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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Alex Ferguson’s autobiography - the best bits

Posted: 22 Oct 2013 08:28 AM PDT

October 22, 2013

The man and his book...simply called My Autobiography. Alex Ferguson reveals his footballing career as he sees it, warts and all, in London today. - AFP pic, October 22, 2013.Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson launched his new autobiography today, in which he looked back on his record-breaking 26-and-a-half-year tenure at Old Trafford.

Here, AFP Sports provides some of the most revealing extracts from the book, entitled My Autobiography, which goes on sale tomorrow.

On turning down the England manager's job in 1999 and 2001:

"There was no way I could contemplate that. It wasn't a bed of nails I was ever tempted to lie on."

On David Beckham:

"David was the only player I managed who chose to be famous, who made it his mission to be known outside the game."

On his clash with Beckham following an FA Cup defeat by Arsenal in February 2003:

"David swore. I moved towards him, and as I approached I kicked a boot. It hit him right above the eye. Of course he rose to have a go at me and the players stopped him. 'Sit down,' I said. 'You've let your team down. You can argue as much as you like.'"

On Wayne Rooney:

"I felt he struggled more and more to do it for 90 minutes, and he seemed to tire in games. He came into my office the day after we won the league (in 2013) and asked away. He wasn't happy with being left out for some games and subbed in others."

On a row with former captain Roy Keane after the Irishman criticised several of his team-mates in an interview with the club's in-house television station, MUTV, that was never aired:

"It was frightening to watch. And I'm from Glasgow. He has the most savage tongue you can imagine."

On discussing Keane's outburst with his assistant, Carlos Queiroz:

"'He needs to go, Carlos,' I said. 'One hundred percent,' he said. 'Get rid of him,' I said."

On Cristiano Ronaldo:

"Cristiano Ronaldo was the most gifted player I managed."

On watching Ronaldo play for the first time:

"That was the biggest surge of excitement, of anticipation, I experienced in football management."

On an incident with Ruud van Nistelrooy during the 2006 League Cup final:

"We were on cruise control against Wigan and I saw an opportunity to give (Patrice) Evra and (Nemanja) Vidic a taste of the game. They were my final substitutions. I turned to Ruud and said: 'I'm going to give these lads a part of the game.' They were going to get a touch, a smell of winning something with Manchester United. 'You ----,' said Van Nistelrooy. I'll always remember that. Could not believe it ... But that was the end of him."

On Owen Hargreaves:

"(Owen Hargreaves) turned out to be a disaster. Owen had no confidence in himself whatsoever. He didn't show nearly enough determination to overcome his physical difficulties, for my liking."

On Liverpool's decision to wear T-shirts in support of striker Luis Suarez after he was accused of racially abusing United left-back Patrice Evra:

"Liverpool wore those T-shirts supporting Suarez, which was the most ridiculous thing for a club of Liverpool's stature".

On former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez:

"Soon after Benitez arrived, I attended a Liverpool game and he and his wife invited me in for a drink. So far, so good. But our relationship frayed. The mistake he made was to turn our rivalry personal."

On Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho:

"He's a likeable person when you get to know him, and he can laugh at himself, turn a joke back on himself. I don't know whether (Arsene) Wenger or Benitez had that capacity."

On former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini's decision to forgive Carlos Tevez, the former United striker, for refusing to go on as a substitute in a Champions League game at Bayern Munich:

"Taking him back showed desperation. In terms of his prestige as a manager, he let himself down."

On Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard:

"Lampard, for me, was a marvellous servant for Chelsea, but I didn't think of him as an elite international footballer. And I am one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player."

On "Pizzagate", the row at Old Trafford that followed a defeat by Arsenal in October 2004:

"They say it was Cesc Fabregas who threw the pizza at me but, to this day, I have no idea who the culprit was." - AFP, October 22, 2013.

Bosnian soccer success sets example of healing ethnic divide for politicians

Posted: 21 Oct 2013 11:33 PM PDT

October 22, 2013

Bosnia's international footballers have offered their political leaders a valuable lesson: see what you can achieve when you set aside your ethnic divisions.

Last week the national football side won a place at the World Cup finals for the first time, two years after Bosnia was briefly suspended from international competition for letting ethnic politics pervade the sport.

Under a reformed soccer federation, Bosnia automatically qualified for Brazil next year on the same night as some bigger names in the European game - Spain, England and Russia.

