Not "The Middle Rock" But "The Middle Finger"

We lost, so what? It is only a small island not bigger than a footbal field.

The Foreign Minister said, the ICJ decision was 'win-win' situation for two neighbouring and friendly countries which were once united under a same Agong and rukunegara.

Singapore was awarded officially the Big Rock which is also known as Padra Branca. Malaysia 'won' by being awarded the Middle Rock. Well, it could be 'the Middle Finger' from Singapore to us!

A friend wrote that the O N L Y reason we could lose this case is because of the sheer, utter and complete incompetence of our defence team. Each member of the team should be sacked (and I would add public flogging if I have my way), or charged for treason which wouldn’t be far off either.

Yes, check the Singaporean team out and compare to our team (who are they, one is son of the current AG). Expose them for their sheer, utter and complete incompetence!

The loss is bigger in terms of maruah especially for UMNO goons who are still high on ketuanan. Who gave away Singapore at the first place? And now even the former PM of Malaysia and former president of UMNO accuses that the current regime under his successor is selling away Iskandar Malaysia to Singaporeans. He may be right.

Someone wrote somewhere (I do not know the writer) which is worth reading.

1) The loss of Pulau Batu Puteh (PBP)
The loss of PBP is like raising the white flag in any conflict. But it is not an end yet when the financial loss in bringing up this ICJ case is substantial especially the loser may have to be held responsible for this debacle. How much did the costs add up on both sides of the tip of the Peninsula Malaysia? Likely to be up to half a billion Ringgit - down the drain again.
Kapal Singh was accusing the Government of the ill advice to go in to win back the PBP. I would say the illegitimate Government was 'sleeping' over the whole episode as it had not done its homework and relying on emotion. Was it the strategy of the island state to get even with 1965's event and Malaysia was trapped finally with the finality of the decision of ICJ? The illegitimate Government and its advisers would not listen to whistle blowers on any issues and that is on the way of the white flag for the nation - a backlash of ill treating Sabah.

2) Ligitan and Sipadan could be the impetus to go ICJ for PBP.

I think the win of Ligitan & Sipadan case with Indonesia could have inspired the stupid national leaders to go on with PBP. L&S was won on the active administrative effort on the islands by the Sabah's Government for a long time while Indonesia just remain passive although L&S are in the global line for Indonesia. So if we assess the grounds of winning L&S, how can we ever win back PBP? Now the stupid leaders are moaning for what - win- win scenario? Malaysia is only worth fishing rights over Middle Rock islands while Singapore got the pearl of the region and that is a surrender phenomenon.

3) What is the committee to resolve ICJ's decision on PBP?

Now a new committee is to be formed to resolve the decision of ICJ. Was such a similar joint committee done prior to the case going to ICJ? Who are now holding on the straw? May be it is the start of conflict post ICJ's decision as a way to divert attention in drama of the loss.

4) The South Ledge Island
Why did not the ICJ give a specific or clearer decision on that South Ledge Island? Who had over looked that and the vague result happens? Would there be another expensive case when Indonesia can bring Singapore and Malaysia to ICJ?
Could South Ledge Island be claimable by Indonesia and since Indonesia was not a
party to this trial, the decision was vague? Unlike the intervention by Philippines on L&S, Indonesia did not doing anything on South Ledge Island - maybe the hurts on L&S was too much for it. Since Indonesia was not a party to this '3 islands' case, ICJ would not rule on South Ledge hence held in suspense.

5) What is next?
There are still a few islands to be disputed such as Spratly Islands and the Ambalat. What is Malaysia going to do about that? Both these groups of Islands are very near to Sabah, hence Sabah must do something about this and not wait for the others to sit on them.

Malaysiakini - Pak Lah Ran For his Life in Parliament!

This is a very good exercise if in the future there will be no-confidence vote for the PM. Imagine instead of sleeping in his room, PM will be rushing by running for his life to ensure BN will get the right number of required votes to deny the no-confidence motion for his premiership.

Pak Lah shall now take up some jogging and other exercises to ensure he is fit for any unexpected run from his office. He must not fall or lose his breath while running to the chambers. Jeanne could help by trying main kejar-kejar at Sri Perdana bedroom.

Even the cabinet ministers now have to stay fit for 100 meter dash once the bell rings for quorum. Fortunate indeed that fat Rafidah Aziz is no longer in cabinet.

With the current scenario as rumoured and confirmed by some people, 30 to 40 of BN MPs should be already fit for a bigger challenge in Malaysia Record Book, to jump over and run for their new lives as PR MPs!

BN gets scare in bloc-vote test
Soon Li Tsin & Fauwaz Abdul Aziz May 28, 08 4:39pm

Barisan Nasional had a scare this morning when deputy speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar for the first time ordered bloc voting - instead of a voice vote - on part of the Supplementary Supply (2007) Bill 2008.



The B-12 section of the bill refers to 'Contribution to Statutory Fund' related to a Youth and Sports Ministry programme. Bills are usually passed by a voice vote to indicate whether MPs agree or disagree to passage of a Bill, a practice which BN representatives had previously taken for granted, given their overwhelming majority in the House.


During the voice vote this time, however, the voices of opposition MPs shouting ‘disagree’ to the Bill emerged louder than those of BN who said ‘agree’.


Zuraidah Kamaruddin (PKR-Ampang) and Mohd Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) then objected to passage of the Bill.

