CAPACITY BUILDING for IF in MALAYSIA & ASEAN

Am writing a Chapter titled " Capacity Building for Islamic Finance in Malaysia & ASEAN ". Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hamidin Abd. Hamid (Dep. Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Institute, U.Malaya) will be my supervisor for this topic.

Research thus far have only churn out 1, ... that's right ONLY ONE Journal Article of note i.e. an ILSP- Harvard Law School article by S.Nazim Ali titled " Islamic Finance and Economics as Reflected in Research & Publications ".

Other pertinent non-journal articles includes:

1. BNM - 8 July 2009;
   " Governor's addrsss at the Malaysia-UK Islamic Finance Forum "
   
2. AIBIM - 1 June 2009;
   " Islamic Banking in ASEAN: don't fly too high!

Triangulation approach is the research methodology method to be used for this topic. The approach will however be more skewed towards the qualitative aspects i.e. interviews.

Places/Persons where Interviews on IF were conducted to-date:

A) INDONESIA - Jakarta & Bandung ( May - July 2009 )

• ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta.
  Interviewed/Talked to 9 persons from different levels i.e. Secretary-General of ASEAN, Directors, Dep.Directors, Asst. Directors, Senior Officers & Technical Officers.


• ERIA, Jakarta. Also, refer 2 July 2009 blog article.


• ITB, Bandung . Also, refer 2 July 2009 blog article.


• CIMB Niaga Bank, Bandung

B) MALAYSIA - Kuala Lumpur

• Tan Sri Sanusi Junid


• Prof. Saiful Azhar Rosly


• Mr. Khairil Abdullah

Appreciate any suggestions for me to proceed further on this topic especially on recommended journal articles, conference papers etc.

WASALAM & THANK YOU.

time is RIPE for an ASEAN definition of an SME!

( June 2009: Author - on the right,

with ASEAN Secretary-General, H.E. Dr. Surin Pitsuwan)

In most countries, SMEs formed the backbone of the economy be it in terms of the number of people employed, sales generated and other economic indicators.

Hence, I personally find it strange and surprising that despite the existence of an ASEAN SME Blueprint appearing in the ILO Report and the more recent Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, 2009-2015(C.1. SME Development, No.60 ), there is still no single ASEAN definition of what constitutes an ASEAN SME to-date!

Perhaps, the wide array of SME interpretation by different countries makes it difficult for ASEAN to come out with a standardised definition of an SME. For example:-

• INDONESIA: Different ministries, have "different interpretations" of what constitutes an SME.


• Singapore: Due to the "Currency Conversion" factor, what is normally considered as an SME company in Singapore DOES NOT qualify as one within the ASEAN context. Singaporean SMEs can be MNCs in some ASEAN countries.

• MALAYSIA: The policy-makers have defined SMEs within certain parameters. They are sales turnover, no. of employees and/or type of industry. Refer to SMIDEC (now renamed "SME Corp") for Malaysia's definition.

Considering the existence of the Roadmap for an ASEAN Community, I find it even stranger that SME data is NOT readily available when the writer conducted interviews at ASEC & ERIA. Perhaps, the very nature of SMEs i.e. non-availability of published data and its "unsexyness" is a turn-off for most researchers!?

Whatever the situation is, the author hopes that the ASEAN SME definition can be finalised

...the Sooner the Better!

ERIA, Jakarta VISIT ( 2 July 2009)

Went to the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia - ERIA today with my AEI friends i.e. Azrul Shahreen & Zikry Kholil for a 10am appointment.

Purpose of the visit was two-pronged i.e. to understand the functions and workings of ERIA and to gather data on SMEs and Islamic Finance which would be pertinent for my research paper.

Am honoured and very thankful that 2 researchers i.e. Ms. Friska Parulian & Mr. Sothea Oum took time off from their busy schedule to brief us about ERIA and to answer my questions on Economics/Finance generally and on Islamic Finance and SMEs specifically. In addition, we were given copies of the latest Policy Brief on "Global Financial Crisis and Policy Responses in Southeast Asia" and a draft of a future Policy Brief as well. Quite pleased to hear that the researcher "liked" Malaysia's Stimulus Package response to the Global Financial Meltdown.

Thank you again to Mr. Sothea Oum for extending me a copy of the ERIA Research Project Report, No.5 titled "Asian SMEs and Globalization".

My heartfelt thanks to Miss Arlene Taulu of the ASEAN Secretariat for making the visit arrangements and to Ms. Mitsuko Takayanagi for receiving us and bringing us around.