BOOK REVIEW
Islamic finance - steady amid chaos
Reviewed by Robert E Looney
In 1936 in the depths of a world-wide economic depression, John Maynard Keynes described the decline of the world's financial markets as a result of playing at a casino: "Short-term speculation with little regard to fundamentals." A cursory examination of the current global financial crisis suggests little has changed since Keynes' day - the conventional financial system, despite various patches and fixes over the years, is still prone to periods of extreme instability and abuse.
Unfortunately, the economics profession has provided little in the way of constructive input in re-designing a more stable financial architecture. Mainstream neo-classical equilibrium economic.
analysis has not systematically incorporated elements that would account for the conventional system's instability, let alone provide a framework for predicting the occasional bouts of extreme instability.
Liberal-minded neo-Keynesians have done a bit better in identifying some important precursors of the crisis, in particular, the destabilizing role of huge private sector financial deficits in countries with large external deficits, such as the US. The Keynesian view certainly played a big part in the post-crisis response (fiscal stimulus) of many developed and emerging countries.
On the conservative side, monetarists certainly raised doubts about the Federal Reserve's abnormally low interest rates and expansive monetary creation in the years preceding the crisis. Yet, at best, this line of analysis does not go very far beyond the warning of an impending bubble and likely bout of inflationary pressures.
No doubt a leading monetarist, Milton Friedman, if alive today, would reaffirm a firm belief in Say's Law of the smooth functioning of unimpeded (free) markets. Those going down this road contend the current financial instability is wholly the fault of too much government. As Friedman often observed, "The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy". Lax money and credit policy of US Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan would be the focus of his ire today.
Monetarist offshoots such as the Rational Expectations School, while producing good explanations of the stagflation experience of the 1970s, have not been able to systematically incorporate irrational behavior into their models. The lemming or investor-herd mentalities observed in recent years remain well beyond their comprehension.
As Martin Wolf of the Financial Times has noted, of the Western interpretations of the global financial crisis, it appears those economists working in the Austrian tradition were more nearly right than anybody else. In particular, they have argued that: central bank inflation-targeting is inherently destabilizing; that fractional reserve banking creates unmanageable credit booms; and that the resulting pattern of investment, linked not to the marginal efficiency of capital but rather to financial returns, explains the subsequent financial crash.
The best non-Western explanation of the global financial crisis is presented in the book under review, The Stability of Islamic Finance: Creating a Resilient Financial Environment for a Secure Future by Hossein Askari, Zamir Iqbal, Noureddine Krichene and Abbas Mirakhor. However, this book is much more than just an alternative explanation of the current depressed state of the world economy - it is an elegant, sophisticated assessment of Islamic finance as a viable, realistic alternative to the current conventional system. Perhaps to the surprise of many, the author's assessment finds a number of similarities between the core elements of Islamic finance and that of the Austrian School.
Certainly Islamic finance and banking institutions are thriving relative to conventional finance. The Banker's 2009 survey of Islamic finance found the volume of sharia-compliant assets of the Top 500 grew by an extremely healthy 28.6%, rising to US$822 billion from $639 billion, in 2008 (forecasts are that this figure will top $1 trillion in 2010). At a time when asset growth in the Top 1,000 world banks slumped to 6.8% from 21.6% the previous year, Islamic institutions were able to maintain the 28% annual compound growth achieved in the past three years.
The industry also continued to expand, with 20 new entrants bringing the number of sharia-compliant institutions to 435, with a further 191 conventional banks having sharia windows. The Islamic banking geographies are stretching beyond the existing strongholds of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia and the UAE to Europe, South Africa, Kenya and Indonesia.
Advocates claim Islamic finance has been immune because sharia-compliant institutions are focused on the fundamentals, with simple products bearing robust mechanisms for risk mitigation. Market analysts have stressed the correlation between asset quality in Islamic institutions and their conservative approach to risk as an insulating factor. Many conventional bankers contend the success of Islamic finance in riding out the financial storm can be attributed to the fact it is underpinned by tangible assets such as real estate.
Askari et al incorporate all of these considerations into their demonstration of the advantages of the Islamic alternative, but they also go several steps further than most previous assessments. Prior examinations of Islamic finance have devoted most of their attention to its ethical side - prohibition of interest and the ban on lending for certain activities - gambling, alcohol production and so forth. As its title suggests, The Stability of Islamic Finance demonstrates, in addition to Islamic finance's usual virtues, its relative stability with regard to the conventional system.
