$90mn collected during TV Gaza fundraisers

By Andy Sambidge

TV fundraising campaigns in the UAE and Bahrain have raised a total of $90 million to help the Palestinian people in Gaza strip.

The nationwide fundraisers, aired through all TV and radio stations on Friday, saw $86 milllion raised in the UAE and $4 million in Bahrain, while solidarity marches also took place simultaneously in four of the emirates.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA) and Head of the Office of Coordination of Foreign Aid, thanked UAE residents for their generosity, saying that the donations received had exceeded expectations, news agency WAM reported.
Sheikh Hamdan said the RCA, in association with the humanitarian relief and charity organisations in the UAE, would coordinate with international aid organisations to ensure the aid bought by donations would be distributed as soon as possible.

The rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai pledged to rebuild 1,200 homes in Gaza, while Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, the Minister of the Interior, pledged to rebuild 100 houses.

The NMC Hospital also gave 1.4 million dirhams of medical equipment as part of the fundraising initiative.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Minister of Presidential Affairs, also pledged to build an extension to al Shafaa Hospital in Gaza while the Western Region donated 150,000 dirhams and 110 grammes of gold.

In Bahrain, the main contributors were Bahrain National Committee for the Support of Palestinians in Gaza chairman Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and leading businessman YBA Kanoo, who donated 100,000 dinars ($265,000) each. BBK donated $300,000 while NBB, Batelco, Alba and Bapco contributed 100,000 dinars each.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 men, woman and children turned out in four emirates to make sure the people of Palestine were not forgotten.

In Sharjah, an estimated 5,000 gathered along Khaled Lagoon draped in Palestinian flags and wearing traditional black and white scarves, or kaffiyeh.

In Abu Dhabi, about 4,000 demonstrated along the Corniche Road while in Dubai, supporters gathered in Greek Park, waving flags and placards.

Hundreds donned the kaffiyeh in Ras al Khaimah to demonstrate outside Manar Mall.

Source. ArabianBusiness.com

Best Individual Islamic Banker Nomination (Islamic Finance News Poll 2008)

Achmad Riawan Amin is the president director of Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI) since 1999. He is also the director of International Islamic Financial Market (Bahrain), chairman of Indonesian Sharia Bank Association, and director of the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, Bahrain.

Achmad played an important role in reviving the bank from losses during the monetary crisis. BMI suffered losses of up to IDR105 billion (US$9.6 million), equity was only IDR39 billion (US$3.6 million), while non-performing financing drastically hiked by 65.5%.

Achmad — voted as Best CEO 2008 in Bisnis Indonesia — successfully maneuvered the bank through the difficult condition. In just the second year of his leadership, BMI reaped profits while assets hiked up to 3 times. Now BMI’s assets rose by 400 times to IDR12.6 trillion (US$1.1 billion) and total equity increased to IDR1.3 trillion (US$119 million). BMI possesses 40% of the total profit of the Shariah industry.

Innovation and alliance are Achmad’s keywords. Under his leadership, BMI has increased its outlets from a mere 58 outlets in 1998 to 222 outlets and 3,500 real time online service throughout Indonesia. BMI has an outlet operating in Malaysia. BMI’s innovative product, Shar-E, a Shariah investment was made available in every online post office all over Indonesia, possessesing 47% of the total Shariah savings account. Due to his role and service towards the development of the Shariah industry, he was awarded the Figure of Change 2008 by an author of a bestseller book ‘The Celestial Management and Satanic Finance’ published by Republika. Besides playing a vital role in the construction of the Shariah banking and Sukuk law in the country, Achmad also implemented the interconnection facility among Shariah banks via the Shariah Deposit Arrangement.