From Textbook to Tahrir Square

From Textbook to Tahrir Square Written by David E. Miller Published Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Experts assert the cradle of the Arab Spring was in school reading assignments Facebook was the medium for spreading the word of rebellion in the Arab Spring, but it was school textbooks – the required reading from early childhood through the teen years that informs children of who they are and where they come from – that may have been the source of alienation that drove young people into the street. That's what some scholars meeting in Jerusalem said at the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem on Wednesday, as they reviewed the lessons students pick up from reading history, literature, civics and other subjects. "Arab school textbooks are unable to address inner diversities within societies," Falk Pingel, a consultant and research fellow at Germany's Georg Eckert Institute, which researches textbooks, told The Media Line. "They convey a homogeneous image of society which doesn't fit the reality." School systems across the Arab world are usually faulted for their poor performance in creating graduates with the math, science and other skills needed for the modern job market. But a critical study of the region's textbook reveal they are also failing in the much more basic function of creating informed and educated citizens. Schools have an outside role in the Middle and North Africa, where some 60% of the region's population is under 30 years of age. Governments spend about 20% of their budgets on education, but drop-out rates are high, scores on international exams are low and some 30% of the region's population can't read or write. Even from a young age, students easily see the discrepancy between what their history and civics classes teach and the reality around them, leading them initially to be skeptical of their teachers and school and eventually of their government and leaders. "The growing divide between reality and the books is cited as one of the reasons for the Arab revolutions," Pingel said. Syria, a dictatorship that has been wracked by unrest since the middle of March, is a potpourri of Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Druze and Christians. But the ruling Baath party is ideologically committed to pan-Arabism and fears the divides could undermine political stability. As a result, said experts at the conference, Syrian history textbooks that make no mention of the country's ethnic and religious divisions, even though every child knows his family's identity. Monika Bolliger, a researcher from the University of Zurich who studies Syrian textbooks, said the uprising in Syria displayed sectarian undertones that highlighted the failure of the state to create an inclusive Arab identity. The Syrian students she interviewed ridiculed their educational system. "They think its nonsense," she told The Media Line. "Syrians often make jokes about their educational system, mocking the slogans and the propaganda."   Arab school curriculum is highly centralized, uniform, and focused on repetition rather than innovation, said Dr. Achim Rohde, a researcher at the German University of Marburg who studies Iraqi textbooks. In an attempt to avoid dealing with politically contentious issues, Iraqi school curriculum ignores the country's history since 1958, when the Hashemite king was toppled in a violent rebellion. Since then it has been ruled by a succession of Baath rulers, the last of whom, Saddam Hussein, was ousted by allied forces in 2003. The allies tried to solve Iraq's problem of sectarian divisions by removing all references to minorities in textbook, including favorable mention of Shiite religious doctrine that Saddam had order inserted during the 1990s as he sought to curry their favor. That, said Rohde, erased a source of inter-communal understanding. "Textbooks are part of the problem of sectarianism," Rohde said. Textbooks can be turned into part of the solution but only if they included historical examples of inter-sectarian cooperation, he added. Even then, the transition is difficult and takes time. Although Tunisia had the most progressive and developed educational system, it was the first Arab country to experience a revolution because its reforms were insufficient Bolliger of the University of Zurich said educated Syrians' skepticism of formal education was part of a broader cynicism towards official narratives perpetuated by governments about history and society, depicted as well in mainstream media. But not everyone is convinced that textbooks play such a prominent role. Nathan Brown, a political scientist at George Washington University, said academic researchers are attracted to them as shapers of society and attitudes because they are readily available and universally read. But, he said, they aren't necessarily the best indicators of the nature of a given society. Although politically and ideologically divided, Gaza and the West Bank use the same textbooks, said Brown. In the rigid Palestinian educational system, careful study of textbooks was more important for teachers than for students. "There is very little freedom [for teachers] in the classroom," he told The Media Line. In Saudi Arabia, a highly conservative Islamic society, textbooks portray the country as a part of the "global village" and women as having rights and freedoms they lack in reality, Eleanor Doumato, a retired researcher of Saudi textbooks at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University in the U.S. told The Media Line. But, she stressed, the problem isn't textbooks, which nowhere in the world show authentic representations of the societies they write about, but what those in power would like their societies to be. The problem isn't the books but the governments that sponsor them. "Civics textbooks portray an idealized version of society," Doumato told The Media Line. "The problem is that in Saudi Arabia, although revered, the educators themselves are uneducated."