As the authors note (p 209), conventional banks fail to meet inherent stability conditions even in the presence of prudential regulations. First, credit losses from debt default to the depreciation of assets may create a large divergence in relation to the liabilities that remain fixed in nominal value. Second, bank credit has no fixed relation to real capital in the economy and bears no direct relation to the real rate of return. Unbaked credit expansion through the credit multiplier and further leveraging is a fundamental feature of conventional banks. Cash flow could fall short of expectations and force large income losses on banks, especially when the cost of funds is fixed through a predetermined interest rate.
Third, banks caught in a credit freeze, with a drying up of liquidity. may default on their payments. Fourth, banks are fully interconnected with each other through a complex debt structure; in particular, the assets of one bank instantaneously become liabilities of another, leading to fast credit multiplication. A credit crash causes a dramatic contagion and a domino effect that may impair even the soundest banks.
While their analysis is much too rich to detail here, suffice to say they demonstrate that an Islamic system overcomes many of these limitations. In particular, in an economy governed by the principles of Islamic finance, the rate of return on equities is determined by the marginal efficiency of capital and time preference, and is positive in a growing economy. This implies that Islamic banks are always profitable provided that real economic growth is positive. This establishes a basic difference between Islamic banking where profitability is fully secured by real economic growth and conventional banking where profitability is not driven primarily by the real sector.
A critical feature noted by the authors, and one consistent with the Austrian ideal for banking, is the fact that the Islamic system operates on a 100% reserve requirement. In this system, investment banking operates on a risk/profit sharing basis, with an overall rate of return that is positive and determined by the real economic growth rate.
Islamic banks do not create and destroy money; consequently, the money multiplier, defined by the savings rate in the economy, is much lower in the Islamic system than in the conventional system, providing a basis for strong financial stability, greater price stability and sustained economic growth.
In short, the requirements of Islamic finance - lower proportions of debt to equity, a condition that the lender share profits and losses with the borrower, and a focus on transactions based on tangible assets - mean that Islamic banks have not become entangled in the toxic-debt instruments that have laid waste to many of the conventional banking giants.
In sum, The Stability of Islamic Finance has many strengths. Perhaps the greatest one is the ability of the authors to bridge the gap between the conventional and increasingly sophisticated global financial system and that represented by Islamic finance. Previous attempts at contrasting the systems largely failed because authors were strong in one area but lacked the expertise to provide an in-depth critique of the other system. Professor Askari is an acknowledged world-class expert in both systems and combined with his three co-authors anchors an analytical team uniquely capable of integrating the workings of an Islamic system into the increasingly complex global context.
Still, there are many problems confronting a wider based adoption of Islamic financial systems. In addition to the usual West-Islamic differences over interest, ethical roles of business etc, a number of fundamental changes would have to take place in the way Western governments manage their economies. For one thing, the adoption of popular Keynesian stimuluses during recessions would be much more difficult than is currently the case. Central bank discretionary policy would have to be abandoned for strict rules on monetary expansion. Reserve requirements of 100% on banks would fundamentally alter the banking business - the list goes on.
Having shown its inherent advantages over the current system, hopefully the authors will collaborate on a follow-on book detailing how the Islamic financial system can transition outside of its current narrow confines to be a viable alternative to the conventional system.
The Stability of Islamic Finance: Creating a Resilient Financial Environment for a Secure Future by Hossein Askari, Zamir Iqbal, Noureddine Krichene and Abbas Mirakhor. John Wiley & Sons, Singapore (2010). ISBN: 978-0-470-82519-80. Price US$49.95, 256 pages.
Robert Looney is a professor of national security affairs, and associate chairman of instruction, Department of National Security Affairs, at the Naval Postgraduate School, California.
Sabtu, 1 Mei 2010
Khamis, 29 April 2010
Mengapa Bunuh Kanak_Kanak
A knife-wielding man attacked a kindergarten class of 4-year-olds in eastern China on Thursday, slashing 28 children in what an expert said was a copycat rampage of two other episodes at Chinese schools in the past month.
A 47-year-old jobless man, Xu Yuyuan, burst into a classroom at the Zhongxin Kindergarten early Thursday, waving an eight-inch (20-centimeter) knife and stabbing a security guard who tried to stop him, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Five students were in critical condition following the attack in Jiangsu province's Taixing city and two teachers and the security guard were injured, said Zhu Guiming, an official with the Taixing propaganda department.
