The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| 2013 Springs: Cliffs and the can-do spirit Posted: 31 Dec 2012 04:45 PM PST JAN 1 — Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don't let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity. — R.I. Fitzhenry. At the end of a year, most of us not living in cave are "compelled" to read about predictions for the year ahead as if somehow gazing into a fuzzy crystal ball makes us "feel-good informed". The predictions are typically couched with conservative language as an opt out to prevent reputation damage of the author. Let's take a line from my colleague's son Shariq's favourite cartoon show "SpongeBob SquarePants" which had an episode called Opposite Day for approaching and predicting 2013. If stock picking can be done by monkeys throwing darts, then predictions, based on opposites, are just as valid. Arab Spring The Arab Spring will not result in a winter chaos as Muslim leaders will send an appropriately worded "marriage invitation" to the opposition to come to the negotiation table without any pre-conditions in the best interest of the ummah, under the banner of "Never Again Muslim on Muslim Killing". This will be co-broadcast, without commercials, by Al-Jazeera and Astro Awani. Iran will open the doors to all its facilities and bunkers, and the inspectors will discover that the "West and its allies," as propagated by Fox, actually talked up the nuclear Iran war-mongering to deflect their domestic challenges of sub-prime, sovereign debt crisis, fiscal cliff, Kim Kardashian, etc. The Israel-Palestinian challenge will result in a two-state solution to mutually acceptable borders, and settlements will be halted in return for a halt in "rocket raining". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (with PM Mahmoud Abbas) and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (surrounded by Hamas and Hezbollah, friends of peace, FoP) will shake hands on stage to share the Nobel Peace Prize, and the only flashes we see will come from cameras going forward. Syria's President Bashar Assad will join Tunisia's ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in a luxury retirement compound in Saudi Arabia, and will compare memoirs on "thought leadership principles" that may one day become a Hollywood movie called, "Sleepless in Syriana." There will be surprise appearances by Hosni Mubarak (espousing justice), Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein (espousing humanity), Saleh of Yemen (espousing power sharing), Mohamed Mursi of Egypt (espousing principles of misunderstanding), etc. The roles of leading actress, title song, and narrator are yet to be decided and there will be open auditions. Malaysian Spring As a friend of Malaysia (FoM), the following suggestions, in no particular order, will be commenced: ● There will be financial incentives given for carpooling combined with HOV (high occupancy lanes) to reduce traffic jams within KL, and congestion charges to reduce peak-time traffic. Furthermore, the Smart Tunnel will have a higher IQ after an extreme makeover! ● To increase tourism, secular and spiritual, projects include Dubai Fountain at KLCC Park, as the existing fountain is more like a low pressured drinking water fountain. The leaders understand that bringing a diversity of humanity to listen to and view a variety of music to a dancing fountain will be the bridge builder that compliments diplomacy. ● There will be an imam competition, grand prize of an all-expenses paid haj trip for the entire family, whereby the khuutbah (sermon) for six months will be about the Quran/Hadith and scientific education. The community that produces the most credible papers (in English and Bahasa) reviewed by the faculty at IIUM and/or invention (patent filing) will be deemed a winner, and they (along with faculty) will accompany the imam for the haj. ● To expand sports by involving youth and non-mall walking exercise for adults, an air-conditioned indoor stadium that doubles as a training facility for promoting Olympic sports (hiring international coaches and not assigning a loyal minister) and hosting major events. For example, the re-energised Malaysia Airlines will follow the example of Emirates Airlines in sponsoring sporting events, from a Premier League team to the US Open tennis. ● Only three Muslim countries host the F-1; Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Bahrain and Malaysia. However, Malaysia will learn from Bahrain and build a bigger Motor City, sponsored by Petronas. ● The Talent Corporation will work to revise the education system for children until age 17, as financial packages to bring talent back to Malaysia are neither enough nor fair to existing professionals who stay in the country. ● Malaysia will stop looking to the Arab world for a badge of approval and acceptance. ● The high import duty on expensive cars will be reviewed as competition is good for Proton. At hotels in KL, expensive cars from Ferrari to Lamborghinis to Bentleys are often parked outside the lobby, surrounded by velvet cords, and