URL of this Page: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=32569

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Asadullah Syed

Taliban talks bombing

Administration negotiates with Afghan enemy despite brutal attack

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Obama administration has confirmed that talks are under way with the Taliban to seek a diplomatic settlement in Afghanistan prior to the departure of coalition troops. The same Taliban conducted a spectacular assault late Tuesday on the InterContinental Hotel in Kabul. Seven suicide bombers and snipers killed 11 people. The attackers also died, some by design, the last three shot down on the hotel roof by NATO helicopters.

It would be reasonable to conclude from this brutal incident that the Taliban are more interested in coalition capitulation than peace. They share President Obama's objective of having foreign troops depart Afghanistan, but they would rather push them out than invite them to leave. If the enemy reduced the number and scope of their attacks the political case for a quick pullout would be more palatable. Instead, they're amplifying the violence. Mr. Obama refuses to discuss the concept of victory in Afghanistan; the Taliban are seeking a win.

This was no random attack by rogue elements in the Taliban camp. Reportedly the diplomatic team led by U.S. special envoy Ambassador Marc Grossman, who had met earlier with President Hamid Karzai, was the target. Even this degree of Taliban contempt for diplomatic immunity will not derail the detente. The consensus opinion seems to be that the road to a peace agreement is a bumpy one, and events like this should be expected along the way.

Such a response is nothing new. In late 1967, the State Department received a communique from the National Liberation Front (NLF), the Viet Cong's political wing with whom the Johnson administration was desperate to negotiate. They said they were willing to discuss prisoner exchanges and broader issues but "now is not the right time to talk peace." The State Department interpreted this message to mean that the NLF in fact did want to discuss peace but was playing hard to get. In fact, the communist diplomatic feelers were a ruse in advance of the 1968 Tet Offensive. The offensive failed, and the severely bloodied enemy was driven to the negotiation table as a last resort. Days before peace talks opened in Paris in May 1968 the communists launched an attack that became known as "Little Tet," and despite the name, that month saw more U.S. deaths in Vietnam than any other.

Less sophisticated leaders might view a large-scale attack just days before a peace conference opens as evidence of bad faith. They might call the talks off, ramp up the "kinetic action" and show the enemy some backbone. The Johnson administration had been so anxious to engage in negotiations that the talks opened as scheduled, and then dragged on inconclusively for years. Expect the same from the Obama administration. Events like the InterContinental attack will not be allowed to get in the way of a settlement so Mr. Obama can bring this "war of necessity" to a quick close. The lesson to the Taliban will be that the Americans will pay any price, bear any burden, to be done with this war and get out. Lacking such sophistication, the Taliban still believe in old-fashioned concepts like winning.

URL of this Page: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/29/taliban-talks-bombing/

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Asadullah Syed

Experts urge CBN to promote capital re purposing, not Islamic banking

Experts urge CBN to promote capital re purposing, not Islamic banking
By Kingsley Ighomwenghian, Finance Editor

 

• Muoghalu (left) and Johnson listening attentively during the seminar

 

Kingsley Moughalu, deputy governor, Financial System Stability, at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had an arduous task mid last week in Lagos, as he tried to convince bankers, lawyers, and finance experts, among others, who gathered in Lagos to discuss the CBN guidelines on the proposed Islamic Banking framework.

It was at a seminar on "repurposing capital: non-interest banking" co-sponsored by Apostles in the Market Place (AiMP), a network of Christian professionals and leaders, and BusinessDay Media Limited publishers of BusinessDay newspapers.

Facilitators and participants (based on the barrage of questions), insisted that because Nigeria remains a secular state, there is no room for guideline suggestive of any religious inclinations or practice. The CBN Act, they stressed, does not empower the apex bank to engage in Islamic banking, besides the fact that non-interest banking, which falls under specialised banking, as recognised by the Banks and Other Financial Institution's Act (BOFIA), is not a leeway for promotion of any religious practice.

Kingsley Muoghalu, Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, at the CBN, in his presentation however insisted that the CBN reviewed the initial guidelines released in January this year taking note of issues raised by various stakeholders, while stressing that the apex bank is under obligation to license banks that meet set conditions. Just as in the conventional banks, Islamic banks with national spread have a capital requirement of N10 billion, while a regional license attracts N5 billion.

The CBN, Muoghalu said, should be commended for bowing to superior arguments and admitting that "the first guidelines had a fundamental error," following which it was reviewed by the apex bank's committee of governors. 

While calling for submission of other models of non-interest banking outside the Islamic one which is well known and practice globally, Muoghalu, a lawyer, stressed that the CBN was acting within its powers. The Islamic banking guidelines, he continued, is still part of ongoing reforms leading to the cancellation of universal banking licenses, because the model has not worked well. Universal banking, he added, encouraged the aggregation of risk by the banks, without contributing adequately to national development.

Non-interest or Islamic banking, Muoghalu noted, is part of efforts to attract more of Nigeria's bankable population into the system, lamenting the situation where almost 50 per cent adults in the country are not within the system.

