IDR News_JUNE(Final draft)

news
IDR
#004-JUNE 2014
M o n t h l y p u b l i c a t i o n b y I n s t i t u t D a r u l R i d z u a n B - 1 - 9 G r e e n t o w n S u r i a , J a l a n D a t o S e r i A h m a d S a i d , 3 0 4 5 0 I p o h . P e r a k D a r u l R i d z u a n Te l : 0 5 – 2 4 1 2 6 7 0 F a x : 0 5 – 2 4 1 2 6 7 1
COLONIAL MONEY
AND ITS SOCIO
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ON THE MALAYS
IDR LEADERSHIP
SERIES - STRATEGIC
THINKING,
PLANNING AND
IMPLEMENTATION
BIKERS’ UNYIELDING
CAMARADERIE AND
PERSEVERANCE
PAVED WAY TO MECCA
PAGE 4
PAGE 6
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IDR Calls For Better GovernmentCSO Communication and
Cooperation
19 June 2014
Casuarina @Meru Hotel, Ipoh
C
ivil society organisations (CSOs) play a key
role in representing a broad spectrum of
public interests such as those relating to education,
health, urban planning, social and economic
justice, and cultural activities. As such, the Perak
State Government has appointed Institut Darul
Ridzuan (IDR) to facilitate the research into
identifying the nature, interests and span of
Perak’s civil society sector as well as potential
CSOs that contribute to the Perak state’s agenda.
representative bodies, understand and support the
role of CSOs.”
“However, at present, the interests and
geographic span of formal (registered) and
informal (unregistered) CSOs in the state are not
yet fully known and solid pathways for positive
CSO-government
communication
and
cooperation have not yet been realised,” she
explained.
Better CSO-government communication and
cooperation is essential especially when issues
and concerns perceived as salient within civil
society are spearheaded and explored by CSOs
— often years before they formally appear on
any government policy agenda.
Dr. Mazalan Kamis, CEO of IDR, said, “We can
see that CSOs act as a finger on the pulse of the
(continue to next page)
The culmination and conclusion of this research,
headed by Rayna Rusenko from Universiti
Malaya, was presented to representatives of
Perak’s EXCOs, government agencies and CSOs.
Present during the event was YB Dato’
Mohammad Zahir Abdul Khalid, the state exco for
industry, investment and corridor development.
“From our research, we discovered that although
most CSOs have limited or no employees, they
represent and reach a modest portion of local
community,” said Rusenko. “Thus, it is essential
that the state government, through its established
Wishing you a peaceful and blessed Ramadan Kareem
& Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri
02
#004-JUNE 2014
needs and the will of the people and an important
emerging actor in the democratic process.
Considering that, in this context, the aims of civil
society and government are the same—to
pinpoint public problems and flesh out solutions
for improving the people’s quality of life and the
future of state development.“
“Constructive and open CSO-government
cooperation is crucial for effective management
of public policies and plans,” he reiterated.
Dr. Mazalan also said that innovative
engagement that includes a system for
collaborative sharing of resources and
knowledge among CSOs and government actors
would go a long way in bolstering identification
of myriad social, economic, environmental, and
other pertinent problems as well as the
responsive development and monitoring of
public policy.
As a first step, the state government has
systematically incorporated the strengths of civil
society in its work by launching the Sekretariat
Majlis Masyarakat Sivil (MMS) in 2010 and
Persidangan Majlis Masyarakat Sivil Amanjaya
(MMSA) in 2012 with the mission of facilitating
the engagement between the state government
and CSOs.
According to Rusenko, the research revealed that
social welfare (35%) and faith-based (25%)
organisations make up the majority of CSOs in
Perak.
“By looking at the categorical make-up of CSOs
in each district, one can see priorities and
interests of local communities,” she said in her
presentation.
The Intellectual Discourse is part of IDR’s
Lecture Series, which features speakers from
various professional backgrounds. This year,
featured speakers included Rajeev Peshawaria,
CEO of the ICLIF Leadership & Governance
Centre; Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Shukor Hj. Mahfa,
CEO of Inland Revenue Board (LHDN)
Malaysia; and Datuk Abdul Kadir Jasin,
Editor-in-Chief of Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd.
The Lecture Series are targeted for Perak
Government’s leaders as a platform to learn,
deliberate and share knowledge. Selected
lectures are also open to public.
