The trials and tribulations of enrolling into the CFA Program

I invite you to join me in my quest to enrol into the CFA Program. Laugh with me at the highs. Cry with me at the lows. Stress with me when I study. Here we go. Hold on tight.

My Query #1 (18th Feb):

I tried repeatedly on Friday (15th Feb) to enrol for the June 2008 exam. However, the website did not accept both the credit cards that I tried.

I called the relevant bank to check on my credit card's status, and they said that they had gotten no attempts to charge anything on the card, meaning that the rejection was from your website.

Further attempts were again unsuccessful. Can I find out what the problem is? According to the bank, my credit card has sufficient funds and should not have any problems charging the fees to it. Also, is there any way you can enrol me into the June 2008 exam?

Their Answer #1 (20th Feb):

6158398 Miss [X] Thank you for contacting us. We accept credit cards (American Express, Diners Club, JCB, MasterCard or Visa), personal or corporate checks, and money orders as payment. We also accept wire transfer payments. The instructions are as follows: Wire Transfers within the US SunTrust Bank 919 E. Main St. Richmond, VA 23219 ABA # 061000104 Account Name: CFA Institute Account # 201580721 Wire Transfers from outside the US SunTrust Bank 25 Park Place Atlanta, GA 30303 Swift Code: SNTRUS3A Account Name: CFA Institute Account # 201580721 Please be sure to let us know of the purpose for the wire. Your name and CFA Institute ID number and/or invoice number (if applicable) must appear on the wire or we will return the funds to your bank. We can not accept debit cards. Harry King Client Services Visit our website at www.cfainstitute.org. Learn more about the CFA Program at www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog. Learn more about the CIPM Program at www.cfainstitute.org/cipm. The following service request has been assigned to you: Service Request Number: 1-80869761 Date Opened : 2/17/2008 08:26:40 PM Severity : Priority : 3-Medium Product : Abstract : Failed enrollment Description : I tried repeatedly on Friday (15th Feb) to enrol for the June 2008 exam. However, the website did not accept both the credit cards that I tried. I called the relevant bank to check on ...

That's it. Complete with ... and everything. Exactly like that.

My Query #2 (27th Feb):

Hi,

Just to make it clear, I'm not happy with the customer service reply that I received for SR# 1-80869761.

While the answer was sufficient (I would rate it a 4 out of 10), it didn't give me any details for a payment by personal check. I've scoured the FAQs and the website and haven't found anything other than "we accept personal checks", which is all well and good, but, and to make sure you don't confuse the question,

1. WHO DO I MAKE THE CHECK OUT TO?
2. WHERE DO I MAIL THE CHECK TO?
3. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE BEFORE THE PAYMENT IS REFLECTED ONLINE?
4. HOW LONG BEFORE I GET A RECEIPT?

I would really appreciate if I get a relevant answer soon, as the exam is fast approaching. Thanks.

Let's see what they say.

I smell trouble brewing

From BBC: Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts:

Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.

The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.

As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.

But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.

It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.

'Reformation'

The forensic examination of the Hadiths has taken place in Ankara University's School of Theology.

An adviser to the project, Felix Koerner, says some of the sayings - also known individually as "hadiths" - can be shown to have been invented hundreds of years after the Prophet Muhammad died, to serve the purposes of contemporary society.

"Unfortunately you can even justify through alleged hadiths, the Muslim - or pseudo-Muslim - practice of female genital mutilation," he says.

"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."

The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.

Turkey is intent on sweeping away that "cultural baggage" and returning to a form of Islam it claims accords with its original values and those of the Prophet.

Revolutionary

But this is where the revolutionary nature of the work becomes apparent. Even some sayings accepted as being genuinely spoken by Muhammad have been altered and reinterpreted.

Prof Mehmet Gormez, a senior official in the Department of Religious Affairs and an expert on the Hadith, gives a telling example.

"There are some messages that ban women from travelling for three days or more without their husband's permission and they are genuine.

"But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because in the Prophet's time it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone like that. But as time has passed, people have made permanent what was only supposed to be a temporary ban for safety reasons."

The project justifies such bold interference in the 1,400-year-old content of the Hadith by rigorous academic research.

Prof Gormez points out that in another speech, the Prophet said "he longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".

