Business leaders urge Asia to lead the way

source:text- AP via themalaysianinsider>
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — As an emerging centre of world power, Asia must take the lead in finding solutions to crises such as the surge in fuel and food prices because global institutions such as World Trade Organisation are proving to be impotent, business leaders said today.

The comments came at the annual World Economic Forum on East Asia, a high-profile gathering of business and government leaders, in Kuala Lumpur.As economic clout drifts away from the United States and Europe to Asia it must spearhead the resolution of economic crises, said Yashwant Sinha, India's former finance minister.
Global institutions that deal with economic problems are looking "pretty out of date", Barclays Plc chairman Marcus Agius told the forum's first session.
"I believe that the international institutions we have at the moment – including the World Trade Organisation – are woefully inadequate in dealing with the global challenges," said Sinha.
He gave the example of the crisis in the world stock markets stemming from the subprime mortage debacle in the United States.
Had the crisis occurred anywhere in Asia or Latin America, a "huge team" from the International Monetary Fund would have descended there with advice, just as it did during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, Sinha said.
"There is a major regulatory failing in the US. What is the IMF doing about the US.? Nothing," said Sinha, also a former foreign minister.
"Global institutions are inadequate. They are not responding to global challenges," he said, highlighting record-high crude oil prices, which reached nearly US$140 (RM458) last week before settling at US$134.86 on Friday.
Rapid hikes in the price of rice and other agriculture products have also set off riots and protests from Africa to Asia and elevated fears of a global food crisis.
"I would say that this is where there is an opportunity for Asia. There are a whole host of things that Asian nations can do together. We must start writing the rules of the game," said Sinha, now a member of India's Parliament.
Asian countries must help each other in dealing with crises because the US can no longer be expected to be "the locomotive of the global economy", said Yoshimi Watanabe, Japan's minister of financial services and administrative reforms.
"The Asian countries are in the same boat, we share the same destiny," he said.
Asia, led by India and China, will define the global economy in the future, thanks to its insatiable demand for consumer goods, investment opportunities and rapidly growing economies, those attending the forum were told.
"The shift in the economy around the world has been dramatic," Lord Peter Levene, chairman of London-based Lloyd's, the world's biggest insurance market, told reporters before the start of the conference.
"If you're travelling in Europe and the United States, there's a feeling of doom and gloom. Here you step off the plane and it's the opposite. This is the right place to be at the moment," Levene said.
Still, Asian governments are confronted with a wide range of risks, Levene said, noting that China is spending immense time and expense to deal with natural disasters and other threats.
"Up to very recently, the (Asian) region was a follower in the global agenda. This is the first time the region is becoming a leader," said Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of the Swiss food and drinks giant Nestle. — AP

11th MSC-IAP Meeting: Abdullah Wants IAP Members To Look Into Food Production

source: bernama via msc malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today urged the Malaysian International Advisory Panel (IAP) to consider the role of new technologies, innovation and applications in helping to increase food production and enhance the management of food and energy resources. "Given the current global economic scenario, with the world average food prices going up by 75 per cent since 2000, I feel it is perhaps the most opportune time to put Information Communication and Technology (ICT), agriculture and biotechnology to work to overcome some of the challenges that Malaysia and the rest of the world are currently facing," he said in his opening speech of the 11th Malaysia IAP Meeting held here. The prime minister said a flagship application which combined efforts in agriculture and biotechnology, along with advances in ICT, could be undertaken if there was enough interest.

"Perhaps, these could be the area of discussion and I invite IAP members to give their views on this," he said.

Abdullah said the Malaysian government will continue to build its strength by continuing to undertake sound economic policy management as well as diversifying the economic sector and our export destinations.

"Domestic demand constitutes about 87 per cent of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), boding well as a cushion against the negative effects of an increasingly unstable global economy.

"My government is committed to moving the Malaysian economy up the value chain. We will also continue to implement growth-centered as well as people-centered programmes and initiatives under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP)," he said. Meanwhile, Abdullah said the country had achieved much on the ICT front as after 12 years, MSC Malaysia was now home to more than 2,000 companies including home grown companies and multinationals, of which about 100 were leading global companies. "In 2007, MSC-status companies' turnover was approximately RM13.6 billion - an increase of more than 25 per cent compared to 2002.

"MSC Malaysia-status companies are also exporting more with the export figure from 2007 reported to be RM4.9 billion, this represents an increase of more than 40 per cent compared to 2002," said prime minister.

Abdullah said about RM800 million was spent by these companies in Research and Development (R&D) last year, which was more than three times the amount spent in 2002. To date, a total of 2,178 intellectual properties (IPs) of various kinds had been registered, he added.

WCIT 2008: 16th World Congress on Information Technology - Global Impact of Information and Communications Technology

16th World Congress on Information Technology
Global Impact of Information and Communications Technology: Enable Businesses, Empower Societies, Enrich Economies

5th Mihas: Bridging the Global Halal Market

5th Mihas
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kashf: cosmic revelations - the causes for mistake are many and the possibility of error is great

In the field of cosmic revelations the causes for mistake are many and the possibility of error is great. The occurrence of these revelations is as good as their non-occurrence.

You may ask how it is that sometimes error creeps into the revelations of the saints, and something different actually happens. A saint informs, for instance, that so and so will die after a month or return home from his journey. But when the month is over neither happens.

The answer is that the revelation may depend for its occurrence upon certain conditions whose details the recipient of the revelation could not discover, yet he told about it in categorical terms.

There may be another possibility: The Gnostic may come to know from the preserved tablet about a particular event, but that event might change, as it belongs to the category of conditional decrees of whose nature and liability to change he is unaware. In such a case, therefore, if he tells what he knows that might not happen.

Know that the decrees of God are two kinds: alterable and non-alterable. The former is subject to change and alteration, the latter is not. God says: ‘My decrees do not change.’[50:29] This refers to the non-alterable decrees. About the alterable He says: ‘He effaces what He will and confirms (what He will), and with Him is the Mother-Book.’ [13:39]

Servanthood: Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may God be pleased with him) is the greatest wali after the Prophets

The greatness of a saint lies not in vision or perception; it lies in serving God. Man is the servant of God and in the service of God lays his perfection and glory. The more one serves God, the more perfect one is. If he thinks that he can transcend the boundaries of servanthood, or that it is a mark of perfection, he is most ignorant, and farthest removed from the right path.

The measure of a wali’s greatness is his faith and his obedience to God. Miracles (karamah) are no criterion. The revelation of secrets (kashf) or the control over events (tasarruf), are not necessarily better than those acts which do not produce them. If a kashf and tasarruf is not helpful for religion it is a worldly thing: a lot of infidels, pagans and men of the book perform them, whereas many Muslims don’t.

The best of the saints of God are those who follow the Prophet most closely: that is why Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may God be pleased with him) is the greatest wali after the Prophets.