A series of school attacks in China in recent years have mostly been blamed on people with personal grudges or suffering from mental illness, leading to calls for improved security.
China's inadequate mental health network has left millions of unstable people without the help they need. Many otherwise healthy Chinese also feel frustrated and powerless because they aren't able to adapt to the constant social upheaval and because they believe the changes favor the corrupt. That kind of anger has occasionally erupted in mass violence and in isolated attacks.
It is not known why schools are targeted.
On Wednesday, a teacher on sick leave due to mental illness broke into a primary school in Guangdong province's Leizhou city in southern China and wounded 15 students and a teacher in a knife attack. That attack came on the same day a man was executed for killing eight children last month in stabbings that shocked China.
It was not known if Xu knew about the previous day's attack in Guangdong, but Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at Renmin University in Beijing, said these sorts of violent attacks often happen in clusters because one may trigger copycat attacks.
"It's like suicide, which is another type of mental health problem that can spread in a community," said Zhou. "Normally, with these kind of violent events we hope the media won't blow them up too much. Because that tends to make it spread."
A survey of mental health in four Chinese provinces jointly done by Chinese and U.S. doctors that was published in the Lancet in June concluded that China likely had about 173 million adults nationwide with mental health disorders and that most, 158 million, had never gotten any professional help for their problems.
But state media said Zheng Minsheng, 42, had no history of mental illness before he rampaged through a school in Fujian province in March, killing eight children.
During his trial, Zheng said he killed the children because he had been upset after being jilted by a woman and treated badly by her wealthy family.
The court also heard that Zheng lived with his 80-year-old grandmother in a one-bedroom apartment and slept on the balcony in summer and in the living room in winter. He testified that he had trouble dealing with people at work but had not gotten the help he needed from his boss, so he quit his job but was unable to find another one.
Yu Jianrong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has said China's sweeping social changes might be partially to blame for Zheng's anti-social rage.
"A social environment lacking fairness and justice, in which those who abide by the rules gain nothing, while those who do not can profit, could bring about resistance by the weak against the entire society," Yu was quoted as saying by the Southern Weekly newspaper a few weeks after the attack.
Zheng was executed Wednesday, just weeks after his crime. Zhou, the Renmin University professor, said China's use of capital punishment helps fuel the cycle of violence by enforcing a belief in "blood for blood."
He said China should abolish the death penalty, improve human rights and make its justice system more fair and transparent.
After a 2004 attack at a school in Beijing that left nine students dead, the central government mandated tighter school security nationwide.
The Ministry of Education did not immediately respond to a fax Thursday asking whether the attacks would result in orders to step up school security.
In Wednesday's attack, in which a teacher stabbed fourth and fifth graders in their heads, backs and arms, Xinhua said the suspect suffered from mental illness and had been on sick leave from another school since February 2006. He is now in police custody.
None of the victims in that case had life-threatening wounds, said the director of the command center at the Leizhou Public Security Bureau, who gave his name as Qin.
Two weeks ago, a mentally ill man hacked to death a second grader and an elderly woman with a meat cleaver in southern Guangxi, and wounded five other people.
A 47-year-old jobless man, Xu Yuyuan, burst into a classroom at the Zhongxin Kindergarten early Thursday, waving an eight-inch (20-centimeter) knife and stabbing a security guard who tried to stop him, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Five students were in critical condition following the attack in Jiangsu province's Taixing city and two teachers and the security guard were injured, said Zhu Guiming, an official with the Taixing propaganda department.
A series of school attacks in China in recent years have mostly been blamed on people with personal grudges or suffering from mental illness, leading to calls for improved security.
China's inadequate mental health network has left millions of unstable people without the help they need. Many otherwise healthy Chinese also feel frustrated and powerless because they aren't able to adapt to the constant social upheaval and because they believe the changes favor the corrupt. That kind of anger has occasionally erupted in mass violence and in isolated attacks.
It is not known why schools are targeted.
On Wednesday, a teacher on sick leave due to mental illness broke into a primary school in Guangdong province's Leizhou city in southern China and wounded 15 students and a teacher in a knife attack. That attack came on the same day a man was executed for killing eight children last month in stabbings that shocked China.
It was not known if Xu knew about the previous day's attack in Guangdong, but Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociology professor at Renmin University in Beijing, said these sorts of violent attacks often happen in clusters because one may trigger copycat attacks.
