terrible failure to myself in my lifetime and moreso in my adult life. But the thought processes of leaders, particularly the great ones who could mobilise the masses to believe, and to bring forward the collective issues in their own voice, is a model for others to emulate.

 

We all can build our opinions, with hindsight, based on the mistakes of others, but those were judgments they had made within their circumstances. Of greater value is the ability to extend the same lines of reasoning to the future and choose our path, the best path for us and those we want to be with. That is a trait difficult to obtain and carries the risk of creating more bystanders instead of those partaking in the forging of the path to tread. Obama has chosen his way.. and our greatest hope is that he does not fall by the wayside too early. Pak Lah had a similar effect, though perhaps not in scale, when he took over from Tun, but 6 years on, he moves on with a whimper, generally with some sympathy at his inability to stamp his personality and character onto his political support, and in some cases reviled as the guy who brought shame to UMNO.

 

All this is well and good, but what can I use for my takeaway? A better adab when addressing people, including those of my kith and kin, and a greater sensitivity towards decision making when faced with life’s intersections.

 

Everton fallout

Firstly, good for Kaka to reject Mansour’s millions – money isn’t and cant buy everything. And it takes a devout Brazilian Christian raised in poverty to remind an Arabian billionaire that. Now if only he can donate the money towards reconstruction of Gaza and Palestine, I’m sure Gaza’s GDP is equivalent to that obscene amount for a footballer.

 

Secondly, MU has gone top, Chelsea is slowly turning things around and we’re still drawing games. Fans are getting anxious about the way things are going on and off the pitch, Chelsea, Villa and Arsenal are closing in, and not only are we falling off the top to MU (of all things), we’ll have to contend with the new, increased threats. I’ll support Rafa, though he has done many good things, not sure if his mind games are that good though although it was a valiant effort to take on all-comers – SAF, G&H, Parry et al. Now if only we can focus on regaining the early season and the first half form against Hull and Newcastle where we looked every bit as title contenders. In the meantime, I’ll have a lot of anxiety watching things unfold. I remember coming back from Hajj and seeing in the papers we had a chance to win the EPL in 2002 until that defeat to Spurs, and feeling a bit guilty that Liverpool playing many miles away is still a concern despite just coming hope from Mekah.

 

But, I do choose hope over fear.