22 December 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
0
Bank Islam to achieve RM2b in personal financing
Published in The Edge Financial Daily
22 December 2009
22 December 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
0
Maybank has little exposure to Dubai, says Wahid
Published on The Edge Online
17 December 2009
Written by Siti Sakinah Abd Latif & Max Koh
KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYAN BANKING BHD [] will not be affected by Dubai's debt crisis given its exposure there of less than 0.2% of the banking group's total assets, said its CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
Wahid said the bank's exposure in Dubai was being monitored by its branches in Bahrain and London.
"We are hopeful that the issue in Dubai will be resolved. Abu Dhabi has lent US$10 billion [RM34.2 billion] to enable Nakheel to repay its bond debt, which is a positive development," Wahid told reporters on Dec 17 after a signing ceremony between Maybank and MoneyTree (M) Sdn Bhd for the sponsorship of a year-long financial-literacy programme for youngsters.
He said the development in Dubai would bring back significant confidence and stability to financial markets.
It had been reported that Abu Dhabi recently provided the amount to Dubai to help Dubai World, the state-owned holding company, avoid defaulting on a US$4.1 billion Nakheel bond payment.
On another matter, Abdul Wahid said Maybank had received the final approval from the Vietnamese authorities to increase its stake in An Binh Bank from 15% to 20%.
When Maybank bought its 15% stake in An Binh in March 2008, it was given the option to increase the stake to 20%, which is the highest stake that a foreign company is allowed to hold in Vietnam.
"We are now in the process of finalising the agreement," Wahid said.
On the bank's outlook for next year, Wahid said Maybank was bullish about 2010's economic prospects, adding that its in-house economist had forecast 4.5% growth.
"I think as we recover, obviously, we expect the financial industry to perform well as well," he said.
He said the country's asset policy would continue to create a conducive environment for business.
17 December 2009
Written by Siti Sakinah Abd Latif & Max Koh
KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYAN BANKING BHD [] will not be affected by Dubai's debt crisis given its exposure there of less than 0.2% of the banking group's total assets, said its CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
Wahid said the bank's exposure in Dubai was being monitored by its branches in Bahrain and London.
"We are hopeful that the issue in Dubai will be resolved. Abu Dhabi has lent US$10 billion [RM34.2 billion] to enable Nakheel to repay its bond debt, which is a positive development," Wahid told reporters on Dec 17 after a signing ceremony between Maybank and MoneyTree (M) Sdn Bhd for the sponsorship of a year-long financial-literacy programme for youngsters.
He said the development in Dubai would bring back significant confidence and stability to financial markets.
It had been reported that Abu Dhabi recently provided the amount to Dubai to help Dubai World, the state-owned holding company, avoid defaulting on a US$4.1 billion Nakheel bond payment.
On another matter, Abdul Wahid said Maybank had received the final approval from the Vietnamese authorities to increase its stake in An Binh Bank from 15% to 20%.
When Maybank bought its 15% stake in An Binh in March 2008, it was given the option to increase the stake to 20%, which is the highest stake that a foreign company is allowed to hold in Vietnam.
"We are now in the process of finalising the agreement," Wahid said.
On the bank's outlook for next year, Wahid said Maybank was bullish about 2010's economic prospects, adding that its in-house economist had forecast 4.5% growth.
"I think as we recover, obviously, we expect the financial industry to perform well as well," he said.
He said the country's asset policy would continue to create a conducive environment for business.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
0
Full conversion to Islamic finance by end-2010, says PTPTN
Published in The Edge Online
17 December 2009
By Max Koh and Siti Sakinah Abdul Latif
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) plans to convert its conventional education loan scheme for all current 1.45 million student borrowers to the new syariah-compliant education financing programme by December next year.
Pursuant to the conversion, the 4% interest rate for loan repayment under conventional banking scheme will be replaced with a 1% administrative charge under the new scheme based on the Islamic principle of Ujrah.
Out of the total loan recipients, 192,059 have since December 2008 been automatically offered to repay their loans under the new Islamic scheme.
