On a recent visit to Turkey, Malaysia's prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made a call to rebuild and restore the strength of Islamic civilisation and for Muslim countries to be united and work closely together.
He was characteristically blunt about what he sees as the current state of affairs and why action needs to be taken. “Today, we cannot claim to be a great civilisation,” he said. “We are all oppressed and many of us are very backwards to the point of even not being able to set up the government of our own countries.” Muslim countries, he said, should address their dependence on other countries.
His words were not much reported outside Malaysia, but they are consistent with a strain of Dr Mahathir’s thought going back to his first time in office from 1981-2003, and form part of a critique that is worthy of more consideration today.
We spend so much time analysing the rivalries and trajectories of China, the US and Russia in particular that we ignore the weight that could be yielded by Muslim countries if they came together in a way that proved more effective than the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. The OIC is a laudable institution, and the very act of bringing together its 57 member states has value in itself. But even one of its former secretary generals admitted to me that it struggles to achieve concrete results. The assertion that it was a "talking shop" was met with a shrug of familiarity.
If not the OIC, then what? One of Dr Mahathir’s closest strategists and thinkers, Rais Husin, has proposed an Alliance of Muslim Nations, which he believes would have the potential to reshape the world order.
After all, as he wrote: “There is no reason why the Islamic world has to be constantly at the whims and fancies of other external powers, as the Alliance of Muslim Nations [would] control all the major maritime choke points in the Straits of Malacca, the Gulf of Oman, the Straits of Hormuz and the Bosphorus Sea.”
Whether it be the alliance Dr Rais suggests or not, however, it is the principle of greater unity and co-operation that needs to be stressed; the framework is secondary. The bedrock already exists, as there is no doubting that there is a very strong sense of Muslim solidarity around the world. The Middle East may seem quite far away from South-East Asia, for instance, but no Malaysian prime minister ever omits to mention concern for the Palestinian cause when speaking at the UN or at any gathering that touches upon religion.
Likewise, both Dr Mahathir and his predecessor, Najib Tun Razak, have been very outspoken about the tragedy of the Rohingya – and this has not been without cost, as their biting criticism is regarded as being against the principle of non-interference that binds the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to which both Malaysia and Myanmar belong.
In this age of hyper-connectivity, that solidarity has only grown stronger. Researchers in the southern Philippines, for example, found that once poor, remote areas were linked to satellite television (and now of course the internet), local Muslims had a far greater sense of being part of the same community as their fellow believers further to the west.
Turning this into something more tangible, however, has proved troublesome. When still in office in 2017, Mr Najib addressed an extraordinary session of the OIC on the Rohingya, saying: “We must be equal to this challenge. We must show that this organisation is truly the friend and guarantor of Muslims everywhere. We must show that while we may have our differences, the Ummah will come together in defence of our brothers and sisters in their time of need.” It would be hard to claim that the OIC was able to respond to the stirring words with equally vigorous action.
So Dr Mahathir’s urge for unity and development certainly centres on both a great missed potential and, in some cases, a dire and pressing need.
History shows us that times of Muslim unity and civilisation have not just been of benefit to Muslims – they have been a boon to the rest of the world and people of other religions too.
It was the Abbasid Caliphate that saved the treasures of Ancient Greek philosophy and supported research that produced huge advances in science, from medicine and mathematics to astronomy and algebra. The religious tolerance that existed in Muslim Spain was so remarkable for the medieval period that the name “Cordoba” – one of the main Iberian emirates – has become synonymous with interfaith dialogue today.
These precedents have certainly been borne in mind by Arabian Gulf states that have invested so strongly in education, and are echoed in the UAE’s decision to declare 2019 the “Year of Tolerance”. But in much of the Muslim world human development indicators are too low, with adult literacy rates, for instance, around 10 per cent lower even than other developing countries.
The challenge is there, just as it was in 2003 when Dr Mahathir addressed an OIC meeting shortly before stepping down as prime minister for the first time. The Prophet Mohammed preached the brotherhood of Islam to the jahiliah (the ignorant), he said, “and they were able to overcome their hatred for each other, become united and helped towards the establishment of the great Muslim civilisation.”
His question then rings true today. “Can we say that what they could do we, the modern Muslims, cannot do?”
Sholto Byrnes is a commentator and consultant in Kuala Lumpur and a corresponding fellow of the Erasmus Forum
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
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Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
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The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
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- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
