God Willing and Chinese Gold - a little Malay habit and investing in gold to hedge against inflation

Malay Boy

GodWilling

I have a plan to write this,

But God knows if I will finish this,

I have a plan to return to the office,

But God knows if I will get back,

I plan to have a nap now,

But God knows if I ever will,

Each breath I take,

Each glance I give,

Each smile that is drawn,

Each whimsical thought

That crosses the plain of my mind,

Albeit even for the briefest moment,

Is just my plan, and nothing more

Not when everything that happens,

And everything that does not happen,

Happens or doesn't happen

As God's Wills it.

.................................

InsyaAllah (Godwilling) is a commonly used phrase by the Malays. We use it sincerely and also less sincerely when the occasion requires. Like when an excitable friend wants you to join their multi-level marketing scheme. So you will hear politely and reply, "Of course, I will come over to your weekly meeting this Saturday, Godwilling!" He he he. You see, us Malays sometimes find it very hard to say no. 

And unfortunately, our mind is not quick enough to scramble around for an excuse to avoid the dreaded appointment. So we say, InsyaAllah! What the excitable friend doesn't hear is our secret prayer to God - "InsyaAllah, over my dead body...".

Golden Ponzi Schemes. I guess there is a purpose in an economy for genuine multi-level marketing schemes. But there are also other less-than-kosher 'business' such as the Ponzi schemes. Presently the flavour going around locally is based upon gold investments. Investing in gold is perfectly fine (indeed I would encourage it as a hedge against the volatility and inflationary nature of fiat paper money), but if you do not get your gold almost immediately, then something smells fishy. Personally I do not encourage the purchase of gold certificates which entitles you to a certain weight of gold. If you want to buy gold, then get physical possession of it. 

Where is the Chinese Gold? An interesting story is making its round among the goldbugs in the social media and newsites. Although China (as in the People's Republic) is one of the largest producer of gold, gold officials of the HSBC (the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) as one of the global conduits of the gold trade have not seen a single gold bullion marking it as originating from China. Conclusion - the Chinese are keeping their gold to themselves as a hedge against the possible collapse of the trillion dollars of U.S. government bonds that the Chinese have purchased.

The Chinese have a long memory, you know.

Something to think about this Sabbath, sunshine. God bless you always. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

The Camel in the Bamboo Forest - Poetry and Politics

The Camel Saloon asked that we host a link to The Bamboo Forest, a poetry blog sympathetic to Zhu Yufu, a dissident Chinese poet currently detained by the Beijing authorities. Although this blog is not a political blog, nor does it espouse the democratic ideal, I have agreed. Because... you know, poets gotta stick together.

Nothing ought to be viewed in isolation, and caution should be exercised in judgment of any man. I do not know much of Zhu Yufu, his motivation and ideal, his history and present incarceration. However, one should not be jailed merely due to one's poetry...  

Because if that was indeed the case, this sinner would have been apprehended years ago by the police for a breach of the Trade Description Act (Mr. Police: You call that poetry!? I have read better prose in my DVD manual), and for my illegal impersonation of a poet (Mr. Police: If you are really a poet, where is your beret?).

He wears a beret. AND he smokes Gitanes. He is a poet. 

Have a thoughtful day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon - babies and brides

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year, as many of the 1.4 billion Chinese of mainland China and 40 million Overseas Chinese gather around the family table to celebrate the rise of the Year of the Dragon.

Befitting such an auspicious year, many plans will be made and followed through with the well-known Chinese diligence to get married and make many, many more Chinese babies. 'Tis a good plan.

In my office, Shikin, our tiny, tiny clerk manage to give birth to another bouncing baby boy yesterday, days ahead of her scheduled Ceasarian. The vitality of a Dragon baby, he cannot even wait for the Dragon year to actually commence. The baby weighed in at a healthy 3.5kg, which means that his mother would need to lose a mere 1.5kg to return to her normal weight. Shikin had absolutely the most skinniest pregnancy I have ever witnessed. "But she is so thin!" remarked Heche hotly.

For myself, there is a flurry of weddings anticipated this year, as young (and old) lovers among my friends and family finally settled to settle down. In less than 2 weeks time, I am (dubiously) respectable and (sadly) old enough to be asked to witness the Aqad (wedding) ceremony of my niece Balqies and her beau, Amirul.

Take care, sunshine. May you ride the Dragon well this coming year.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The 7th Billion Baby and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

7,000,000,000th billion baby? Gosh! Just make sure that there
are enough diapers to go around, mummy!

22. Babies & Ahmad

Babies and rose petals

Fragrant and little,

God’s gift springs eternal

From a crownless mantle.

Well, sometime today our 7,000,000,000th baby is born somewhere. This was the news headlines yesterday but I guess it is nigh impossible to actually pinpoint the newborn that has pushed the human population on earth above the 7th billion mark.

Emina up there is not that baby for sure, being born a couple of months earlier to an Indian-Muslim-Malay Turkish parentage. But you know, I am looking for any excuse to publish her picture and ramp up the eye-candy quotient of this almanac. What's the point of a beautiful baby if not to beautify your blog?

In the 1970s (yes, I am that old), I recall reading about the population boom, and how 'experts' and 'pundits' claim that massive overpopulation will lead to world wide famine and starvation. And I remember that they say big-population countries, especially China will be heading for a disaster when this happens. So it is interesting to note that China now is the second largest economy in the world, having overtaken Japan in October 2010, more than one year ago. And this week Europe is coming to China and asking her to save Europe from its current sovereign debt crisis. On top of this, countries of West Europe and Japan is facing a major problem with its aging population, with not enough people of working age to support the growing population of OAPs (old aged pensioners) in the country. So perhaps more babies ain't so bad after all, yes?

For me, now that we have 7 billion souls here, I like to take the optimistic view that now we have 7 billion solution providers and problem solvers, we have 7 billion stories to tell and 7 billion dreams to achieve. Problems? Of course there will always be problems, but if we have God on our side, what problems are insurmountable? Each baby born is another indication that God has not given up on us- "Me, give up on you?" asks God, "I have given you 7 billion reasons to show that I have not given up on you."

So happy birthday to you, sunshine, and happy birthday to me. And happy birthday to that anonymous baby somewhere who is the 7,000,000,000th citizen of the nation of Adam and Eve. Lets make this world a better place, together.

wa min Allah at-taufiq