Emboldened by the fact that Pakatan MPs equal, if not exceed, the sparse number of BN MPs then in the House, more than 15 Pakatan MPs stood up in support of a bloc voting exercise when Junaidi asked those who were ‘serious’ about the issue to indicate their position.

There was palpable panic on the BN side of the chamber, as they scrambled to get the numbers.
Even Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (right) was seen running in, followed by his deputy Najib Abdul Razak and Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein among others.

Amidst the cheers and jeers, there was a sense of relief when Junaidi announced 92 votes were counted in favour of the Bill, with 60 against and one absention.

First time to see PM rushing in
On emerging from the chambers later, Hishammuddin lamented the opposition's strategy in creating disorder in the House.

"Most importantly, we have more votes than we need and it was to our benefit, but all the fuss from them (opposition MPs) is just to disturb and disrupt the proceedings," he said.

"I hope they will learn their lesson. We have proven that we have the numbers and their tactics have no effect on us," said Hishammuddin.

Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Azmin Ali saw the result as a moral victory as only 92 of the 140 BN MPs were present to vote in support of the bill.

"It was a big drop. I know some of the MPs decided to leave the House before the vote because they didn't want to be a part of it. However, the opposition similarly was able to garner only 60 out of its 82 available votes against the bill.

Azmin nevertheless mocked the prime minister and other cabinet members, all of whom rushed into the House to cast their votes.

"This is the first I have seen the prime minister running into the House," said Azmin.

"They are suppose to be there. They are answerable to the Parliament but they have no respect for the proceedings so they just left right after they finished voting," he added.

The "New Silk Road"

I was a bit perpelexed in 2002, when involved in planning of Dragon Mart and Chinatown in Dubai's International City on the seriousness of Dubai government to attract chinese business. I was informed it was a G-to-G arrangement. Something like the project would be built by Dubai and funded by China government.

The Dragon Mart complex is huge (pic below) and was supposed to house more than 4,000 retail shops under one roof. Chinatown which is a cluster of apartment buildings inside International City was built to complement Dragon Mart to house the workers and traders.

The location was a bit far from then the Dubai downtown and I still remember it was nothing there but desert and adjacent to a big sewage treatment plant (which is now still in operation and produces bad odour to the vicinity).

Fast forward to the future, UAE has the energy-China has the biggest market, the two countries are building a new silk road that is phenomenal!

Below is an article from Business 24/7

The "New Silk Road" – the rapidly growing trade between the Middle East and China – has been the subject of media articles, business conferences and economists' treatises so often that it has almost become a cliché. But recent research from the World Trade Organisation show what we are witnessing in this new two-way trade is nothing less than a revolution in the pattern of global commerce that will have profound effects on the two regional trading blocs, as well as the rest of the world. It is so significant that I make no apologies for again highlighting what could be the most significant phenomenon of present-day business practice.

The WTO has published figures comparing the rates of growth of different global trading blocs regions in their business with China over the decade 1996-2006. This was the period when the Chinese economy – set free from the shackles of communist ideology a few years earlier by the visionary Deng Xiao Ping – really began to accelerate, and western commentators woke up to the sheer power of China, with its population of 1.3 billion potential consumers, as a force in the world economic system.
Over that decade, all parts of the world saw big expansion of trade with China, with Europe leading the way with a 582-per cent increase in the value of two-way commerce between the two. But the Middle East, over the same period, saw an increase of more than 1,000 per cent in its trade with the new economic powerhouse to the east.
For the UAE, this trend will continue to accelerate, with a predicted seven-fold increase in trading volumes over the next seven years, when it is predicted to stand at $100 billion. That will make China the UAE's largest single trading partner, overtaking both the US and Europe, which currently dominate the Emirate's trade. Both those regions will continue to be important customers of the UAE, of course, but the country as a whole will turn 180 degrees from West to East, with huge economic and political consequences.
The basic reason for the volte-face is obvious: the UAE, indeed the Gulf, has the world's largest reserves of energy, which China needs to fuel its economic growth, still running at around double-digit levels each year, even with the West heading into recession. In return, China can pay cold hard cash, due to the huge dollar reserves it has built up over the past two decades.
It has also been able to supply basic goods such as textiles and household items cheaply and to an increasingly high standard. But its factories and assembly lines are also beginning to produce the high technology goods that insatiable consumers in the Middle East want in ever-increasing numbers – electronics, hi-tech consumer durables, and even motor cars. We are rapidly approaching the time when "Made in China" is not a symbol of cheapness, but has a brand value of global cachet.
Apart from these basic economic and financial factors, another geo-political impetus has ensured that the Middle East and China will increasingly turn to each other – the US has made it pretty clear that it does not want much to do with either. The UAE was rebuffed when it tried to buy the American ports of the old P&O business, but China too suffered humiliation when two of its biggest corporations tried to buy stakes in the US oil and telecommunications business. When these two economic power blocs find the way to America closed to them largely for political reasons, it was only to be expected that they would turn to each other instead.
There are factors that could work against the new trading alliance between Arabs and Chinese. A change of US administration might lead to a freeing up of US sentiment towards the region, and an increase in US-Gulf trading relations. But it is unlikely that on its own could stop the momentum of the economic power shift.
There is also the possibility of a collapse in the soaring oil price, which would affect the buying power of oil producers, but the experts, such as US investment bank Goldman Sachs, tell us it will keep going to the $200 level.
The threat of a Chinese recession – perhaps prompted by the Western financial credit crunch – could also affect the equation. But most authorities agree that even at its worst an economic downturn would only knock a couple of points off Chinese growth rates. The Chinese economic juggernaut seems unstoppable.In these circumstances, the logic of the "New Silk Road" appears unbreakable. Business leaders in the UAE have already shown they are well and truly aware of the phenomenon, and they should continue to tread the path of growing commerce to the East, whatever the West might do.

