Director ARI HICoE: January 2011

Friday, January 28, 2011

HICoE Bigger Role

In his New Year Speech delivered recently, the YB Minister of Higher Education Dato' Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin noted some very pertinent messages related to the roles and functions of the HICoEs within the Government Transformation Program. HICoEs are expected to form international research consortiums with renowned research centres to conduct research projects within their niche research areas. They must be international players that can place Malaysia on the world map. In tandem with this aspiration, HICoEs are expected to produce "Roadmap" that would allow them to be autonomous by the end of 2013. Though this is a tall order, I personally believe that it can be achieved, HICoEs just need to remain focused. For ARI, our niche research areas are namely Islamic Accounting & Finance and Financial Criminology. For 2011, each research project will involve a collaboration with at least one international partner....

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Islamic Micro Financing

Perhaps Islamic banks in Malaysia should consider developing new product in the form of Islamic Micro Financing - Linking prospective young, aspiring but disadvantaged enterpreneurs with established wholesalers. Existing concepts and model used by the Gramin Bank in Bangladesh could be further innovated to elevate the economic status of these potential enterpreneurs. Interested researchers should develop and innovate a possible working framework for this product...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Condolence Message

Our deepest condolence to our associate member Associate Professor Dr Nor'azam Mastuki over the demise of his beloved wife, Cikgu Hawa today. May Allah blesses her soul and gives you and your family strengths to face this very difficult time...Alfatihah

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Gaharu Fragrance - A Professorial Lecture

Congratulations Prof Dr Ku Halim Ku Hamid for a very successful professorial lecture titled: Enhancing The World Fragrance Through Malaysian Bio-Gaharu. The lecture elaborated on his long-standing reseach on Gaharu trees which and are most suited with the Malaysian soil and climate.

Prof Ku Halim spoke on the characteristics of the tree, the cosmetic and healing aspects of Gaharu and the economic prospects of the Gaharu industry for Malaysia and specifically for Gaharu planters in this country. Interestingly Prof Ku Halima recited numerous verses in the Quran and Hadith implying the importance and usefulness of the Gaharu products for human well beings.

At the end of the professorial lecture, a memorandum of understanding was signed between UiTM and the Southern Farm Valley (Johore, Malaysia). Based on the great demand for this product, there's certainly a big potential of Gaharu industry in this country.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Research Visits to Singapore

As part of our research collaboration and international networking initiatives, we spent a great four days in Singapore. ARI members: Prof Ibrahim Kamal, Prof Rashidah, Dr Radiah and I visited several two universities namely NTU & SMU, an accounting firm, a non-profit organization, the ACCSB and the charity commission.

At NTU, we met with researchers at two different research centres: Accounting & Auditing Research Centre and the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research

MORPA Awards

I wish to congratulate our researchers who have won various MORPA (Most Outstanding Research & publication in Accounting) awards to be announced during a seminar to be held today at the Intekma Resorts in shah Alam. The Seminar is collaboratively organized by MYAA, ARI, MOHE and MAREF. Congratulations Associate Professor Dr Lai Ming Ling, Dr Radiah Othman and a few of our PhD students (I will update the full listing upon my return from Singapore after the weekend).

Monday, January 3, 2011

Strategic Alliance Visit to ICPVTR

One of ARI's VCSP Strategic Alliance project with top notch research centres is with the International Center for political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. ICPVTR is a renowned research center that focuses on research related to Counter-terrorism financing and anti-money laundering. Our research project entitled "Non-Profit Organizations: Transparency and Accountability Reporting Framework in Mitigating Money laundering Activities is a collaboration between ARI, ICPVTR, CCM Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia. The visit will be on 4th january to 7th January 2011.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year 2011

i wish to congratulate all ARI members for a great year in 2010. Everyone had worked very hard to make ARI HICoE visible. In tandem with our newly assigned niche research area in Islamic Financial Criminology, ARI has networked with various organizations whose forte are either Islamic Accounting & Finance and/or Financial Criminology: Islamic banks, JAKIM, IKIM, UIA, INCEIF, ISRA, CCM, FIU, Baitulmal, Bank Negara Malaysia, the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (NTU Singapore), are just few names that we have approached and to embark on new research projects. We had our research retreat and conduscted our five-year strategic planning workshop. I personally believed that 2011 will be much better as our initiatives will start to bear fruits. I am looking forward to more indexed publications and more external grants for the new year...

Welcome

The creation of this blog is an effort to provide latest update and information about ARI. As a director to ARI, I want to share my personal vision and perhaps invite those who visit this blog to give ideas and constructive comments on how to continuously improve ARI from time to time. ARI is a centre of excellence under the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. Personally, I believe that it can go very far. Plans are underway for ARI to participate at international platforms.

As a Higher Institutions' Centre of Excellence (HICoE), ARI is to drive a niche research in Islamic Financial Criminology (IFC). Essentially there are two main research thrusts within IFC: (i) Islamic Accounting & Muamalat and (ii) Financial Criminology. The focus on IFC is in tandem with the government's aspiration of making Malaysia, the global hub is Islamic Finance. In view of this vision, fundamental research in financial criminology is important so that new policies or system can be developed to mitigate and prevent financial crime within the Islamic Finance industry and other economic sectors.

ARI's research in Islamic Financial Criminology is divided into three phases. In Phase One, IFC research projects will focus on both local and regional issues. As such, ARI will forge a lot smart research collaborations with other research centres, professional bodies, government agencies, regulatory & enforcement agencies, universities and the private sectors. The Phase One projects aim to identify specific IFC issues that necessitate the development of new poducts, models, framework or policies. ARI will collaborate with agencies such as JAKIM, IKIM, IBFIM, INCEIF, ISRA, PDRM, RMC, FIU, BNM, MACC, IIM, UIA, USIM, USM etc. In term of deliverables, at least fifty publications will be produced by Phase One initiatives.

Premised on specific issues identified in Phase One projects, Phase Two focuses on working on specific IFC products, models, framework and/or policies related to IFC. ARI invites international partners who are experts in their own fields to participate in Phase Two research projects. Several international players from Australia, USA, UK, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore have indicated their interest to participate.

In Phase Three, IFC products, models, policies are further enhanced. The main aim of Phase Three is to isolate elements of technology transfer and the development of systems into IFC products, models, framework or policies. Upon completion of Phase Three, IFC products will be launched and ARI hopes to become a leading research centre globally focusing on its niche "Islamic Financial Criminology".

Director ARI HICoE