HiGhLiGhTs - Terengganu

New Edge Online Marketing
by Azlina Shamsudin
e have probably get used to a marketing camW
paign such as in the newspaper, radio and television and also the old but reliable pamphlet / flyers that
either being handed to us at the mall or being delivered
to our house. By getting used means that we maybe have
an automatic instinct to avoid such advertisement either
throwing it away or just simply refuse to read about it.
The marketing also realising this situation and have came
up with a solution that is by using the social network to
the max. Everyone should by now have either a twitter
or facebook account (not forgetting the old MySpace,
Friendster and tagged) and for the new edge they will
have either whatsapp, wechat, line and others that are
more convenient (free of course) to be used.
y doing an online advertising the consumer can
B
response in many ways such as the old method of
clicking on the advertisement also known as click through
which the consumer will be taken to the advertiser site as
a result of clicking on the advertisement banner in their
facebook for example (Zingsheim, 2011). As for twitter
usually the advertiser will provide the URL link in their
promotional tweet which will result the consumer to be
taken to the advertiser site.
fter having a good respond by using the social netA
work of facebook and twitter, the playground now
change to the online and mobile marketing whereas most
of the provider now also running an application that features advertisement. Either the user like or not they have
to ‘see’ the promotion and some even get curious and
started to explore more and lastly used the product. The
user not only have to look at an advertisement but will
also receive a promotional message from an unknown
party but cannot do anything about it because it is well
written in the term and condition that they have agreed
before being able to use such application. The term and
condition thus will cover the advertiser from any action
taken by the user such as privacy violation (Pritchard,
2012).
A
s many of the firms change to online marketing
especially on Facebook and Twitter, the important
thing is to get the correct target market and the privacy
and security of the personal data. User does not realise
that both twitter and facebook will require them to submit a whole lot of personal data such as location, works
and also relations. This data can be used to identify certain marketing segmentation by the advertising firm but
also a breach of privacy by giving the data to third party.
oncern are rises and the United States Federal
C
Trade Commission have even asked the developer
such as Google to include a ‘Do Not Track’ function in
their web browser which already installed in the latest
version of Google Chrome, as for Microsoft the ‘Do Not
Track’ is the default setting in the latest Internet Explorer.
The same cannot be said on the Smartphone because it is
hard to stop the tracking because the version used in the
Smartphone are not the same on the personal computer
but user can still use the delete cookies options that are
not 100% effective (Rosen, 2013). Thus, we must make
sure of our own safety and privacy and not being manipulated by anyone.
References:
Gwyther, K. (2012, August 24). Make sure your Twitter
messages don’t fall foul of advertising laws. Caterer &
Hotelkeeper , p. 36.
Nigro, H. T. (2010, Mat 10). Learning from online advertising. Printing News , p. 11.
Pritchard, E. (2012, march 1). Advertising - the Good, the
Bad and the Illegal. Legal Watch , pp. 46-49.
Rosen, J. (2013, January 28). Your Secret Online Profile.
New York Times , p. 8.
Zingsheim, M. (2011, June / July 1). Advertising Online.
Ground Support Worldwide , p. 6.
THE POWER OF
UNIFORM BRANDING
FAKULTI PENGURUSAN PERNIAGAAN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
by Jazira Anuar
Today we are living in a fashion-conscious world
(Hammond, 2009). ‘One-way-only’ business dress
attire is no longer an acceptable style. In hospitality, tourism, retailing and services industry, personal grooming act as the number one factor to
reflect the overall organizational personal image
from customer’s point of views. Most customers
care about how the employees dress. Certain companies such as the Food & Beverage Outlets; TGI
Friday’s, Seoul Garden, Nandos (to name just a
few) prefer to wear informal dress (casual T-shirt
emblazoned with the company logo) as their staff
uniforms. While for some retail companies liked
Parkson and Jusco, they choose smart executive
suit in visual identity color. Same goes with boutique stores such as Bonia, City Chain and The
Body Shop. How consistent employees appear
in their overall personal image is the issue here,
no matter what they dress, casually or formally.
The Exquisite Business Journey
Issue 04
DEC
2013
Issue 02 | JUNE
2013
HiGhLiGhTs
BASIC GRAMMAR RULES WHICH I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT
ACADEMICIAN’S FINANCIAL GOALS
A uniform is a major customer talking point and a
very high attention-getting part of a brand (Hammond, 2009). Certain organization liked airlines
and retail chain industry, willingly allocated a
huge amount of money for staff uniforms just
to sell their brand and create good first impression. The management even employed top designers to create distinctive and stylish outfits
for their staff uniforms since it is part of their
corporate dress codes. Airlines Company and
foodservice establishments obviously can be
seen enticing customers through their uniforms
other than their services provided to customers.
page 2 Accounting Equation: An Islamic Approach page 3
page 4
AR-RAHNU: HALAL PAWNBROKING
1981 Down Raid – unforgettable History of the Country…
page 6
page 8
Malaysia and Twin Deficit I have to agree that not all business needs a uniform. But a distinctive style of dress can certainly
create a unique differentiation for the company.
How staffs personal behavior displayed through
service treatment is one thing, but looking good
in terms of dress sense is equivalent important to
the behavior. By having proper dress codes for
the staffs, it can indirectly make the employees
feel proud and happy with the company they
work. A happy employee in return can give a
good service to the customers. Proper grooming
is a must and gives significant contributions to
the company’s reputation, image and brand. Perhaps companies can enjoy tremendous benefits
from the brand liked increase of sales, maximum
exposure and awareness of the product/service
as well as a loyal and long-term customer base.
MALAYSIA INEQUALITY: WHAT DO YOU THINK??
Patrons
PM Dr Abdul Samad Nawi
PM Dr Baharom Abd Rahman
PM Dr Mazidah Puteh
page 10
Advisors
Dr. Siti Haryati Shaikh Ali
Zaimi Mohamed
Siti Fatimah Mardiah Hamzah
Chief Editor
Nur Hazwani Binti Mohamad Roseli
Editorial Team
Erratul Shela Eshak
Hanani Ahmad Fuad
Norhusniyati Husin
Nor Sabrena Norizan
Nur Hayati Abd Rahman
Siti Hajar Mohd Hussain
Suhaily Maizan Abdul Manaf
Wan Maziah Wan Ab. Razak
Yau’mee Hayati Hj Mohamed Yusof
Guest Editors
Sulia Masturina Che Razali
Wan Najmiyyah Wan Md. Adnan
Columnist
PM Dr. Che Zuina Ismail
PM Ismail Hassan
Anita Md Shariff
page 10
Choosing an Accounting Software for a Small Business
Layout & Graphic:
Siti Hajar Mohd Hussain
Nor Sabrena Norizan
page 14
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IS TIME VALUE OF MONEY ACCEPTED IN ISLAMIC TEACHING?
by A’tiqah Rashidah Abu Samah
T
Since customer’s perceptions are important, well
groomed employees would lead to customer’s further engagement with the brand. Hammond (2009)
highlighted that ‘perception is reality’ in his book,
It is the customer who determines the ‘reality’ of
the whole purchase experience. And it is the customer who votes to support that reality by becoming a loyal supporter of the brand. Hence, I would
like to conclude that a proper dress codes and
grooming is vital to evoke customer’s emotion and
trigger the company’s brand through perception.
ime value of money constitutes much of the basis for modern finance.
Every students who takes any paper with regards to finance will have
to learn this topic since it is compulsory. Time of value money profoundly
related to the theory of interest rate, however in Islamic finance, the scholars use profit rate or flat rate which varies as it depends on the customer’s
credit valuation in the computation.
S
hari’ah does not completely reject the concept of time value of money.
History shows that Islamic teaching does not prohibit any increment in
a sale contract to be paid in full in future. What actually prohibited is making money’s time value an element of any lending relationship, whereby a
repayment of convensional loan involves paying more than the principal in
order to compensate the time involved.
Source
of pictu
...continue on page 9
re:
References:
Hammond, J. (2009), Branding Your Business Promoting Your business, attracting customers and standing
out in the market place, Kogan Page Limited.
20
www.go
ogle.com
1
BASIC GRAMMAR RULES WHICH
I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT
OBSESSION BEYOND SANITY!
by Najah Lukman
I have an unpublished manual that is called A High Frequency List of Problems in English Grammar given by my lecturer, Mr
Yuthandy Maniam, during my preparation studies of intensive English at the Kolej Pengajian Persediaan,Section 17, many
years ago. It had helped me a lot in gaining confidence to use English because even though I had mastered the vocabularies
quite well if not excellently through novel reading, I was never confident to use the language. Those 5 months however have
changed it all. Even though I still cannot master the grammar well, I am really thankful to Mr Yuthandy Maniam, whom I am
sure cannot recall me for I was just a timid young girl at the time but with his help had changed me to at least able to pave
my way through the web of English language.
Thus, even though I am not an English lecturer and definitely not the right person to talk about language, but continuously
facing with students who are lacking in confidence to use English language, I hope my sharing of the list with anyone who has
a chance to have a peep at this will either benefit from it themselves or will be able to help our students to improve their
English language through continuous coaching perhaps during presentation or class discussion.
However, since the list is quite long, I am just going to choose what seems practical to use and easy to grasp. But, who knows,
perhaps later on it can come out in series.
BASIC GRAMMAR RULES
3. The noun after the word “every” must be in the singular form.
4. All nouns after “one of the”, “everyone of the”, “each of the”, “anyone of the”, “none of the” and
“all” must only be in the plural form.
5. All verbs that come after the word “to” must only be in the base form.
6. All verbs that come after do, does, did, may, might, must, can, could, will, would, shall, should, must
only be in the base form.
8. All verbs that come after am, is, are, was and were must either be in the ing form or in the past participle
LIST OF SOME COMMON VERBS: THE PREPOSITIONS (e.g. ‘of’) WHICH THEY USUALLY TAKE
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
S
W
afidah (2013) stated that these
gadgets may also become obstructive to the children’s development whereby the children will
face some difficulties to focus and
for some cases it may develop autisme. Moreover, children are also
deprived from developing and exercising their motor skills due to
lack of physical movement except
for vision and the touch of one or
two fingers.
hy is it an obsession?. Look
around you and you may
find almost everybody has at
least one gadget with him or her.
A handphone, which originally
is used as communication apparatus has become more than
that. Basically, very few people of
our generation nowadays do not
know how to use a smart phone.
The word communication itself
has broaden to mean: talking via
handphones, video calling, text
messaging, whatsapping, facebooking, wechatting and so forth.