Bosnians let off fireworks and honked car horns long into the night in Sarajevo when their team qualified, embracing a moment of joy after the horrors of a war that pitted Muslims, Croats and Serbs against each other in the early 1990s.

The victory mattered all the more because the team is a beacon of progress and unity in a country still divided between ethnic groups, mired in corruption and quarrels, and floundering on the edge of the European mainstream it wants to join.

"My message today to Bosnian politicians is: follow the example of your footballers and live up to the expectations of your citizens," said European Union enlargement chief Stefan Fule the day after Bosnia qualified for the World Cup finals.

Nearly two decades after the civil war in which around 100,000 people were killed, the former Yugoslav republic's problem is not so much that the ethnic groups don't get along. A system created by the 1995 treaty that ended the war, giving each of the three ethnic groups a share of power and rotating important posts between them, has kept the peace.

Bosnia's main problem is that this system breeds sleaze, the protecting of vested interests and paralysed decision-making. But while the politicians are still stuck in their old ways, the soccer team has shaken off the system and achieved the qualification, sealed by last Tuesday's victory over Lithuania.

Two years ago, Bosnia's NFSBiH soccer federation mirrored the way the state is organised. Its presidency was run by a Serb, a Croat and a Muslim who took turns in the job every 16 months, in much the same way that the state presidency works.

The system, say people involved in the sport, was dysfunctional. Officials were chosen on ethnic and political grounds rather than on competence.

Crucial decisions were fumbled. One example was the missed opportunity to recruit Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of Europe's stars who now plays for French side Paris Saint-Germain. Near the start of his career, his Bosnian-born father said he wanted Zlatan to play for the national side. No one from the federation pursued the possibility and now the striker captains Sweden, the country of his birth.

The Bosnian federation was on the verge of bankruptcy. Three former officials were jailed last year for tax evasion and embezzlement.

Many foreign-based players and soccer fans boycotted the national team, angry at political interference which they said was spoiling otherwise harmonious relations among players and coaches.

The world and European governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, demanded the federation should have a single chief. "We were in an abyss two years ago," said NFSBiH President Elvedin Begic, who was appointed to the job in December last year.

The turning point came in 2011. With no sign of any progress, FIFA and UEFA briefly suspended Bosnia from competitions in April of that year. Stung by this, ethnic leaders agreed to reform the federation's set-up.

A FIFA-appointed interim committee made up of soccer professionals of all ethnicities took over from the suspended federation. It was headed by Ivica Osim who, as a player, led the former Yugoslavia to the World Cup quarter-finals in 1990. A Sarajevo-born Bosnian Croat, he is married to a Muslim.

Osim signalled how things had changed last year, when matches between Bosnian clubs were marred by violence between fans from Sarajevo and the Serb-dominated city of Banja Luka.

In an act of candour unprecedented in Bosnian soccer, he said sectarian politics was behind the violence and this had no place in sport. He banned visiting fans from the stadiums.

Last December, the federation's assembly elected its first single president for a four-year term and appointed a 15-member executive committee, comprising officials from Bosnia's two autonomous regions, the Federation of Muslim Bosniaks and Croats and the Serb Republic.

"We now have a national team which is not based on the grounds of who is who, but who is the best," Osim, who advises the new soccer federation, said last week. "If only politicians were as cohesive as this team."

Ethnic suspicions linger. Most of Bosnia's ethnic Serbs traditionally support the Serbian national team and many Bosnian Croats cheer for Croatia, although this may be changing thanks to Bosnia's success.

In the Serb Republic, the Serb-dominated autonomous part of Bosnia, public television did not broadcast the match against Lithuania and reported the result only hours later, as a short news item.

"Football cannot reconcile the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Football cannot make them more tolerant because football was not an issue. Politicians are those who must do it," said Srdjan Puhalo, a psychologist from Banja Luka, the main city in the Serb Republic.

Brussels has made reforming Bosnia's ethnically-based political system a condition of starting talks on EU accession. So far, the politicians are reluctant to change a set-up that serves their interests.

Yet at the grass-roots level, the example set by the multi-ethnic soccer team is helping heal some of Bosnia's divisions.

Sasa Zivkovic, a graphic worker from Banja Luka, watched the Bosnia-Lithuania match at home with friends by tuning into a Bosnian commercial station that carried it.

Zivkovic said many other people in the city cheered on the Bosnian team, though they don't admit it because of "strong antagonism" towards anything connected to the Bosnian state.