Sand Fountain

You can't believe this in present materialistic life but this has happened in Saudi Arabia .
A SAND FOUNTAIN.. Subhanallah

The discription says: A fountain of sand erupted in the desert of saudi arabia and
until today geologists don't have a clue or an explanation to what is going on. Scientists say that
this will bring out some minerals and metals that we have never seen or encountered before..

IT IS JUST ANOTHER MIRACLE FROM ALLAH (GOD).Suddenly, a 9-meter fountain (geyser) apparead, in the Al-Ahsae City , Eastern Saudi Arabia .

Immediately, Armaco geological teams and scientists hurry to deal with this strange phenomenon, but they did not succeed in explaining what happened !

But they agreed on a theory (...) that these are -what so called- burdens of the Earth. Some scientists said this phenomenon will lead to apparency of new materials, which will change the humanity way of life.

Allah says in the Quran :
'And the earth throws up her burdens (from within)' 99.2

'We will show them Our signs in all the regions of the earth and in their own souls, until they clearly see that this is the truth ...' (Holy Quran: Chapter Fussilat, 41: Verse 53)

The Day of Judgment is near when there is a single star in the sky, straight away the path of forgiveness will close. The writing in the Quran will vanish. The sun will lower itself with the earth.

Pertemuan dengan Dr. Harun Din

Ahad 25 Mei, kami sempat bertemu dengan Datuk Dr. Harun Din di Hospital Mafraq, Abu Dhabi. Anakanda beliau, Dr. Huda dimasukkan hospital tersebut.

Kejohanan Bola Malaysia-Singapura-Indonesia di Dubai

Berita di sini dan sini.

Muhaimin menggelecek 4 pemain Singapura

Jaringan cantik Muhaimin


Tendangan penalti Muhaimin - tidak gol

Pasukan Malaysia bawah 12 tahun - Muhaimin jadi kapten

Pasukan Malaysia - Veteran, A, B dan bawah 12!

Gambar dari Lensa FND dan Nik.

Lebuhraya Dubai-Abu Dhabi

(Berita Minggu - 29 Jun 2008)

kilauan dari gurun terbentang

bukan lagi saujana fatamorgana

inilah kehidupan baru

perlambangan akhir zaman

hijau dan biru merentas lanskap

batu-bata dan kaca menongkah langit

tumbuh dari limpahan emas hitam

yang menjana gempita kebangkitan

pelarian wadi kontang

perjalanan hayat terus memburu

mimpi dari kembara rezeki

meliar sepanjang lebuhraya

Dubai - Abu Dhabi
warna pembangunan merantai jarak

bersama wajah-wajah pendatang

mengaburi tanah ekspatriat

mencerna ekspektasi dari realiti

bertarung dengan emosi

demi survival diri
dalam gelombang globalisasi

merubah destini pribumi

masih sahaja nada bergetaran

disebalik harmoni yang tersurat

putih jubah dan hitam abaya

perpaduan serumpun bangsa

perbalahan antara kabilah

persaingan antara emiriah

yang memungkinkan sebidang gurun

tiba-tiba bergemerlapan

dan menjalar inspirasi

di merata bumi!

Fudzail

Dubai-Abu Dhabi

Rabu 4 Jun 2008

Perihal Kasut

Lupakan sebentar isu harga minyak dan politik semasa. Terlalu ramai yang sudah memberi pendapat dan juga penjelasan. Minyak naik dan naik minyak.

Mari bercerita pasal kasut.

Kasut adalah salah satu aksesori 'pakaian' yang penting dalam kehidupan seharian. Kasut juga boleh melambangkan status, kelas, citarasa dan stail individu. Sememangnya sejak tercipta kasut, industri kasut berkembang untuk melengkapkan pakaian manusia.

Kisah paling popular ialah mengenai Imelda Marcos dan kasut-kasut yang dimilikinya. Kini kasut-kasut yang berjumlah ribuan itu menjadi koleksi muzium untuk tatapan rakyat yang mungkin ramai tidak mampu untuk membeli kasut.

Saya tidak mempunyai koleksi kasut yang hebat, tidak pernah membeli yang lebih dari RM100 atau AED100. Selalunya dalam RM80/AED80 sahaja. Selalunya selepas setahun, lunyai dan beli baru. Tidak pernah memilik lebih dari dua kasut, satu untuk kerja dan satu lagi untuk sukan. Bukan kedekut, kata orang, "Pakai apa yang perlu, bukan apa yang dimahukan...!"

Baru-baru ini kasut yang dibeli dua tahun lalu dan diperbaiki di Malaysia tahun lepas terus lunyai. Terpaksa membeli sepasang kasut baru.