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The IDR Lecture Series and Intellectual
Discourse sessions are part of IDR’s 2014
mission to awaken state government’s leaders, in
an effort to achieve Perak Amanjaya.
The Perak government, headed by the Menteri
Besar YAB Dato Seri DiRaja Dr Zambry Abdul
Kadir, launched Perak Amanjaya in 2011. Perak
Amanjaya is a blueprint for Perak to achieve a
developed state status by 2015. Perak Amanjaya
outlines three main objectives: Quality
Opportunities, Quality Income and Quality
Living.
Rayna Rusenko has
a Master of Public
Policy (2013) from
Universiti Malaya in
Kuala
Lumpur.
Rusenko currently
works as a policy
researcher focused
on social welfare issues and how they
are addressed, and shaped, by
government
and
non-government
institutions. She has spent much of the
last decade investigating the influence
of government and civil society
initiatives on homelessness policy in
several Northeast and Southeast Asian
countries. She is also interested in civic
channels for shaping policy at the local,
regional, and global levels.
Creating a
Competitive Mindset
Towards a High
Income Nation
24 – 25 June 2014
Productivity Competitiveness
Conference 2014
Setia Convention Centre
I
DR CEO Dr. Mazalan Kamis was once again
invited to be a speaker, this time at The
Productivity Competitiveness Conference 2014.
He was part of a group discussion titled "Building
The Competitive Mindset Towards High Income
Nation" along with other panellists such as Prof.
Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali, Vice Chancellor of
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Dr Bart van
Ark, Executive Vice President, Chief Economist
& Chief Strategy Officer, The Conference Board;
and Mr. Anthony Dass, Chief Economist Ambank
Group Berhad.
In his presentation, Dr. Mazalan briefed
participants about Perak Amanjaya and its impact
on Perak, and how IDR works to assist in the
provision of public policy research, analysis and
advice to the state government. Ultimately, his
According to Dr. Mazalan, the Perak Amanjaya transformation agenda aims to bridge gaps between Perak’s
stakeholders as pictured in the diagram above.
presentation proved the effectiveness of
collaboration work between IDR as a think tank,
and its various partnerships with institutes and
organisations in the development of the state.
well-educated and highly skilled human capital;
and a vibrant private sector. These attributes are
laid out and elaborated in a blueprint named Perak
Amanjaya,” said Dr. Mazalan.
“Accordingly, IDR works with a community of
network, which includes academicians, social
enterprises, government agencies and private
companies, to ensure that Perak achieves a
dynamic and sustainable economy; a high and
equitable distribution of income; the creation of
The conference was themed as “The Meeting of
Minds”, which brought forth a wealth of tacit
knowledge from various individuals and
organisations in formulating the way forward in
augmenting the nation’s productivity and
competitiveness through engagement sessions.
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IDR Islamic Intellectual Discourse
10 June 2014, 10 am – 1 pm
Dewan Seminar 1, Perpustakaan Tuanku
Bainun, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
(UPSI)
I
nstitut Darul Ridzuan (IDR) in collaboration
with Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
(UPSI) held an Islamic Intellectual Discourse talk
titled ‘Colonial Money & Its Socio-Economic
Impacts on the Malays' , presented by Dr. Ahamed
Kameel Mydin Meera.
Dr. Ahamed Kameel is a Professor in the Faculty
of Economics and Management Sciences,
International Islamic University Malaysia. He is
currently the Dean of the Institute of Islamic
Banking & Finance, International Islamic
University Malaysia
The Islamic Intellectual Discouse is a series of
talks that aim to provide a platform for the Muslim
intellectual community in Perak for discussions
on issues that affect the development of society.
The talk is intended to stimulate some thought
process with the hope that it will contribute
towards realising racial harmony, equitable
distribution of national wealth, lower levels of
corruption and much reduced levels of
socio-economic related problems.
A total of 50 participants attended, including
representatives from UPSI, Universiti Putra
Malaysia (UPM), Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
(DBP), and the Islamic University of Sultan Azlan
Shah (KUISAS).
Dr. Ahamed Kameel began his lecture by sharing
information about the history of Islam in Malaysia
where in the 12th century, Islam was established
in Malaya after the arrival of the religion in India
(prior to 7th century) and Sumatra (7th century).