"But people like winners, and Bosnia's football team is a winning team, so I think that many things will change," he said. - Reuters, October 22, 2013.

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With Psy and currency swaps, South Korea grabs global influence

Posted: 21 Oct 2013 07:29 PM PDT

October 22, 2013

It's a takeover: From Psy to currency swap deals, South Korea is a force to be reckoned with. - The Malaysian Insider pic, October 22, 2013.From rapper Psy to overseas financial aid, an economically and culturally confident South Korea appears to be taking on bigger neighbours Japan and China for the hearts and minds of the rest of Asia and beyond.

Its most recent effort to leverage brand "Korea" — three currency swap deals worth more than $20 billion (RM64 billion) that were announced this month.

South Korea had the seventh largest currency reserves in the world at the end of August, worth $331.1 billion (RM1.05 trillion), according to the Bank of Korea. It can easily afford to match cultural diplomacy with economic muscle as it competes with Japan and China for influence.

K-Pop icons such as Psy, whose Gangnam Style hit went viral in 2012, and even Korean food are used by Seoul to build South Korea's brand, while Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hyundai Motor Co are firms with global reach.

"Becoming a country that can offer currency swaps to support other economies elevates our standing abroad," a senior official at the central bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Thanks to its huge foreign exchange reserves, South Korea doesn't need to buttress its currency against possible speculative attacks, although its swap partners Indonesia and Malaysia have been hit by recent financial market turmoil.

The third deal with the United Arab Emirates is part of a package that has seen energy-starved Seoul take substantial stakes in UAE oil fields and win a hefty nuclear contract.

Once impoverished, South Korea is now the world's 14th largest economy and has moved from a net aid recipient in the dark days after the 1950-53 Korean war to a net donor.

The government aims to increase overseas development aid by 9.9% in 2014 to $2.17 billion (RM7 billion), outpacing a projected 2.5% rise in total spending despite fiscal constraints on the country's budget.

"Swap agreements and international aid should be seen as long-term strategic decisions to ensure a greater stake and influence in Southeast Asia and elsewhere," said Lee Sang-jae, an economist at Hyundai Securities in Seoul.

South Korea has a long history of using economic leverage to win diplomatic prizes.

In 1989, Hungary became the first Soviet bloc country to formally recognise South Korea in exchange for a tranche of economic aid in a move aimed at winning over communist allies of rival North Korea.

Soft culture is just as important as hard politics and cash to Seoul. K-Pop, the carefully choreographed dance music showcased by bands like Girls' Generation had sales worth $3.4 billion (RM10.8 billion), according to US show business magazine Billboard.

It is especially popular in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where stars fly in almost every month to sold out concerts and Malaysian buyers line up for days for the latest Samsung smartphones.

So popular are the acts that Malaysian mobile phone operator DiGi has run campaigns where customers had to buy pre-paid phone credits to win a chance to meet a K-Pop star while Asia's biggest budget carrier, AirAsia, sponsored a K-Pop concert to promote its Kuala Lumpur-Seoul route.

"K-Pop idols always have unique choreography and that is what makes their songs famous. They work really hard to please their fans," said Azim Shaun bin Hermain Herbert, 25, a paralegal at a Malaysian law firm.

Dian Novita, 27, an account manager at Jakarta-based Narrada Communications, has a Samsung phone, likes Korean food and watches Korean mini-series, known as K-Drama.

"I started to dig into Korean culture three years ago. It started out from watching K-Drama, then I started to listen to the music too," said Novita.

South Korean TV series are also popular closer to home - in China and Japan.

"There has been a sharp rise in positive responses in surveys of Korea's image among younger people (abroad); this is soft power," said Oh In-gyu, professor of Korean studies at Korea University.

The promotion of "brand Korea" has not always been straightforward. Rapper Psy's success was outside the mainstream carefully nurtured groups, but was later proclaimed as a Korean success story by the government.

In the 1990s, red-faced officials withdrew the My Seoul, Our Seoul motto when told that a phonetic reading rendered it laughable to English speakers.

A recent Korean food promotion overseas by the government twinned K-Pop stars with "Energizing Persimmon", "Romantic Mushroom" and "Sexy Red Pepper Paste", among others and was met with bemusement.

Nonetheless, Seoul will continue to push ahead.

"As our products are exported, people start to take interest and start asking where South Korea is and to look for interesting things; as that spreads, there is a synergy," said Ju Won, a senior research fellow at Hyundai Research Institute. - Reuters, October 22, 2013.