Terlalu banyak pilihan dengan pelbagai fesyen. Masih saja konservatif. Suka fesyen lama seperti gambar di atas. Yang berkenan sepasang kasut berharga AED25 di sebuah pasaraya terkemuka.

Bukan kasut kulit, PVC sahaja. Nampak macam kulit, buatan India.

Sebenarnya, majikan ada memberi dua pasang kasut 'mahal' percuma. "Safety shoes" yang digunakan untuk melawat tapak projek dan selalunya digunakan di pejabat juga. Kadang macam koboi pula.

Tetapi kasut baru AED25 ini berbunyi bising kalau melangkah di lantai kayu dalam pejabat portacabin. Membuatkan ramai menjeling atau menjengok, siapa gerangan yang berkasut bunyi terompah. Bunyi yang agak kuat.

Walau ramai yang kasut mereka sama berbunyi kuat sewaktu melangkah, tetapi apabila kasut sendiri yang berbunyi memang tidak menyenangkan hati dan perasaan. Terasa ramai yang mengutuk. Perasan....



Lantas setelah sebulan memakai 'terompah', saya mencari-cari sepasang lagi kasut baru kerana terasa malu pula jadi perhatian. Mungkin kasut murah membuat bunyi kuat. Tiada masalah dengan kasut sebelum ini yang dibeli di kedai 'Discount'.

Kebetulan Jun ini, kedai "Sun and Sand" mengadakan jualan murah sehingga 50%. Segera menjenguk di Deira City Centre. Nah, ada sepasang kasut kulit cantik bergaya diberi diskaun hebat, dari AED400 turun ke AED100. Iaitu 75%!

Tiada saiz sesuai, yang tinggal saiz besar sedikit. Itu sahaja yang ada dan tiada pilihan. Terus membeli setelah mencuba dan berpuashati.

Hari ini saya memakainya ke pejabat dengan perasaan gembira. Diharapkan tiada lagi bunyi terompah. Boleh berjalan dengan aman tanpa menarik perhatian orang.

Sebaik melangkah perlahan dalam pejabat, memang tidak berbunyi apa-apa. Sehingga dua tiga langkah berikut, tiba-tiba bunyi dush dush macam keluar angin membuatkan saya terhenti seketika.

Masalah kasut berbunyi berjalan di atas lantai portacabin belum selesai...tetapi kami akan berpindah ke pejabat baru Ogos nanti...kawan-kawan di pejabat terpaksalah terus bersabar mendengar bunyi bising dari sepasang kasut!

Oil Price Crisis in Malaysia, Currency Crisis in the Gulf

As reported by all major media last Wednesday in Malaysia, petrol price rose RM1.92 to RM2.70 a litre, cutting down the annual subsidy for petrol to only 30 sen per litre. The subsidy for diesel was also cut, raising the diesel price from RM1.58 to RM2.58 per litre.

To ease the pain, the government was said to introduce cash rebate of RM625 for private vehicles with engine capacity of 2000cc and below and RM150 for private motorcycles with engine capacity of 250cc and below. But this rebate measure will not be able to compensate the public from more increase in other prices.

Somehow, floating Ringgit maybe a cause to the current crisis. The former PM wrote in his blog that

In the first place the Government should not have floated the Ringgit. A floating rate creates uncertainties and we cannot gain anything from the strengthened Ringgit. Certainly the people have not experienced any increase in their purchasing power because of the appreciation in the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Ringgit.
........................

The world is facing economic turmoil due to the depreciation of the US Dollar, the sub-prime loan crisis, rising oil and raw material prices, food shortages and the continued activities of the greedy hedge funds. The possibility of a US recession is real. In a way the US is already in recession. The world economy will be dragged down by it.

In the Gulf, the inflation and ever increasing cost of living are major concern to majority of expatriates. It is also related to pegging of Gulf countries currencies to USD which has been depreciating and bringing Gulf currencies down.

The UAE government declares that it will not de-peg Dirham from USD any time soon. Is this a good move?

