Islamic Finance

Just attended the recent Malaysian Islamic Finance 2-day forum...must say it gave me numerous insights into the world of Islamic financial industry..just name it sukuk, mudharabah, musyakarah, ijarah, commodity-based mudharabah, Islamic derivatives, Islamic REITs; talk about product innovation..im impressed..the Islamic finance industy is already said to be worth trillions of US dollars...wow....n to think that the majority of investors in Islamic financial instruments are non-muslims, what a remarkable revelation!

with petro-dollars swelling from the Gulf nations, the industry is reputed to grow even further..now everyone is into Islamic finance..just name it, Bahrain, Dubai, Singapore, Qatar....n Malaysia....Malaysia has already an Islamic finance initiative by the name of the Malaysian Islamic Financial Centre (or MIFC) in place...the next big question is, are we ready to be a major player??

p/s: must say that the moderator by the name of AbdelKader Thomas (Shape) was cool n knowledgable.......

Negaraku....

Em..i guess by now most of us have either heard, read or watched the negaraku rap version orchastrated by a Malaysian who is said to be patriotic....

well,what is happening to our nation..even our own national anthem is made a mockery by our own citizen...one wonders 50 years ago, what our forefathers would have felt if they were to witness this silly act.

But what makes things worse is the fact that this dude inserted the following lyrics in the song (translated):

5 in the morning
Theres even a morning call to wake me up
Sometimes a few of them will sing together
When you listen to it, its like a love duet
The voice ululates like an R&B song
Even though sometimes they sing until its out of tune
Even though sometimes they even sing until their voices break
Some sound like cockerels, but they wake up earlier than them
This way we can know the time to get ready for class and for work

Pukul 5 pagi
Malah ada yang memanggil untuk gerakkan aku diwaktu pagi
Kadangkala mereka menyanyi beramai-ramai
Bila didengar, macam duet lagu cinta
Suaranya bagaikan lagu R&B
Walaupun kadangkala nyanyiannya sumbang
Walaupun kadangkala mereka menyanyi sehingga pecah-pecah suara
Ada yang macam bunyi kokok ayam jantan, tetapi mereka bangun lebih awal (dari ayam jantan)
Lalu kita boleh tahu bila untuk bersiap sedia untuk ke kerja

Now what do u make of the above? For the benefit of those who have not watched the video, the above lyrics were sang with a mosque in the background..em..now what do you make of that? figure it out.. im not trying to be malicous or anything in that direction, its just that i was pondering on the fact that Malaysia is not what it used to be and the fact that Malaysians are becoming brave enough to vent their 'patriotism' in that manner makes me sick..

p/s: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/8/11/nation/20070811201338&sec=nation