7. If the sentence begins with although, do not include the word but in the sentence.
hen I walked around, I
bumped into a male and a
female who sat side by side. One
with an iphone and the other one
with Samsung galaxy note. Both
were very busy fidgetting with
their handphones. At the other
side, two children sat side by side
on a woody bench. One with a galaxy tab and the other one with an
iPad. None of them talked, both
were engaged with the fantastic
games in the gadgets. Nobody
knew that the male and female
were actually husband and wife,
and the cute children were their
children. They seemed lost in
their own world.
he computers and gadgets
which serve as tools nowadays
become an obsession, not only to
the children and youngsters, but
also to adults regardless of their
background. We often claim that
those who need support from the
Welfare Department own expensive gadgets. This simply connotes
that nobody is poor enough to buy
a smart phone or gadget!.
2. All verbs in the 3rd person singular must have an s, es or ies.
Accuse of
Approve of
Agree with/ on/ upon/ to
Apologise to/ for
Apply to/ for
Arrive at/ in/ from
Belong to
Blame on/ for
Compete with
Compare to/ with
Complain of/ about/ to/ against
Consist of (comprise)
Decided on/ upon/ against
Depend on/ upon
Distinguish between/ from
Exchange with/ for
W
T
1. A singular subject carries a singular verb (+s) and a plural subject carries a plural verb (-s).
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
by Razifa Mohd Razlan & Wan Mardiana Wan Musa
Forgive for
Interfere with
Object to
Prevent from
Prohibit from
Rely on
Recover from
Refer to
Result from/ in
Suffer from
Warn_of_
Work on/ at/ with
Live at/in
Need to
Work on/ at/ with
Succeed in
A
Source of pictures: www.google.com
Reference:
Maniam, Y. (1985). A High Frequency List Of Problems In English Grammar And An Appendix Of Related Notes.
2
s a parent, we sometimes overlook the impact of these gadgets to our children. New parents
especially those who are working
often ‘bribe’ their children with
gadgets in order to avoid disturbance or simply to avoid a clutter
in the house or to refrain the children from playing around while
daddy or mummy is driving.
ome parents begin to introduce android gadgets to their
babies as early as the babies are
6 months old and this scenario
can be found in youtube. As the
parents are busy and so do the
babies,the intoduction to gadgets
will bring a peaceful atmosphere
of which less crying and whining.
The babies are somehow occupied
with the colourful images from the
android applications.
O
bliviously, these actions actually can lead to some negative
effects, both to physical and psychological health. The most common physical effect is eye-sight
problem. According to Nabila
Yasmin (2013), eye-sight problem may occur mainly due to the
hours spend in front of the gadget,
the distance between the eyes and
the gadget as well as the ligthing.
Optometrists recommend that the
ideal distance for children to be in
front of a gadget is 30 centimetres
away to avoid short-sighted and
the use of day light is the best for
the purpose of in-house reading.
R
O
bsession towards gadgets may
result to negative effects towards children such as unsociable,
shy, low self esteem, introvert and
bad communication skills. These
happen because of the children
are exposed to visuals and audios
via instruments and not first hand
experience. They are more comfortable to communicate via gadgets rather than face to face communication.
P
arents have to play their roles
in curbing this problems. Par-
ents should not disregard their
children and use gadgets as a solution. Providing them with gadgets alone does not reflect love
and affection. The children need
to be nurtured and not ‘bribe’, they
need attention, and not desolation. They need parents to talk
with and spend some quality time
with them. Children, by nature understand physical touch as love
and affection and not otherwise. A
simple activity like strolling in the
park is good enough for the children’s development.
O
ther than that, exposing the
children with traditional
games instead of online games can
be exhilarating. ‘Congkak’, ‘batu
serembat’, cards, chess, scrabble,
playing with dolls and remote
control cars which now are rarely
mastered by children can be introduced. This can help your love
ones to grow with good characters
as well as good communication
skills. Besides, they are all can be
played indoors.
P
arents who are addicted to
gadgets may find it is excruciating to part with their gadgets.
Here are some tips, transform the
old one-on-one routine to a team
routine, like dancing salsa or zumba together with the children. Yes,
you still watch the tele, but in a
more fun ways rather than become
a couch potato.
References:
Nabila Yasmin Mohd Razib.(2013, November 7). Gajet rosakkan mata. Utusan Malaysia, p.8.
Rafidah Rosli. (2013, September). Bukan Alat Pemudah Cara. Isihat, p.18.
Rafidah Rosli. (2013, September). Rangsang Tingkahlaku Negatif . Isihat, p.20.
Victoria Ward. (2013, December, Monday), ‘Toddlers becoming so addicted to
iPads they require therapy’ , Telegraph.
19
ACADEMICIANS’ FINANCIAL GOALS
Good and Service Tax (GST)
by Johari Harun
by Roziani Ali and Inayah Abd Aziz
Good and service tax (GST) is becoming a hot issue especially after it
is announced by the Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Oct 25th,
2013 that Malaysia is set to introduce
the tax at 6% from April 1, 2015 to
replace the existing sales and service
tax. It takes the government several
years to impose this tax as the GST
bill was actually tabled for first reading in 2009. Political reason could be
one of the factors why it takes a while
for it to be implemented as the implementation of the tax could affect the
voters in the last general election. To
reduce public rejection on the tax, the
budget highlights one-off assistance
of RM300 to BRIM recipients and a
cut of personal income tax by 1 to 3
percentage points after GST is implemented. In addition, RM2,000 special
tax relief for middle-income group
earning up to RM 8,000 will be given.
GST or commonly known as VAT in
European countries is first introduced
by Joint director of the France Tax
Authority, Maurice Laure on April 10,
1954. However it is noted that the concept of VAT can be traced back to 1918
when a German industrialist proposed the concept in the year. In Asian
countries, GST has been implemented
by all members’ countries except
for Malaysia, Brunei and Myanmar.
Indonesia and Philippines implemented the GST in 1980s while
our neighbour, Singapore in 1994.
GST covers all sectors of the economy
including locally made goods and services and also imports. However the
essential food items and services such
as flour, bus and train fares and medical service will be exempted from GST
as they are categorized as zero rated
supply. To the government, GST is a
way for them to boost revenues and
trim the budget deficit to 3 percent.
What
is
GST?
GST is a multi-stage consumption
tax on goods and services. It is also
known as value added tax (VAT) in
many countries. It is levied on the
supply of goods and services at each
stage of the supply chain from the
supplier to the retail stage of the distribution. However, the beauty of this
tax system is that although GST is imposed at all level of supply -chain, the
tax element charged does not become
part of the cost of production as it is a
claimable cost (in the form of input tax
credit). In another words, if the buyer
is not an end-user they can claim the
tax charge on the purchase items. This
system benefits the government as it
creates stronger incentives to collect
the tax revenue on behalf of the government. Even though it is argued that both
tax (GST and sales tax) create an incentive by the end consumer to avoid or
evade tax, the former practice sales tax
offers more mechanism to the buyer to
avoid tax. This is because if the buyers
are able to persuade the seller that they
are not really the end-consumer, sales
tax would not be collected from them, as
a seller is only legally required to collect
sales tax from the end-user or consumer. GST approach gives seller a direct financial stake to collect the tax from all
buyers and they do not have to decide
whether the buyer is or not an end consumer. However GST or VAT could be easily becomes a target for specific frauds
like carousel fraud. Carousel fraud happens when a seller manipulates the way
VAT is treated within multi-jurisdictional trading which is free by collecting
the VAT from the buyer but absconds
paying the tax himself since it’s free.
What is the difference between GST and the existing sales and service tax?
The differences between the existing sales and service tax and GST is summarised in the following table.
Existing Sales and Service Tax
GST
Charged at one stage (final stage) of supply chain.
1. Works on negative concept-all goods and services are subject
to sales tax unless specified otherwise.
2. Service tax operates on a positive concept where only services
that are specifically prescribed are taxable
ported goods and services are not taxable
Im-
Do not allow consolidated tax filings. “group relief” is available for certain professional services provided within the same
group.
Stage of
charges
The consumption of goods and services is charged at every
level of supply chain
Concept
Works on negative concept-all goods and services are subject to GST unless specified otherwise.
Imported
Services
Group
Registration
Imported services are subject to GST through the concept of
a “reverse charge”.
Group registration is included as a facility that allows companies to file consolidated GST returns.
As a conclusion, GST is probably a better tax system as it is more effective, efficient, transparent and business friendly which is important to promote the economic growth and competitiveness in the global market. However, the general public should be educated on GST issues not only to increase acceptance among them but also to avoid any parties taking advantage of this new tax system.
References:
www.gst.custom.gov.my
www.pwc.com/my/en/issues/gst.jhtm/
GST to streamline consumption tax (2013, October 26) New Straits Times, p.7
Putting our finance in order (2013, October 26) New Straits Times, p.18
www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/se-asia/story/malaysia-introduce-gst-6-april-2015-20131025
Personal finance deals with achievement of goals. What
goals does personal finance try to achieve? Does it suggest, for example, that we all should save as much as we
can? Do we measure success in terms of our monthly
contributions to the bank account? Not necessarily, I think.
Obviously, what we plan to do during our lifetimes differs
considerably. One may want to have a big family and enjoy
entertainment activities with the kids while they are young
and growing; another person might just want to save as
much as possible as to provide for their children education
needs.
This writing is actually just an extraction of findings obtained
from my research entitled “Public University Lecturers’ Responses on Financial Planning with emphasis on their Protection, Investment and Retirement Requirements. The
respondents cooperated were from six public universities
namely USM, UKM, UiTM Shah Alam, UM and UMT of
Kuala Terengganu. A branch campus of UiTM Terengganu was also included. From the study, I could categorize
public university lecturers’ financial goals in the following
four levels of importance:
1. Very important
● Children’s education
● Pilgrimage / Hajj
● To take care of ageing parents
● Donations and charitable contributions
These four objectives are ranked highest in the list. They
are valid reasons for lecturers’ continuation for working in
their respective employment. Being lecturers in attached in
established higher learning institutions, the importance of
children education is of paramount importance and must
be given due attention. Lecturers are aware of the escalating costs in providing education as quoted by one respondent, “Children education is horribly expensive!!” Owing
to anticipated situation where scholarship or loans from
PTPTN, MARA or other sponsors can no longer easy and
readily available, it is appropriate therefore, parents give
high priorities to education planning for their children.
Pilgrimage or Hajj is important to lecturers especially to the
Muslims as Hajj is obligatory on every adult, at least once
in his life. This function will lead a man through the highest
spiritual experience. To take care of ageing parents while
they are still alive is a noble thing to do. For Asians such
responsibility comes very natural and without much resistance. Contribution, on the other hand, come synonymous
with the lecturers’ main task in imparting knowledge and
experience to their students.
