Who will pay for your Health bill...20-50 years down the road?

While Brunei is, at present, blessed with a relatively free Healthcare system, it's interesting to read on how the US is going about the debate on their Healthcare reforms.

Here's are a few links on what the US reforms are all about (Ft.Com Q &A, www.healthreform.gov) vs. that of the UK (Time.Com 'How Does Britain's NHS Work?).

Enjoy the read.

The Pensions Crisis

An interesting read on the Pensions Crisis (Financial Times - In Depth: The Pensions Crisis)

What type of Zakat should we pay??

For Muslims, the term 'Zakat', a form of charity is not a strange one. All Muslims acknowledge it as an important pillar in Islam, obligatory upon all Muslims whom has the means to pay Zakat (To understand more on Zakat, Monzer Kahf's website has some comprehensive details).

As I entered the working population, there were generally only 2 specific forms of Zakat I knew of; Zakat fitr (paid during the month of Ramadan) & Zakat on savings (a particular form of Zakat on Wealth). Yet, as I dwelled further, I realized the lack of understanding or ignorance on the many types of Zakat in Brunei that are left 'untapped' or not known, as far as I am aware of.

A few months back, while digging up ways how our neighbours, Malaysia & the Muslim community in Singapore categorized these many types of Zakat & how they went about calculating them, paying for them etc, I was struck by how much we could learn from such communities/countries, for the sake of fulfilling the obligation of paying zakat alone. Two types of Zakat caught my attention; Zakat on income/salary & Zakat on shares/mutual funds.

I realized there is a need for us in Brunei, to acknowledge the need to pay Zakat on our salaries & investments. Here is a country, seemingly seen by outsiders as relatively rich with subsidies & no personal income tax, among others. Yet, observers generally note on the high debt rate, if not a debt bubble waiting to burst. Unfortunately, little is mentioned on the need to pay Zakat on wealth, outside that of Zakat on savings or gold.

Why is that? If Muslims in Malaysia or Singapore acknowledge these other forms of Zakat, how are we exempted, if we are exempted in the first place?

Is it the role of the religious authorities? I'm not 100% convinced. Although they have an obligation to collect, manage and disperse Zakat, it should not be left to the authorities themselves. It is also left to the academic field & the Muslim community in general to push forward to pursue better changes to the system.

The issue of paying Zakat is no small feat. In the Qur'an, the word 'Zakat' is believed to be mentioned more than 36 times, with 70% mentioned after the order of prayers. For example, from The Qur'an (Chapter 2, verse 177):

"It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing."

So in this month of Ramadan, let us ask ourselves, can we pay more than just Zakat fitr?

What does it mean to be a Muslim?

Late this evening, I stumbled onto the CNN Report by Christian Amanpour on 'Generation Islam' and it reminded me of this question that constantly plagues my mind, 'What does it mean to be a Muslim?'

Like so many Malay Bruneians, we are born Muslims. Our father was born as Muslims, like our forefathers before us. Yet, when I listen to Muslim converts tell their tale of how or why they come to appreciate the beauty of Islam, I sometimes am left in awe and maybe in envy that they appreciate and actually acknowledge what it is to be a Muslim. For me, I sometimes wonder, will those born as Muslims such as I, ever know what it is to be a Muslim, or do we take it for granted & at the same time, not fulfill the responsibilities to entails in calling ourselves a Muslim?

I recall the time when I studied overseas. It is ironic that I felt more of a Muslim or more religious when in a foreign country, or when in a non-Muslim country, whether it is by waking up for the subuh prayer, reading the Qur'an often or giving more donation. Then when I came back home, I find myself somewhat lax. Am I really a Muslim?

I also recall wars & conflicts related to Islam such as the recent Israeli bombimg in Gaza in January, or the Israeli bombing in Lebanon a few years back. It strikes me that voices of Muslims around the world echoed against such injustice, and it helped to bring attention to the bombings, and ended it. But what surprised & dissapointed me is that once the news coverage ended, where were these majority, moderate Muslims? The Palestinians are still suffering but these Muslims it seems were back to their status quo, living their everyday life., maybe feeling good after giving some charity. Is that wrong, or right? What else could 'common' Muslims do, one may argue.