Mongolia’s nomads turn to private land

Posted: 21 Oct 2013 04:51 PM PDT

October 22, 2013

Mongolia's nomads have roamed its sprawling grasslands for centuries, pitching their yurts wherever they find pasture for their animals, but now Tsogtsaikhan Orgodol is staying put as part of a scheme to tackle chronic overgrazing.

The tanned 53-year-old still wears his nomad's riding boots, but he and his community have been given exclusive rights to 2,500 acres of steppe in exchange for reducing their herds and remaining in the same place all year round, giving the land a chance to regenerate.

"I have agreed to cut the number of our goats in half," said Orgodol, looking out from horseback over their 200 animals, mostly sheep and some cows, who despite the project principles are not fenced in.

"The only problem is when other animals come," he added. "They sense where the good grass is. We have to chase them away. There is no other mechanism."

According to MCC's website, the project will cover about 300 tracts of land near Ulan Bator and Mongolia's next two largest towns, Erdenet and Darkhan, involving around 1,000 households in total.

Orgodol's 22-strong group shares two yurts, known as gers in Mongolia, and a permanent house next to a barn about 45 kilometres outside the capital Ulan Bator.

The national tradition is for land to be accessible to all, with pastoralist families moving several times a year in search of fodder and water.

But Nyamsuren Lkhagvasuren, who runs the land programme for the US-funded aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation, told AFP: "The number of livestock has exploded to more than 40 million.

"This goes beyond the limits of what is reasonable, even for Mongolia, which is a vast country."

In a study published last month in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers from the University of Oregon using satellite images from NASA found that 70% of Mongolia's grassland - which makes up almost four-fifths of the country - is now "degraded".

Twelve percent of the country's biomass has disappeared in recent years, they said, calling overgrazing a "primary contributor" to the alarming decline of the steppe.

Livestock was collectivised under the socialist planned economy imposed under decades of Communist dictatorship when Mongolia was a satellite of the Soviet Union.

But since the advent of democracy and a market economy in 1990 many Mongolians have returned to their sheep and cattle - partly because unemployment shot up - so that 40% of the working population are now herders.

Agriculture Minister Battulga Khaltmaa acknowledged concerns about desertification but downplayed the University of Oregon findings, attributing the problem to climate change rather than overgrazing.

"The number of animals is not that high compared to the size of the land," he said.

In the Soviet era even greater numbers of cattle roamed the country of 1.6 million square kilometres, he said.

"Under socialism we had 26 million livestock and under Stalin the target was set at 250 million in order to meet the demand for meat in Siberia."

But herders who cannot command high prices resort to selling large quantities instead, said Thomas Pavie, an agriculture expert who advises French government projects in Mongolia.

"There is indeed overgrazing, especially in the production of cashmere. The problem is that Mongolia exports wool in the form of raw material, particularly to China, so the value-added happens somewhere else," he said.

"That requires them to produce a lot. If wool were sold more expensively, they would need fewer animals." - AFP, October 22, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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Louis Vuitton releases updated city guides

Posted: 21 Oct 2013 05:26 PM PDT

October 22, 2013

Louis Vuitton will produce 3,000 limited edition lacquered box sets containing all 15 of its city guides. - AFP Relaxnews pic, October 22, 2013. This November, Louis Vuitton will launch the 15th edition of its city guides, each of which invites readers to explore one of the world's top destinations through insider tips and recommendations.

The guidebooks are available for a total of 15 cities, including Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, Cape Town, New York, Sao Paulo and Moscow.

Journalists and authors reveal their favourite hotels, restaurants, boutiques and cultural attractions in each city, presenting more famous landmarks alongside some of each city's best kept secrets. In keeping with the reputation of the Louis Vuitton brand, the listings in each guide are chosen by travellers with high standards and a taste for luxury.

The city guides are written in an open and subjective tone meant to immerse readers in the city's history and atmosphere, and to urge both first-time visitors and inhabitants of the city to explore a new side of their home town. Each city guide also features tips from a local celebrity, such as South Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun for Seoul or Lourdes Lopez, director of the Miami City Ballet.

Louis Vuitton invited the French photographer's collective Tendance Floue to illustrate the guides with photos that convey the mood and soul of each destination.