Currency depegging not a panacea for Gulf economies

Recently released statistics point out to growing inflationary pressures in Kuwait notwithstanding the delinking of dinar with the dollar. Yet, the development suggests that fighting inflationary pressures requires collective monetary and fiscal policy measures.
According to a report issued by Central Bank of Kuwait, inflation rate stood at a whopping 10.4 per cent in February. In contrast, inflation rates amounted to 9.5 per cent in January and still a lower 7.5 per cent in December 2007.
The report advised that rises in property and food and beverages were chiefly responsible for the spiralling growth of inflation rates. More specifically, rental rates increased by some 16 per cent, only to be followed by rises of 15 per cent in drinks and tobacco products and nine per cent in food items.
Undoubtedly, inflation rate in Kuwait remains less of a problem compared to Qatar and the UAE, which in turn suffered from rises of 14 per cent and 11 per cent in 2007, respectively. However, Kuwaiti authorities had assumed that ending the link with the American currency would help bringing inflation under control.
In May 2007, the Kuwaiti government ended a four-year old practice of linking its dinar to the dollar. Instead, the authorities decided to return to the customary practice of linking the dinar to a basket of currencies.
Still, it is believed that the dollar carries a significant weight in the basket, some 60 per cent by one estimate. So is the case because a sizable portion of Kuwait's international trade is denominated in the greenback. This is particularly true of the petroleum industry, which in turn dominates Kuwait's exports.
The persistent decline in the value of dollar is partly responsible for inflationary pressures.
Nevertheless, the significance of other factors including consequences of rising oil prices on importing countries cannot be overlooked. Kuwait imports products from some of these importing countries, which in turn suffer from ever-rising prices of petroleum products.
The other factors causing rising inflation rates concern consequences of extraordinary growth of gross domestic products (GDPs) of major emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil. Chinese real GDP grew by some 10 per cent in 2007.
Still, there are other local factors adding to inflationary pressures, notably the solid governmental spending on the back of rising oil income, in turn allowing for steady rise in spending.
Actual results for fiscal year 2007-08 that ended in April indicated total revenue jumping by a hefty 138 per cent to $72 billion. Oil sector alone contributed $67 billion of total income, considerably higher than the projected figures of $31 billion.
Containing inflationary pressures would possibly require adoption of a mix of monetary and fiscal policies. These entail placing a cap on growth of public sector spending, as part of a broader fiscal policy. Still, similar to Qatar, Kuwaiti officials may have to consider other policy options such as putting a cap on rental rises.
Likewise, Kuwaiti authorities need to deal effectively with declining interest rates in the US. To be sure, Kuwait continues to import interest rates prevailing in the US despite linking the dinar to a basket of currencies.
At any rate, the Kuwaiti experience shows that a single measure, namely ending the link to the dollar, could not contain inflationary pressures. Solving the inflationary problem is much more complicated than probably assumed.

Malaysiakini Analysis - Learn from Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil

I have been somehow directly involved from the planning stage for certain new developments in Dubai since 2000. With the previous and current roles, I am excited (or the right word is honoured) to be exposed on urban planning and its complexities as well challenges.
UAE still has ample of oil not to worry about being net importer soon like Malaysia. However, most developments that I am involved with do take into accounts of the future demand and requirements on transportations to cater for the growing population and energy usage.
It is not perfect but provision for new modes of transportation are there. Some like monorail and tram are already implemented by Dubai's Road & Transport Authority (RTA).
This analysis from Malaysakini on learning from Singapore, Hong Kong and Brazil does sound logical.
But will those leaders ever learn?
Irrespective who is going to be or stay as government, the government needs to, starting today, to be up-front with Malaysians about the challenges we have to face.