"There is no need to entertain exaggerated fears," he said, assuring that the CBN will pursue financial inclusion.

A communiqué at the end of the seminar made available to our correspondent, wondered why it took the apex bank six months to recognise the glaring error in the January 2011 guidelines issued on the Non-Interest Financial Institutions (NIFI), whose "framework was limited in its application as it equated NIB (Non-Interest Banking) to Islamic Banking, in effect barring potential non-Muslim or non-Shariah compliant investors and participants from tapping into the benefits of NIB." 

Moreover, they continued, "the framework clearly demanded that NIFI "transacts banking business, etc... and commercial activities as well as the provision of financial products and services in accordance with Shariah principles and rules of Islamic commercial jurisprudence". It also prescribed that prospective NIB operators specify in their memorandum and article of incorporation that "their business operations will be conducted according with Shariah principles and practices", and that "all licensed NIFIs shall have an internal Shariah compliance review mechanism and a Shariah Advisory Committee (SAC) as part of their governance structure".  These and similar elements of the new framework needed to be changed."

The new framework re-issued on Tuesday, June 21, 2011, according to the communiqué is not fail-safe however, as it still recognises that "Islamic banking is only one aspect of NIB and now recognises 'Other Non Interest Financial Institutions' to accommodate other NIB models whether faith-based or otherwise." 

While noting that the seminar organisers are willing to work with the apex bank in developing a better framework, the participants urged the CBN to "consult more broadly in developing an enhanced banking and investing framework. Such framework should, in addition to the expected banking supervisory items such as solvency, capital adequacy, adequate risk management, transparent reporting, have" elements like: 

• A broader framework that accommodates all faiths, hence name a change in the name to Profit and Loss Sharing Bank, as provided for by BOFIA, or Faith-Based Financing (FBF).

• Adopting "values-" as well as "law-driven" approach should be adopted with elements such as:

i. Fairness: transparency and social justice

ii. Social well-being: prohibition of certain types of transactions (like gambling, derivatives, etc.)

iii. Zero-to-appropriate interest rate: returns based on wealth-generating investments

iv. Shared risk and profits: one party does not benefit at the expense of the other

v. Contractual clarity and certainty: elimination of ambiguities, enabling non-sophisticated investors/customers transact banking and investment business with trust and transparency

vi. Discouragement of consumer debt

c. The framework should recognize multiple tiers of FBF institutions based on level of adherence to the above listed FBF values. 

i. Totally Non-interest: clarity and transparency about zero interest in this category with no hidden charges.

ii. Appropriate Interest: a constrained interest rate, based o a variety of factors to be agreed upon in the guidelines.

The participants agreed however that if properly regulated and administered, the NIB and FBF, "have the potential to transform the economies of underdeveloped communities, hence is a welcome development in Nigeria where on-going banking reforms have made interest-charging deposit money banks more risk averse and perhaps unwilling to venture into virgin frontiers in banking.  The unbanked and under-banked in Nigeria will benefit from FBF where risk and returns are shared between provider and user of financing.  There is however need for a supervisory framework that recognises the peculiarities, applicability and potential of FBF including the following:

a. Stimulating grassroots, relationally-based investing (versus debt-based financing)

b. Countering corruption through transparency and other faith-based financing (FBF) principles

c. Avoiding speculative bubbles and decreasing reckless investing

d. Avoiding consumer and other debt that is detached from real assets and initiatives." 

Eghes Eyieyien, chief executive, Pharez Limited, a Lagos-based risk management, ratings, consulting, human capital development & training, and investment firm, who was lead speaker at the seminar insisted in his presentation, for example, that "the CBN cannot use a guideline to change the law, (and that) the CBN is not the National Assembly. The CBN lawyers should go back and look at the guidelines again, because you cannot use a small provision in BOFIA that gives you the power to regulate to begin to legislate."

Continuing, he advised that "if Islamic banking must happen, the CBN should send a draft bill to the National Assembly."

According to him, "the NIFI Framework stated that: "A Non-Interest Financial Institution (NIFI) means a bank or Other Financial Institution (OFI) under the purview of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which transacts banking business, engages in trading, investment and commercial activities as well as the provision of financial products and services in accordance with Shariah principles and rules of Islamic commercial jurisprudence." The Glossary of Terms of the CBN's NIFI Framework states that: Shariah Principles refers to "the divine guidance as given by the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet and embodies all aspects of the Islamic faith, including beliefs and practices".

