How do you steal? Try this.

- Pick a field you are passionate about: whether its blogging, romance novel writing, comedy, internet entrepreneurship, art, cooking, cancer research, etc.

Read everything you can about the field. Here’s what you have to read minimally:

a) At least the history of that field from 1800 on. Try to read at least 10 different sources on the history

b) All of the latest blogs in the field. Try to have 100 different sources here.

c) All the basic techniques the current leading experts in the field use. Read all of their biographies or autobiographies.

- d) Pick your five favorite sources in the field. For instance, if I wanted to write a novel: I’d pick my five favorite novelists. If

I wanted to start a business in “local Internet” I’d pick my five favorite local Internet companies. If I wanted to blog, I’d pick my five favorite bloggers. If I wanted to be a management consultant, I’d steal directly from Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, etc.

a)Get one element that you like from each source. What element do you think stands out that makes them a success.

b) Add your own improvement. Or not. You can even start out with a direct copy and throw in your twist at the end.

- c) Ignore all the haters. The more people hate you, the more money you will make. Trust me on that.

Theory of Conventional Management

It was found after the Second World War in 1945. It was meant to build back the countries in Europe that became the victims of the war. It starts with the Western Epistemology and their World-view. The Western Development philosophy is neoclassical, the philosophy's core and basic is the Growth theory and the next step is, the Growth and Distribution theory (improvement).

The West thinks that the economy can be brought up through the Distribution theory, because the economy can then be stable and unbiased. Distribution Theory was the way to achieve this, so they needed the TRIKLE DOWN EFFECT (Kesan penitisan ke bawah). But it turned up that it didnt happen fast enough and efficient enough. Instead something else happened, expertative relationship. It turn out that the Distribution theory ruined the people. The rich was getting richer and the poor was getting poorer. The oppression (penindasan) began the spread.

SUMMARY

Neoclassical Development: Redistribution and Growth Theory, it means free MARKET and free COMPETITION/PERFECT COMPETITION

Free Competition means the item supplier in the market will have no such law on how, where, and when to market their products. They decide how much is the quantity of the products that needs to be in the market. The government do not have any power of control on it. On the other hand the consumers will actually be the indicator for how much product needs to be in the market and this is called Free Market.

This way, the economy will be strong and it will motivate the people (suppliers) to work and make effort independently.

The West then came up with another theory that was introduced by Karl Marx. He created another philosophy, it was called Radical. Under the Radical philosophy is the Structure Theory.

Bab 1

ISLAMIC POVERTY MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDY ON KOPERASI BELA RAKYAT (KOBERA)

Taha Mohd Omar

ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT (ISDEV)

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

MASTER CANDIDATE

Introduction

Poverty management is a worldwide problem, many kinds of efforts and methods has been applied to overcome poverty problems, even though there has been many cases whereas poverty has been reduce but poverty will never be eradicate totally (M. Syukri Salleh: 2000). Poverty has been defined through kinds of aspects. Sometimes poverty depends on periods of time, situation, and place. According to M. Syukri Salleh (2000: 103) In developing countries, poverty usually refers to starvation, hunger, and unemployment. While in a developed countries, poverty refers to people with low income, unable to fulfill their daily needs like other normal households that has stable income. According to Shihabuddin Al-Masri (115: 1948) there are two kinds of classification of the poor according to Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). First, are those who do not have the strength to earn money that can even be enough for half of their requirements in a day, at the same time they don’t have any sort of qualification to get a well paid job to fulfill their needs. At the less extreme level is the second group, this group has sufficient sum of money to fulfill their daily needs, but not every day, sometimes when they need more, the money is not enough, the first party is called faqeer and the second is miskin.

What is Islam’s reflection and impression on poverty and how does Islam manages poverty? Most Islamic scholars expressed that poverty needs to be eradicated, but on the other hand there are many Hadith and incidents in Islamic history that tends to supports poverty and even looks at poverty as a positive matter (M. Syukri Salleh: 1999). M. Syukri Salleh (1999) describes poverty in Islam has some positive elements. First the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) use to pray and ask from Allah s.w.t to be put in a poor condition. Second, poverty is the symbol of the righteous. Third, poverty can be the cause and reason to Allah’s mercy. Fourth, the poor will be granted special rewards from Allah s.w.t in the hereafter. For example the Hadith that has been reported by Abu Hurairah, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) saying: The poor will enter paradise half a day before the rich, and half a day in the hereafter is equal to five hundred years (Tirmizi Hadith No. 2353). The way Islam manages with poverty differs from the West, if we take a close look through Islamic history it is proven that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) reacted differently with separate individuals among his companions. Some of them would be left to be poor even though they had the capability to be rich, like the ahlus-suffah from both the Muhajirin and Ansar tribes. So how did the Prophet (pbuh) use to manage against this type of poor people? Among the methods that has been practiced by the Prophet (pbuh) is the approach to help each other and acting fairly and just among the poor, this way even though the ahlus-suffah were poor, they did not trouble the Muslim community in Madinah (M. Syukri Salleh, 54-56: 2004). This research is carried out to identify how the poor people in Malaysia are being managed. As a Muslim country, Malaysia should adopt Islamic values in managing poverty, like the Prophet (pbuh) used to practice during his time.