Gov't has fallen asleep at the wheel

Foong Wai Fong Jun 9, 08 4:39pm

Malaysia is a lucky country, we are very well-endowed with natural resources. From tin to oil, this nation has lived with abundance for over 50 years. As such, most Malaysians never have to worry about scarcity; both at the government level and at the individual level, and as a result, wastage has become one of the characteristics of our lifestyle. MCPX Residential and commercial enclaves in Malaysian cities and townships are built far apart. With political connections, approvals can be granted to develop a new settlement and a new road. Connectivity and efficiency were not in the planning considerations - after all, up till recently, private cars were the dominant mode of transport; it can take you anywhere and anytime you wish to go. So today the dominant mode of transport of this nation of 27 million people is the private car. The first major goal of a young Malaysian who has just turned 18 is to get a driver’s licence, and later purchase a car. The public transportation system was neglected and no serious attempts have been made to build an efficient, well-linked state-of-the-art public transportation system. In part, this is due to the fact that we have to make sure the sales of Proton is kept robust. In addition, many of the public transport concessionaires were probably more interested to make purchases of a new fleet of vehicles than to work them efficiently. The deputy minister of finance revealed that the number of Malaysians using the public transportation system has dropped from 20-25% in 2004 to 16% today. In an era of cheap oil, this would probably be celebrated as a major sign of progress. The nation also allows the private sector to build hundreds of kilometers of tolled highways. All these are to facilitate more cars, and therefore more oil consumption. Many of these highways are turning into ‘parking lots’ as traffic congestion becomes the norm rather than the exception. Hence more cars and more highways did not make us more efficient - it did not shorten the time we take to get from point A to point B. Not surprisingly, last week’s fuel hike has sent the nation into a fit of anger and uncertainty. The population is caught totally unprepared. Shocked by the new reality, many are driven to protest against the government. Many questions were asked. Why the sharp price hike? Why the huge jump in one move? Was the issue about Malaysians being addicted on subsidy? Or was it about Petronas, the national oil company that makes billions while the rakyat have no clue what happened to those funds in the last 30 years? Were Malaysians targeting their anger at a government long accused of gross mismanagement, wasteful spending; unprofessional handling of policy execution and corruption? The answer is all of the above. Malaysians have had it too good for too long; we are one of those few countries in the world with the largest fuel subsidy. We have palm oil, the green gold that is selling for over RM3,000 per ton, after that silvery stuff called tin were depleted from the ground. We have plenty of oil, and only recently we found out that these thick black stuff could run out in 20 years’ time. So now this blessed land is told that oil will be costly and one day when our own reserves run out, we may not even get supply even if we have money. For the first time, this country has to deal with doing the same, or even more, with less. Why the government is at fault This is not the best time to add more salt to the wound. But Malaysians must get change their mindset - the good times of cheap oil has ended. Oil is a finite resource, and the world will probably have enough oil to sustain the present rate of use for some 30-40 years; mind you, this calculation was made before India and China came on the scene. Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) revealed that the cost of developing new oil fields has risen to over 110% and that the capital costs for refineries and petrochemical plants have risen by 76% since 2000. While supply is tight, the new middle-class from the emerging markets joined the rich world to have an automobile-centred lifestyle. Oil depletion, the rise of fuel-hungry emerging markets and global warming are not new issues. They have hogged the headlines extensively in the last decade. Can we fault the government for our present woes? You bet. The driver of the nation, the government, has fallen asleep at the wheels. The government had failed to sound the alarm nor has it prepared the people to adjust to the new realities of the world. Here are the reasons why the government policies have misguided Malaysians into believing that we could have a lifestyle built on cheap oil. 1. Each young Malaysian buy a Proton as soon as they can afford it. The finance companies dish out hundreds of millions to finance them, just to support the national car company. 2. In order to support Proton, there is no reason to really build an efficient public transport system. Indeed, everybody should have a car, a Proton preferred. 3. When Malaysians started to do well; they change to higher capacity cars. Few keep their cars for more than five years because there is a culture for the latest and flashiest. Hence the competition to have more APs, import licences for cars. The government is a happy player in this game as it collects millions in import taxes for cars. How about green cars? What green cars? Carbon emission? What carbon emission? Only tree-hugging greenies talk about such vehicles. We have no crisis. 4. Then they started to construct hundreds of kilometers of highways; from North to South, East to West. With the toll roads; the cars become so congested; don’t complain, they say traffic jams are signs that Kuala Lumpur has become a world-class city. 5. Then they build housing and commercial zones far apart from each other. It is normal to travel an hour to work, and back. Malaysians have accepted it as a norm. 6. The buses don’t work, they are unreliable, and few care if they are on time. Then there is the scary news that the drivers are often on drugs and the risk of fatal accidents is high. 7. The government talks about building a public transportation system - talk, talk, and more talk. When asked why it takes so long, they tell you, this is easier said than done. Thus, on June 4, the government finally announced that it was no longer tenable to keep supporting the oil subsidy, which has ballooned to over one-third of its operating budget; amounting to some RM56 billion in 2008, more than the allocation for development expenditure of RM40 billion. If we don’t raise the prices today; the national budget will increase its deficit from 3% to 6% - the highest in Asia. Learn from Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil The pressure from high oil prices simply tells us that our car-centric lifestyle is simply not sustainable anymore. So if you have an infrastructure built around the private car, you would be ill-equipped to live in the world of expensive oil, not to mention 50 years later in the post-oil world. The issue we have to face is really about adjusting or developing a new infrastructure for a less-oil dependent lifestyle. Subsidies are supposedly to be used only temporary to help develop a new sector or to provide a safety net for a particular sector in distress. If our lives were not so car-centric, we would have no problem with that. An International Monetary Fund study of five emerging economies found that the richest 20% of households received on average 42% of the total fuel subsidies, the bottom 20% of households received less than 10%. So if we have a good system for all, subsidies should not be the central issue. It is clear that in Malaysia, the worst affected lower and middle-income group must be provided with an efficient, accessible public transport system, which would enable them to go on with their lives; and the government diverts the whopping RM50 billion spent on blanket fuel subsidy to better education, healthcare, infrastructure and investment to help the citizens raise their income. The government needs to, starting today, to be up-front with Malaysians about the challenges we have to face. Urban planning and housing development should take all these into consideration - that feasibility studies on public transportation must be done before a new housing development project be approved. People will be willingly to change their lifestyle, especially if it is a more pleasant one, if the accompanying infrastructure is available and working. There are ample models we can learnt from - in Asia alone, Singapore and Hong Kong’s network of subways, buses and feeder buses are among the best in the world. I don’t own a car in my 10 years in Shanghai; I traveled by subway and considered the car to be a burden. But before we can get to the railways and subways, all we need is to work on the connectivity and proper management of our buses. If Curitiba in Brazil can become a world model in utilising rapid bus network as a preferred transport for the people, surely Malaysian can take a page from their experience. The government can, and must, lead in demonstrating that it could garner the right expertise and political will to make this happen quickly. We have very little influence over oil prices in the international market. But the domestic environment which we live in is within our control. In the long run, Malaysians will have to adjust to a less oil-dependent world, and this can only happen if the necessary infrastructure is in place to make it happen. We have less than a decade to make this change. We have already lost a lot of time. We must begin today. FOONG WAI FONG is co-founder of Pahlawan Volunteers, an advocacy and volunteer group who played an important role in the Nipah virus crisis and the Visit Malaysia Cybercampaign of 1997. She is also the director of Megatrends Asia, and best-selling author for ‘Megatrends Asia’ (with John Naisbitt), ‘The New Asian Way’, ‘We have to talk, Mr Prime Minister’, and ‘Culture is Good Business’. Join Pahlawan at here.

Return To Afghanistan - Business Opportunities!

This is a good article to share.