2. Important
● Have 2/3 of last drawn salary as income during retirement day
● To continue working on contract basis upon retirement
● Settle/reduce housing loan with lump sum
● Settle credit card(s) outstanding with lump sum
● Settle car hire purchases
The above goals are viewed important to lecturers as
18
these are very financial in nature. Lecturers, being salaried
workers are often resorted to bank facilities to improve their
cash flows. Not many of them can have steady income
outside their normal pay cheques. From the analysis of the
responses, it was observed about 70 per cent of lecturers
have more than two credit cards suggesting that having
high interest bearing credit facilities is quite acceptable and
normal for their lifestyle. The other common loans which are
evidently hard-pressing are the housing loans and hire purchase for the vehicle(s) owned. The three loans put together
will undoubtedly prompt the lecturers to want to continue to
work during post retirement days and to have at least twothird of their last drawn salaries if not better.
3. Nice to have
● Overseas holidays
● Own a commercial property
● Have a Will to manage your estate
● Start own business
● Further education on part time
● Have a bigger car
● Move to a bigger house
These goals are nice to have not only to academicians but
to anyone for that matter. Nevertheless the goals are not as
necessary as the aforementioned goals. Holidays, having
other assets, to further education and so forth are rated in
the middle range in the Likert’s scale indicating that they are
‘not sure’ or simply do not have the extra luxury to spend their
hard earned money. Lecturers being educated people are
known to be prudent and sensible workers in that sense.
4. Lesser important
● Move to another location
● Change present car
● Change of employer
● Change of career
The above objectives are rated low indicating that they are
not important to the majority of the public academicians in
Malaysia. The responses suggested that the respondents
are happily employed and satisfied with their remunerations
and place of works.
Being public university lecturers, we are concerned on long
term planning which encompasses many important goals
in our lives. As salaried workers, it is our responsibility to not
only address the short term financial needs of our household but also the long term needs. Living in a society that
embraces a payment mentality, it takes discipline to put
together a long-term strategy that will serve to adequately
meet the specific needs of our goals in the years to come.
A strong financial future is dependent upon a strong financial foundation. The key to building a solid financial plan is to
develop a strategy that provides for an increase in financial
strength each step of the way. If we put together a wise longterm plan to manage our finances and stay focused and balanced in our lives, in shaa Allah, our established goals and
dreams could turn into reality.
3
Accounting Equation: An Islamic Approach
SUCCESSION PLANNING : EMPOWERING YOUNG ACADEMICS
by Noorazlina Ahmad and Nurul Aisyah Awanis bt A Rahim
by Roziani Ali & Inayah Abdul Aziz
Investopedia defines accounting equation as...
“The equation that is the foundation of double entry accounting. The accounting equation displays
that all assets are either financed by borrowing money or paying with the money of the company’s
shareholders. Thus, the accounting equation is: Assets = Liabilities + Shareholder/Owner’s Equity.”
To simplify, we could say that Accounting is recorded based on this basic equation:
Assets = Owner’s Equities + Liabilities
For instance, the acquisition of an asset should either resulted in a reduction of another assets (if it is a
cash purchase) or an increase in liabilities (if credit transaction involved). In either way, the accounting
equation is maintained and consequently, the account is balance (tally)..that’s it.
Logically, if a business spends money for Sadaqah and help the needy, their assets will decrease (Bank) and their expenses will increase. As a result, the equities of the owner will decrease. That’s a
simple logic....the expenses is increased and the owner will be poorer by the same amount. However,
that is not how it works.
Zakat and Sadaqah are indeed cannot be classified as mere expenses.They are actually powerful financial instruments which instead of reducing your assets, will multiply your assets in an unimaginable
amount. Instead of becoming poorer, those who give a lot of zakah and sadaqah will become richer
and happier (MAGIC, right!!!!!!!).
Since the amount spent on Zakat and Sadaqah normally will increase the wealth of the giver (owner)
we could recognise zakat and sadaqah payment as a capital expenditure (an asset) rather than revenue
expenditure (expenses). In other words, it means that the asset (eg. Bank) will decrease but at the same
time, another Assets (intangibles) will increase. However, since the value of this intangible cannot
be measured, we can’t really recognise it as an asset. So, current practice continue treating zakat and
sadaqah payment as a revenue expenditure hence deducting the amount in calculating the profit for
the period. Although cannot be recorded due to it’s measurement issues, the act of giving sadaqah and
Zakat continue to contribute towards a company’s success. To put it in simple words, that is the beauty
and mystery of donation and charity.
In Al-Quran, Allah S.W.T has mentioned this:
“The example of those who spend in the way of Allah is just like a grain that produced seven ears,
each ear having a hundred grains, and Allah multiplies (the reward) for whom He wills. Allah is
All-Embracing, All-Knowing”
Al-Baqarah:261
“And the believers, men and women, are protecting friends one of another; they enjoin the right
and forbid the wrong, and they establish worship and they pay the poor-due, and they obey Allah
and His messenger. As for these, Allah will have mercy on them. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Wise.”
Al-Tawba:71
***continue on page 5***
Leadership succession planning, however, is recognized as central to both professional and organizational workforce planning and required a strategic approach for the long-term future of nursing. Part of this process requires certain attributes
to exist, to create an environment, and to achieve success. It is a means to ensure that competent, qualified, well-prepared
people are available for future positions (Aberdeen Group Report, 2008).
The National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2020 has articulated a vision to transform higher education in
Malaysia. One of the key theme is leadership: reflecting the belief that leadership is one of the key elements in achieving the national university agenda. Notwithstanding this strong affirmation of the importance of academic leadership,
academics have generally voiced critisms of weaknesses in the leadership of universities. One way to help ensure trained
leaders in academia is to identify potential young leaders and provide support, training and encouragement for them to
take on leadership roles. Both key leaders and institutional programmes can be instrumental in helping to identify and
train academic leaders. The job of identifying leaders from a pool of young academics who are astute, skills necessary falls
on those leaders with the same skills. It has became crucially incumbent upon higher education leadership to select and
develop young talents to be their successor (Carroll & Wolverton, 2004).
Identifying, nurturing and supporting academics to build up a strong academic leadership are critical components
in empowering young academics and maintaining a pipeline for continuity. Universities that prepare for the future will have
an identification strategy and succession plan that not only provides for the next generation of academic leaders but also
ensures that they have the expertise, expereince and skills necessary for success. From the initial selection into the profession to inclusion in the pipeline of academic leadership, young academics should be made fully aware of their potential,
responsibility and accountability required of academic leaders.
Effective succession planning has both an organization and individual focus. Nonetheless, organizations must become
involved in assessing future skill requirements and deliberately track and develop talented nurses for future leadership
positions. Indeed, a recent research report (Aberdeen Group Report, 2008) suggests that if the leadership void is to
be managed effectively, succession planning involving identifying, developing, and retaining top talent is crucial. This approach is rather different from the traditional trial-and-error style of management typical of our professional past, whereby
nursing leaders rose to the top by way of longevity of service.
Every young academic is a potential leader. There are typically two approaches to leadership in universities: a hierarchical model where authority and power are assumed to be proportional to one’s position in the administrative order; and a
scholarly model where leaders among academics tend to be those who have gained the most academic status and recognition (Carroll & Wolverton, 2004). Thus, even though there are opportunities for academics to serve in formal leadership
positions, our conception of leadership views every member of the academic community as a leader. A well-concieved
rounded path for academic leaders will encourage Malaysian academics to build their expertise and leadership in teaching, research, public services and management, all of which will be regarded as making valuable contribution to academic
leadership. The challenges of leadership development and succession planning in universities are thus to develop quality
and to increase the number of young academics who would become distinguished academic leaders in their own field of
expertise.
References
American Organization of Nurse Executives Education Committee (2005); AONE nurse executive competencies,
Nurs Leader, 3, pp. 15–21
Aberdeen Group Report (2008); The Looming Leadership Void: Identifying, Developing, and Retaining your Top
Talent http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/4157-RA-looming-leadership-void.asp
Carroll, J. B., & Wolverton, M. (2004); Who becomes a chair? New Direction for Higher Education, 126, pp 3-10
M Jasper, M Jumaa (2005); Effective healthcare leadershipBlackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK
Mind Your Own Business (MYOB) Accounting Software
by Nur Nariza Mod Arifin
Accounting software is defined as a computer program that assists bookkeepers and accountants in recording and reporting on a firm's financial transactions. The
functionality of accounting software is differed among them. It may be developed in-house by the company or organization using it, may be purchased from a
third party, or may be a combination of a third-party application software package with local modifications. Larger firms may choose to implement a customized
solution which integrates a vast amount of data from many different departments. Smaller firms often choose a desktop software product.
MYOB Accounting software or “Mind Your Own Business” is one of popular global desktop accounting software in Malaysia that originated from Australia used
by Malaysian SME’s. It is a specialist software company providing small business accounting packages. MYOB software products are available in Australia, New
Zealand and across many Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
MYOB is exclusively designed for business minded people with or without accounting knowledge. MYOB automatically converts familiar invoices, cheques, bills,
etc., into full double-entry journals employed by accountants and auditors. The software offers seven types of command centre that help users to record their
transactions. Namely accounts, banking, sales, purchase, time billing, inventory and card file.
Data is recorded based on real time basis in MYOB. There is no need to do month end closing since all financial transactions are up to date once the data entry
is completed. Even it is a real time basis type but it also offers an online and offline access / backup data. It allows users to record transactions even there is no
internet access. System that applied in MYOB is integrates among its seven command centres. For example inventory transactions are updated once invoice is
issued or purchased is made. System integration is among the vital features when choosing suitable software for an organisation.
Retail price of this software depends on its product range. For example a unit of MYOB Premier Version 13.0 is offered at RM 2800.00. However a free 90 day trial
version of MYOB accounting software can be downloaded from MYOB website. This trial version is the full version but any business set up with it can only have
entries entered for 90 days. After that, purchase of the software is required.
The reason why MYOB is preferable among others is that it is an ideal and complete software solution for handling foreign currency, time billing in a multi-user
environment. It also enhances business management capabilities to medium-sized companies. Besides that it is easy to use, powerful yet affordable and offers
extensive customer service.
Bibliography
Source of pictures: www.google.com
4
LCCIEB-MYOB Computerised Accounting Study Guide, Level 2 & Level 3.
James A. Hall (2011). Accounting Information System, 8th Edition, South Western Publishing.
17
The Pros and Cons of Utilising the
Instructional Media in Education.
Have you ever heard the terms such as audiovisual aids, audio visual materials, audio-visual
media or instructional media before? What
does each term mean? Generally, whatever
the term is, they convey the same meaning
and function. According to Kinder (1995),
audio-visual aids (instructional materials) are
devices which can be used to make the learning experiences more concrete, more realistic
and more dynamic (as cited in Dash & Dash,
2007, p.123). They help a lot in the field of
education as nowadays the rapid and massive development of science and technology
is moving along the methods of teaching and
learning for the achievement of the learners.
The fact that instructional media technology has become one of the vital instructional
methods to be used in lesson is undeniable.