Each guide is available individually at $40 (RM126.74). For the avid world traveller, the brand also offers a limited edition lacquered wooden box containing all 15 city guides at $600 (RM1,901.10). - AFP Relaxnews, October 22, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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Berita Harian cuba musnahkan kerjaya politik Husam, kata penganalisis

Posted: 22 Oct 2013 03:05 AM PDT

OLEH DIYANA IBRAHIM
October 22, 2013

Kritikan terbuka Naib Presiden PAS Datuk Husam Musa (gambar) ke atas pentadbiran kerajaan negeri Kelantan merupakan perkara biasa dalam amalan demokrasi dan ia tidak seharusnya diperbesarkan dan digambarkan secara negatif, kata pengkaji politik Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff.

Kamarul membidas laporan Berita Harian yang mengatakan kononnya Husam diminta memberi penjelasan kepada pucuk pimpinan PAS ekoran kenyataannnya di Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Kelantan dalam satu perjumpaan hari ini.

"Bagi saya, ia tindakan penakut tidak amanah dan tidak beretika apabila seorang sumber dalaman PAS yang cuba menyerang dengan secara terbuka ke atas Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Salor," katanya ketika dihubungi The Malaysian Insider.

Kamarul yang mempunyai Ijazah Sarjana melalui tesis "PAS di bawah Kepimpinan Ulama" berkata, perbuatan sumber mendedahkan perjumpaan yang berlaku hari ini kepada media juga disifatkan pendedahan berat sebelah yang tidak adil.

"Dalam laporan tersebut sumber cuba mengkritik Husam dengan berkata Husam sebagai bekas Exco kanan negeri sepatutnya lebih memahami dan mengikut prosedur teguran ketika dalam Sidang Dewan Rakyat (DUN).

"Namun adakah sumber itu sendiri mengikut prosedur yang betul mendedahkan perjumpaan tanpa kebenaran pemimpin parti kepada media?" soalnya.

Pengkaji politik itu berkata lagi, laporan tersebut cuba memberi gambaran buruk dan memusnahkan kerjaya politik Husam seolah-olah pemimpin itu melakukan kesalahan dan bakal dihukum kerana kritikan terbuka.

"Pada pendapat saya Husam cuba membawa pembaharuan bersuara dengan lantangnya demi kebaikan, itu perkara biasa dan ia mencerminkan ketelusan pentadbiran.

"Mungkin kerana budaya kita yang tidak biasa begitu, bila kita cuba mengkritik meluahkan kebimbanga mereka akan anggap kita menentang tapi saya pasti niat Husam ingin meningkatkan lagi kecemerlangan pentadbiran kerajaan negeri namun ia telah disalah anggap," katanya.

Malah kata Kamarul sumber juga tidak amanah kerana dengan beraninya mendedahkan kandungan perbincangan Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Kerja PAS Pusat 10 Oktober lalu biarpun tidak diberikan mandat untuk berbuat perkara demikian.

Hari ini dalam laporan akhbar Berita Harian bertajuk "PAS minta penjelasan Husam: Kritikan terbuka Adun Salor terhadap Kerajaan Kelantan cetus kontroversi" memetik sumber yang berkata Husam telah diminta untuk membuat penjelasan dalam perjumpaan khas hari ini di Kota Bahru di mana ia akan diketuai Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang dan Mursyidul Am Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

"Nada suaranya (Husam) seolah-olah beliau menjadi ketua pembangkang, parti tidak kisah berdepan teguran ahli sendiri, tetapi sekurang-kurangnya buatlah dengan cara lebih berhemah," katanya.

Sumber berkata lagi, serangan secara terbuka bekas Exco kanan kerajaan negeri itu merupakan kecaman pertama oleh pemimpin sendiri sejak PAS memerintah negeri itu selama 32 tahun.

Pada 8 dan 9 Oktober Husam dikatakan mengkritik kerajaan negeri secara lantang ketika membahaskan belanjawan negeri 2014 dan mencelah penggulunggan pada sidang DUN.

Beliau menyentuh beberapa isu membabitkan kepincangan pengurusan Syarikat Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd (AKSB), kelulusan 1,400 hektar tanah di Hutan SImpan Kekal Ulu Sat di Machang, projek pembinaan lebuh raya rakyat, pelaksanaan hukum syariah dan pelantikan anggota Jawatankuasa Kira-kira Wang (PAC) negeri.

Kamarul pernah menulis tesis bertajuk "PAS Dalam Era Kepimpinan Ulama, 1982-2004" manakala untuk tesis master beliau bertajuk "PAS Dalam Era Mohd Asri Muda, 1965-1982". – 22 Oktober, 2013.

* Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis dan tidak semestinya mewakili pandangan The Malaysian Insider.

Sekarang Zahid kata tiada pistol polis jatuh dalam laut

Posted: 22 Oct 2013 02:42 AM PDT

OLEH MOHD FARHAN DARWIS
October 22, 2013
Latest Update: October 22, 2013 06:07 pm

Menteri Dalam Negeri Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (gambar) dalam jawapan bertulis di Parlimen hari ini tidak menyatakan "terjatuh ke dalam laut" menjadi punca kehilangan senjata api polis, sebaliknya terdapat lima faktor lain menyebabkan kehilangan tersebut.

Ahmad Zahid dalam jawapan bertulis kepada Ahli Parlimen Batu Chua Tian Chang menjelaskan, antara punca kehilangan senjata api berkenaan termasuklah kenderaan polis dipecah dan senjata api tertinggal di dalam kereta, diragut atau disamun, tercicir semasa menjalankan tugas, kehilangan dalam tandas, dan juga kehilangan dalam pejabat.

"Daripada 44 senjata api yang hilang berdasarkan Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2012, tujuh daripadanya telah dijumpai," kata Ahmad Zahid dalam jawapan bertulisnya yang diperolehi di Parlimen.

"Secara keseluruhannya, kategori senjata api yang hilang adalah dari senjata ringan (pistol dan revolver) yang boleh diletakkan di badan," katanya dalam jawapan bertulis tersebut.

Laporan Ketua Audit Negara 2012 mendedahkan Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) terpaksa menanggung kerugian sehingga RM1.33 juta apabila aset termasuk senjata api, gari, dan kenderaan dilaporkan hilang.

Pendedahan tersebut menimbulkan respon negatif pelbagai pihak yang turut mempertikaikan keupayaan pasukan keselamatan berkenaan mengawal ketenteraman awam memandangkan berlakunya kehilangan harta benda mereka sendiri.

Dalam respon balas, Ketua Polis Negara Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar bagaimanapun tidak menolak kemungkinan senjata api berkenaan "terjatuh dalam laut semasa operasi".

Ketua Audit Negara, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang dalam laporannya berkata, berdasarkan statistik kehilangan aset yang dikeluarkan Bahagian Pengurusan Aset, Jabatan Logistik, PDRM daripada 2010 hingga 2013 mendapati aset yang paling banyak hilang adalah gari dengan sejumlah 156 unit, diikuti senjata api dan kenderaan dengan masing-masing sebanyak 44 dan 29 unit.

PDRM jelas Ahmad Zahid mempunyai prosedur khusus bagi menyiasat punca kehilangan tersebut dengan menubuhkan sebuah Jawatankuasa Penyiasat mengikut peruntukan di bawah Seksyen 79 Akta Polis 1967.

"Panduan dan kaedah-kaedah siasatan berpandukan Pekeliling Perbendaharaan Bilangan 5 Tahun 2007," katanya.

Jawatankuasa berkenaan jelasnya akan membuat pertanyaan yang menjurus kepada sebab-sebab kehilangan dan syor bagi mengelakkan kejadian sama berulang.

"Hasil siasatan dan syor akan dinilai bagi menentukan tindakan yang patut diambil, jika terdapat bukti kecuaian maka pegawai bertanggungjawab akan diambil tindakan surcaj atau tatatertib, atau kedua-duanya sekali," katanya.

Bahagian Teknologi Maklumat (IT) PDRM juga jelasnya sedang membangunkan sub-modul bagi pemantauan dan rekod kes kehilangan aset PDRM bermula daripada ia berlaku sehingga peringkat tindakan dikenakan terhadap pegawai yang bertanggungjawab.

"Sistem ini dijangka akan dimulakan operasinya selewat-lewatnya pada November 2013.

"Dengan wujudnya sistem tersebut, semua kes kehilangan aset PDRM akan diketahui dengan mudah oleh Urus Setia Pengurusan Kehilangan Aset PDRM," katanya lagi. – 22 Oktober, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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World Islamic Economic Forum needs to under-promise and over-deliver

Posted: 21 Oct 2013 07:11 PM PDT

October 22, 2013

Rushdi believes that a change agent must tell the truth to a benevolent dictator, religious hardliner, and compassionately connect with youth and have nots.