Flying home with ‘insurgents’ on the back seat
Hamida Ghafour

I have just returned from Afghanistan, my first trip back to my homeland in three years. When I boarded the plane in Dubai last week, I was more than a little apprehensive about the changes I would see. When I left at the end of 2005, suicide bombings were still unusual and there was a sense of hope that the just-elected parliament would put the country on the path towards security and prosperity.
As I mulled over these thoughts, the plane landed in Kandahar for a brief stopover before heading to Kabul, its final destination. I thought it would take me days to get under the skin of the latest developments, but my introduction to the new Afghanistan was jarring and unexpected. The first passengers to embark were four Afghan men, wearing shalwar kameez, the traditional baggy trousers and shirt, and rather oddly, they appeared to be holding hands.
Then a Canadian man came and sat next to me, looking tense but excited. “They just brought four insurgents onto the plane,” he whispered. “Those are the guys handcuffed in the back.” I craned my neck to have a better look. The men had dark hair and light skin and sat very still. One of them was missing an eye. Of course … they weren’t holding hands but were handcuffed together. My fellow passenger – who, it turned out, worked for the Canadian army – said that a Canadian soldier had been killed and Kandahar was in lockdown, with no foreigners being allowed to leave their high-security compounds. It wasn’t clear if the four at the back of the plane were connected to the soldier’s death, but they were being flown to the capital to be interrogated by the Afghan intelligence agency. I hoped that they had been carefully searched. Suicide bombings happen all the time in Kandahar and these four didn’t have anything to lose.
No one else on the flight was aware of what was happening. In the seat ahead of me a baby cried on its mother’s lap. When I looked back again, I noticed another man who appeared to be a Westerner sitting in between the arrested men. The Canadian next to me read my quizzical expression. “He’s an Australian journalist visiting Kandahar,” he said with a grin. “We thought it would be fun to put him there.” It was good to see people’s black humour remained intact during tough times.
Hitting military targets may be the goal of war but anyone who believes this insurgency is a noble struggle against a foreign occupation should consider the following story related to me by a Canadian source. The Canadian army captured a would-be suicide bomber in Khost, which is a Pashtun province in southern Afghanistan battered by the insurgency. The Talib was in a car loaded with explosives, and soldiers caught him before he detonated the bomb. But this fighter was no battle-hardened veteran of the Soviet jihad. He was a 14-year-old orphan from a madrasa in Miran Shah, Pakistan.
When he was caught, he cried and said that he had wanted to see his dead mother because he missed her so much. The mullah at his madrasa had assured him that if he drove the car into the market he would see his mother. He did not know what a suicide bomb was. What is almost as heartbreaking is that he had never driven a car before until the madrasa taught him how to do so in preparation for the trip “to see” his mother.
While the south and east slide back into chaos, in Kabul, attaching the word “Dubai” to anything gives it a stamp of all that is modern and cool – whether it is relevant to the product or not. Many Afghans are in awe of the emirate. There is the Kabul Dubai Mandavi market and the Kabul Dubai Wedding Hall, complete with flashing lights and glass windows. The hall was packed most nights I drove past it.
There is even a song dedicated to Dubai and played often on the radio stations. Could this be a chance for UAE businessmen to invest commercially more in Afghanistan, a fellow Muslim nation that needs their help? Certainly the signs from the Afghans are positive. The Afghans are also good at making the best of a bad situation. The restaurants in Kabul are struggling to attract patrons because expatriates, most of whom are flush with money, are rarely allowed to leave their residences. When a bomb is set off in the capital, foreigners end up staying at home for days or even weeks until the situation calms down.
A young Afghan who grew up in Germany saw a great business opportunity in this. He started up Easy Food, which will deliver food to your door from a selection of 10 restaurants. You ring the Easy Food operator and place an order from your favourite restaurant. The company sends out its drivers to pick up the dishes, thus eliminating the risk – for the diner – of venturing out to satiate that curry craving.
The Easy Food brochure’s introduction begins with a great sense of understatement: “With the constant ups and downs of the security situation in Afghanistan, it makes it difficult to maintain a healthy balance of work and down time …”

Obama's Job Hunting Lessons

Here, we take a look at some of the reasons why Barack Obama has been effective in his quest for his next great job. By observing how Obama ran his campaign against Hillary, we can learn some valuable lessons that can help when looking for that next career move.

Build The Tallest Building
There are two ways to get the tallest building in town. One is to build the tallest building, the other is to knock down everyone else's.
From my perspective, Obama put his message across in a very positive way, focusing on his strengths. Hillary's campaign, on more than one occasion, laid into Obama quite heavily.

In your next interview, resist the temptation to knock your current or former employers, colleagues or competitors. Instead, focus on your strengths and what you can do for the company in the new position. Your message will be sharper and you will be more likely to be remembered as someone that the can add value.

Show Passion
Passion and commitment can help win through over experience.
Although Hillary is by far the more experienced candidate, Obama's passion and commitment helped him to win.

Just as important as "can the person do the job" is "will the person do the job".
In other words, does the person have the motivation to get the job done efficiently and effectively.

Demonstrating passion for the position and commitment to the company shows the employer that you're motivated to achieve.

On many occasions while in recruitment I have seen the most qualified and experienced person not get the job due to a lack of energy and passion.

Be 100% Honest All Of The Time

Hillary was in the lead earlier in the campaign. She fell behind at around the time she grossly exaggerated her experience of being in a war zone.

The bottom-line is that on average we are on this planet for around 76 years. People need to be able to trust us to employ us and to do business with us. Having a clear conscience also helps to free our mind, which helps us to focus on what we can do, not what we have to make up or cover up.
Have A Clear, Consistent Message

Obama's key message is very memorable: "Change we can believe in". I'm not even sure what Hillary's was. Most times I saw Obama on the news he was accompanied by a poster showing the line "Change we can believe in". He's driving his message home firmly and backing it up.

