Again, Why The Ladies' Photos???

ogilvy said...

may i know why there is beautiful girl picture posted when you talking landmark and statistic?

10:14 PM

Its that time of the year to repost on why there are so many female photos on my blog. I get so many queries, I feel like this should be permanently on the sidebar. Last year, I did a Zoomerang survey with input from readers of the blog on the photos:

How do you feel about the female photos being featured in my blog?

1 Don't mind them, not the main reason I come to your blog.			39%
2 Prefer you not to put them up, its a distraction and it cheapens your blog.			9%
3 The photos are excellent and blends well with your information, both equally important.			31%
4 Without the photos, I will visit your blog a lot less, sorry but its true.			14%
Other, please specify			7%

I would like to add something new. Many would have noticed that I post only Asian women. Well, my blog is an "Asian blog" for starters. I also believe that the most popular lifestyle - entertainment magazines would have you believe that the most beautiful women in the world are white, blond and busty (mostly).

Surreptitiously, this is another way of reinforcing the "colonial mindset" onto the rest of the world. If you control the media, you can push for "whatever the ideal notion of physical beauty" you want. Like it or not, this plays into the kind of dolls we get for our kids. Without realising it, the cartoons, TV shows we all watch will influence our kids, and the parents as well. The whole seemingly harmless things we take for granted, the Western fairytales for example, all work to impose these kind of images and "mind censorship values system" into all who watch and listen.

I know this sounds like a desperate lawyer talking, but a healthy self-image is vital for a proper grounding to lead a happy and successful life. In no way am I bashing the Western ideals on beauty and role models, ... but we also need to be proud of our heritage and make-up. Hence all women featured are Asians only. Sigh... in my small ways, I hope to help project a healthy self-actualisation process for all (... ok, stop laughing).



I used to have to search high and low for "intelligent photos" which somehow may relate to the topic of my posting, as you can see from the first 2 years of postings. It was exhausting and not much fun at all. Postings has to have photos as its nicer to look at and more captivating. It takes me usually 15-20 minutes to write one posting, but I had to search another 20 minutes looking for a neutral photo.

Then I said to myself, its my blog, there is no need to look professional. Its all in the comments. If readers want to read it, they will read it. Why not put up photos that I liked to see. I am a very single hetrosexual guy. Hence I like pretty girls - or rather to look at them.

I don't just put up any girls, they have to be my type and have some jenaisequa' (pardon my Japanese) ... some readers prefer me not to post the photos, some really wanted me to. As for myself, I really wanted to as well. Plus they are never crude, pornographic or too revealing. If you want to just look at girl photos, there are plenty of sites for that. I also take care not to "objectify" the women, hence it is imperative that I always put up their names as well - at least it won't be like Penthouse where the girls all have just one name like Amber, Shashay, Crimson, Vandii, etc...

Lastly, its branding. There are so many business related sites. At least these are distinguishing features that sets the blog apart. I also stated that I feature only Asian ladies because this is primarily an Asian business blog. I also know of some high ranking executives who find it cumbersome to read my blog at work - they kind of have to do it secretly in case they get misunderstood... "I am really looking for the articles!!!"... but that's the fun part of it.

What I post is to share, there is no fee or subscription, or membership... in exchange I would ask my readers to "pardon my habits and indulge me a bit".

Cheers...


p/s photos: Liyana Jasmay (all photos by Photogua)

Islamic Finance, Malaysia's Bright Light

There is a bright light in Malaysia's financial landscape, its Islamic Finance. Malaysia has been competing with the Middle East countries to wrangle the top spot. Malaysia held a good lead prior to the global financial crisis, and for the last 2 years have edged away from the competition to be a clear leader. The Middle East countries have had to grapple with debt restructuring of its own which weighs heavily on their Islamic Finance focus.



Its not just a matter of prestige to be the center for Islamic Finance, its a viable and attractive area of finance. Its potential is enormous. Lagging behind Malaysia are the usual suspects, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE.

The most active category is sukuk or Islamic Bonds. The main difference is that sukuk does not charge interest but rather claims a portion of the issuer's profits. This year alone international borrowers have sold $9.8bn of Islamic Bonds, with 72% of that being issued in Malaysia. Similar bonds issued by the Persian Gulf nations totaled just $2.5bn collectively this year.

The gulf nations had a major real estate tumble and then had to deal with default of sukuks issued by Saad Group (Saudi Arabia) and Investment Daar (Kuwait).

Considering that there is more than $950bn in assets globally that comply with shariah law (mainly deposits), we are looking at a market with strong growth prospects. Even international big banks have been trying to muscle into that territory to get a slice of the action. The most successful to date include HSBC, Citigroup and DBS.



As an indication of things to come, Saturna Capital, the world's biggest shariah compliant equity fund manager has just set up shop in Kuala Lumpur as did Nomura Securities and India's Reliance Capital Asset Management (all shariah compliant fund managers).

Thanks to the push by Bank Negara and SC, last year Malaysia introduced an online trading platform for murabahah transactions where banks and companies can buy and sell commodities based on a price that includes an agreed upon profit margin.

Safe to say that the bulk of the sukuk issuers in Malaysia have been GLCs and government linked debt. In order for this market to see greater acceptance and adoption, we need more non-GLCs to start tapping the market with greater frequency.

Do not lose the lead and edge you have achieved.