The media blitz for the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), to be held in London at end of October, has been immense and in "your face". A small sample of the recent media headlines, wits WIEF references, includes:

"London seeks to solidify its role as Europe's Islamic finance hub"
"Islamic Banking And Finance Draws Western Interest"
"London now a key Islamic finance centre"
"City Matters: Cementing ties with the Islamic world should be a key priority for London"
"Islamic Finance: London Eyes Becoming Western Capital of Sharia-Compliant Banking"

Yes, this is the first time the 9th WIEF is being held in a non-Muslim, G-20, country.

Yes, London has been involved in Islamic finance since in the early 1980s, when Malaysia started its incredible Islamic finance journey in 1983.

Yes, London has been the home of the important Euromony Islamic Finance events for more than ten years, Global Sukuk Summits, and host of Islamic finance seminars offered by IIBIF, law firms, accounting firms, university (like Oxford) courses and diplomas.

So, why all the WIEF hype about Islamic finance and London: pre-event media briefings, press releases, media interviews, by-lined articles, etc?

The WIEF is not just about Islamic finance, there will many other subjects covered, like US$2.3 trillion halal industry, but the US$1.3 trillion niche market seems to be the anchor tenant of the event. Why?

May be the hype is because heads of states, like the Malaysian Prime Minister or the Sultan of Brunei, are expected to be shaking hands, meeting people, and delivering speeches. But, isn't that expected of Muslim leaders, like Sh Mohammad of Dubai? Dubai will be putting showing their interpretation of an Islamic Economy in November with the Global Islamic Economic Summit (GIES).

Promoting status quo?

There is a concern on over-promising and under-delivering, resulting in promoting the status quo. Over the years, there have been many events on Islamic finance, OIC countries, halal industry, etc., where MOUs were signed, where announcements were made, where there were soft/hard launches, and so on, but follow-ups and follow-throughs were missing in action (MIA). Thus, an old Japanese proverb captures the MIA moment:

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."

At the 9th WEF, I would like to see below-mentioned announcements based upon vision (collective), planning (blue-print) and actions (time-tables), and revisited at the next WIEF, possibly to be held in Dubai, UAE.

London to announce sovereign Sukuk

London is an almost complete Islamic finance hub, and the missing link is the issuance of sovereign Sukuk, which was rejected few years as "did not provide value". The irony of the situation is the London Stock Exchange has a large number of Sukuk listed, yet none from the home country. Thus, listings are not enough, one needs to be an issuer to be inclusionary hub!

Rebranding of Islamic finance

Starting the conversation on the high profile WIEF platform will allow for meaningful inclusionary dialogue, and voting on the WIEF (or another) website and examine the results in Dubai. I would opt to rebrand it to capture its essence, which is Participatory Finance/Banking. For example, Muslim majority Turkey, also a G-20 country, has called it Participation Banking, and it was worked well in this strongly secular country. Thus, to overcome perception that Islamic finance is about religion, a rebranding exercise needs to be undertaken that conveys its participatory nature, link to the real economy and (ethical) rules of engagement.

Halal Industry Body

The fragmented and dispersed US$2.3 trillion halal industry, comprised of foods/proteins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, logistics/distribution, badly needs an AAOIFI/IFSB-type body.

In mapping halal in the 57 OIC and non-Muslim countries, it will reduce integrity risks, rising to level of systemic risk, because Muslims do not own/control the halal food supply chain.

It must be understood, that demand-based halal industry has larger reach and greater penetration in the Muslim/non-Muslim world than Islamic finance, hence, traceability from upstream (livestock treatment, feeds) to midstream (manufacturing/processing) to logistics/downstream (cross contamination issues) is a confidence inducing must.

An industry body, call it Halal Industry Body (HIB), is not about endorsing or adopting one set of certification process and procedures, but placing all country certification, certification bodies, etc., on one platform.

The net effect is information intermediation efficiency that will (1) educate the masses, (2) provide guidelines for interested players entering the industry and (3) press accountability of existing company/products.

Finally, and most importantly, the conversation of positioning halal as an asset class for starting the convergence with Islamic finance is must to provide an end-to-end halal solution!

Global Zakat Fund

The weakest link in Islamic finance is financial (non)-inclusion of the non-bankable, estimated to be about 1.2 to 1.5 billion of the 1.8 billion Muslims.

Obviously, Zakat is not meant to be seed money for ventures, however, some scholars have interpreted that percentage accumulated may be directed towards business.

For example, several years ago a Global Zakat fund was announced out of Southeast Asia, however, it never materialised for a number of reasons, including politics.