Proton taxis are often discouraged to enter the drop-off point. ● Food franchise is often a country's best ambassador, i.e., McDonald's to Subway to KFC so a Malaysian country food brand will be appearing in London, New York, LA, Paris, Milan, etc. ● The halal standards of Jakim will work in conjunction with emphasis on food safety and quality system standards set by the likes of Pizza Hut and Tesco for the benefit of SMEs. ● CIMB Islamic and MayBank Islamic, two of the country's largest Islamic financial institutions, will spin off from the group holding company and be taken public on Bursa Malaysia to attract Gulf investors who typically invest in market share-leading companies. ● Money will be set aside for recognised entities embarking on "crowd funding," as a complimentary and stakeholder inclusive way to finance/fund SMEs. ● Malaysia will lead the OIC and ASEAN Economic Community as it has the vision, will and means to do so. ● The Spring elections will be free and fair with all parties recognising continuity of growth, development, and diversification policies being paramount. The potential "political cliff" that many are predicting will remain potential. European Debt Spring Europe will finally say "no more rescue" to the countries under the acronym of PIGS, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, and will allow them to default, which will become the undoing of the euro. The demise of the euro will see more countries start the money printing press, and the forex market will go from present US$4 trillion (RM12.4 trillion) to US$8 trillion a day. Islamic finance generally, and Sukuk, specifically, will be used to refinance and restructure corporate and sovereign debt. The anti-shariah movement will endorse this niche market by default as it has much less trust in the conventional finance/banking system holding its savings for propagation against shariah. The European anti-immigrant movement will hold a global anti-immigration conference with other like-minded organisations in Geert Wilders' home country. However very few speakers appear as most will be held up at immigration! The revival of the former Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, will herald Italy as the first G20 "banana republic." US and China Spring The second term of US President Barack Obama will be more productive than his first as re-election, notwithstanding party pressures, is not priority. His "can-do" slogan will finally surface and he "will undo" some of the follies of the first four years. The fiscal cliff will be more like a "mission accomplished" sound bite as the "US is too big to fail". China will revive its economy with the once-in-a-decade leadership change and, externally, will continue to sabre-rattle Japan, be the counter-weight to US regional influence, and exert influence in resource rich Africa. Conclusion The head winds of economic and financial challenges will collide with the tail winds of political momentum resulting in an interesting inertia. Where are the tea-leaf readers? * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Posted: 31 Dec 2012 04:19 PM PST JAN 1 — It's a ritual many of us go through each time a spanking New Year stares at us in the face: we commit ourselves to a set of goals, projects and lifestyle change — but only to realise at the end of the year that we have failed to achieve what we set out to do. Thus, over the years I have become mellow enough to realise that my expectations of myself, people and life as a whole should be placed a notch or two lower so as to avoid lingering frustration. So this New Year, my resolutions are plain and simple. Travelling fascinates me, but I never got to do much of it in the recent past. So I have promised myself to travel this year — barring the possibility of a general election — to that northeastern corner of the peninsula, the state of Kelantan. The capital town of Kota Baru attracts me most as it evokes a certain charm, splendour and of course controversy. This is apart from the fact that people involved in business there are mostly women who are astute in their trade, indicative of women's power in action. And while visiting the town that reportedly (by the mainstream media) has grown more Islamic over the years, I thought I'd do something out of the ordinary in my otherwise sober life: I'd pop into one of Kota Baru's hairdressing salons. I am sure this totally new experience would blow me away, not necessarily because the MCA leadership recently expressed displeasure and Gerakan politicians found it imperative to solemnly exercise their human rights to cut their hair there in the wake of the recent fines slapped by the local council against the operators of unisex hairdressing salons. On the contrary, I want to find out myself, for example, how professional these female hairdressers — all well-coiffured and manicured — are when it comes to cutting my hair under Pakatan Rakyat rule. Have they, by the way, declared their assets to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as a good measure of transparency? Are