"By end of 2010, it will certainly be done (the full conversion),” the statutory body's chief executive officer Yunos Abdul Ghani said after a signing ceremony between PTPTN and AmIslamic Bank here on Dec 16 for the bank to finance RM1.5 billion and act as a facility agent for 10 years to the statutory body.
This is the second commercial financing arrangement that PTPTN has secured. The first involved a RM1.5 billion government-guaranteed commercial financing arrangement from CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd in July 2009.
PTPTN received its funding from the government from 1997 to 2002 of RM5 billion. In 2003, government spending was stopped and PTPTN had to look for alternatives, receiving RM500 million and RM12.5 billion from Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) respectively, in the following five years.
The total funding that PTPTN has received over the years is a whopping RM21 billion to help finance higher institutional students in the country.
"At the moment, we have 391,790 students under our loan scheme. For 2010, we have a total of 166,116 newly approved loan applications with loans amounting to RM1.5 billion to be disbursed by April 2010," said PTPTN chairman Datuk Dr Mohamad Shahrum Osman.
"However, an additional RM2.5 billion is still needed to support loan applicants until the end of next year," he added.
The total 1.45 million loan applications approved since PTPTN's inception in 1997 up to November 2009 is said to require financial allocation of RM31.17 billion for the students to complete their studies.
17 December 2009
By Max Koh and Siti Sakinah Abdul Latif
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) plans to convert its conventional education loan scheme for all current 1.45 million student borrowers to the new syariah-compliant education financing programme by December next year.
Pursuant to the conversion, the 4% interest rate for loan repayment under conventional banking scheme will be replaced with a 1% administrative charge under the new scheme based on the Islamic principle of Ujrah.
Out of the total loan recipients, 192,059 have since December 2008 been automatically offered to repay their loans under the new Islamic scheme.
"By end of 2010, it will certainly be done (the full conversion),” the statutory body's chief executive officer Yunos Abdul Ghani said after a signing ceremony between PTPTN and AmIslamic Bank here on Dec 16 for the bank to finance RM1.5 billion and act as a facility agent for 10 years to the statutory body.
This is the second commercial financing arrangement that PTPTN has secured. The first involved a RM1.5 billion government-guaranteed commercial financing arrangement from CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd in July 2009.
PTPTN received its funding from the government from 1997 to 2002 of RM5 billion. In 2003, government spending was stopped and PTPTN had to look for alternatives, receiving RM500 million and RM12.5 billion from Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) respectively, in the following five years.
The total funding that PTPTN has received over the years is a whopping RM21 billion to help finance higher institutional students in the country.
"At the moment, we have 391,790 students under our loan scheme. For 2010, we have a total of 166,116 newly approved loan applications with loans amounting to RM1.5 billion to be disbursed by April 2010," said PTPTN chairman Datuk Dr Mohamad Shahrum Osman.
"However, an additional RM2.5 billion is still needed to support loan applicants until the end of next year," he added.
The total 1.45 million loan applications approved since PTPTN's inception in 1997 up to November 2009 is said to require financial allocation of RM31.17 billion for the students to complete their studies.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
0
Fluid Portraits
Published in Sunday People, New Sunday Times
6 December 2009
Fluid portraits
MAX KOH
Yeoh and his painting Rasa Leela, which depicts eight Gopis (cowherd maidens) dancing for the cowherd-god, Krishna, in the cosmic dance of life
ART in Asia has been heavily influenced by themes of spirituality for ages, and this is explored at an exhibition, writes MAX KOH
THE Temple of Fine Arts in Brickfields is now chockful with sculptures and paintings celebrating Lord Krishna. It’s an exhibition called Rasa Leela which features works by celebrated artist Yeoh Jin Leng and dancer-artist Sarasa Krishnan.
One is a sage-like veteran whose works are renowned and is a cultural ambassador for Unesco. The other, a relatively new artist whose works are heavily influenced by her experience as a dancer, for which she is better known.
At the interview on the fourth floor of this year-old building, Yeoh, garbed in a biege dhoti, commands my rapt attention as he espouses the differences between Asian and Western art sensibilities. “You’ll find that Western art has a materialistic outlook on reality, while Asian art relates to a deeper consciousness in relation to aesthetics.”