In any case, in the context of being a global community as the world shrinks, & with regards to the complicated misconception of Islam & the West, maybe we should ask ourselves, what it means to be a Muslim?


At the end, I come to this current conclusion.
Firstly, to be a Muslim, I guess we must first correct ourselves, turning the mirror inwards before advising others. Individually, to be a Muslim, I believe is to follow what this religion asks us to do what is good, and leave what is prohibited/bad. I have seen nothing wrong with this religion and therefore, I hope to be a Muslim.

Secondly, such is the reality of this world that Muslims are currently disjointed. Therefore, when it comes to the Muslim brothers & sisters in Palestine, in Somalia and other places where unjust prospers, I like so many other Muslims can only pray. The friday prayer in Brunei today elaborated on the power of prayers in Islam, to even change what may appear to be pre-destined. I pray that we find some happiness in this world, and can meet in jannah or heaven.

Thirdly, I pray that there is a unifying institution or voice in the Muslim world, driven by real, moderate Muslims to make sure all Muslims are kept attuned with what other Muslims are faced. Such is the power of news coverage that only then do Muslims know what is happening on the other side of the world. When the mass media is gone, the global community usually seem to look at other issues. We need to keep on knowing what is happening.
There are perhaps news institutions that do such service, but some may question their neutrality. Perhaps there needs to be a network of Muslim news institution reporting what is happening within their Muslim community, in a weekly or monthly coverage. Only this way, can we ensure that Muslims all over the world are in-the-know, and that we become real Muslims.

Nu'man b. Bashir reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The similitude of believers in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one body; when any limb of it aches, the whole body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever.

My thoughts.

I Am Broke

Below is an edited version of a speech I made at a speaker's club quite some time back. Although it's slightly edited, it still is relevant.

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I Am Broke

Have you ever been broke? And I mean really broke? Living from one paycheck to another. Regularly scrutinizing your savings account, worried that your savings will run dry before the next paycheck. I guess since we’re working, it’s ok as we can ask banks to increase our credit card limit or apply for a loan. But what happens when we cannot apply for loans or increase our credit limit anymore? What happens when we’re not working anymore, that is when we retire and we are broke.

Would we want to be dependent on our family and relatives? Do we apply for some form of social assistance from the government? Will we go back to work, if we can work? What will we do?

Ladies and gentlemen, the reality of the modern world that we live in are that retirement plans/pension schemes whether organized by governments or corporations are increasingly pushing the responsibility to the individuals, ourselves to ensure that we ourselves will retire comfortably. Let me share with you 3 things that I feel we need to consider for us to do just that, to retire comfortably.


1. Our Pension Scheme
Our Pensions Scheme: Let me begin with the simplest assumption that you have a TAP or Employee Provident Fund Account in Brunei. A research by the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies highlights that the current TAP contribution rate of 5% by both Employee and Employer is too low to fund retirement, especially for the lower Income bracket. Based on anecdotes, they also point out that after retirement, most withdrawals do no last more than a few years as they are used to settle loans and renovate houses.

Let’s move to the other notion that we have other retirement funds, money that we save each month for retirement. We should be fine, right? Maybe. Maybe not.
The Centre for Retirement Research in Boston College, USA highlights for most people, they will need 65% to 85% of their pre-retirement income after they retire.
If we earn $2,000 just before retirement, we would ideally like between $1,300-1,700 every month when we retire. If $3,000 is our pre-retirement income, after retirement, it’s around $1,950 to 2,550, and so on.

Going back to the Centre for Retirement Research, their study showed that in the US, about 45% of working-age households are failing to meet that percentage. They will have to change their lifestyle dramatically.

How about us? If we accept that we will need 65%-85% of our pre-retirement income when we retire, have we planned enough?


2. Longevity
With breakthroughs in healthcare, our present generation is expected to live longer than in the past.
According to United Nation statistics on Brunei,
• Year 2000-2005: Life expectancy is 74 (man) & 79 (woman).
• Around 2040: Expected to be 78 (man) & 83 (woman).

The difference between the 2 periods is only 4 years. Is the difference significant? I believe it is. The financial amount you need to save by 55 increases, ranging from $62,400 to $163,200 (Table/Assumptions not shown, unable to upload).

