OutSyed The Box

Buying "International Election Observers" For Cash

Posted: 01 Jul 2012 01:44 AM PDT

Posted: 30 Jun 2012 09:46 PM PDT

I was speaking to a Muslim PhD student whose thesis is going to be about 'Islamic Capital Markets'. I had met him a few months ago where he discussed about finding a pricing mechanism for Islamic banking products. There is no such thing. In the real Islamic world of conventional banking it is simply called the interest rate.

The interest rate is determined by a thousand factors including the capacity of the economy to repay its loans. Also the productivity of an economy. If an economy is dependent on poultry farming, where a chicken lays one egg a day (following the natural cycle) then that will translate into many things in the poultry based economy including the interest rate. Plus the productivity and selling prices of other egg producers in the world. Its all connected. Things sort of settle down. Mess with this and you create chaos.

If you want to invent a new Islamic "profit rate" it is just not going to happen. There is no such thing. And you cannot create a magical "Islamic" chicken that will lay two eggs or three eggs in one day. So I really dont know how anyone is going to find the "Islamic profit rate". The hen still naturally lays one egg per day.

When I met the PhD student again most recently he dropped two bombshells. First he said that he is not pursuing the "pricing mechanism" research anymore. Why? Because there are no reference materials !! (I told you so. It does not exist. Correction : It cannot exist.)

The second bombshell was actually quite atomic. He said that his Professor had told him (I will not mention who. If I mention the name - its a 'Dato Professor Dr.' etc - it will be very embarrasing for many people and quite a few institutions in this country) that Islamic banking in Malaysia is just a political tool. Without political support Islamic banking in Malaysia will fail.

In short - what this means is that Islamic banking is not commercially viable. Left to market forces it will possibly collapse. It is only political will that keeps it going.

The day before that I also met a whole bunch of senior bankers at a function. One of them just blurted out "Islamic banking is a con job". I couldnt agree more. The person who said it is also a Dato and a former general manager of a bank which also has an Islamic banking license. Kalau sebut nama or which bank - a lot of people will be embarrassed again.

A couple of days ago I met up with a friend who practises medicine up in the highlands. She shares the same wavelength as me. We discussed the increasing numbers of religious types walking on air around Kuala Lumpur, including the imported variety from places like Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. They are all up to no good. All of them are just cari makan types looking to fleece the ignorant for a quick buck. Remember no money no religion.

We also spoke about their irritating holier than thou attitudes which is essential for them to make money. This is when my doctor friend said, 'they may think that we are going to hell, but they are already living in hell'. Then she laughed almost hysterically, which became infectious.

Then as I was typing this last nite I received this sms from Kelantan :

"Mufti Kelantan hari ini antara lain kata, Dinar Emas Kelantan hari ini bukan matawang tapi barang perhiasan. Mengulas susut nilai pula dia berkata kalau ada susut nilai seperti skrg dan tidak ikut harga pasaran maka ada unsur penipuan."

Here is the Mufti as reported in the Utusan Malaysia : "Yang saya bimbang adalah berlaku eksploitasi sehingga mencetuskan unsur-unsur penipuan, itu bukan soal mata wang. Penjualan emas jangan sampai ada penipuan," katanya.

Even the Mufti of Kelantan feels that the dinar emas is a con job. "jangan sampai ada penipuan" says the Mufti of Kelantan. Kan saya dah kata : "no money no religion".

Actually I was prompted to write this because of the following really silly news report :

'Rape-law' triggers fury in Jordan
The ordeal of a 14-year-old girl who was kidnapped and raped repeatedly for three days has infuriated Jordanians, especially when her attacker agreed to marry her to avoid going to jail.
In conservative Muslim societies like Jordan, rapists can walk free thanks to penal code Article 308, known as the "rape-law."
Article 308 allows rape charges to be dropped if the perpetrator agrees to marry the victim. He cannot divorce the woman for five years.
"By applying this law, another crime is committed. How can this 14-year-old girl, who is a minor anyway, marry her rapist? Can you imagine this?"
"In one case, we tried so hard to prevent a rapist from marrying an 18-year-old girl, who did not want to end up being his wife,"
What if a girl gets raped by more than one man? In this case, Article 308 will fail to address the problem," she said.
But Israa Tawalbeh, the country's first woman coroner, sees "nothing wrong in Article 308 as such."
"Sometimes, girls under 18 lose their virginity to force their families to accept marriage to their boyfriends. The law categorises this as rape."
"Accepting marriage under Article 308 is better than leaving girls to be killed by their parents or relatives," she said. In Jordan, between 15 and 20 women are murdered annually in the name of "honour" and at least six such killings have been reported so far this year, according to authorities.
"Society believes that a female's virginity must be preserved until marriage.

What if the rapist was non Muslim and the girl was Muslim? Or the rapist was Muslim but the girl was non Muslim? Doe anyone have to convert? What if it was a gang rape? Which rapist gets to marry the girl? What if the girl raped the boy? Does the girl get the same options? Can the boy say no?

The story is actually like this. Young men and women all over the world inevitably get into relationships. This results in the boys (and girls too) losing their virginity. In conservative societies (like Jordan) this is considered a major disaster. To save half their faces, such acts are first classified as rape. Its another way of saying "my daughter is not a naughty girl". And to save the other half of their faces, the law says it is not rape if the girl and the boy are married off.

Unfortunately this really stupid "face saving" law applies equally to cases of real criminal rape as well. Any criminal rapist is now given the option of marrying his victim. And such laws find currency in backward, conservative societies like Jordan where "saving face" or saving the "family honour" are more important than using their intelligence. So the fathers force their daughters to marry the rapist. Folks, these people do not have to "go to hell". They are already in hell.

I am recounting these stories because there are too many people who are actually already living in hell. These are the people who

i. believe in Islamic banking

ii. believe the holier than thous who walk on air

iii. believed in the dinar emas in Kelantan

iv. believe that this Rape Law (in Jordan) will save their family honour

They do not know how to get out of living in hell. And very often, in their efforts to get out of hell, they sink themselves even deeper into hell. What a terrible fate they have heaped upon themselves. This is the Club of Doom.

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