Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Has the Global Warming been Exeggarated?

The UN’s top climate change body, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made a stunning admission. It has issued an unprecedented apology over its flawed prediction that Himalayan glaciers were likely to disappear by 2035. It has now emerged that the prediction in its landmark 2007 report was “poorly substantiated” and resulted from a lapse in standards. “In drafting the paragraph in question the clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly,” the panel said. “The chair, vice-chair and co-chairs of the IPCC regret the poor application of IPCC procedures in this instance.”

So, in the global warming debate- is the debate not over after all?

Saturday, January 23, 2010

When Top Egos Clash..

First it was the reduction of the bloated bureaucracy that created the bad blood between the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Ministry of Finance. The CSC then felt short changed when they realised that only the civil servants had agreed to reduce their salaries while the other independent commissions and the members of the parliament had refused to do so. Now the gigantic egos of the two powerful bodies,- the CSC and the Ministry of Finance has met with a headlong collision over the restoration of the civil servants pay cut. Given this worsening situation in relations, the spirit of negotiation and compromise has come to a dead end.

Without consulting the Ministry of Finance, the CSC has announced that the Finance Ministry’s agreement to reduce civil servants’ salary for three months is now over, and that all civil servants must receive their full salary starting from January. The CSC has directed the permanent secretaries to send the salary sheets to the Finance Ministry with the restored wage levels, warning that employees who do not comply with this directive will be held liable for their failure. The Finance Ministry hit back by threatening legal action against government payroll officers who failed to fill out a reduced salary sheet, charging that the "special circumstances" which made it necessary to reduce the civil servants salaries are still not over. Both agencies have failed to carry out the review of the three month-period of this special circumstance. It appears the CSC has jumped the gun and restored the salary. Not only have both government agencies forgotten to keep their egos in check, they also have threatened to take action against the payroll officers. The payroll officers are in a no win situation, whether they prepare the wage sheets with increased salaries as demanded by the CSC or if they prepare the wage sheets with the reduced salaries as demanded by the Finance Ministry.

No one expects the rival political parties who cordially despise each other's policies, character and integrity to soft-pedal on this type of controversy. The political knives are out to increase the heat, embarrass and cause the maximum damage to the government. With the vested interests of the opposition parties vying for political power, what we see is bitter partisanship and political wrangling. Instead of building our democracy based on the values of freedom, equality and justice, our society has become more polarised than ever before . The hopes of seeing the dawn of a new liberal age are fast fading away. Antagonistic politics can quickly lead to volatile social problems. Unless cooler and responsible heads can prevail, there is a danger that the building blocks of our nascent democracy could spin out of control.

Monday, January 18, 2010

At Stake is Not Only Justice

The real political drama that brought the change of government in Maldives after President Nasheed won the first multi-party presidential contest over a year back, has begun to unfold last week with the launch of the 'Torture Victims Association', a Non Governmental Organisation(NGO).

The new President, himself a torture victim has not been able to get the independent Human Rights Commission of Maldives(HRCM) to look into the grievances of the alleged custodial torture victims and human rights violations that took place before 2002. The newly formed NGO seeks to build up pressure, calling for justice and accountability. The HRCM is concerned on the divisive impact of such an investigation on the national unity of our society, especially if it is done on political party lines.

The idea of a South African-style Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), with powers to conduct investigations has been suggested. A TRC would need the cooperation and participation of all political parties, if we are to move beyond the acrimonious manner in which we have dealt with our past presidents- Our first president Mohamed Amin Didi is credited for introducing modern education and our second president Ibrahim Nasir took the country forward in tourism and development. Mohamed Amin was lynched by the mob in Male' and battered to death in 1954. After Ibrahim Nasir handed over power in a peaceful transition to the third president in 1978, he was hounded off the streets of Male' and forced into exile. In both incidents, some of the older generation politicians fed into the anger and frustrations of disgruntled citizens who resorted to street violence and mob justice. Now it is the opportunity for a new generation of leaders to rise up to the occasion and view things in a more civilized manner. How should justice be meted out to the outgoing regime for the serious allegations levelled at them? There has to be an independent process including the judicial system for those who are seeking redress for torture and violations of their human rights.

Why has our society become so intolerant when seeking justice? What is at stake is not only justice, but also our ability as a nation to up hold the rule of law- given our chequered reputation for politically motivated violence.

Here is what is stated on the Thomas Paine Blog -On Politics vs. Leadership worth some reflection.

"A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation."
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Political polarization is not the path to true leadership. When politics refuses to go beyond party at all costs, it remains small, unable to lead. Greatness and leadership is usually found outside the boundaries and comfort of party.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

One bucket of water for Tendulkar's bath!

Here's how Sachin Tendulkar, India's cricket star is promoting to conserve water. The master blaster is involved in a civic campaign that emphasises on the need to conserve water in Mumbai. The six lakes from which Mumbai gets its supply of water is unable to sustain the city's need of more than 20 million people- a perennial water shortage problem amplified last year by the less-than-average monsoon rains.

The main civic body responsible for the city's water supply, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has to cut its water supplies and Mumbai residents are struggling to cope with water shortages. As water woes continue, the Municipal Authority wants to spread the message to Mumbai residents- use every drop of water without any wastage. Here is Tendulkar's message.

"By his own admission, using just a bucketful of water - to waste a minimum quantity of the precious liquid.

He made the admission while shooting for a half-minute social awareness message for Mumbaikars to save precious water. Mumbai suffered a monsoon deficit last year, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has shot the clip to spread awareness among the Mumbai residents.

Sachin advised the people they must take only that quantity of water in a glass they require to drink and not waste it.

Elaborating, Sachin also said that his family has given up the luxury of shower for taking bath. Instead, each family member used just a bucketful of water for the daily bath, an official of the BMC said.

In the ad, Sachin will stress the need to conserve water to save the city, which is already plagued by nearly 30 percent water cuts - and faces the threat of more cuts in future.
Speaking in Hindi and Marathi, Sachin will convey an identical message "Paani ki raksha, Mumbai ki suraksha" in the ad shot by Eureka Films for BMC.

The commercial, directed by Meghnath Kulkarni, is expected to hit cinemas and television screens in the next 10 days. Sachin is the BMC's brand ambassador for water conservation." Link

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Takaful or Islamic Insurance pays off

As reported in Business Times Malaysia Wednesday, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, the Islamic insurance arm of HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd, saw its regular premium collections double in the last six months, after shifting to traditional insurance products from single premium investment-linked plans. Chief executive officer Zainuddin Ishak said the move had allowed the takaful operator to collect RM30 million in regular premiums in a six-month period compared with RM15 million in the preceding six months.

This news comes on the heels of the recent announcement about the imminent relocation of Mukhtar Hussain, the global head of HSBC Amanah, the Islamic banking division of the HSBC Group, to Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, raising the question whether the Malaysian capital is set to become the headquarters for HSBC’s Islamic finance business? Hussain has hitherto been located in Dubai, the traditional global headquarters of HSBC Amanah.

Hussain will be the CEO of HSBC Malaysia Berhad in addition to being the global head of HSBC Amanah Bank and the chairman of HSBC Amanah Malaysia.

This is a recognition by the HSBC Group that the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) is one of the major hubs for Islamic finance and that Malaysia is an important promoter of islamic finance.


The principles of takaful, or Islamic insurance are:

1)Policyholders cooperate among themselves for their common good.
2)Every policyholder pays his subscription to help those that need assistance.
3)Losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system.
4)Uncertainty is eliminated in respect of subscription and compensation.
5)It does not derive advantage at the cost of others.