Therefore, it is impossible for each educational
institution to ignore the benefits from utilising
multimedia teaching into classroom. Thus, with
the continuous encouragement from the government to integrate science and technology to
be used in teaching and learning process, educators and learners must take this opportunity
to be part of the community that practise using
the ICT wisely for the benefits of the country.
Since the implementation of instructional media in teaching has become the main necessity
in our globalised world nowadays, there are
also many pros and cons in utilising multimedia teaching into classroom. Among these issues include the inadequate instructional materials and other learning facilities in certain
places like the rural areas. For the educators
especially, their challenge is doubled as they
are the initiators who implement the lesson
using instructional media. Besides, they are
observed for their readiness and their method
of teaching using the instructional technology.
Apart from that, learners learn better using
the instructional media compared to those
who learn through traditional method of
teaching where the lesson mostly involves
chalk and talk (Abdelraheem & Al-Rabane,
2005). By integrating instructional media into
classroom, a lesson would be more meaningful, authentic and would perform equally as
well as the lesson which is taught by using
the real objects (Dash & Dash, 2007). This is
because, by using instructional media in the
classroom, all the needs and types of learners
can be catered simultaneously as the activities that involve visual, listening, movement
and so on can be done together accordingly.
Moreover, by using instructional media in
Continued..............................................................................................................................Accounting Equation: An Islamic Approach
by Nurhadiana binti Nurulmatin
teaching, learners can be exposed with
the learning experience that they never
encounter before in their life (Babalola,
2007). For example by using video, the
learners can be exposed with the images of
solar system, mega cities, and even the real
life experiences are captured as their source
of reference in learning. As a result it will
provide them with education as well as excitement at the same time. These learning
outcomes have been mentioned in previous
studies (Nikitina, 2007; Abdelraheem &
Al-Rabane, 2005; Charge & Giblin, 1988).
However, there are few issues that are being
highlighted now regarding the utilisation of
instructional media in learning especially
in Malaysia. Not every school or higher
institution is fully equipped with adequate
audio-visual aids or multimedia technology
in their institution. This condition is usually
faced by many of the rural schools. Usually
the main reason for not equipping their
school with this instructional media is because of the financial constraints. Although,
they are given sponsors or subsidy by NGOs
or the Government, they still cannot afford
to provide these tools and facilities in their
schools or learning institutions. The money
is being used for other priorities such as providing a comfortable place for the students
to learn like fixing the leaking roofs and dilapidated structures, provide more chairs
and desks, organising other education programmes or activities and so on so forth. As
a result, this discourages the teachers and
the learners to incorporate active and creative learning with ICT in the classrooms.
However, Qiao, Du, Li, and Jia (2009) clarified that teaching should not be overly dependent on multi-media as it will produce
some repercussions. This is true because
there are not many teachers or educators
are well-trained in teaching the students
using the multimedia technology. To those
who are not familiar with the instructional
media technology, they might prefer to
use the traditional method of teaching
which maybe boring and non-interactive.
This is because they do not have the readiness and self-confidence in teaching using instructional media. Other than that,
they are also not familiar with the operating tools, softwares and coursewares.
Even if they are forced to integrate instructional media in their lesson, the purpose of
using it would be useless as they tend to rely
more on the instructional media like put-
ting all the information from the textbook
into the Microsoft Power Point slide show
without knowing the appropriate skills in
presenting and teaching. The main reason
why most of the teachers tend to put all the
things in their slide shows is because they do
not have the exposure in knowing the correct
way to create a power point slide show. They
even do not know the ground rules in presenting information in an attractive manner.
Somehow now, it is clear that using instructional media in teaching and learning does
have a lot of advantages and disadvantages.
Thus, we need to take them into consideration like identifying the goal and objectives of having the instructional media.
Other than that, the educators need to figure out the flexibility of each instructional
media that is being used in the classroom as
whether it is relevance with the lesson that
they are having as well as whether it caters
the needs of the students’ interest or not.
To sum up, it is not a matter of how much
do the teachers or educators spend in teaching students using the instructional media
that will guarantee the success of learning. The main important thing is, educators and learners as well as the curriculum
designers have to figure out how to utilise
instructional media into lesson according
to the standard and level of students so that
all parties can get the benefits of the learning and teaching process with a proper
guidance as well as for the benefit of assessing the students’ assessment later on.
Surely, Muslim men and Muslim women, believing men and believing women, devout
men and devout women, truthful men and truthful women, patient men and patient
women, humble men and humble women, and the men who give Sadaqah (charity) and
the women who give sadaqah, and the men who fast and the women who fast, and the
men who guard their private parts (against evil acts) and the women who guard (theirs),
and the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember (Him) - for
them, Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.
Al-Ahzab:35
Hadith also explain this mystery.
Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Every day two angels come down from Heaven and one of them says, ‘O Allah! Compensate every person who spends in Your Cause,’
and the other (angel) says, ‘O Allah! Destroy every miser.’ “
Sahih Bukhari 2:24:522
Abu Haraira reported that the likeness of one who spends (in the path of Allah) or one
who gives charity is that of a person who has two cloaks or two coats-of-mail over him
right from the breast to the collar bones. And when the spender (and the other narrator
said, when the giver of charity) makes up his mind to give charity, it (coat-mail) becomes
expanded for him. But when a miserly person intends to spend, it contracts and every
ring grips the place where it is. For the giver of charity, this coat-of. mail expands to
cover his whole body and obliterates even his footprints. Abu Huraira said: (The miserly
man) tries to expand it (the coat-of-mail) but it does not expand.
Sahih Muslim 5:2227
References:
Al-Quran Albaqarah:261, AlTawba:71, Al-Ahzab:35, Sahih Bukhari 2:24:522, Sahih Muslim 5:2227
Wood, F & Sangster, A (2002), Prentice Hall, Essex
www.investopedia.com
BANTULAH
AKU...
oleh: Nik Fazlin Hiryati Nik Jaafar
REFERENCES:
Abdelraheem & Al-Rabane. (2005). Utilisation and Benefits of Instructional Media in
Teaching Social Studies Courses as Percieved
by Omani Students. Malaysian Online Journal of Instructional Technology, 2(1), 121-124.
Babalola, I. (2007). Effectiveness of Video as
An Instructional Medium in Teaching Rural
Children
Agricultural
and
Environmental
Sciences.
International
Journal
of
Education and Development using Information and
Communication Technology (IJEDICT) 3(3), 105-114.
Charge, N. J. & Giblin, K. (1988). Learning English in a Video Studio. English Language
Teaching
Journal,
42(4),
282-287.
Dash, N & Dash, M. (2007). Teaching English as an Additional Language. New Delhi :
Atlantic
Publishers
&
Distributors
P(Ltd).
Nikitina, L. (2009). Student Video Project as a
Means to Practice Constructivist Pedagogy in
the Foreign Language Classroom. Jurnal pendidik dan pendidikan, Vol. 24,165-176.
Qiao, X. Du, Z. Li, H. & Jia, W. (2009). The
Analysis of Pros and Cons of Multimedia
Teaching.
http://eng.hi138.com/?i119364
(Free
paper
download
center)
Source of pictures: www.google.com
Source of pictures: www.google.com
16
Janji dan taubatku pada Mu, hanyalah tinggal janji..
Dan dosa jua yang ku lakukan.. Mengapa…
Apakah aku hamba Mu yang terlalu jahil dan tidak bersyukur?
Apakah masih ada belas Mu untukku?
Jauh di sudut hati, sesungguhnya rahmat Mu yang Maha
Agung ku dambakan..
Engkau sahaja sandaran dan harapan ku di dunia ini..
Peritnya diuji, pedihnya di coba Mu.. Ya Tuhanku
Namun kerana kasih Mu jualah kepayahan ini hadir..
Kerana ingin ditingkatkan darjatku , kejerihan ini berlabuh..
Kasih Mu yang abadi ku rayu..dalam melayari kehidupan yang
penuh dengan ujian ini..
Dalam kepayahan diuji, sukar untuk ku gambarkan bagaimana
manisnya hikmah diuji Mu..
Moga- moga hamba Mu ini lebih bertaqwa apabila diduga..
Hidupkanlah aku dalam iman dan rahmat Mu..
Matikan aku jua dalam iman dan belas ihsan Mu..
Aku tetap di sini, tega untuk terus mengemis kasih Mu..
Tiada daya dan tiada kekuatan kecuali dengan pertolongan Mu
semata-mata..
Bantulah aku..
5
A
Online Consumer Experience
R-RAHNU: HALAL PAWNBROKING
by Azlina Bt Shamsudin
by Wan Yusrol Rizal Bin W. Yusof
Introduction
The important of helping the needy especially the poor has long been emphasized in much of Islamic faith. Therefore, lending
to the needy should be the main focus in Islamic finance. In this context, the Islamic pawnshop (ar-rahnu scheme) is the most appropriate mechanism as it provides a financial product for the lower-income group and small businesses which usually have limited
capital or have been excluded from the mainstream financial system. Prior studies by Ismail and Maamor (2007) and Amin et al
(2007) have shown the importance of Islamic pawnshop to the Muslim societies. Before the implementation of the Islamic pawnshop system, the conventional pawnshops had charged high interest rates on the loans given. The conventional pawnshops were
more motivated on making profit from the needy individuals and this activity was only restricted by the laws in the Pawnbrokers
Act 1972. The conventional pawnshops had indeed oppressed and put a burden on the lower-income group.
The purpose of the Pawnbrokers Act 1972 was to guarantee a healthy pawnshop industry, as well as safeguarding the interests
of the consumers. However, it failed to control the problems of the oppression of the lower income group and the pawnbrokers’
malpractices. In fact, it seemed to encourage the practice of usury, with high interest rates of 2 percent per month, or 24 percent
per annum. The high interest rates make it difficult for the consumers to reclaim their goods or jewellery. As for those who need
the loan as a business capital, they find that their capital is rapidly diminishing. The conventional pawnshop system is more likely
to put a burden on the lower-income group and this is against the Shari’ah practices.
The concern over higher interest rates, usurious and exploitative activities imposed by the conventional pawnshop makes the
customers choose to deal with the Islamic pawnshop. This paper reviews the historical background of conventional pawnshop,
the modus operandi of conventional pawnshop and their weaknesses and followed by the history, modus operandi and the development of Islamic pawnshops in Malaysia.