"It's like suicide, which is another type of mental health problem that can spread in a community," said Zhou. "Normally, with these kind of violent events we hope the media won't blow them up too much. Because that tends to make it spread."
A survey of mental health in four Chinese provinces jointly done by Chinese and U.S. doctors that was published in the Lancet in June concluded that China likely had about 173 million adults nationwide with mental health disorders and that most, 158 million, had never gotten any professional help for their problems.
But state media said Zheng Minsheng, 42, had no history of mental illness before he rampaged through a school in Fujian province in March, killing eight children.
During his trial, Zheng said he killed the children because he had been upset after being jilted by a woman and treated badly by her wealthy family.
The court also heard that Zheng lived with his 80-year-old grandmother in a one-bedroom apartment and slept on the balcony in summer and in the living room in winter. He testified that he had trouble dealing with people at work but had not gotten the help he needed from his boss, so he quit his job but was unable to find another one.
Yu Jianrong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has said China's sweeping social changes might be partially to blame for Zheng's anti-social rage.
"A social environment lacking fairness and justice, in which those who abide by the rules gain nothing, while those who do not can profit, could bring about resistance by the weak against the entire society," Yu was quoted as saying by the Southern Weekly newspaper a few weeks after the attack.
Zheng was executed Wednesday, just weeks after his crime. Zhou, the Renmin University professor, said China's use of capital punishment helps fuel the cycle of violence by enforcing a belief in "blood for blood."
He said China should abolish the death penalty, improve human rights and make its justice system more fair and transparent.
After a 2004 attack at a school in Beijing that left nine students dead, the central government mandated tighter school security nationwide.
The Ministry of Education did not immediately respond to a fax Thursday asking whether the attacks would result in orders to step up school security.
In Wednesday's attack, in which a teacher stabbed fourth and fifth graders in their heads, backs and arms, Xinhua said the suspect suffered from mental illness and had been on sick leave from another school since February 2006. He is now in police custody.
None of the victims in that case had life-threatening wounds, said the director of the command center at the Leizhou Public Security Bureau, who gave his name as Qin.
Two weeks ago, a mentally ill man hacked to death a second grader and an elderly woman with a meat cleaver in southern Guangxi, and wounded five other people.
Rokok Naik Harga Lagi
Aduyaii.... Harga rokok naik lagi. Harga rokok akan naik 25% bermula 30 April 2010. Tapi bukan di Malaysia tetapi di Australia. Kononnya, langkah ini adalah bertujuan untuk membendung tabiat merokok.
Langkah menaikkan harga rokok ini dijangka dapat mengurangkan penggunaan tembakau sebanyak 6 % dan mengurangkan perokok sebanyak 2 hingga 3 %.
Dengan kenaikan cukai sebanyak 25%, harga rokok akan meningkat sebanyak $2.16 menjadikan harga sebungkus rokok kandngan 30 batang beharga $ 17.95.
Khabarnya menaikkan cukai rokok akan memberi pendapatan sebanyak $5 bilion dalam masa 4 tahun dan wang ini akan terus dilaburkan kepada hospital.
Baca seterusnya dari sumber asal.
The Government will also force tobacco companies to use plain packaging from July 1, 2012.
Raising the tobacco excise will generate an extra $5 billion over four years and the money "will be directly invested in hospitals".
Internet advertising of cigarettes will also be restricted, and an extra $27.8 million will be spent on anti-smoking campaigns.
New legislation will prohibit logos, brand imagery, colours, and promotional text other than brand and product names in standard colour, position, font style and size, the Government said
* The Punch: Cough, splutter
"The new branding for cigarettes will be the most hardline regime in the world and cigarette companies will hate it," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today.
The Australian Greens, Family First senator Steve Fielding and Independent senator Nick Xenophon have all voiced support for the tax increase giving the Government the numbers it needs to have the legislation passed by the Senate.
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the hike is a cash grab designed to balance the books after Mr Rudd's big spending.
"I'm not in the business of defending smoking, I want to make that absolutely clear, but I also want to make absolutely clear that this is not a health policy, this is a tax grab," Mr Abbott said.
"In fact it is a panic tax put in place by a Government who's spending is out of control.
"The Rudd Government is addicted to spending in the way that some people, sadly, are addicted to nicotine."
In response to changed packaging laws, Mr Abbott said he wanted to see evidence of its effectiveness in reducing smoking habits.
