International

16 – 18 January 2009.
Theme: “Globalisation, the free market and developing countries”
Venue: Residence Hotel, UNITEN, Selangor.

At this Freedom Academy participants will study in depth the true meaning and morality of capitalism, how globalisation has brought prosperity to developing economies, and why free market capitalism is still the way for forward.

by Mustafa Akyol

In his new book, Islam and the Secular State, the Sudanese-born professor of law Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im argues that a secular state that respects religious freedom is compatible with and, indeed, necessary for Islam. “As a Muslim, I need a secular state,” he summarizes in a nutshell, “in order to live in accordance with Shari’a out of my own genuine conviction and free choice, personally and in community with other Muslims.”

by Douglas Southgate

These days, population growth is slowing but demand is still going up quickly because of improved earnings. By 2050, demand for food will probably increase between 60% and 100%. And if we don't grow more food per hectare or farm more land, real food prices will rise.

By Steve Hanke

Today, facing the threat of a new banking crisis, many governments in this region have increased state guarantee on bank deposits (see table below) using taxpayers’ money. Malaysia too has guaranteed all ringgit and foreign currency deposits through the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation (Perbadanan Insurans Deposit Malaysia).

On the eve of a meeting of government officials from the G20 group of leading economies, a new report from a global group of think-tanks, including the Malaysia Think Tank, argues that the attempts by governments to intervene in the financial crisis have been counterproductive and it calls for clearer thinking on how to manage the risks inherent in the financial system.

Health ministers from most of the world gathered on 24-26 October 2008 in Egypt to plan against bird flu, with the UN saying the threat of a deadly global pandemic is as high as ever and a future vaccine as important as ever. Science is usually the biggest hurdle in vaccine development but this time it's politics, with samples being held hostage by Indonesia.

Date: 3 - 15 November 2008

The International Online Conference "Free Markets and Sustainability - Liberal options for climate change and energy crises" will be based on the necessity of environmental protection across the world, but also proves that environmental protection and the free market are not at odds with each other but go hand in hand.

By Jeffrey A. Miron

The current mess would never have occurred in the absence of ill-conceived federal policies. The federal government chartered Fannie Mae in 1938 and Freddie Mac in 1970; these two mortgage lending institutions are at the center of the crisis. The government implicitly promised these institutions that it would make good on their debts, so Fannie and Freddie took on huge amounts of excessive risk.

By Eamonn Butler

This crisis was not caused by capitalism being fatally flawed. It was caused by politicians forcing the banks to give out bad loans, monetary authorities flooding the West with cheap credit and regulators being asleep at the wheel.

For nearly a century, the supposed citadel of capitalism, America, harboured a dark socialist secret. The US government created Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other GSEs with the sole purpose of flooding housing markets with subprime (low-return, high-risk) credit. GSEs are ‘Government Sponsored Enterprises’. That they extended credit recklessly on an unimaginable scale is a consequence not a cause of the subprime problem.