A formula of combining a global Zakat fund with crowd funding may be the equity approach to compliment the debt and collateral based approach of loans, Islamic or conventional, for SMEs and funding start ups, usually associated with the youth.

There are other issues that should be aired by speakers, like:

Awqaf, Islamic endowment/trust, as it would double the size of Islamic finance almost overnight and provide much financial multiplier effect into local communities.
WIEF should encourage Islamic financial institutions, with historical bias towards real estate and infrastructure projects, to be signatories of carbon, climate and equator principals, as "... we are Allah's stewards and agents on Earth. We are not masters of this Earth; it does not belong to us to do what we wish. It belongs to Allah and He has entrusted us with its safekeeping".
WIEF should lobby for the development of an Islamic sovereign wealth fund, as they, regular SWF, presently exist in many Muslim countries, like UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brunei, etc. For example, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Kazanah, is the only SWF that has been active in using Islamic structures and contracts, like Sukuk. Thus, an Islamic SWF would jump start Islamic asset management and pension industry, fast track development of Awqaf and alternative assets like PE and VC, grow takaful operators, and become profile passive/long term investors in global compliant companies.

Conclusion

The WIEF is uniquely positioned and strategically placed to take, say, Islamic finance and Halal Industry, totally US$4 trillion, as part of Muslim consumerism, to 2.0.

But, it must get the formula correct: part leadership, part substance, part lobbying, part revising, and all achievable without cheerleading! - October 22, 2013.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

World Islamic Economic Forum needs to under-promise and over-deliver

Posted: 21 Oct 2013 07:11 PM PDT

October 22, 2013

Rushdi believes that a change agent must tell the truth to a benevolent dictator, religious hardliner, and compassionately connect with youth and have nots.

Yes, this is the first time the 9th WIEF is being held in a non-Muslim, G-20, country.

Yes, London has been involved in Islamic finance since in the early 1980s, when Malaysia started its incredible Islamic finance journey in 1983.

So, why all the WIEF hype about Islamic finance and London: pre-event media briefings, press releases, media interviews, by-lined articles, etc?

Promoting status quo?

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."

London to announce sovereign Sukuk

Rebranding of Islamic finance

Halal Industry Body

The fragmented and dispersed US$2.3 trillion halal industry, comprised of foods/proteins, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, logistics/distribution, badly needs an AAOIFI/IFSB-type body.

In mapping halal in the 57 OIC and non-Muslim countries, it will reduce integrity risks, rising to level of systemic risk, because Muslims do not own/control the halal food supply chain.

Finally, and most importantly, the conversation of positioning halal as an asset class for starting the convergence with Islamic finance is must to provide an end-to-end halal solution!

Global Zakat Fund

The weakest link in Islamic finance is financial (non)-inclusion of the non-bankable, estimated to be about 1.2 to 1.5 billion of the 1.8 billion Muslims.

Obviously, Zakat is not meant to be seed money for ventures, however, some scholars have interpreted that percentage accumulated may be directed towards business.

For example, several years ago a Global Zakat fund was announced out of Southeast Asia, however, it never materialised for a number of reasons, including politics.

There are other issues that should be aired by speakers, like:

Awqaf, Islamic endowment/trust, as it would double the size of Islamic finance almost overnight and provide much financial multiplier effect into local communities.
WIEF should encourage Islamic financial institutions, with historical bias towards real estate and infrastructure projects, to be signatories of carbon, climate and equator principals, as "... we are Allah's stewards and agents on Earth. We are not masters of this Earth; it does not belong to us to do what we wish. It belongs to Allah and He has entrusted us with its safekeeping".
WIEF should lobby for the development of an Islamic sovereign wealth fund, as they, regular SWF, presently exist in many Muslim countries, like UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brunei, etc. For example, Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Kazanah, is the only SWF that has been active in using Islamic structures and contracts, like Sukuk. Thus, an Islamic SWF would jump start Islamic asset management and pension industry, fast track development of Awqaf and alternative assets like PE and VC, grow takaful operators, and become profile passive/long term investors in global compliant companies.

Conclusion

The WIEF is uniquely positioned and strategically placed to take, say, Islamic finance and Halal Industry, totally US$4 trillion, as part of Muslim consumerism, to 2.0.

But, it must get the formula correct: part leadership, part substance, part lobbying, part revising, and all achievable without cheerleading! - October 22, 2013.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Selasa, 22 Oktober 2013