Although it appears Labor will not have to rely on the Coalition, Senator Xenophon urged them to get support for the initiatives.
"An increase in the tax is inevitable and it's a good thing," he told ABC TV.
Tobacco companies to fight
A spokeswoman for Imperial Tobacco Australia said the company was preparing to "legally" fight the Government over the proposed changes.
"Introducing plain packaging just takes away the ability of a consumer to identify our brand from another brand - and that's of value to us," she told ABC Radio.
"It really affects the value of our business as a commercial enterprise and we will fight to support protecting our international property rights."
The spokeswoman said the move - designed to make cigarettes less appealing to young people - may actually be a bane to public health.
"If the tobacco products are available in the same easy-to-copy plain packaging, it makes it much easier for counterfeiters to increase the volume of illicit trade in Australia," she said.
"That illicit product may not have the health warnings on it, it won't be subject to ingredients reporting."
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said legislation allowing the packaging changes would be carefully drafted to withstand any legal challenges from the industry.
"We have firm advice that this action can be taken," she said.
Brave move
Cancer Council Australia chief executive Ian Olver said the move would stop some people smoking and cut cancer rates. It would make Australia a world leader in reducing tobacco deaths, he said.
"Tobacco companies cleverly tailor product packaging to attract people to the pack and send a message to smokers about the personality of the consumer," Prof Olver said.
He said health warnings would be more prominent without other patterns on the packaging.
Quit praised the "gutsy" plan and said it would hamper the recruitment of new smokers.
With advertisment of cigarettes already banned, packaging was serving as the main way to lure people into the habit, according to Quit's executive director Fiona Sharkie.
"By adopting plain packaging we can stop the tobacco industry from using the pack to recruit new smokers and promote their deadly and addictive products," she said.
National Preventative Health Taskforce adviser Simon Chapman recommended the Government adopt the policy, which he said was the most significant attempt to try and stop smoking since tobacco advertising was banned.
"I would expect many other governments to follow very quickly," he said.
"We believe that it is totally inappropriate to allow cancer-causing products to be dressed up in beguiling, attractive boxes."
Langkah menaikkan harga rokok ini dijangka dapat mengurangkan penggunaan tembakau sebanyak 6 % dan mengurangkan perokok sebanyak 2 hingga 3 %.
Dengan kenaikan cukai sebanyak 25%, harga rokok akan meningkat sebanyak $2.16 menjadikan harga sebungkus rokok kandngan 30 batang beharga $ 17.95.
Khabarnya menaikkan cukai rokok akan memberi pendapatan sebanyak $5 bilion dalam masa 4 tahun dan wang ini akan terus dilaburkan kepada hospital.
Baca seterusnya dari sumber asal.
The Government will also force tobacco companies to use plain packaging from July 1, 2012.
Raising the tobacco excise will generate an extra $5 billion over four years and the money "will be directly invested in hospitals".
Internet advertising of cigarettes will also be restricted, and an extra $27.8 million will be spent on anti-smoking campaigns.
New legislation will prohibit logos, brand imagery, colours, and promotional text other than brand and product names in standard colour, position, font style and size, the Government said
* The Punch: Cough, splutter
"The new branding for cigarettes will be the most hardline regime in the world and cigarette companies will hate it," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said today.
The Australian Greens, Family First senator Steve Fielding and Independent senator Nick Xenophon have all voiced support for the tax increase giving the Government the numbers it needs to have the legislation passed by the Senate.
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the hike is a cash grab designed to balance the books after Mr Rudd's big spending.
"I'm not in the business of defending smoking, I want to make that absolutely clear, but I also want to make absolutely clear that this is not a health policy, this is a tax grab," Mr Abbott said.
"In fact it is a panic tax put in place by a Government who's spending is out of control.
"The Rudd Government is addicted to spending in the way that some people, sadly, are addicted to nicotine."
In response to changed packaging laws, Mr Abbott said he wanted to see evidence of its effectiveness in reducing smoking habits.
Although it appears Labor will not have to rely on the Coalition, Senator Xenophon urged them to get support for the initiatives.
"An increase in the tax is inevitable and it's a good thing," he told ABC TV.
Tobacco companies to fight
A spokeswoman for Imperial Tobacco Australia said the company was preparing to "legally" fight the Government over the proposed changes.
"Introducing plain packaging just takes away the ability of a consumer to identify our brand from another brand - and that's of value to us," she told ABC Radio.