these establishments a mere front for Ali Baba operatives? Because if they are, wouldn't the salons cut corners (as a result of hefty commissions exacted from them) so that I would end up having an unkind cut or, worse, a hornet's nest kind of hairdo? And while I am at it, and to satisfy the curiosity of the society's moral guardians, I also want to test the nagging assertion that the curvaceous can steer one away from the straight and narrow. Surely no self-respecting Muslim would want to let their hair down and consequently have their mane declared "haram" — let alone get distracted by well-endowed women sauntering nearby at the traffic lights. Another simple task I have set myself out to do is to buy an affordable small piece of land where I can grow a few fruit trees and vegetables, and build a little house amidst the lush greenery. For this purpose, I'd trek down to Gebeng in Kuantan where I think that land price would have drastically dropped as a result of the unfounded scare about that Aussie rare earth plant Lynas being dangerously radioactive. I would like to enjoy the greenery and the fresh air in and around the land that I seek to purchase. There's nothing to be afraid of as I have full confidence in the government as well as the Atomic Energy Licensing Board who assured us ordinary mortals of the safety of such an industrial plant. That is why I feel that the so-called Green protests in Kuantan are really an exercise in futility, knowing full well that a people-oriented federal government like ours would not consciously do things that would harm its citizens. In fact, when push comes to shove, the government leaders would — commendably — put the interests of the ordinary people over theirs. Sorry, I digress. As someone who values knowledge, especially the scientific kind, I would make a deliberate attempt this New Year to cajole, coax and convince relatives, family friends and associates to force their kids to opt for the science stream in school because parents are now given by federal government tax breaks if their children are to do so, which would be very helpful at a time when a spike in high street consumption would help activate the national economy. Moreover, it really doesn't matter whether science (and mathematics) is taught in English or Malay as long as the tax exemptions make the accounts book tidy at the end of the day. And even if it is indeed conducted in English, it also doesn't matter whether the teachers speak with an American drawl or heavy Indian accent. As for their grown-up children in colleges and universities, I'd try to convince the parents to discourage their kids from getting involved in nefarious activities that might disrupt national security and smear the image of race, religion and nation, such as street demonstrations and Occupy protests. This is, I feel, the least I can do as a loyal citizen in helping to keep the students' noses clean and at the same time help promote academic excellence. Besides, it's not worth the effort of the student activists to indulge in civil disobedience considering the heavy court sentences meted out to them if found guilty of what is deemed a misdemeanour and, worse, "anti-national". However, if they are indeed given a heavy sentence, I would think that the students concerned ought to make an appeal for a lighter one, especially if they can convince the judge that their bright future (after graduation) is at stake. And if they're lucky, they might even get away with murder, figuratively speaking. But education in life isn't only confined to the classroom. This year I also would want to educate myself — and friends as well — regarding diet, which is clearly a contributory factor to one's health status. I am happy to note that my sugar intake (as in, say, chocolate cakes) has been substantially reduced, and will be cut down further what with the increasing price of sugar — something that the government duly takes credit for. There's no better way than this to avoid diabetes. My diet as a whole will also be controlled and moderated by the rising prices of food essentials. Some foods would certainly be out of my reach, a phenomenon that harmonises with my underlying urge to combat the sneaking bulge. In a sense, the growing inflation in our society ironically has helped to tighten my literal belt, indeed a blessing in disguise when all things fall into place. If there's one more thing that I need to do in the New Year, it has to be procrastination that I must overcome. This is because procrastination has often become an ugly obstacle that puts paid to good intentions. For example, I have been delaying my long awaited birthday bash twice simply because the forthcoming general election has become so unpredictable. But then, hurrying things, as Utusan Malaysia has found out recently, may just bring about a situation where its negative consequence is beyond your wildest imagination. So I guess I need some time to mull over this issue of procrastination. After all, I have a year ahead of me. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan