Meeting New Researchers

The FRGS research clinic went well today. Most of those who attended were young researchers who were excited about their first FRGS applications. Dayang Nailul was formerly from UNIMAS and aspires to do research on occupational safety & health in solar energy companies. Though still young and new to UiTM, she has published in at least five refereed international journals. She is currently attached with the faculty of business. Another young researcher, Norzitah is interested to examine shariah-based activities in Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs). Norzitah was formerly from the Islamic International College (a private arm of UIA). Research in shariah-related topic is very much in demand today. I have invited her to become one of ARI associates so that she can use ARI's facilities and resources. In fact ARI had bought a lot of books on Islamic finance. Yusseri is a young lecturer from Sarawak and is interested to introduce new CSR model in green technology companies These young lecturers were very enthusiastic and the university must support them. Good luck and congratulations....

FRGS Research Clinic

I will be conducting a whole day research clinic tomorrow (24th June 2010) to facilitate researchers prepare and submit their fundamental research grant proposals. The venue will be at the office of Research Management Institute (RMI). Please bring your reference materials to the clinic and we will facilitate you step by step - everyone needs to know what aught to be included and avoided in the proposals. See you there...

UiTM Alumni Association Membership Drive

As a director of ARI and an alumnus of UiTM, I have been appointed as one of the committee members of the Alumni Association. Currently the association is going for a membership drive. Those out there who are alumni of Universiti Teknologi MARA, please register yourself. Our ultimate aim is how best we can "pay back" the university. Some of our recent activities have included organizing intellectual discourse, submitting our professional feedback to the New Economic Model and 10th Malaysia Plan, facilitating UiTM in retraining graduates to be "industry-ready", special entrepreneurship program for graduates who are keen to venture into business (a collaboration with MITI & SIRIM). The Alumni association also has in stock souvenir items. KIndly browse Alumni website http://www.uitmalumni.com for details

Research on Government Link Companies

Due to increasing interest towards Malaysia's Government-Linked Companies (GLCs), ARI is planning to establish a new research centre in GLC Research. Dr Azmi Hamid has indicated his interest to lead the centre. As such, ARI invites those interested to become members of this centre to contact me at normah645@salam.uitm.edu.my. Basically, GLCs play a very important role in spearheading competitiveness of Malaysian companies. Currently GLCs contribute towards market capitalization of RM235.5 billion (49 per cent of total capitalization) and employ more than 300,000 people. They also contribute about 17 per cent of the nation’s gross fixed capital formation and account for almost 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. ARI will be submitting a total of seven FRGS research proposals in June 2010 to the Ministry of Higher Education.

Research in Terrorist Financing

There's an urgent need for ARI to conduct research on either perceptions or allegations related money laundering and terrorist financing activities by charity associations, non-governmental organisations (NGO) or illegitimate use of financial institutions. ARI will be proposing a collaborative research project with the Royal Malaysian Police and the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) soon. During the past weeks, there have been allegations made in the newspapers that some irresponsible individuals or organisations are trying to abuse the financial system of this country....

A Great Three-Day Weekend

We had a three-day research and publication retreat at Bukit Tinggi on 11-13 June 2010. All in all, 37 members attended the meeting cum workshops. ARI had invited some colleagues from the Centre in Islamic Thought and Understanding (CITU) to participate in our retreat. We had a very focused agenda. Our deliverables were set at 30 research proposals in Islamic Financial Criminology; 20 concept papers in Islamic Financial Criminology and 20 journal articles in Financial Criminology. Everyone was divided into groups. At the end of the three-day retreat, we managed to complete 34 research proposals, 43 concept papers and 35 journal articles....

Meeting YaPEIM

YaPEIM stands for "Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam Malaysia" or Malaysia Islamic Economic, Development Foundation. Basically, YaPEIM was established in 1976 as a prominent socioeconomic development Institution with the aim of improving the Ummah's standard and quality of living which was in tandem with the aspiration of Malaysia's Vision 2020. It was a privileged getting to meet up with Mr Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, the Director of Finance and Investment Division. Through the culture of Amal Jariah (Beneficence) YaPEIM hopes to uplift the Ummah. There's a lot of research potential that ARI and YaPEIM can undertake together...

Six Keys to a Winning Team

As part of the CPA Australia continuing professional development (CPD) program, I attended a course entitled "Six Keys to a Winning Team" by Mr Ian Homer from Action Coach - a business coaching agency.
The concepts are simple, yet very practical. The six keys to a winning team comprise namely (i) strong leadership, (ii) Written "Rules of the game", (iii) Common goal, (iv) Clear action plan, (v) Support risk taking and (vi) 100% involvement. Next move? Just do it....

New Online FGRS Application

To all ARI members: please take note that all submissions for the June 2010 Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia will be made through online application. Please browse through the Research Management Institute (RMI) homepage for details: http://rmi.uitm.edu.my/

CSSR papers and Counting

To date ARI have submitted six papers to CSSR 2010. By the way, the submission is to be made online using a specified format. We are targetting at least twenty participation with 30-40 papers by the deadline of 30th June 2010. ARI has recorded the following participation from leading authors: Prof Rashidah (1), Prof Normah (2), Assoc Prof Dr Wee Shu Hui (2) and Dr Kalsom (1). I am expecting more papers from other ARI, faculty and postgraduate students members. I saw this proverb by Positive Ideas which is definitely applicable to ARI: Coming tohether is a beginning, Keeping together is progress, Working together is SUCCESS. Let's Go for IT....

Corporate Integrity and Ethics Framework

As a director of ARI, I have been invited by the Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) to lead a research team by academics to develop a Corporate Integrity and Ethics Framework for the country. In view of the numerous corporate scandals nowadays, it is imperative that companies and board of directors of companies should be able to self-assess the level of integrity and ethical values of their own organizations. Our team have reviewed various self-governance instruments currently used by our counterparts globally and we shall be developing suitable tool for Malaysia. If companies proactively take step to self-assess their integrity and ethical values, corrective measures can be taken from time to time...

Showcasing ARI in the Daily Telegraph UK

One international agency, PM Communication Ltd, a UK-based company is working closely with the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to publish a special write up about Malaysia. The focus is specifically on the Higher Education Sector. PM Communication Ltd is one of the agents working with the Daily Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom. Included in the write up will be the six HICoES under the Ministry of Higher Education. The team from PM Communication came to interview ARI members recently.

ARI Members

ARI is inviting researchers who are keen to become our research fellows or research associates to submit your letter of intent to me. Currently we are looking for new researchers whose interest and expertise are in the areas of Islamic Finance, Sha'riah, law (penal code and cybernatic), IT system, Financial criminology, Zakat, Waqf, Islamic Banking, Muamalat and applied accounting. Interested researchers please email me at normah645@salam.uitm.edu.my

Congratulations Applied Researchers

As per the deadline yesterday, I have received eleven research monographs from the following researchers: Azizul, Badrul Hisham, Haslinda, Hazwani, Juita, Juliana, Mohd Nizar, Mohd Suhaimi, Rohin, Siti Nor'aina and Suzie. Congratulations for your effort and most importantly for "making it happened". Together, everyone achieves more....

Call for Papers in Islamic Financial Criminology

ARI wishes to invite researchers and authors to submit concept or empirical papers in "Islamic Financial Criminology" for possible special issue publication of our journal , Malaysian Accounting Review. The papers should be about 10-15 pages focussing on issues or prospects related to Islamic Finance and Financial Criminology. All submissions can be sent directly to me at normah645@salam.uitm.edu.my.