"It really affects the value of our business as a commercial enterprise and we will fight to support protecting our international property rights."
The spokeswoman said the move - designed to make cigarettes less appealing to young people - may actually be a bane to public health.
"If the tobacco products are available in the same easy-to-copy plain packaging, it makes it much easier for counterfeiters to increase the volume of illicit trade in Australia," she said.
"That illicit product may not have the health warnings on it, it won't be subject to ingredients reporting."
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said legislation allowing the packaging changes would be carefully drafted to withstand any legal challenges from the industry.
"We have firm advice that this action can be taken," she said.
Brave move
Cancer Council Australia chief executive Ian Olver said the move would stop some people smoking and cut cancer rates. It would make Australia a world leader in reducing tobacco deaths, he said.
"Tobacco companies cleverly tailor product packaging to attract people to the pack and send a message to smokers about the personality of the consumer," Prof Olver said.
He said health warnings would be more prominent without other patterns on the packaging.
Quit praised the "gutsy" plan and said it would hamper the recruitment of new smokers.
With advertisment of cigarettes already banned, packaging was serving as the main way to lure people into the habit, according to Quit's executive director Fiona Sharkie.
"By adopting plain packaging we can stop the tobacco industry from using the pack to recruit new smokers and promote their deadly and addictive products," she said.
National Preventative Health Taskforce adviser Simon Chapman recommended the Government adopt the policy, which he said was the most significant attempt to try and stop smoking since tobacco advertising was banned.
"I would expect many other governments to follow very quickly," he said.
"We believe that it is totally inappropriate to allow cancer-causing products to be dressed up in beguiling, attractive boxes."
Ahad, 25 April 2010
Di Mana Salahnya Mengupah APCO
APCO milik Yahudi. Jika pemimpin UMNO berurusan dengan APCO maka UMNO bersengkokol dengan Yahudi. UMNO menggadaikan negara kepada agen Yahudi. Begitulah hujah sesetengah orang.
APCO yang pendafaranya di Malaysia sebagai sebuah syarikat perunding imej dan komunikasi telah dikaitkan dengan kekejaman Yahudi. Jonathan Winer , seorang daripada eksekutif APCO dikatakan menuduh Ikhwan Muslimin dari Mesir sebagai pengganas. Marc Ginsberg, seorang lagi eksekutifnya membandingkan Sayid Qutb dengan Hitler yang ganas dari German.
Isu APCO ini bolehlah dikatakan sama dengan isu-isu syarikat Yahudi lain. Coca-Colajuga adalah syarikat milik Yahudi. Muhtar Kent, pemilik Coca-cola berketurunan Yahudi dan Turkey. Abangnya mendapat sanjungan dari bangsa Yahudi kerana telah menyelamatkan bangsa Yahudi pada perang Dunia Kedua. Syarikat ini sudah bertapak dari dahulu lagi dan jenama ini sudah serasi dengan Malay. Ada usaha-usaha kecil untuk memboikot jenama ini, namun syarikat ini terus berkembang.
Philip Morris, pengeluar rokok terbesar jugak milik Yahudi. Ramai antara pemimpin UMNO dan pemimpin PKR menghisap rokok hasil dari syarikat ini.
UMNO bersekongkol dengan Yahudi kerana menggunakan khidmat APCO, sebuah syarikat Yahudi. Kalau begitulah hujahnya, maka ramai di antara kita yang bersekongkokl dengan Yahudi ketika membesarkan anak. Kita beri anak kita minum susu nestle. Syarikat nestle juga adalah milik Yahudi.
Malah kita yang menulis blog ini juga bersubahat dengan Yahudi kerana menggunakan komputer Yahudi. IBM dan Intel juga adalah syarikat Yahudi.
Apalah istimewanyanya APCO ini. Oleh itu, di mana salahnya mengupah APCO ini.
APCO yang pendafaranya di Malaysia sebagai sebuah syarikat perunding imej dan komunikasi telah dikaitkan dengan kekejaman Yahudi. Jonathan Winer , seorang daripada eksekutif APCO dikatakan menuduh Ikhwan Muslimin dari Mesir sebagai pengganas. Marc Ginsberg, seorang lagi eksekutifnya membandingkan Sayid Qutb dengan Hitler yang ganas dari German.