Yeoh and his black-and-white painting, Dance of the Gopis
Yeoh trained as a teacher at Kirkby and went on to the Chelsea School of Art and Courtauld Institute in London in the 50s. He began exhibiting his works in 1963 and his paintings are in collections around the world, including the national Art Gallery. His artistic career is clearly paralleled by the vocation of teaching, both students and other teachers, and in promoting art, which has been recognised by numerous awards.
For some 15 years, he began to explore the spiritual themes that influence Asian art as a whole.
Yeoh and his sculpture Apsara on display at the Temple of Fine Arts, Brickfields
His study of cosmological and aesthetic foundations of Asian art brought him to visit cities, as well as obscure tribes in Egypt, Nepal, Iran, China, Indo-China and India. “Over the last five years, I was able to consolidate some ideas I had,” he says. “I explored the spirituality that influences Asian art by visiting Southern India.
“I visited the major temples in Chennai. I observed sculptures and murals, explored the history and read quite a bit of the Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Vedas.
“I spent a month in Orissa, where I could compare the sculptural, artistic and architectural traditions.” It was only three years later that Yeoh began to paint, inspired by his observations. One of the works displayed at TFA is Rasa Leela, which depicts eight Gopis (cowherd maidens) dancing for the cowherd-god Krishna, in the cosmic dance of life.
Another is the black-and-white Dance Of The Gopis, which captures the expressive movements of the dancers. All his works are a personal exposition of the different rasa (feelings) that is evoked. Also on show are Teoh’s copper sculptures that explore this theme.
While Yeoh’s approach is a personal exposition on the theme, Sarasa’s works are borne out of her love for Lord Krishna. “My paintings are an outpouring of my love for Krishna. I paint according to what I feel inside,” explains the soft-spoken, petite Sarasa.
Sarasa has been a dancer for more than 30 years and her paintings reflect the two disciplines. “What I paint comes from a very emotional level. I interact emotionally with colours and I explore the various poses and movements in my paintings,” says Sarasa, the artistic director of TFA in Perth.
Vishnu Paadam by Sarasa depicts the cosmic dance of Krishna
One of her pieces, Vishnu Paadam, depicts the cosmic dance of Krishna while the intense Blue Flute shows the calm and joyous visage of Krishna playing his flute. Sarasa uses a lot of bright colours in her paintings and the liberal use of lines depicts a lot of movement. Her paintings are inspired by the teachings of TFA founder Swamiji Shantanand Saraswathi and kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj who taught her to dance in that discipline.
Birju is currently conducting kathak workshops at TFA Brickfields.
Sarasa says she started painting as a child but was “discovered” in Paris only in 2002. A friend asked her to place her paintings as the stage backdrop for Sarasa’s dance performance. A Parisian gallery owner noticed them and invited her to show her works. Soon her paintings were shown in Florence, New York, India and Perth. Sarasa danced and painted Shakti — The Eternal Energy, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in last year.
Blue Flute shows the calm and joyous visage of Krishna playing his flute
That riveting performance with Umesh Shetty was reported in Sunday People. It stood out from the rest of the events on the festival calendar.
Sarasa says she spent three weeks of 18-hour days painting the works for Rasa Leela. There are 16 paintings on display on Krishna and Ganesha. Each painting is accompanied by poems that are translated or inspired by sacred Hindu texts. “All I did was dance, sleep and paint. The sense of peace and joy that I felt during those moments are reflected here in the paintings.
Sarasa's Blue Eyes shows the passionate gaze of Krishna
6 December 2009
Fluid portraits
MAX KOH
Yeoh and his painting Rasa Leela, which depicts eight Gopis (cowherd maidens) dancing for the cowherd-god, Krishna, in the cosmic dance of life
ART in Asia has been heavily influenced by themes of spirituality for ages, and this is explored at an exhibition, writes MAX KOH
THE Temple of Fine Arts in Brickfields is now chockful with sculptures and paintings celebrating Lord Krishna. It’s an exhibition called Rasa Leela which features works by celebrated artist Yeoh Jin Leng and dancer-artist Sarasa Krishnan.
One is a sage-like veteran whose works are renowned and is a cultural ambassador for Unesco. The other, a relatively new artist whose works are heavily influenced by her experience as a dancer, for which she is better known.
