Al-Fatihah untuk Tan Sri Dr. Haji Nordin Sopiee

Tan Sri Dr Haji Nordin Sopiee passed away yesterday at the Gleneagles Hospital of thyroid cancer. He was 61. I met the late Tan Sri while performing the umrah in 1986 and has kept myself informed of his rise to stature since. He played a vital role in drafting the Vision 2020 policy, proposed the idea of a National Economic Action Council, the body which played a key role in charting policies during the financial crisis and was architect of the Knowledge Economy Master Plan
AlFatihah, dan semoga ia dihimpun bersama orang-orang yang salih.

Affin Bank Berhad V Zulkifli Abdullah (HCM 2005)
(as reported in the NST 30/12/2005)

The high Court made a landmark judgement yesterday on whether a person who has taken a loan through the Islamic banking (name only) Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil loan facility is liable to the entire amount that he has "akaded".

Fact of the case is that in 1997 Zulkifli Abdullah took an Islamic loan facility for an amount of RM346,000 for the purchase of an end lot terrace house. The amount he had consented at the akad was RM959,000, divided into eqaul installment over 18 years or 216 monthly payments. When he defaulted in the payment, the bank sued for default in the amount that he had "akaded".

Justice Abdul Wahab Patail, in reducing the debt by some RM376,000, noted that the consequence of defaulting on an Islamic loan facility is far more burdensome on the borrower than a conventional loan. He ordered the house to be auctioned under the National Land Code (forfeiture) to recover RM582,000 instead of RM959,000 as sought by the bank.

The learned judge said the issue before the court was the amount a customer has to pay to the provider of the facility in the event of a default after having paid his installments. He said the reason for the difference was that in the event of a default before the end of a tenure in a conventional loan, the amount to be paid over and above the borrowed sum is the interest and late payment charges limited form the period the facility was released until full settlement.

The Judge cited two previous cases in the High Court involving similar Islamic banking facility to arrive at his decision, one for an amount of RM265,000 and another for an amount of RM150,000.

In the words of the learned Judge: When the gratification of being able to satisfy the pious desire to avoid financing containing the element of riba gives way to the sorrow of default before the end of the tenure of the facility, the revelation that even after the security had been auctioned off at full market value, there remain a substantial sum owing to the bank, comes as a startling surprise. This is more shocking when iot is further realised that a borrower under a conventional bank was far better off. To allow the bank to recover the"profits" for the unexpired tenure of the facility would mean the bank was able to earn a profit twice upon the same sum at the same time.

"That profit continued to be charged on the unexpired part of the tenure cannot be actual profit. It is actually unearned profits. It contradicts the principle of Al-Bai Bithaman Ajil as to the profit margin that the provider is entitled to. Obviously as the profit has not been earned it is not profit and cannot be claimed under the facility.

He ordered tha house be auctioned off on March 29 and the bank is entitled to earn RM98.54 per day profit until full settlement of the loan.

Scale of fees or Free for All

The livelihhod of professional have never been challenged to the extent we are facing now. Professionals, especially in the building industry not only have to face declining job numbers, but their fees are also being compromised! Realising that the situation need to be checked before things get out of hand, several professional boards have got together to emphasize the need to stick to a scale of fees, or a minimum scale of fees, whatever the case may be.

Professional services are intellectual and creative products, not commodities that can be subjected to bargains. The purpose of a scale of fee is to set a benchmark to establish an equitabe level of remunerations for professionals, commensurate with the level of intellectual input and establish professional standards.

The Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia ( http:/www.jkr.gov.my/ljbm or www.bqsm.gov.my ) is in the process of gazetting the new rules, which inter alia, will contain the new scale of fees. The gazette will be made under PU (A), meaning that the Board can now take action on those consulting quantity surveyors who did not charge according to the scale of fees. When the new rules comes in force, hopefully fee cutting will be a thing of the past.

Recovering password

The process of recovering a password is terrible.... hope they can improve on that

Belia Yang Bukan Belia, Pelajar yang Bukan Pelajar.

Nama persatuan melambangkan ahli-ahlinya dari belia atau pelajar, tetapi hakikatnya jauh dari kebenaran. Mengapalah perlu ada pemimpin persatuan belia yang usianya menjangkau 60an? Atau pemimpin persatuan pelajar yang terdiri dari bukan pelajar. Ini hanya berlaku di Malaysia, yang amat memalukan ialah mereka bertelagah untuk menjadi pemimpin sedangkan yang patut memimpin (belia dan pelajar) di ketepikan.

Sepatutnya peluang menjadi pemimpin kita serahkan kepada yang berhak memimpin iaitu golongan pelajar dan belia. Dalam tahun 60an dan 70an, pemimpin-pemimpin persatuan-persatuan ini memang pelajar dan belia. Sdr Husin Mahmud, Sdr Said Radzi dan juga Pak Lah sendiri memimpin GPMS semasa mereka menjadi mahasiswa universiti. Dan pucuk kepimpinan ini di serahkan kepada mereka yang masih menuntut salepas mereka lulus dan keluar dari universiti.

Umum tahu akan kemelut yang dihadapi persatuan-persatuan ini. Tidak bolehkah pemimpin-pemimpin yang dah nyanyuk ini memberi laluan kepada darah muda? Kurangkah pelajar universiti kita maka kita harus mengambil mahasitua(saperti kata Dato Seri Nazri Aziz) ini ini untuk memimpin kita?

Selagi mahasitua ini masih igin mengekal kuasa dalam persatuan-persatuan ini selagi itulah kita menghadapi masalah ini.

Di UK, kita tidak pernah mendengar pemimpin NUS (National Union of Students) dari kumpulan mahasitua. Biasanya mereka terdiri dari pelajar yang sanggun mengambil masa dengan mengambil cuti setahun dari belajar untuk memimpin persatuan. Kita mahu lebih mahasiswa yang sanggup berkorban saperti demikian.

Tunggu dan lihatlah.......