"The only legally valid definition is stated in Section 61 of the (BOFIA) of 1991 which speaks of a "Profit and Loss Sharing Bank". That is, "a bank which transacts investment or commercial banking business and maintains profits and loss sharing accounts". Profit and Loss Banking has always been the interpretation and understanding of Non-Interest Financial Services in Nigeria. When the CBN granted an Approval-in-Principle Licence to Jaiz International Bank Plc in 2004 while Chief Joseph Sanusi was the CBN Governor, the licence was issued for it to carry on business as a Profit and Loss Sharing Bank. Curiously, the present CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was widely reported in the mass media to have announced on Monday, 20th June, 2011, at a Conference on Islamic Banking in Dakar, Senegal, that the CBN had issued(?) Jaiz International Bank Plc an Approval-in-Principle as the "first Islamic Bank in the country". Jaiz Bank was unable to operate as a Profit and Loss Sharing Bank, not because there was no Islamic Banking Guideline, but simply because it was unable to raise the minimum capital requirement of N25 billion. The CBN has now inexplicably lowered the capital requirement for Islamic Banks to just N10 billion to achieve "National Bank" status as against the N25 billion it stipulated for Deposit Money Banks. Why is the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi-led CBN unduly eager to make life easier for Jaiz International Bank and other proposed Islamic Banks?"

Fielding questions from participants at the seminar, Muoghalu called for submission of other models of non-interest banking, arguing that the Islamic type is the one that is well known and practiced across the globe even in the UK, insisting that the CBN is acting within its powers, since the guidelines is part of ongoing reforms leading to the cancellation of universal banking licenses, because the model has not worked well. Universal banking, he added, encouraged the aggregation of risk by the banks, without contributing adequately to national development.

The Deputy Governor expressed worry at the way in which the proposed licensing of Islamic banking is being tied to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the CBN Governor being a Muslim. The process began in 2008 with the formation of the Islamic Finance Working Group with representatives from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Debt Management Office and the CBN (under Chukwuma Soludo, a Christian) as observer. Nigeria, he added, joined the Islamic Financial Services Board also in 2008 and formally admitted early in 2009 before the current CBN Governor assumed office.

He noted that the CBN under Sanusi remains passionate about the nation's financial system and the need to effectively intermediate in all aspects of the economy. This zeal, he stressed, has resulted in the ongoing banking reforms, the SME and power sectors, in a bid to ensure long-term loans at single digits to operators in the real sectors of the economy, as part of the CBN's mandate.

Firing back, Eyienyen stressed: "It will be disingenuous for anybody to say we are concluding what Soludo started. I am surprised as to why it is the CBN Governor and not the DMO that is talking about sukuk (Islamic or non-interest bonds). What is the inordinate drive to set up Islamic banking," he wondered.

He noted that his disagreement with the proposal is out of professionalism and about the law, rather than just blowing empty air, wondering why the same amount of passion and priority has not been invested in the Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS), which was made optional after five years of being compulsory.

In his presentation earlier, Bett Johnson, another facilitator, author and Founder, of Califonia-based Institute for Innovation, Integration and Impact, while praising the CBN for the political will to embark on the stress testing in 2009 and even delving into alternative financing models, noted that faith based financing encourages good business practice, forgiveness and reduction in greed.

He however warned that practitioners must be regulated from within Nigeria and not by a body of non-Nigerians, or people resident outside of the country, in view of the lack of adequate capacity and competence. He made this observation against the backdrop of a provision in the guideline for a body of experts to advise the CBN on the practice of Islamic banking.

Speaking at the weekend in Ilorin, Kwara State however, Deputy Governor, Economic Policy of CBN, Mrs. Sarah Alade, told newsmen at a retreat for the Financial Market Department that apart from the Islamic banking, there are other forms of non-interest banking for which interested parties can get licence.

Issuing a licences to operate Islamic banks, she told participants at the retreat with the theme: "Transforming the Nigerian Financial Market: Prospects and Challenges," does not translate to Islamising Nigeria. The CBN, she added, is interest in changing the face of banking for economy for the betterment of Nigerians.

Rather than base the guidelines on provisions of any religion, Brett wants the apex bank to incline towards universal truths, focused on benefits to the society, rather than being specific to one particular faith.

According to him, "we should go beyond Islamic banking, (which) has not necessarily produced good returns. Islamic banking in the UK has been a huge flop. The fact that there is a Christian name on a bank does not make it better than any other one. Nigeria should go for the bigger picture, not Islamic, or non-interest banking, but go for a full repurposing of capital."

Conclusion

According to Kayode Ogundamisi, a blogger, "if it is Islamic banking because Holy Quran (in Chap 2 verses 228, 275 and 280) advised against giving loans with interest, it may as well be termed Christian banking since the Holy Bible (in Psalm 15 verse 5, and Deuteronomy 23:19) is equally against 'usury' (interest). Stop the bigotry."

URL of this Page: http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=36304

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Asadullah Syed