At the interview on the fourth floor of this year-old building, Yeoh, garbed in a biege dhoti, commands my rapt attention as he espouses the differences between Asian and Western art sensibilities. “You’ll find that Western art has a materialistic outlook on reality, while Asian art relates to a deeper consciousness in relation to aesthetics.”
Yeoh and his black-and-white painting, Dance of the Gopis
Yeoh trained as a teacher at Kirkby and went on to the Chelsea School of Art and Courtauld Institute in London in the 50s. He began exhibiting his works in 1963 and his paintings are in collections around the world, including the national Art Gallery. His artistic career is clearly paralleled by the vocation of teaching, both students and other teachers, and in promoting art, which has been recognised by numerous awards.
For some 15 years, he began to explore the spiritual themes that influence Asian art as a whole.
Yeoh and his sculpture Apsara on display at the Temple of Fine Arts, Brickfields
His study of cosmological and aesthetic foundations of Asian art brought him to visit cities, as well as obscure tribes in Egypt, Nepal, Iran, China, Indo-China and India. “Over the last five years, I was able to consolidate some ideas I had,” he says. “I explored the spirituality that influences Asian art by visiting Southern India.
“I visited the major temples in Chennai. I observed sculptures and murals, explored the history and read quite a bit of the Sanskrit epics, Mahabharata and Vedas.
“I spent a month in Orissa, where I could compare the sculptural, artistic and architectural traditions.” It was only three years later that Yeoh began to paint, inspired by his observations. One of the works displayed at TFA is Rasa Leela, which depicts eight Gopis (cowherd maidens) dancing for the cowherd-god Krishna, in the cosmic dance of life.
Another is the black-and-white Dance Of The Gopis, which captures the expressive movements of the dancers. All his works are a personal exposition of the different rasa (feelings) that is evoked. Also on show are Teoh’s copper sculptures that explore this theme.
While Yeoh’s approach is a personal exposition on the theme, Sarasa’s works are borne out of her love for Lord Krishna. “My paintings are an outpouring of my love for Krishna. I paint according to what I feel inside,” explains the soft-spoken, petite Sarasa.
Sarasa has been a dancer for more than 30 years and her paintings reflect the two disciplines. “What I paint comes from a very emotional level. I interact emotionally with colours and I explore the various poses and movements in my paintings,” says Sarasa, the artistic director of TFA in Perth.
Vishnu Paadam by Sarasa depicts the cosmic dance of Krishna
One of her pieces, Vishnu Paadam, depicts the cosmic dance of Krishna while the intense Blue Flute shows the calm and joyous visage of Krishna playing his flute. Sarasa uses a lot of bright colours in her paintings and the liberal use of lines depicts a lot of movement. Her paintings are inspired by the teachings of TFA founder Swamiji Shantanand Saraswathi and kathak maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj who taught her to dance in that discipline.
Birju is currently conducting kathak workshops at TFA Brickfields.
Sarasa says she started painting as a child but was “discovered” in Paris only in 2002. A friend asked her to place her paintings as the stage backdrop for Sarasa’s dance performance. A Parisian gallery owner noticed them and invited her to show her works. Soon her paintings were shown in Florence, New York, India and Perth. Sarasa danced and painted Shakti — The Eternal Energy, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in last year.
Blue Flute shows the calm and joyous visage of Krishna playing his flute
That riveting performance with Umesh Shetty was reported in Sunday People. It stood out from the rest of the events on the festival calendar.
Sarasa says she spent three weeks of 18-hour days painting the works for Rasa Leela. There are 16 paintings on display on Krishna and Ganesha. Each painting is accompanied by poems that are translated or inspired by sacred Hindu texts. “All I did was dance, sleep and paint. The sense of peace and joy that I felt during those moments are reflected here in the paintings.
Sarasa's Blue Eyes shows the passionate gaze of Krishna
“Krishna is different to each of us. That’s why Krishna’s features vary from painting to painting. The only thing that is constant is the eyes.”
Rasa Leela art exhibition runs at the Temple Fine Arts, Brickfields until Dec 13, 2009.
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