He reveals how the Malays, for centuries, have
used currencies based on gold, silver and tin, until
in 1860, when the colonial’s paper-based money
was introduced and officially adopted in Malaya.
He then revealed how the country’s financial
system began to use fiat money as current.
In his talk, Dr. Ahamed Kameel continued to
demonstrate the effects of fiat money in Malaysia
and how the Malays lost considerably in the fiat
monetary system.
“Over the years, Malaysia has transformed
tremendously
with
respect
to
its
socio-economic-political aspects. The Malays
who basically owned most, if not all, of Peninsula
initially are now very much economically
disadvantaged. On the other hand, the Chinese
community in particular has been growing in
economic affluence relative to other races. The
statistics of billionaires in Malaysia attest to this
fact.”
“This economic disparity has, in turn, brought
about a number of socio-economic problems to
emerge within the Malay society – economic
distress, poverty, low self-esteem, low academic
performance, drug addiction, mat rempit, teen
problems etc, “ he added.
Accordingly the government had tried some
affirmative actions including the New Economic
Plans (NEP) to address the issue, said Dr.
Ahamed Kameel. He added that these (NEP)
brought about some limited benefits but
nevertheless the problems are still present and
seem ever growing.
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Dr. Ahamed Kameel also shared with the audience a picture of the old paper worth 10,000 ringgit issued by
the Commission of the Board of Currency, Malaya. This colonial monetary system based on paper money
has been slowly disposing off the Islamic financial system that has long been established in Malaya that
was based on Dinar and Dirham (gold and silver).
“For the Chinese however, their economic
affluence has also gradually been enthroning on
them more political representation.”
Dr. Ahamed Kameel reiterated that the above
socio-economic-political dynamics as observed
in current Malaysia are very much rooted in the
interest-based fiat money system.
“The money and banking system in Malaysia
has been much unfair to the Malays and has
assisted in the plundering of the wealth of the
Malays, that has been going on for about 15
decades now,” he said.
The talk concluded that insofar, none of the
Islamic countries are using the dinar and dirham
as currency because of many constraints. The
Paper money system that is currently in use is
actually part of the element of riba, thus, he
called upon the audience to be mindful of how
money is created and developed in the paper
currency cycle.
For more information on this topic, visit
www.ahamedkameel.com.
Dr. Ahamed Kameel
Mydin Meera is a
Professor in the Faculty
of
Economics
and
Management Sciences,
International
Islamic
University Malaysia.
He is currently the Dean
of the Institute of
Islamic Banking & Finance, International
Islamic University Malaysia.
He holds a Ph.D. degree in Finance from the
University of North Texas, Denton, Texas,
U.S.A. His undergraduate and Masters Degrees
were in the area of Economics from the
International Islamic University Malaysia.
His areas of interest and expertise include
Financial Markets, Investment Analysis,
Macro-Economics, Economics of Social Issues
and Quantitative Methods. He has wide
experience in teaching, training, consultancy
and research in the above areas. His works have
been published in local and international
journals.
His current research interest is in money
systems that includes the gold dinar. He is the
author of the books The Islamic Gold Dinar ,
The Theft of Nations (both published by
Pelanduk Publications) and Real Money –
Money and Payment Systems from an Islamic
Perspective published by IIUM Press.
(source: www.ahamedkameel.com)
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IDR Leadership Series –
Strategic Thinking, Planning & Implementation
26 – 27 June 2014
Tower Regency Hotel, Ipoh
A
n IDR Leadership Series programme with
the theme "Strategic Thinking, Planning &
Implementation” was organised where IDR CEO
Dr. Mazalan Kamis acted as the speaker and
facilitator of the event. It was attended by
representatives of several government-linked
companies (GLCs) in Perak. The purpose of this
programme is to expose the importance of
thinking, strategic planning and operations and
how to implement them for the success of the
organisation. Participants were taught about the
elements that must be included in applying
strategic thinking and planning, application of
outcome-based approach, analysing factors that
are relevant to a particular industry, and strategic
measures to exceed the expectations of demands.
Dr. Mazalan also gave participants a new
perspective by suggesting to them to build a
corporate culture of life and not too focused on
rules and terms in the company.