Islamic Pawnshop as a Shari’ah Compliant Solution to Conventional Pawnshop
The first Islamic pawnbroking institution, Muassasah Gadaian Islam Terengganu (MGIT), was set up by the Terengganu State
Islamic Affairs and Malay Customs in January 1992. Following in March 1992, Ar-Rahn, a subsidiary of Permodalan Kelantan
Berhad commenced its operations as a standalone Islamic pawnshop. On 21 August 1993, the Minister of Finance announced the
introduction of a scheme, known as ar-rahnu scheme through the collaboration of three institutions namely Bank Negara Malaysia (supply the expertise in financing field), Islamic Economic Development Foundation Malaysia or YPEIM as the funder, and
Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad which supply the infrastructures and managing the transaction. Later, on 27 October
1993, the first phase of ar-rahnu scheme was launched at six branches of Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad. Now, the arrahnu scheme is available at all Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad branches throughout Malaysia. YPEIM had also taken
the initiative to launch 17 counters of ar-rahnu scheme through YPEIM co-operatives. The next financial institution to enter
the Islamic pawnbroking is Bank Islam, formerly commenced in 1997, followed by EON Bank (August 2002) and Bank Pertanian
Malaysia in September 2002. In 2005, there are 209 outlets provide the ar-rahnu scheme throughout Malaysia with number of
outlets under Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (112), Bank Islam (24) and YPEIM’s co-operatives (18).
Modus operandi of Islamic pawnshop
Generally, the modus operandi for conventional and Islamic pawnshop transaction is quite similar. Despite the similarities, the
contract (aqad) in the Islamic pawnshop is different from the conventional pawnshop. The loan granted is based on four concepts,
i.e. al-qardhul hassan (loan without interest), al-wadiah yad dhammanah (keeping valuable goods by guarantee), al-ujrah (storage
fees) and ar-rahn (collateral). The storage fee is based on the value of gold and not on the amount of the loan. This fee is charged
differently by each Islamic pawnbroker. In the Islamic-based pawnshop, gold is the only permitted item. Gold have several advantages as collateral over other items (Scully, 2005) Firstly, gold is easily resold and so there is potentially auctioning the collateral
should the borrower not redeem the pledge. Secondly, gold’s purity can be easily determined and so the risk of mispricing the
collateral can be minimized. Thirdly, gold chains and rings typically require only a small flat envelop for storage and so can be
kept securely in the bank safe at little, if any, additional cost. Finally, women often receive gold chains and bracelets as wedding
gifts and generally retain personal ownership of these items especially in Malaysia. This practice is common across income levels
and so provides a rich base of potential customers. The valuation is based also on the purity of the gold item. For example 85
carat gold carries a value of RM25 to RM26 per gm. The gold will be valued at the prevailing market price. The best method of
assessing gold jewellery in Islamic pawnshop is by using acid test. The method is such as the piece of jewellery will be rubbed on
a black stone. The quality of gold will depend on the friction; the rougher the feel of the gold, the better the quality. The action
of rubbing will be done at corners of the jewellery as these parts are the easiest to determine if the gold is fake. In addition, a
special density meter is used to value the gold. In order to make the valuation free from mispricing, the staffs in Islamic pawnshop
will be sent to YPEIM institution for courses that relate to get training in such matters.
In terms of legislation, the Islamic pawnbroking system is subject to certain laws but no specific acts. For example, ar-rahnu
scheme in Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad is subject to three different acts, which are the Bank Kerjasama Rakyat (M)
Berhad Act 1978, the Co-operative Societies Act (1993) and the Development Finance Institutions Act 2002. In addition, Bank
Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad has introduced separately the ar-rahnu manual guidelines. Other relevant acts are the Occupational Safety and Health Act for workers who are exposed to acid for the gold test and the Weight and Measurement Act,
in which the gold weighing device has to be licensed every year (Sehan, 2004). Principally, Islamic pawnbrokers would prefer the
customer to redeem their collateral within six months. However, if there is no repayment, there is an extension period of three
months after which the client is informed that the item will be sold by auction within a further of two months period. Based on
the Manual of Islamic Pawnbroking of Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad, any surplus from the sale of the gold over the
amount owed to the pawnbroker, including accumulated deposit fee and any costs related to the sale, has to be returned to the
customer. In case the customer cannot be located, the surplus will be forwarded to the Baitulmal from which the customer is
entitled to make future claims.
Conclusion
The emergence of conventional pawnbroking operating side by side with the Islamic pawnbroking (dual system) provides an option to the customers to choose the best pawnbroking service based on the features offered. As for Muslims, this opportunity will
enable them to reject monetary transactions which involved riba and gharar. Other than that, it is hoped that Islamic pawnbroking
will be able to eliminate the informal lending activities such as ‘loan shark’ or ‘along’ which have clearly oppressed and victimised
the lower-income group. As for Malaysia, the government has always been committed in developing the Islamic financial product.
In order to enhance the growth of this product, the participation of mainstream financial institutions in the ar-rahnu scheme will
complement the existing range of Islamic banking products offered by the financial institutions. Based on the role of pawnshop,
it cannot be denied that pawnshop institution has a big impact to the society development and hence contribute to economic
growth. Finally, the Malaysian experience of Islamic pawnbroking seems to offer a very useful model which other countries might
wish to consider.
References
1. Ismail, A. G. and Maamor, S. (2007). Ar-rahn. Paper presented at the Workshop on Islamic Financial Institutions and Market on 27th – 28th February 2007, Bangi;
2. Amin, H., Chong, R., Dahlan, H. and Supinah, R. (2007). “An Ar-rahnu Shop Acceptance Model (ARSAM)”. Labuan e-Journal of Muamalat and Society, 1, 88 – 101.
3. Skully, M. S. (2005). Islamic Pawnbroking: The Malaysian Experience. Paper presented at the 3rd International Islamic Banking and Finance Conference 2005.
4. Refer Bank Kerjasama Rakyat (M) Berhad (2000, 2002 dan 2003). Manual Pinjaman Pajakgadai Islam. Not published.
5. Sehan, M. A. (2004). Isu-isu dalam Perlaksanaan Pajak Gadai Islam di Negara Serantau. Paper presented at the “Konvensyen Ar-rahnu Serantau” on 12th – 13th October:
Kuala Lumpur.
6
Buying through online is a whole new experience
to a consumer and so am I when I am executing
my first online transaction. My first purchased was
an abaya from a blog shop. I have decided to
do the online shopping since I do not have the
time and with online, I can browse so many things
at my own free time. What make it so different?
Of course we are not entering a shop, confronting the shopkeeper or the promoter, feeling and
testing the product but we were either at home,
office or even at a coffee shop browsing through
our computer (some use i-Pad or Galaxy Tab)
to look into a product picture and description.
Some people did not find it satisfying since we are
not able to touch or feel the products. We then
proceed with our order and payment and then
waited for the delivery of the product at home or
office.
However, there are some unpleasant experience
occurs to some of the consumer that make it their
last online transaction and back to the old conventional method of going to the shop and buy
things. Some of the parties do realise that it is important to increase the consumer satisfaction in order
to gain more online consumer thus they have set
up categories and subcategories that will enable
them to address issues that concern the online
consumer. They also have verified that the consumer want to gain more information about the
shipping and also the abilities to track the movement of the product. The live chat functions were
also introduced in order to give added support to
any enquiry that the consumer may have (Lamont, 2012). Nowadays, besides email, they always
encourage customers through using many communication applications such as Whatsapp with
them.
the need to be in control not only during the transaction but also post purchase in order to make
them feel secured about getting the package delivered to their doorsteps (UPS, 2013).
Consumer will share about their experience while
doing a transaction on certain product and thus
will make or break some business networking especially for small businesses. Therefore, it is very essential for the businesses to pick up and analyze all of
the data available to them online in order to gain a
positive growth (Lamont, 2012). It is usual for today’s
consumer to post on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter about their experience without knowing the impact to the businesses either positive or negative.
The sharing of their experience dealing or buying
will make other people feel confident to buy or not
to buy from the seller. I do support the need to share
the experience to help fellow online customer so
that everybody will have a good experience while
doing online shopping. This way we can help other
people from being cheated by the seller.
References
Lamont, J. (2012, February 1). Tuning in to customers: Optimizing the online experience. KMWorld,
pp. 8-9.
Leary, B. (2012, April 1). The Fast and The Curious
Building a business model to keep up with customer expectations. Small Biz Buzz, p. 7.
United Parcel Service of America, INC. (2012, October 1). https://thenewlogistics.ups.com/retail.
Retrieved September 25, 2013, from United Parcel
Service of America, Inc: http://www.ups.com/
With the increase of online consumer, there were
also the innovation of an application that can
help both the online seller and buyer to make
an efficient transaction. This application usually
combines the function of managing contact,
calendar, and activities along with live communication between both parties. By using this application such as provided by Lazada, it will give
new dimension to online shopping to consumer
when they can have update on sales and also
being able to keep track in certain product. As for
the seller, this application will help them not only to
keep track on the consumer behaviour but also
easier for them to do inventory (Leary, 2012). This
application seems to be a win-win for both the
consumer and seller.
A study run by United Parcel Service of America
in 2012 has came out with four interesting discoveries which are first is free shipping is a good way
to use to retain or reward customer, the second
is customer expect nothing less than an efficient
transaction system, the third is a good return policy will certainly retain a customer, and lastly post
purchase control is critical that is the ability to track
the movement of package (product delivery).
The overall conclusion is that the customers have
Source of pictures: www.google.com
15
Consistent
Giving
by Ros Norita Abd Samad
Recent years have presented us with many disasters. The events have been hitting different part of the globe. To name a few: tsunami in Japan, hurricane Sandy in
New York, monsoon flood in Pakistan and the latest is typhoon Haiyan in Philippines. Every disaster came with loss of life rising to the hundreds and thousands.
The damages were estimated for billions or trillions.
What are our roles? What can we do? How can we contribute?
Contribution and assistance to those in needs is best carried out through organization. Therefore, the roles of charity organizations and donors are paramount. Their
concerted effort is needed to benefit the poor and the needy, irrespective of race, religion or creed. Charities are nonprofit organizations that act as intermediaries
between donors (who provide resources, usually in the form of time or money) and beneficiaries (who are the ultimate recipients of the donors’ gifts).
Charities need to plan and efficiently execute the projects for beneficiaries. In order to carry out the projects, charities need consistent income from donors. However,
to achieve consistent income is very difficult. Usually, the income is seasonal. In Malaysia, during Ramadhan charities are always able to generate a lot of funds,
but after Ramadhan the funds are dwindling.
There are always reasons not to give rather than reasons to give. But now, let teach ourselves to give. So, let us find reasons to give. First reason, we might be so
thankful for what we have, so we would like to share with others. Second, the act of giving can make the giver happy, ‘warm-glow’ effect. Third, we never find
out individuals become poor and miserable just because they help other individuals. The list should go on and on… and for Muslims, they should give in order to
seek Allah’s pleasure.
The world will always be filled with the needy and the poor, but the world also will always be filled with the privileged and the rich. The key word is giving. Wise
men say the meaning of life is through giving, because we ourselves are the beneficiaries of countless gifts from the greatest giver of all, the Almighty Creator. Hence,
we should constantly teach ourselves to give, so that, finally, some day, we can convince ourselves to give consistently. Consistently!