Isu APCO ini bolehlah dikatakan sama dengan isu-isu syarikat Yahudi lain. Coca-Colajuga adalah syarikat milik Yahudi. Muhtar Kent, pemilik Coca-cola berketurunan Yahudi dan Turkey. Abangnya mendapat sanjungan dari bangsa Yahudi kerana telah menyelamatkan bangsa Yahudi pada perang Dunia Kedua. Syarikat ini sudah bertapak dari dahulu lagi dan jenama ini sudah serasi dengan Malay. Ada usaha-usaha kecil untuk memboikot jenama ini, namun syarikat ini terus berkembang.
Philip Morris, pengeluar rokok terbesar jugak milik Yahudi. Ramai antara pemimpin UMNO dan pemimpin PKR menghisap rokok hasil dari syarikat ini.
UMNO bersekongkol dengan Yahudi kerana menggunakan khidmat APCO, sebuah syarikat Yahudi. Kalau begitulah hujahnya, maka ramai di antara kita yang bersekongkokl dengan Yahudi ketika membesarkan anak. Kita beri anak kita minum susu nestle. Syarikat nestle juga adalah milik Yahudi.
Malah kita yang menulis blog ini juga bersubahat dengan Yahudi kerana menggunakan komputer Yahudi. IBM dan Intel juga adalah syarikat Yahudi.
Apalah istimewanyanya APCO ini. Oleh itu, di mana salahnya mengupah APCO ini.
Jumaat, 16 Oktober 2009
That 's America
Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.
NEW ORLEANS – A white Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.
Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."
Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.
Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.
"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."
If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.
"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.
Ini adalah sebuah kisah dari negara yang mendakwa mengepalai demokrasi. Sebuah negara yang memperjuangkan demokrasi dan hak asasi manusia.
Alasannya tidak memberi sijil perkahwinan kerana JP ini membuat kesimpulan bahawa kesemua perkahwinan antara kaum akan menghadapi masalah. Kalau mengikut hak asasi, seseorang itu berhak diberi kebebasan untuknya memilih perkara-perkara asas dalam kehidupannya. Perkahwinan adalah merupakan sesuatu yang personal. Sola individu adalah perkara pokok dalam hak asasi.
That America......
Rabu, 30 September 2009
Isa Samad : The Lone Ranger Telok Kemang
Dalam kecelaruan fikiran dan perasan berbelah-bahagi akhirnya Muhyiddin Yassin mengumumkan Isa Samad mewakili BN dalam Pilihan Raya Kecil Bagan Pinang.
Awal-awal lagi Tun Mahathir mengingatkan supaya tidak memilih Isa sebagai calon. Alasanya ialah UMNO perlu menonjolkan imej bersih kepada rakyat.
Pemilihan Isa Samad merupakan tamparan hebat kepada UMNO. UMNO sekarang berusaha keras untuk mengikis imej parti yang mengamalkan politik wang. UMNO sekarang sedang berusaha untuk memilih pemimpin pelapis yang bersih dan dilihat bersih dari hadas kecil atau hadas besar.
Walau apapun keputusan sudah
dibuat. Memang sukar untuk menarik balik walaupun masih sempat lagi untuk mengubah sebelum hari penamaan calon. Persoalannya mampukah Isa Samad mempertahan kerusi Bagan Pinang. Dalam keadaan sekarang, kemenangan hanya boleh dicapai dengan usaha yang gigih dan kerjasama seluruh jentera parti.Kekuatan Isa Samad dari akar umbi UMNO Teluk Kemang. Namun demikian, sokongan daripada UMNO Negeri Sembilan masih boleh dicurigai.
Adakah pencalonan Isa Samad mendapat restu daripada Mohamad Hasan , MB Negeri Sembilan. Mohamad Hasan baru dua penggal mengambil alih kuasa daripada Isa Samad. Adakah kedua tokoh ini sehaluan. Mohamad Hasan sudah tentu kurang gembira jika Isa Samad berada di dalam Dewan UNdangan Negeri Sembilan. Isa Samad sangat arif tentantg negeri Sembilan kerana lama memegang tampuk pemerintahan. Kehadiran Isa akan menyukarkan Mohamad Hasan untuk mentadbir.
KJ dari Rembau juga sekapal dengan Mohamad Hasan. Malah Khairylah yang menolak Mohamad Hasan menjadi Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan. Lagipun KJ memang dalam keadaan tidak bersemangat memimpin Pemuda UMNO setelah tidak dilantik menjadi menteri waalaupun dia Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda. Adakah KJ akan menggerakakan jentera Pemuda UMNO sepenuhnya untuk membantu Isa Samad. Dengar khabarnya jentera parti KJ di Rembau sangat lemah. Bagaimanakah KJ dapat membantu Isa di Bagan Pinang.