Culture is critical as the UAE struggles to define its ‘identity’

Defining culture is a tough task. A number of intellectuals have tried but, ultimately, all descriptions of culture have proved to be inadequate in one way or the other. To avoid confusion in this particular article, “culture” is defined as “the beliefs and attitudes about something that people in a particular group or organisation share”.
Ibn Khaldoun, the renowned Arab Tunisian philosopher, defined culture 200 years before the word finally found its way into the German dictionary. To him, culture was what people’s behaviour, their way of life and business consisted of. Terry Eagleton, author of The Idea of Culture, and professor of English at the university of Oxford, had a far different approach toward the meaning of culture. He considered the term to be among the “two or three most complex words in the English language”.
Like culture, Eagleton thought, the term “nature” (often considered to be an idea contrary to culture) was also quite problematic. Unlike many others, though, he did not consider nature to be a result of culture, but rather culture to be, in many ways, an offshoot of nature. He tells us that the word “culture” is etymologically linked to words deeply linked to nature. One of the many meanings of “culture”, he reminds us, is “husbandry”, which is deeply linked to nurturing and promoting growth.
Despite its etymological linkages, the word “culture” is primarily derived from the Latin word colere, which signifies care and nurture. In the course of history, culture has come to be associated with the cognitive aspect of human society, whereas civilisation has continued to be linked to the materialistic aspect. Most English speakers have a habit of confusing the two. Edward Tylor, an English anthropologist who was, incidentally, also the first person to provide an official definition of culture – in his book Primitive Culture published in 1871 – considered culture to be an amalgamation of traditions and beliefs, art forms and the societal structure of a given group.
Yet another Arab Algerian theorist, Malik bin Nabi, considered culture to be the bigger picture containing everything else like customs, routines and practices. This big picture, Nabi argues, colours the lives of every member of a particular society and sets him/her apart from the members of different societies.The disparity among the various accepted definitions of culture have much to do with the large variations in the study methods employed by researchers. No two researchers in the field make use of the same methods. As a result, the conclusions they reach and the definitions they formulate are very different from one another. Some researchers follow anthropological methods, and therefore deal with the cerebral and material achievements of society. Others deal with methods concerning styles and values invented and implemented by people over the years in order to give themselves and their society specific identities.
Unlike in the West, in Arabic countries “culture” has a strict, linear definition. In a state such as the UAE, culture is considered to be a sort of superiority and stature, which only the educated have the means and the right to earn. A marked ability to cultivate one’s taste in literature and the arts, and the capacity to evaluate someone else’s thoughts, are considered unique to a person’s culture.
Though society and culture are closely linked, culture cannot hope to survive in the absence of society. However, in the presence of society, culture performs the crucial task of moulding the members of that society. Since the culture of every society differs, no two societies are exactly alike. Thus, we can safely say that society makes culture and culture makes people. Contrary to popular belief, the arts have a definite impact on societies. They help create the cultural institutions and foundations and allow them to grow and develop. This in turn helps communities to increase their cohesion. It is therefore unwise to suggest that investing in cultural activities is futile.
Artists have often claimed that the returns from cultural activities, though difficult to define, are important for their societies. Development, they argue, does not concern the growth of one sector and the total stagnation of another. Rather, it is the simultaneous growth of every part of society. Such growth therefore requires the synchronised growth of both the economy and the culture of a given society. These are important lessons for our society in the UAE as we struggle to define our identity.
Dr Salem Humaid is an Emirati writer and researcher in cultural and anthropological studies based in Dubai.

8

Sustainability issues

This week's issue of Construction Week looks at two issues that are foremost in the minds of contractors and project managers: steel procurement and sustainability. The price of steel, as readers of this magazine well know, has been going up for several years now. This has widespread implications, ranging from actual delays in projects getting underway to contracts being renegotiated halfway though a project to take cost increases into account. Yes despite this, there is no sign of the industry slowing down. According to Dubai-based research firm, Proleads, there are over US $1 trillion (AED3.7 trillion) worth of construction projects currently underway in the GCC.

And despite the problems procurement managers are having, estimates put predicted steel consumption for this year at a staggering 19.7 million tonnes. This is all reflected in the cost of steel, which continues to escalate at a rapid pace. Somehow, however, the industry finds a way and projects continue to be announced at a record pace. Is this a sign of resilience or is there an inevitable crunch coming somewhere down the line? Sustainability was the theme of the recent Construction Week conference, ‘Building Sustainability into the Middle East', which was held last week at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. All the top names in the construction and environmental business were there to share ideas and learn from each other's experiences. The key message to come out of the event was that sustainability does not have to cost a fortune. Of course, getting there isn't easy and this is perhaps where the key challenge lies. First of all, developers have to understand what sustainable means and their architect has to incorporate sustainability into the structure of the building at the design stage. Do architects and designers have the necessary skills, does the industry as a whole know what sustainable means and who should the industry turn to for guidance? Another issue is procuring the materials and fittings required to reduce energy and water consumption. Are the products easily available and supported in the region? Then there is the question of retrofitting old buildings to make them more sustainable. Can it be done and how does one go about it? The construction industry has a key role to play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and making our world cleaner. Achieving that is likely to be quite a challenge.

Husam, Khalid dan Anwar di Twar 3, Dubai

Report HERE

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