After some 15 years of travelling in and out of Kuala Lumpur, I finally had a chance to visit nearby Bukit Batu and its famous caves. My Malaysian colleagues had little interest in joining me: “Why would you want to climb all those steps?” A visitor does indeed navigate 272 of them to reach the principal cave; fortunately, they are divided into groups
of 17.
“Bukit Batu” means “Stone Hill” in Malay. This limestone outcrop is best known for a labyrinthine complex of some 18 caves. Of the few open to the public, the best known is the enormous Temple Cave. The complex was discovered by Europeans in 1878 and was heavily quarried until the 1970s, when the government began to protect it for tourism.
The half-day trip to the Batu Caves offered some reminders of our own global investment strategy. Metaphorically, we see themes in geology, archaeology, and ecology. These may be worth exploring as we look deeper into 2009 and a probable economic recovery in 2010. …continue reading
Redirecting the Call for Action
by Douglas Clark Johnson
20 May 2010
During a recent dinner in Dubai, a longstanding colleague of mine from the private banking business asked, “What do you think of Islamic wealth management as an enterprise model?”
I was stumped. Not because I haven’t thought about it, but because it had been so long since I’d heard the question. These discussions were more common in the pre-credit crisis era, when the liquidity cycle was peaking. They have all but evaporated in the current environment. …continue reading
Tags: credit crisis, Dubai, financial leaders, Islamic banking, macro trends, wealth management
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