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Be receptive to change and adopt long-term worldview
approach to stay relevant, says IDR CEO to Penghulu
23 June 2014
Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan Negeri
Perak
I
DR and Perak’s Kesatuan Penghulu
Penggawa had organised a transformation
programme for several Perak area chiefs to
discuss the future of the latter’s role in Perak.
The programme started with a briefing of Perak
Amanjaya by Encik Roslan Abdullah, IDR’s
Head of Strategic Communication followed by a
talk by IDR CEO Dr. Mazalan Kamis titled
“Institusi Penghulu: Sejauh Mana Ia Masih
Relevan” on the relevance of the role of
Penghulu in the current day modern society.
According to Dr. Mazalan, the world is changing
ever so rapidly and thus, he advised participants
to be receptive to change and adopt a long-term
worldview approach. The programme was
attended by 129 people.
Earlier during the month, IDR had a meeting with
several committee members of Perak’s Kesatuan
Penghulu / Penggawa Semenanjung Malaysia at
IDR’s office in Ipoh, where IDR gained insight
about the role of a Penghulu, while the committee
members spoke about the decreasing relevance of
their roles in the modern day Perak.
To assist them, IDR will conduct survey and
studies among Perak’s rural folks to identify the
relevance and difference of roles between the area
chiefs and State representatives.
As the public policy think tank for the Perak State
Government, it is essential that IDR gain insight
into local issues, context and indigenous
knowledge to arm itself with the right
information. The information will then be used to
advise and assist the state government in its policy
development and implementation.
Raising
Awareness in
Democracy and
Elections
5 June 2014
University of Malaya Centre for
Democracy & Elections
I
DR CEO Dr. Mazalan Kamis, accompanied
by Dr. Asae Sayaka and Mohd Nadzrin
Kamsin, paid a visit to the University of Malaya
Centre for Democracy & Elections (UMCEDEL)
to discuss on possible collaborations between the
two institutions in conducting research on
democracy and elections.
During the 2-hour visit, Dr. Mazalan and his team
were briefed about UMCEDEL’s mission – which
included the studying and research of voting
patters in Malaysia – and the activities that they
have done to achieve their goals. The UMCEDEL
representatives also made it clear that theirs is an
institution that do not favour any political party.
In their research, UMCEDEL noted that
Malaysians’ voting patterns are easier to predict
compared to other communities in developed
countries. To conclude the meeting, UMCEDEL
agreed to a strategic partnership with IDR to
raise awareness and standards in the voting
system in Malaysia.
UMCEDEL is a research centre that combines
research from various disciplines such as, the
geography of elections, history of elections,
political sociology, media and elections, regional
politics and international politics. These
inter-disciplinary researches are hoped to provide
comprehensive information, analysis and views on
the state of current politics in the country and well
as in the region.
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Bikers’ Unyielding Camaraderie and
Perseverance Paved Way To Mecca
11 June 2014
Moh Ngeteh Corner, IDR
F
or this month’s instalment of Moh ‘Ngeteh,
IDR had invited Hairulazim Mahmud, one
of the participants of a motor expedition to
Mecca. He shared with the audience his
experience in the Kembara Bumi Suci 2014:
18,000km ke Mekah expedition. It involved 9
big bike riders and 4 support assistants on board
a van. One of the participants of the expedition is
a prominent blogger, Mr. Akhiruddin Atan, better
known as Rocky Bru. Interestingly, Hairulazim
was one of Dr. Mazalan Kamis’s former high
school students.
The expedition adventure started at Masjid
Tengku Ampuan Jemaah Bukit Jelutong, Shah
Alam, and across 12 countries as they travelled
as far as 17,816 km. This unique journey by road
took 64 days to reach the destination. Before
starting the journey, the expedition crew
underwent a month of intensive physical and
mental training.
where he found the youths eager to see the
growth of Islam in their country.
He also shared the trials and tribulations which
included crossing and falling on slippery icy
roads and travelling with limited visibility
because of sandstorms. The group was also
detained in Egypt for a week.
In the end, Hairulazim revealed that all was
worth it as they reached Mecca and finally met
their families, all whom had travelled by air, and
together performed the Umrah.
To view the full video, go to
Amanjaya.
IDR Perak
According to Hairulazim, one of his most
memorable experience was meeting the Muslim
community in the former communist countries
Upcoming Events
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10 July 2014
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IDR 2014
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