Waktu dulu, dikhabaran juga bahawa Isa Samad tidak sehaluan dengan Sri Menanti dan kerabat-kerabat. Malah Isa Samad jugak tidak sebulu dengan Undang Luak sehingga tahap menuding jari ke muka.
Tun Mahathir juga sudah mengumumkan untuk tidak berkempen untuk Isa Samad. Nampaknya bekas PM ini beria-ia sungguh untuk mebersihkan UMNO daripada politik wang.
Teluk Kemang berbeza dengan Rembau, Jelebu, Johol atau Sungai Ujung Tidak seperti kawasan lain di Negeri Sembilan, penduduk Teluk Kemang mengamalkan adat Temenggung bukannya adap Perpatih. Oleh itu kawasan ini tidak ada Undang, tidak ada buapak, tidak ada suku tidak ada perut. Hubungan masyarakat adalah lebih terbuka dan lebih longgar
Isa mungkin menang di Bagan Pinang tetapi kesan jangka panjang ialah pada pilihan raya umum akan datang. Isu ini akan digunakan oleh pembangkang dan ini akan menjadi isu maut kepada UMNO dan BN.
Selasa, 29 September 2009
Isa Samad : Tangan Yang Memberi lebih Baik Daripada Tangan Yang Meminta
Saya adalah antara beribu-ribu orang yang percaya bahawa Isa Samad akan dipilih mewakili BN dalam pilihan raya kecil Bagan Pinang. Saya juga percaya bahawa pemilihan ini adalah tepat seperti alasan yang diberi. Isa Samad adalah pilihan akar umbi. Pilihan yang dibuat oleh orang yang terliabt secara terus. Pilihan dalam kalangan orang yang akan menjadi jentera dan pilihan daripada orang yang akan memangkah.
Prinsip yang mengatakan bahawa seseorang itu perlu bersih dan dianggap bersih dipatuhi dalam pemilihan ini. Isa Samad sudah bersih. Dia telah digantung selama 4 tahun. Memadai dengan kesalahan yang telah dilakukan.
Isa pula dilihat bersih oleh akar umbi Bagan Pinang. Poster ucapan hari raya bergantungan di setiap jalan di kawasan Bagan Pinang. Isa pula dulihat sentiasa berada dengan orang ramai sambil melambai tangan dan bersalaman dengan penduduk Bagan Pinang. Ramai yang berani menyambut tangan Isa kerana tangan Isa dalam penglihatan mereka sudah bersih. dalam keadaan sekarang, cuba kita bandingkan siapakah di dalam senarai di bawah ini yang bersih berbanding Isa.
1. Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed (2,239)
2. Datuk Noh Omar (2,084)
3. Datuk Seri Musa Aman (2,084)
4. Datuk Azian Osman (2,060)
5. Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman (2,054)
6. Datuk Mohd. Zin Mohamed (1,854)
7. Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (1,838)
8. Datuk Lajim Ukin (1,804)
9. Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor (1,705)
10. Datuk Dr. Mohd. Puad Zarkashi (1,700)
11. Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (1,685)
12. Datuk Idris Haron (1,658)
13. Datuk Dr. Abd. Latiff Ahmad (1,624)
14. Datuk Seri Dr. Jamaluddin Jarjis (1,622)
15. Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (1,619)
16. Datuk Dr. Norraesah Mohamad (1,611)
17. Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (1,580)
18. Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohd. Hanadzlah (1,529)
19. Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin (1,518)
20. Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (1,517)
21. Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin (1,481)
22. Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique (1,431)
23. Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek (1,377)
24. Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh (1,275)
25. Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (1,265)
Ada nama yang dalam senarai ini langsung kita tidak kenali. Namun orang-orang ini telah berjaya menolak Shahrir Samad , seorang veteran parti dan orang yang bertaraf menteri. Apakah strategi yang mereka gunakan untuk memenangi pertandingan ini.
Malah ada orang menganggap bahawa memberi adalah lebih mulia daripada meminta. Ada pemimpin yang merayu dan meminta duit dari rakyat untuk membiayai perjuangan parti. Apakah perkara meminta dan merayu daripada rakyat untuk perjuangan parti itu lebih baik daripada memberi kepada orang lain.
Langgan:
Catatan (Atom)