Research Background

Malaysia has taken some steps to overcome poverty amongst the poor. The Malaysian Government started a scheme in 2008 under the Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia (SKM) Cooperative Commission of Malaysia to introduce a program called Koperasi Bela Rakyat (KOBERA), which has been officially presented by the previous Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The purpose of this program was especially to manage poverty all over the country in 576 state assemblies (Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN). The KOBERA program targets the poor who are categorize by their conditions, they are divided into 3-4 categories. The first category is the ‘household heads’ where their monthly salary is below the poverty-line income (Pendapatan Garis Kemiskinan (PGK) for a basic household. 440RM per month is the poverty-line level for meals in a hardcore-poor (miskin tegar) household and 750RM per month is the poverty-line level for meals and non-meal items in a normal poor household (KPWKM: 2009). This is also called income poverty, it is usually revealed by means of a ratio of declared poor to the total population and households whose income or consumption is found to be below that of a set poverty line are defined as poor (Destremau, 2001: 130). The second category is individuals aged 18 years old with a monthly salary below poverty-line income per capita. The last category is the Community leaders, who are involved with the poverty program in the assembly as a catalyst to the society (SKM: 2011).

The above categories are the target groups for the poverty management scheme. According to an Assistant Officer[1] at the Cooperative Commission of Malaysia in Penang, these groups are being help by the Malaysian Government since 2008 by receiving 30,000RM to start off any kind of business that is relevant to the community, but it has been rather disappointing results throughout the years. None of any poor groups in KOBERA came to satisfy the SKM regarding their businesses, most of them could not even came out with a proposal on any good business. Yet the opportunities, support and assist have been given to these poor people, but very few number of the KOBERA groups turn out to be successful. The research wants to identify the possible issues and problems from an Islamic perspective, what could be the cause of failure in the KOBERA groups all over Penang.

Problem Statement

The KOBERA is a program established by the Cooperate Commission of Malaysia to manage poverty and help the poor to start small businesses. Among the steps of management taken to achieve the above goals are to provide capital to fund businesses and employment opportunities (SKM: 2011). However, the KOBERA groups are facing enormous issues and problems that are holding back the growth and development of the KOBERA groups, despite being established almost three years ago. Therefore this research would like to endorse a research to identify the failure faced by KOBERA and suggesting an appropriate module to manage poverty. The KOBERA groups attains an amount of capital from the Cooperation to start any type of business, and if the proposed business succeeds, the particular KOBERA group will receive continuous capital assistance from the Cooperation to make the current business persistent[2]. This research will focus on the first category of poor that has been mention in the research background, which is household-heads. What is causing them to fail in managing poverty although positive opportunities been given. This research will try to analyze the scheme’s management in KOBERA through the Islamic perspective of poverty management.

Research Objectives and Questions

The mentioned problems will be elaborate according to the numbers of objectives that wants to be achieved by the researcher and in his view is important. The research’s general objective is to come up with a certain Islamic poverty management module for KOBERA, that later can also be used by other cooperative bodies. The general objectives are then brake down into specific objectives as listed below.

Research Objectives	Research Questions
1. To identify the range of the current management of the poor in KOBERA	1. What kind of poverty management is currently being used in KOBERA? 2. Does the current poverty management at KOBERA needs to be improve?
2. To analyze the KOBERA poverty management in the light of Muhammad Syukri Salleh’s thought on poverty management	3. What is Muhammad Syukri Salleh’s thought on poverty management? 4. Does the existing poverty management at KOBERA differs from Muhammad Syukri Salleh’s thought on poverty management or agree?
3. To suggest the findings and make recommendations of poverty management for KOBERA	5.Will the Islamic poverty management approach give an impact and sustainability to KOBERA?

Bibliography

Blandine Destremau, Francis Wilson (2001). Poverty Reduction: What Role for the State in Today’s Globalized Economy, New York: CROP International Studies in Poverty Research.

http://www.kpwkm.gov.my/new_index.php?page=kpwkm/menu_nkra&menu=kpwkm/miskin_tegar_nkra&lang=malay. Access date: 24.01.2011

http://www.skm.gov.my/kobera. Access date: 25.12.2010

Muhammad Bin Isa At-Tirmizi (1990). Jami-Tirmizi, Lahore: Maktaba Rehmania. Vol. 1.

Muhammad Syukri Salleh (1999). Islam dan Kemiskinan, Majalah Pemikir: Membangun Minda Berwawasan. Vol. 18, Pg. 153-173.

Muhammad Syukri Salleh (2000). Pengurusan Pembangunan Islam: Prosiding Seminar, Pulau Pinang: Islamic Development Management Project. Pg. 96-172.

Muhammad Syukri Salleh (2004). Pembasmian Kemiskinan: Bandar dan Luar Bandar, Petaling Jaya: Institut Perkembangan Minda (INMIND). Pg. 51-103.

Shihabuddin Al-Masri (1948). Anwar-ul-Masalik, Surabaya: Dar-ul Ihya-ul-Kutub Arabiyah.

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[1] Mr. Fadhil interviewed at The Bangunan Tuanku Syed Putra, Penang on Monday, 3pm, 24th January 2011

[2] Interview with SKM officer at Bangunan Tuanku Syed Putra, on Monday, 24^th January 2011

Abstract W.A.P.I 2011

ISLAMIC MANAGEMENT OF POVERTY: AN ANALYSIS OF MUHAMMAD SYUKRI SALLEH’S THOUGHT

Taha Mohd Omar

Islamic Development Management (ISDEV)

School of Social Sciences

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Tel: 017-4534307

ABSTRACT

This paper is intended to analyze and understand the Islamic management of poverty and to find the accurate solution and understand the real meaning of poverty the Islamic way that has been suggested by Malaysian scholar Muhammad Syukri Salleh from Universiti Sains of Malaysia (USM). The issue of managing poverty has been a long debated subject since the early 60s until today. Writers and scholars from various countries and continents are always sharing and exploring this issue. The conventional management thinking is the dominant thinking now, and as a Muslim based thinking and view, it is certainly not suitable for normal management instruments to be used. Among the reasons is that it does not have sufficient analytical instruments to examine the management of poverty, let alone to produce an Islamic solution. To acquire a solution, this paper will try to find the answer in Muhammad Syukri Salleh’s thought on poverty. He has worked on it for quite a long time and has came up with interesting thoughts This hopefully will help to understand poverty management from an Islamic perspective.

By Prof. Naquib Al-Attas

Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-attas (Born 1976)

Religion is a big problem to define according to the West. What is a definition of religion? You cannot define a religion without believing in the fundamental thing, that is God. Most Western thinks that Islam means submission.

The Arabic being used in the Koran is actually Islamised from the jahiliyah Arabic.

Before we can talk about the definition of Religion, we have to understand Arabic.

To understand Islam, we have to analyze it from the Arabic point of view.

Religion in Arabic means Deen, as in Dayn. The same masdar, so what does depth has to do with religion? We understood that we are in depth to Allah, because Allah s.w.t has given us life to live and make effort for the life in dunia and akhirat. We are in depthness. Sedangkan Allah tak berhajat kepada hutang kita. How can you pay back to Allah using money, property etc. because everything belongs to him

Man dzal ladzi yuqridullaha qordon hasan-

Inna allaha ashtara minal mukminina anfusahum wa amwaalahum-

The way to pay the depth is to give your self, not only give service to Allah but to obey and worship Allah s.w.t.

Ibadah does not mean to go in the jungle or to beat yourself with knives etc, but to ibadah is to follow specific action that is proper and bestowed on the Muslims.

1.Wa man yabtaghi ghairal islami deenan fa lan yuqbala minhu-

2. A fa ghaira deenillahhi yabghun.

Koperasi Bela Rakyat (KOBERA)

Koperasi Bela Rakyat (KOBERA) merupakan sebuah badan yang ditubuhkan oleh Suruhanjaya Koperasi Malaysia (SKM) untuk membasmi kemiskinan dari masyarakat Melayu. Antara langkah yang telah diambil untuk mencapai matlamat di atas adalah menyediakan wang dana untuk perniagaan dan juga peluang pekerjaan.

Akan tetapi masalah yang dihadapi KOBERA sekarang ialah ia tidak dapat mengembangkan atau melestarikan tahap perniagaan yang telah diwujudkan oleh ahli koperasi. Hal ini berlaku kerana isu yang wujud di dalam ahli koperasi itu sendiri, iaitu mentaliti orang miskin, rasa cukup dengan benda yang sedikit, segan dengan penukaran dan rasa tidak layak untuk jadi kaya, sehingga ada setengah mengatakan ‘kalau aku dah kaya, siapa yang akan jadi miskin?, kita kena redha dengan ketentuan tuhan dan sebagainya. Perkara ini akhirnya akan membawa kepada kemunduran dan muflis.