Source of pictures: www.google.com
Choosing an Accounting Software for a Small Business
by Nur Nariza Mod Arifin
M
ASA DEPAN ASET NEGARA
TANGGUNGJAWAB IBU BAPA
by Nor Hidayah bt Harun & Hanani Ahmad Fuad
Dewasa ini, cabaran mendidik seorang anak tidaklah semudah
yang disangka kerana banyaknya anasir-anasir luar yang masuk
ke dalam negara kita. Masalah sosial yang semakin menjadijadi di kalangan generasi muda tidak boleh dipandang enteng
kerana masa depan negara terletak pada tangan generasi
muda pada hari ini. Justeru semua pihak haruslah berganding
bahu bagi mengatasi masalah ini terutama sekali ibubapa. Ini
adalah disebabkan oleh kebanyakan masalah sosial ini berlaku
adalah berpunca daripada kegagalan institusi kekeluargaan itu
sendiri.
Hal ini disokong oleh Prof. Dr Fatimah Yusoff selaku Ketua
Program Psikologi, Pusat Pengajian Psikologi dan Pembangunan Manusia UKM, beliau berpendapat bahawa keluarga
yang mengamalkan sikap terlalu mengongkong atau terlalu
memberikan kebebasan kepada anak-anak menjadi pendorong kepada pertambahan masalah sosial di kalangan golongan
muda. Tambah beliau lagi, memberikan asas didikan agama
yang teguh akan mengelakkan mereka tidak mudah terjerumus
dengan sewenang-wenangnya ke lembah maksiat. Sekiranya
anak-anak ini tidak dididik dengan baik, masa depan negara
kita akan musnah dengan penyakit gejala sosial yang tiada
penghujungnya. Dalam hal ini peranan ibu bapa sangat penting sebagai contoh yang terdekat kepada anak-anak. Berpegang kepada prinsip “melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya”,
ibubapa haruslah memainkan peranan dengan mendidik anakanak agar berjaya menjadi pemimpin yang berjaya di dunia
dan akhirat.
Anak-anak pada hari ini adalah aset negara bagi mencapai visi
Wawasan 2020 iaitu menjadi salah sebuah negara berpendapatan tinggi. Justeru, mereka haruslah dididik agar bukan sahaja mempunyai bakat dan kemahiran memimpin pada masa
depan, malah haruslah disertakan dengan asas ilmu agama yg
teguh. Ibubapa yang berperanan sebagai pencorak kelakuan
anak-anak haruslah menjauhi sikap yang terlalu mengongkong
dan tidak terlalu memberikan kebebasan kepada anak-anak.
Selecting an accounting system for business organization from various accounting software should never be based on the software price alone. Although
the aim of accounting software is to generate the financial statements such as the Trial Balance, Income Statement and the Balance Sheet, there are other
factors like ease of use, the product stability and the product functionality that differentiates the accounting software apart. Accounting software is an
application software that helps you to record and process your business related transactions . A good accounting system should also function as an accounting information system , as well as a management information system .
The following are factors to be considered when choosing an accounting system for a small business type.
Bersikap wasatiah semasa mendidik anak adalah amat
penting kerana apabila terlalu mengongkong, kelak apabila
anak-anak itu sudah membesar mereka akan melakukan
perkara yang tidak boleh dilakukan semasa kecil. Begitu
juga jika ibubapa sangat bersikap terbuka serta memberi
banyak kebebasan sehinggakan membinasakan anak itu
sendiri. Ibubapa yang cemerlang mempunyai ciri-ciri yang
penyayang dan bersikap terbuka tetapi dalam masa yang
sama bersikap tegas dengan anak-anak. Mendidik atau
melayan anak sesuai dengan umurnya seperti yang disuruh
oleh agama dan nabi kita. Ibubapa juga seharusnya menjauhi sikap suka membanding-bandingkan antara seorang
anak dengan anak yang lain.
Perbuatan sebegini boleh memberi impak yang besar kepada jiwa anak apabila mereka telah dewasa. Misalnya perasaan cemburu, tidak puas hati, dendam dan tidak bersyukur
dengan apa yang dimiliki akan wujud sesama anak itu
sendiri. Sikap sebegini perlu dijauhi jika kita ingin melihat
aset negara ini membesar sebagai seorang pemimpin yang
cemerlang di masa akan datang. Sekiranya anak itu menghadapi kegagalan dalam apa jua keadaan, ibubapa wajar
tampil sebagai peniup semangat dengan memberi galakan
serta kata-kata motivasi agar anak itu boleh menerima
kegagalan dan menjadikan kegagalan itu satu inspirasi untuk terus berjuang.
Malangnya masih ada ibubapa yang hanya tahu memarahi
apabila anak itu gagal dan memuji mereka hanya apabila
berjaya mencipta kejayaan. Tidak hairanlah sekiranya aset
negara yang terbentuk hasil didikan ibubapa sebegini akan
menjadi seorang pemimpin yang bersifat pemarah, tidak
boleh terima kegagalan dan memiliki ciri-ciri negatif kelak.
Ibubapa yang cemerlang juga tidak akan sesekali menjadikan anak sebagai medium untuk mencapai impian sendiri
kerana mereka sedar bahawa memaksa seseorang anak
itu melakukan sesuatu yang tidak diminati menyerlahkan
sifat penting diri ibubapa itu sendiri. Ibubapa yang tahu apa
yang terbaik untuk anak-anaknya adalah ibubapa yang faham konsep anak itu adalah amanah daripada Allah yang
memerlukan usaha yang berterusan agar dapat melahirkan
seorang yang mampu memajukan diri, keluarga dan negara
dengan sifat kepimpinannya yang mencontohi Rasulullah
S.W.T.
The accounting system software should simplify the business process
The accounting software should simplify the business processes for business operations, and not complicate it further. It should ideally integrate the
processes between the operation and production departments and the accounting and finance department. Sometimes it is not possible to implement
full integration at the first instance, but an organization should assess its integration possibilities.
It is easy to trace data within the software
There are lots of data that will be entered into the accounting system. These records should be easily retrieved. For example is to find transactions within
a selected date range, or for a selected customer/ supplier.
Ease of use
The software does not use complex accounting terms, however it has the journals, ledgers and reports that an accountant needs. It also has an audit trail
tool that can help to detect errors and track transactions history. The software is presented in a workflow format so users can quickly perform routine
processes.
Software Support
The software should comes with some form of support such as onscreen help/tips, user manual, print or online and local one-on-one support with a
consultant. There are various popular brands of accounting software offered in Malaysia. Auto-count, First Accounting, ICS, Mr Accounting, OBM, Q&E,
Smart Accounting, SQL and UBS are types of accounting software which originated from Malaysia. There are also numbers of accounting software in our
country that originated from other countries. For examples AccPac, Fact Accounting, MYOB, Peachtree, QuickBooks, SAP and Tally accounting software.
In a quest to search for the perfect accounting system software, a business organization should be mindful that it is quite impossible to find accounting
software that fits all it needs, unless paying for customizing the software which on the other hand it will increase the cost.
Kesimpulannya, aset negara yang mempunyai asas agama
tanpa sifat kepimpinan adalah sia-sia, manakala aset negara yang mempunyai sifat kepimpinan tanpa asas agama
akan merosakkan bangsa dan negara. Maka, peranan
ibubapa untuk membekalkan asas agama dan menggilap
ciri kepimpinan kepada anak sebagai aset negara amatlah
wajar sekali.
Bibliography
Romney, M. B. & Steinbart P.J.(2011). Accounting Information Systems, 11th Edition, Prentice Hall.
George H.Bodnar &William S.Hopwood (2009). Accounting Information System, 10th Edition, Pearson International Edition
Source of pictures: www.google.com
Footnote: 1. Sales, purchases, payments to suppliers and receipts from customers
2. A system of collection, storage and processing of financial and accounting data that is used by decision makers provides information that organizations require to manage themselves efficiently and effectively
14
7
Down Raid –
1981nforgettable
History of the Country…
U
ust after four hours of morning trading, the world was shaken
Jin London
at the noon of 7th September 1981 as the top 68th company
Stock Exchange (LSE) was taken into its’ local con-
Kewangan Islam: Cabaran dan Peluang
oleh A’tiqah Rashidah binti Abu Samah
by Bahiyah Ishak & Nor Syamaliah Ngah
Singapore but to no available, the negotiation turned up as a
disappointment to them.
trol. This smart move is known as “London Dawn Raid 1981”.
“Down raid” refers to a surprise assault on shares of a target
company by a raider soon after the stock exchange starts its’
morning session by acquiring a substantial share holding without prior notice or knowledge of a target company.
iv. While the other friendly shareholders stakes were successfully secured by Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
t that time, Guthrie was a market favourite and seemed
A
to be the best company to be raided, after the first raid
was successfully done by Pernas in year 1979 in bringing
London’s rules, 30 minutes was given to a raider in acquiring
5% of its target’s shares and then a relevant announcement
need to be made. The moment the market came in, that is
9am London time, this team proudly announced that they had
45% of the target stakes and were proceeding. By the end of
the day, 47% of the stakes was secured; it increased to 51%
in less than a week. Eventually, the whole company was successfully taken over within three months.
home Sime Darby Bhd. This was due to the existence of its
friendly shareholders such as BSN, Genting Bhd, OCBC Bank
and Kuwait Investment Group besides some British investors.
Moreover, PNB was holding 25% of Guthrie’s stakes. In other
words, only another 15% shares were needed in becoming the
major shareholder.
ur previous Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
O
(barely held the Prime Minister post for two months) was
the mastermind of this secret mission. It took him and his team
about four months to put everything in place. The other individuals involved were Tun Ismail Md Ali who was previously the
Governor of BNM, happen to be the in-laws of Tun Mahathir
and Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (Selangor Menteri Besar).
n ensuring the success of this raid, a team of specialists conIPNB
sist of N.M.Rothschild & Sons Ltd, Investment specialists of
and Rowe & Pittman; was formed to analyze the suitable
strategies, tapping the loose hole of LSE and to carry out the
plan in such a smooth and quite way as they already decided
that the offer price of the raiding would be two (2) pound sterling. As secret as a maiden head, even the CEO of PNB Mohd
Desa Pachi was not given details of the process. The young
analyst with vast experience, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was given
the mandate to head this team.