Though these life expectancy figures are estimates, the general trend is that we will generally live longer than previous generations, and we might want to consider that in our retirement plans.


3. Health cost
This brings me to my last point: Health cost. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine, highlights that health cost will increase simply because people get more care, especially with new medical technologies. In other studies, better prescription drugs are mentioned as the main factors. Hence, we live longer. Hence, we need more health care and we pay out more.

An article on Brunei in the Asia Pacific Population Journal states that Brunei has an ageing population. While Bruneians may currently enjoy free medical care from the government, increasing numbers of elderly will put a strain in the financial liabilities for the government’s health care system. Speculatively speaking, it is not impossible that slowly but gradually we will need to bear these medical costs as individuals, whether it is through a medical insurance scheme or otherwise. So have we considered future health expenses or medical insurance schemes?


Fellow members & friends, at the end of the day, when we consider all these 3 points; pension schemes, longevity & health costs, the most important question we should now ask ourselves is, what can we do now?

My best suggestion is, don’t believe me 100%. Talk to a certified financial planner & maybe don’t believe them 100% either. Better yet, learn and pick up financial planning for retirement ourselves. If it’s something very important such as retirement, why leave it to someone else.

I leave you with a quote from Boxer George Foreman who said:
“The question isn't at what age I want to retire, it's at what income.”

Poor financial planning or plain greed?

A few months ago I attended a workshop related to finance, and the overseas consultant in a light-hearted remark noted how Bruneians (in general) are relatively rich (er) but also make some poor personal financial decisions.

Back then, I took his remarks as a given, thinking that Bruneians, just like any group of people are not all financially knowledge-able. Some will be better financially prepared or plan their finances wisely than others. It all boils down to knowledge really. Or so I thought.

Recently, I have some time to reflect & am beginning to question, maybe greed has some role to play as well. Even if we know financial planning or personal finance, some of us will buy that expensive car (he/she knows is over their monthly budget) or just about any item/service that is not needed. We create in our mind this group of luxuries (which we categorize as 'needs'), and make an attempt to justify it's existence in our everyday lives, not because we need it per se but we want it. Greed?

The consequences are that we become in debt to banks, or worse to informal moneylenders, or our family members. In a worst case scenario, we die with debt hanging over our souls (as Muslims, this is a big thing as my previous blog noted) or at it 'mildest', we lose a bit of our dignity (knowingly or unknowingly) as debt has a way of decreasing our value (primarily because we owe someone or some entity, i.e. we are indebted to them).

So maybe we should not only learn the knowledge or tools of financial planning, but also embrace the discipline of not entertaining our greed and look away at such 'needs'. Maybe and maybe only then, can I respond to that consultant that it is actually only the lack of financial planning knowledge, and not greed that makes some Bruneian or any people for that matter 'poor'.

A Muslim is a brother to another Muslim?

With the Israeli attacks in Gaza & the Hamas rockets onto Israel, everyone has their 2 cents opinion on who is at fault and can with some justification, condemn one, the other or both.

But without doubt, some of the surprising elements of this issue is that there exists no notable collective Muslim group of countries, be it the Arab League, the OIC or any other collective group which voices their opinion. Is it wrong to think and come to a conclusion that the Muslims in this time and age, an age of Islamic politics, where Muslims are divided by region, countries or sects are all but disjointed, in opinions and actions?

Yet, Islam teaches us otherwise. At least 3 Hadith or Sayings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) which all Muslims should always remember state:

"...A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim, he neither opresses him, nor forsakes him, nor humiliates him. The Piety's here." He said, and while saying so, he pointed towards his chest thrice.

"Any Muslim is a brother of any other Muslim; he should not persecute him or leave him alone in his troubles."

"None among you will be a true believer until he wants for his brother [Muslim] that which he wants for himself."

And here in our tv screens we see the killings of civilians, including children and woman. So where are the Muslim leaders? One cannot fail to wonder, Is this why the common Muslim or those in a less powerful/ influential position who feel the hurt of their Muslim brothers decide to resort to extreme measures & terror? All because the leaders or leaders-to-be fail to take actions or voice a concerted view concerned for some other implication, be it political, economic or social.

To all Muslims, let us pray for some form of peace for those in need and keep in mind the Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) when seeing evil:

"Whoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart, and that is the weakest of faith."