Jadi pada pandangan pakar, mentaliti adalah sebuah perkara yang dapat dizahirkan melalui tingkah laku. Tingkah laku seseorang itu bertunjangkan mentaliti nya, yang tertanam kukuh di dalam dirinya. Jika kita ingin mengubah mentaliti mereka (orang miskin), ia merupakan suatu perkara yang hampir mustahil atau mengambil masa yang panjang, sedangkan perubahan dalam mengembangkan perniagaan harus dilakukan serta merta.

Dimulakan dengan punca pencarian mereka, bidang apakah yang sesuai dilakukan golongan miskin ini untuk memulakan perniagaan secara mudah dan dalam batasan kecil. Contohnya pertanian, walaupun ia mengambil masa yang panjang, akan tetapi ia tidak memerlukan apa-apa kemahiran khusus untuk menjalankannya, sesuai dilakukan oleh ahli koperasi yang tergolong bawah orang-orang miskin.

Langkah kedua ialah saluran kewangan, seperti langkah-langkah lepas yang telah diambil oleh pihak atasan koperasi dengan menyediakan wang dana, sekali gus menyerahkan kepada golongan pekerja miskin, sedangkan mereka (pekerja miskin) tidak mempunyai apa-apa kemahiran langsung dalam mengendalikan wang untuk perbelanjaan harian, belanja barang belian dan jualan. Hal ini akhirnya akan membawa kepada pengeluaran modal tetapi tidak ada pulangan keuntungan.

Sebelum memulakan sebuah perniagaan, pengurusan kewangan perlu dilakukan dahulu. Dalam hal ini, ahli pekerja miskin tidak boleh dilantik untuk mengurus wang dana yang telah diberi pihak atasan. Bahkan pihak atasan koperasi perlu melantik seorang pakar perakaunan untuk mengurus segala transaksi yang akan berlaku sebelum dan selepas perniagaan. Antara kaedah yang boleh diadaptasikan ialah kaedah ‘Empangan’, iaitu wang dana tidak akan diberikan sekali gus kepada para pekerja miskin, pada mulanya ia akan diserahkan kepada juru akaun yang telah dilantik, kemudian ia akan disalurkan mengikut keperluan para pekerja miskin. Dengan ini, bukan sahaja kedudukan wang akan diketahui, bahkan saluran wang juga akan terkawal. Ini adalah antara tanggungjawab pakar kewangan tadi. Kemudian tanggung jawab pekerja juga perlu ditentukan.

Antara tanggungjawab para pekerja ialah, mereka wajib memberi laporan harian setiap transaksi, seperti penyimpanan resit pembelian barang sebagai bukti dan juga catitan wang yang keluar dan masuk ( untuk catitan, latihan akan dijalankan untuk mengajar mereka sistem tersebut), tidak terkecuali pembelajaan tetap mereka seperti makan, pengangkutan dan keperluan harian. Kedudukan wang atau cash-flow perlu dikenal pasti juga. Untuk memastikan kesemua tanggungjawab ini dijalankan degan amanah, disiplin diri perlu wujud di dalam diri para pekerja seperti ketulusan dan hormat orang atasan.

Antara ramai para pekerja, tumpuan untuk menjayakan kesemua mereka ialah mustahil, iaitu bergerak kepada peringkat yang kedua, untuk mengembangkan perniagaan kecil kepada perniagaan besar. Kerana ini terbukti bukan hal atau isu yang mungkin dicapai, kerana lebih baik pekerja yang berpotensi itu diberi tumpuan penuh untuk melonjak ke arah level seterusnya, dan yang lainnya hanya diletakkan di tahap kelestarian. Gambaran ini terbukti lebih baik dari kesemua mereka gagal dalam perniagaan.

Selain dari itu, antara tumpuan yang kita boleh berikan ialah kepada anak-anak pekerja miskin ini. Kerana pemikiran dan mentaliti anak-anak mereka masih mentah dan belum lagi kukuh dengan pegangan seperti ayah-ayah mereka iaitu ‘biar redha denga ketentuan tuhan, biar miskin’

By Dr Atikullah

Penggunaan prinsip syariah dalam sistem pemerolehan kontrak dalam industri pembinaan.

1. The particulars that could bring a business to a failure

Corruption

Undue delay of payment/imbursement

Bad working culture

Selecting unqualified workers

2. Philosophy of the business transaction muamalat tijari in Islam

Surah Jumuah ayat 9-10

Surah Nur ayat 37

Islam teaches to avoid quarrel between two parties, like the Board/Superior and the Sub-ordinates. How can we prevent this from happened.

Buying a product must be free from the particulars mentioned beneath/principle

1. Usury/riba

2. Uncertainty/gharar like a contract in architecture that is open ended.

3. Mutual consent Surah Nisa ayat 29