Each of them was to secure the stakes from different groups
as follows;
i. Rowe & Pittman; a veteran dawn raider brokers was chosen
as the broker to secure the British retail stakeholders. This broker managed to secure 5% of the stakes.
ii. Rothschild & Sons Ltd was to secure the stakes from the M &
G Investment trust of London. Fortunately this merchant bank
managed to secure another 15% of the stakes.
iii. For the same purpose, Tun Ismail rushed to OCBC bank in
y 3.45 pm (Malaysia time), everything was ready and Rowe
B
& Pittman was called to execute the trading. Sharp at 4pm
Malaysia time or 9am London time the raid began. Due to the
After the raid
fter the reorganization and expansion, Guthrie was listed
on KLSE on August 25, 1989. The reorganization continued, in 1994, Tan Sri Khalid was chosen to helm the Guthrie.
As a Guthrie’s group chief executive, the company remained
as a market darling. In 2003, Tan Sri Khalid was asked to
leave the company due to the high debts from the investment
of buying plantation land in Indonesia in year 1999. At that
time, the decline in CPO cycle was imminent but still lore from
the ground claimed that Tan Sri Khalid was not given an honest picture on what he was buying.
A
he company was then headed by Datuk Abdul Wahab
T
Maskan in January 2004. Unfortunately his management
in turning the operationally around was unimpressed. Later, in
November 2006, Guthrie and its subsidiaries were ceased as
been acquired by Synergy Drive Sdn Bhd.
Conclusion
ot only been relinquished to the history books, Guthrie will
always remain as a symbol of young Malays determination in bringing back its own assets at the price of raiding a
foreign exchange.
N
References
hifzanshafiee.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/sept-1981-thedawn-raid/
http://www.jomjalan.com.my/blog/2013/04/06/dawn-raidguthrie-1981/
Krisis kewangan global menimbulkan banyak persoalan tentang kestabilan sistem kewangan semasa. Pada pandangan ramai
sistem kewangan global semasa tidak stabil dan perlunya kepada satu sistem kewangan alternatif yang boleh menyelesaikan
masalah yang timbul dari kewangan konvensional sedia ada. Sistem kewangan Islam mampu menjadi alternatif terbaik walaupun masih mempunyai beberapa kelemahan yang perlu diatasi dari masa ke semasa untuk menjadikannya sistem kewangan
unggul diredai Allah Taala yang diterima ramai sama ada orang Islam mahupun orang bukan Islam.
Sistem kewangan Islam yang ideal sepatutnya mempromosikan instrumen berasaskan ekuiti dan perkongsian bagaimanapun
realitinya adalah agak berbeza tidak seperti yang tertulis di jurnal, buku teks, suratkhabar dan majalah. Ini kerana sistem kewangan Islam sedia ada bergantung kepada produk berasaskan hutang dan meniru instrumen-instrumen sistem kewangan
konvensional. Sebahagian pengguna mempunyai tanggapan bahawa sebahagian produk kewangan sedia ada sebagai subset kepada sistem kewangan konvensional. Hasilnya, cabaran-cabaran yang dihadapi oleh sistem kewangan konvensional juga turut
dihadapi oleh sistem kewangan Islam. Realitinya, industri kewangan Islam sebenarnya lebih tinggi cabaran kerana diwar-warkan
berlandaskan kepada ajaran Islam serta merujuk sumber-sumber seperti Al-Quran, Sunnah, Ijmak, Qiyas dan sebagainya. Oleh
sebab itu, dalam menghadapi cabaran yang diwarisi daripada sistem kewangan konvensional, industri kewangan Islam perlu
memastikan ia patuh syariah dan pada masa yang sama memenuhi maqasid syariah atau objektif syariah.
Pembiayaan hutang berasaskan faedah atau riba memberi kesan buruk kepada sistem kewangan di peringkat negara mahupun
antara bangsa. Ia menyebabkan golongan miskin semakin tertekan dan hidup dalam kemiskinan yang berpanjangan manakala
golongan kaya semakin bertambah kaya. Instrumen kewangan tanpa riba diperakui dan dipersetujui oleh ramai kebaikannya dalam menyelesaikan ketidakadilan, bagaimanapun penekanan juga perlu diberikan kepada instrumen-instrumen kewangan berasaskan ekuiti dan perkongsian seperti instrumen berasaskan kontrak perkongsian iaitu mudharabah (perkongsian
untung) dan musyarakah (perkongsian untung rugi) yang dipersetujui oleh semua mazhab ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah untuk
memperkuatkan lagi industri kewangan Islam itu sendiri. Kontrak-kontrak yang dipersetujui patuh syariah selain dari kontrak
perkongsian termasuklah kontrak – kontrak urusniaga seperti Al Bai Bithaman Ajil, Ijarah, Istisna dan juga kontrak sokongan
seperti Al Rahnu, Hibah, Tabarru’ dan sebagainya.
Merujuk kepada objektif-objektif syariah, sistem kewangan Islam tanpa riba dan menekankan kepada perkongsian risiko dipercayai sebagai alternatif terbaik menggantikan sistem kewangan konvensional sedia ada. Walaubagaimanapun, untuk menjadikan kewangan Islam industri yang kukuh, governan syariah mestilah dipertingkatkan. Tambahan lagi, satu piawaian khusus
untuk produk-produk kewangan Islam akan meningkatkan lagi kestabilan, kebolehpercayaan dan ketelusan industri ini.
Krisis kewangan antarabangsa 2007 – 2009 juga menguatkan lagi kepada perlunya pemikiran semula visi dan misi industri
kewangan Islam. Idea-idea yang baru dan bernas amat diperlukan untuk menjadikan produk kewangan Islam menepati ajaranajaran Islam itu sendiri iaitu menjana ke satu tahap baru dan ke arah mana industri kewangan Islam itu sepatutnya berkembang
selari dengan syiar Islam. Adalah diharapkan hala tuju kewangan Islam itu akan melampaui batas semata-mata patuh syariah
yang fokus kepada halal sahaja. Pengguna Islam mengharapkan produk-produk kewangan Islam bukan sahaja halal tetapi turut
tayyib (keseluruhannya baik untuk pengguna).
Akhir sekali, walaupun realiti industri kewangan Islam mempunyai kelemahan di dalam visinya yang sangat ideal, hakikat ia
telah mampu mengukuhkan kedudukannya bersaing dengan industri konvensional yang lebih kukuh adalah sumber harapan
untuk masa hadapan.
Rujukan
ISRA (2012) Islamic Financial System: Principles and Operations: International Shari`ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance
(ISRA). ISBN 978-967-349-181-0
MODUL ROBOTIK UNTUK AKTIVITI PENGAJARAN DAN PEMBELAJARAN
oleh Norhayati Ahmad
Umum mengetahui bahawa bidang kejuruteraan
elektrik merupakan salah satu cabang ilmu yang
agak mencabar. Justeru, usaha yang berterusan
perlu dilakukan bagi menaiktaraf proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran (P&P) bagi menjadikan
ia suatu yang tidak rumit dan menarik. Untuk
itu, Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik UiTM Terengganu (kampus Dungun) dengan kerjasama pihak
SIRIM Bukit Jalil telah menganjurkan satu bengkel khusus yang menggunapakai modul latihan
robotik untuk aktiviti P&P pelajar.
Bengkel tersebut telah berlangsung pada 18 hingga
20 Jun 2013 di Makmal 13A5 yang turut disertai
oleh 20 orang staf yang terdiri daripada pensyarah,
penolong pensyarah, dan juruteknik. Pihak fakulti
amat berbesar hati menjemput penceramah dan
fasilitator jemputan daripada SIRIM Berhad.
Source of p
ictures: ww
Bengkel ini telah mengetengahkan beberapa aplikasi hardware atau modul yang digunakan iaitu
modul SIRIM Robokit yang menggunapakai bahasa Pengaturcaraan C untuk diprogramkan. Para
peserta telah pun diperkenalkan dengan aplikasi
Mikropengawal terlebih dahulu kerana komponen
w.google.co
m
8
tersebut pengawal utama di dalam kit ini.
Kemudian, para peserta telah pun diperkenalkan
dengan komponen lain seperti penderia, motor,
modul-modul berkenaan Analog input, Digital input/output, dan communications modules dengan lebih terperinci.
Seterusnya, kesemua peserta turut didedahkan
dengan pembinaan sendiri aplikasi dengan menggunakan SIRIM Robokit ini. Antara projek yang
telah pun dibangunkan oleh para peserta yang
boleh digunakan oleh pelajar ialah;
i)
Introduction to Relay
ii)
Introduction to Servo Motor
iii)
Introduction to Stepper Motor
Melalui bengkel yang diadakan ini, para peserta telah pun dilatih untuk menggunakan SIRIM
Robokit ini dan akan didedahkan kepada para
pelajar Kejuruteraan Elektrik semester 4 pada
semester hadapan yang mana para pelajar boleh
memanfaatkan kemahiran ini dalam menjayakan
projek semester akhir mereka.
13
PELAJAR CEMERLANG = USAHAWAN BERJAYA?
continue............................................................................................Is Time Value of Money Accepted in Islamic Teaching?
oleh Nor Hidayah Harun & Norchahaya Johar
ejayaan seorang pelajar mungkin boleh diukur dengan keputusan
K
peperiksaan yang cemerlang. Namun, adakah itu juga satu jaminan bahawa seseorang pelajar itu akan berjaya di dalam kerjaya dan
I
n conventional system, the relationship between the customer and the banks is borrower-lender
relationship. However, in Islamic contracts, since it involves financing element the relationship
varies according to the contracts involves. The relationship can be between buyer and seller (sales
contract), lessor and lessee (ijarah contract), capital provider and entrepreneur (mudharabah contract), partners (musharakah contract), pledgor-pledgee (rahn contract), debtor and creditor (kafalah contract), principle and agent (wakalah contract) and several more.
hidup? Tidak dinafikan keputusan peperiksaan yang cemerlang menjadi batu loncatan bagi seseorang individu itu untuk mendapatkan
kerjaya yang dicitakan dan gaji yang diidamkan. Namun, masih ada
yang berjaya mencipta kejayaan dalam hidup walaupun tanpa sijil
atau keputusan peperiksaan yang cemerlang. Inilah yang dikatakan
kejayaan dalam hidup seseorang bukanlah bergantung semata-mata kepada kebijaksanaan yang dianugerahkan oleh Ilahi tetapi ianya
banyak bergantung kepada sikap individu itu sendiri.
A
ccording to the principle of Shari’ah, money cannot breed money and therefore interest or riba
in loan is prohibited because it involves paying extra or excess for change of money not due to
time value of money. The following highlights several quotations of the jurists’ opinion on the time
of value from Islamic perspective.
erbicara tentang konsep usahawan, ramai yang sedia maklum
B
bahawa seseorang individu yang bergelar peniaga belum tentu
boleh menjadi usahawan yang berjaya kerana usahawan merujuk
kepada peranan seorang peniaga dengan nilai-nilai tambah seperti
berusaha untuk berfikiran kreatif dan inovatif serta tidak mudah
untuk putus asa. Individu yang terkenal seperti Mark Zuckerberg,
Steve Jobs, dan Bill Gates merupakan antara contoh terbaik usahawan berjaya yang memiliki pengalaman yang sama iaitu mereka bukanlah daripada kalangan pelajar cemerlang dalam pelajaran. Malahan mereka ini pernah dibuang kolej kerana gagal dalam pelajaran.
Namun, kejayaan Mark Zuckerberg dalam penciptaan laman sosial
Facebook bukanlah sesuatu yang asing lagi memandangkan kebanyakan orang pasti mempunyai akaun untuk laman sosial tersebut.
Manakala, penggunaan produk Apple hasil ciptaan Steve Jobs dan
aplikasi Microsoft cetusan idea Bill Gates merupakan produk yang
paling banyak mendapat permintaan dari pengguna di seluruh dunia.
Persoalannya, bagaimanakah mereka bertiga boleh berjaya sehingga
bergelar usahawan teknologi yang terkenal di seantero dunia walaupun pernah mengalami saat duka semasa bergelar pelajar? Adakah
mereka juga berkongsi karakter serta kepercayaan yang sama bagi
mencapai kejayaan dalam hidup?
of the Maliki School mentioned that:
“The1. sellerAl-Dasuki
in a murabahah (transaction) should explain the (deferred) period that he
bought from, as it has a portion in (determining) the sale price.”
Bill Ga
tes
Al-Kasani of the Hanafi School wrote that:
“If someone buys something on a deferred basis, he cannot sell it (using) murabahah
sales unless he clarifies (the deferred period). This is because the (deferred) period is
ambiguously similar to the object of the sale, although it is not actually an object of
sale... as you notice that the price increases according to the (deferred) period, therefore, it has the ambiguity of being equivalent to a part of the sale price.’
awapannya ya, tiada magik yang dilakukan oleh mereka bertiga
J
tetapi nilai kendiri dan sikap mereka yang menjadi rahsia kejayaan
mereka bergelar usahawan berjaya. Hasil daripada pembacaan, dap-
3.
Al-Sharbaini of the Shafi’i School stated that:
“His statement requires a total stipulation in determining the extent of (deferred) period, as the (deferred) period is equivalent to a portion of the sale price.”
at disimpulkan bahawa ketiga- tiga individu ini mempunyai visi yang
jelas tentang apa yang mereka mahukan dalam perniagaan yang
diceburi serta fokus dengan bidang yang mereka sukai. Menurut pandangan mereka, apabila seseorang usahawan itu fokus dengan bidang
yang mereka terajui, sudah pasti usahawan itu tidak mudah berputus
asa walaupun seringkali menghadapi kegagalan. Mereka menganggap
kegagalan itu adalah satu cabaran yang membuatkan mereka lebih
ghairah untuk mencipta lebih banyak kejayaan. Selain itu, semangat
suka belajar serta cintakan ilmu dan berani menerima teguran atas
kesilapan adalah sikap yang perlu ada dalam setiap diri usahawan.
Misalnya, Mark Zuckerberg sentiasa ingin melakukan perubahan pada
laman sosial Facebook bagi memuaskan hati pengguna dengan mendengar komen atau kehendak pelanggannya. Begitu juga Bill Gates dan
Steve Jobs yang sangat cintakan ilmu pengetahuan sehingga menjadikan mereka tidak mudah berputus asa. Mereka bertiga juga mengakui bahawa pendidikan secara formal membolehkan seseorang itu
mempunyai kehidupan yang baik tetapi pendidikan yang diperolehi
melalui pengalaman hidup lebih memberikan peluang yang cerah untuk berjaya dalam hidup. Kesimpulannya, semua orang mempunyai
kebolehan dan peluang untuk berjaya seandainya mereka juga mencontohi ciri- ciri yang ada pada ketiga-tiga usahawan contoh di atas.
Namun begitu, sehebat mana pun ketiga-tiga usahawan teknologi
ini, ianya masih tidak dapat menandingi kehebatan Rasulullah s.a.w.
sebagai usahawan yang tiada tolok bandingnya di dunia!
4.
Ibn Taymiyyah of the Hanbali School said that:
“If he sells it to him (buyer) with an amount for that (defreed) period, then the (deferred) period takes a portion of the sale price.”
s
e Job
Stev
F
rom the quotations above it shows Shari’ah recognises the selling price differences between
a cash payment sale and a deferred payment sale whereby the latter can be higher that the
former. Thus, the concept time value of money is permissible in Islamic teaching. What is not permisssible is its use in compunding the interest for the lending of money.
D
o we have Islamic loan? Yes, there is an Islamic loan. This loan falls in the category of qardh
hasan or benevolent loan, a loan that is interest free and extended on a goodwill basis, primarily for welfare purposes, i.e. the borrower pays back only the amount borrowed. The loan is payable on demand and repayment is obligatory. But if a debtor is in difficulty, the creditor is expected
to extend time or even voluntarily remit the whole or part of the loan amount.
Rujukan
7 qualities that makes Mark Zuckerberg an ace CEO. (2013). Diakses pada 15 November 2013 daripada
http://socialcontent.quora.com/7-Qualities-That-Make-Mark-Zuckerberg-An-Ace-CEO
Reference
Bill Gates: Entrepreneur, Manager and Leader. (2008). Diakses pada 15 November 2013 daripada http://
blogs.hbr.org/2008/06/bill-gates-entrepreneur-manage/
7 Reasons Steve Jobs Was A Successful Entrepreneur. (2013). Diakses pada 15 November 2013 daripada
http://www.defineyourgrind.com/2013/05/07/7-reasons-steve-jobs-was-a-successful-entrepreneur/
2.
ISRA (2012) Islamic Financial System: Principles and Operations: International Shari`ah Research
Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA). ISBN 978-967-349-181-0
Mark Z
ucker
berg
Source of pictures: www.google.com
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Malaysia and Twin Deficit
continue.............................................................................................................Malaysia Inequality: What Do You Think?
by Hanani Ahmad Fuad
A
fter the presentation of the 2014 budget, there is a prediction that Malaysia will experience twin deficit if there is no
structural change or reformation plan done. But, what is twin deficit? It is a situation whereby both government budget
and current account balance are deficit. Deficit government budget will lead to an increase in public debt or borrowing to
finance the spending. Meanwhile, the deficit in current account will reduce the national income since net export is part of
national income. By having twin deficit, there is a possibility for a country to experience recession or depression.
A
ccording to Sivalingam (2013), Malaysia’s government budget is persisting to be deficit but the situation is uncertain for
the status of the current account. Although Malaysia is having current account surplus, the imports are worried to turn
negative since ringgit depreciated lately. The imported products and services tend to be expensive since they are denominated
in US dollar. As of the report made by the Central Bank of Malaysia, the position of Malaysia’s current account was in deficit
in the past few years due to the rise of imports which were faster as compared to the exports (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2012).
T
o avoid twin deficit, Malaysia’s government had announced few measures to reduce import and fiscal deficit. One of the
measures is to delay the implementation of capital-intensive public projects with a reason to reduce the import of the
inputs. As stated by the Central Bank of Malaysia, the imports of the capital goods were recorded to be 8% higher compared
to the imports of the consumption goods (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2012). Such measure announced by our Prime Minister
may help to reduce the level of imports.
T
o narrow the fiscal deficit, the government cut their spending by reducing the subsidies especially on fuel and sugar, and
increasing the tax on cigarettes. As a result, the prices of those goods increase. Besides the government had also announced
the most unpopular decision, which is the implementation of the goods and service tax (GST). The motive is just to increase
their revenues thus reducing the deficit in the government budget.
A
lthough there is a risk of twin deficit, there are ways to avoid it. The key is on the structural change and reform plans.
Malaysia must seriously implement plans and policies to trim down deficit budget and imports to avoid severe impacts
of twin deficit.
References
Bank Negara Malaysia (2012) Annual Report 2012, Kuala Lumpur
Mier (2013), Press Conference: Malaysian Economic Outlook & 3q2013 Survey Results
Sivalingan, G. (2013). Avoiding the Twin Deficits in Malaysia. ISEAS Perspectives, 57 (2013)
Source: Unit Perancang Ekonomi, Jabatan Perdana Menteri retrieved from: http://www.epu.gov.my/household-income-poverty
MALAYSIA INEQUALITY: WHAT DO YOU THINK??
by Nurul Syuhada Baharuddin
Malaysia is a multi-ethnics society inherited from the
British colonial era. Income inequality between these
three ethnics has been around for a long time period. Chinese worked in mining industry whereas Indian worked
in estate and railroad while Malay remained in the traditional agriculture activities. This affected the income distribution between the ethnics because the income that
they gained was different based on their working area,
and also created the gap between urban and rural area
an impact to the Bumiputera achievement in privatization. Proportion of Bumiputera companies is still lower
in all economic sectors because most of economic sectors
are monopolized by Chinese. According to Mukaramah
(2010), increased in expenditure on education, transportation and communication, trade and industry, agricultural and rural area development has contributed to the
increasing in income inequality in Malaysia since Malaysia more focusing in urban area compared to rural area.
Meanwhile, people in developing countries are the most
worried about the current gap between the rich and the
poor. Those surveyed and reports in advanced economies
are the most likely to believe that inequality has grown
over the past few years. According to Datuk Seri Ahmad
Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah our second Finance Minister stated that Malaysia’s Gini Coefficient Index is
still high compared with other countries in the region.
The Gini Index in 2012 however, showed an improving
trend when it fell from 0.441 in 2009 to 0.431 in 2012. It
also supported with the increased number of the Malaysians household income average from RM4,025 in 2009
to RM5,000 in 2012 which reflecting an average annual
growth of 7.2%.
Nevertheless, reducing inequality is a relatively low public priority for governmental action across most countries
and types of economy. Malaysians are one of the least
troubled with inequality. They are among the least concerned about it as a problem, the least likely to think it is
growing, and one of the least likely to say the economic
system is unfair. Even though the policies in achieving
redistributive targets seem less successful but the target
for restructuring employment were considered achieved.
Year by year, professional Bumiputera and technical occupation are keeping increasing.
In order to overcome this issue, the government should
ensure all Malaysian would benefit from the nation’s
prosperity and development. Many programs had been
implemented to assist the percentage as well as to keep
reducing income inequality. Focusing in public expenditure in rural area is very important because it gives
References
Malaysia’s income distribution inequality ‘still high’, retrieved from http://www.
thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/08/03/Malaysia’s-income-distribution-inequality-still-high.aspx
Public expenditure and income inequality in Malaysia, retrieved from http://www.
wbiconpro.com/227-Mukaramah.pdf on October 8, 2013
Household income distribution and public expenditure in various 5-year Malaysia
Plans, retrieved from http://www.ipedr.com/vol28/24-ICEMM2012-T10008.pdf
on October 8, 2013.
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Source of pictures: www.google.com
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