So, he argues, it is clear what the Prophet's goal was.

Original spirit

Yet, until now, the ban has remained in the text, and helps to restrict the free movement of some Muslim women to this day.

As part of its aggressive programme of renewal, Turkey has given theological training to 450 women, and appointed them as senior imams called "vaizes".

They have been given the task of explaining the original spirit of Islam to remote communities in Turkey's vast interior.

One of the women, Hulya Koc, looked out over a sea of headscarves at a town meeting in central Turkey and told the women of the equality, justice and human rights guaranteed by an accurate interpretation of the Koran - one guided and confirmed by the revised Hadith.

She says that, at the moment, Islam is being widely used to justify the violent suppression of women.

"There are honour killings," she explains.

Er, how do I comment on this? On the one hand, this is exactly what I've been touting all the while: that some of the things we hold dear were never said by the Prophet SAW, but by others. What we take as haram was haram for good reason back in the day, but there is no reason for it to be today.

But this writer needs to be a whole lot more careful when she writes about this, because it looks like she's saying Islam as it is today justifies honour killings.

Talking inflation

Just so you know the facts:

• Inflation was lower in Jan 08 at 2.3%.
• Prices of clothes, footwear and communications have been and will continue declining.
• The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose at a slower pace of 3.9% in Jan 08 from 4.2% in Dec 07. It's expected to trend higher in Feb 08, due to CNY festive demand.
• Increasing prices of food and commodities is expected to have upward pressure in inflation in 2008 as a whole.

suicide doors: keeping you informed.

To the man in the beige Toyota Vios who refused to pay the entry fee for the Supercars for Charity event

To the man in the beige Toyota Vios who refused to pay the RM10 entry fee at the Supercars for Charity event,

I’m not entirely sure if you drove a Toyota Vios, but I’m pretty sure it was beige. You arrived at the Supercars Charity Drive held at Sepang International Circuit at about 4p.m. where I was manning the entrance. There were 4 people in your car: you, a woman in the passenger seat who I assume was your wife, and two others in the backseat. Quite possibly your second and third wives.

I asked you for the RM10 per person entrance fee, which was to go in its entirety to charity. The whole day was organized and executed entirely by volunteers, donated services and donated funds. Not one sen of that RM10 would have gone to anyone else but those who needed it. What was your answer?

“I was invited.”

What did I say? “It’s an entrance fee, for charity.”

Did you say, “Oh, well it’s for charity. That’s alright, then,” like most people do?

No. What you said was, “Wait ah, let me call. We were invited, you know.”

At this point, I just sighed, looked at you with contempt and said, “Just go. Just go through.”

And then, for some odd reason, you said, “Just go?” I suppose it must have been the small capacity of your brain that couldn’t grasp a sudden change in action, from your handphone to driving your car.

I said, “Yes, just go through.”

I bet you thought it was because you were an important person, that I recognized who you were as an invitee. I bet you thought that was why I let you go. Or maybe not. Maybe you heard the, “We don’t want your money” that I threw at you as you drove off.

I let you go through because, at 4p.m. after standing in the sun all day, voluntarily collecting money for those in need, I couldn’t be bothered to tell you that you were, in fact, invited to a charity event. A charity event where charity was requested of you. Charity not in the form of you showing up and gracing us with your presence, but of you gracing our palms with currency. Quite obviously you needed the RM10 more than the flood victims did.

May I point out that Datuk Azman Yahaya, who drove up in his new Lamborghini LP640 and sent his Porsche GT3 on a trailer in advance, who not only donated thousands of Ringgit to pay for the insurance for the two cars to be at the event, but also donated his personal time to participate in the event, paid the RM10 entry fee.

As did the obviously much poorer man and his wife, mother and two kids who arrived in the beat up Proton Saga Hatchback just to see the cars and “ambil gambar” with them, because they’d never seen such cars before, or had the chance to be so close to them.

And the Indian man in the moderately beaten up red car, who only had RM11 in his wallet, but quite happily surrendered RM10 to me.

But no. You didn’t contribute to charity. At a charity event. I hope you realize that that look on my face when I told you to go through was contempt. And I hope to god that through the miracle of the internet, you find this letter and realize that this was you.

That is all.

Elections escapades

It's all about the hope. From The Star: Grandma, 89, steals the show:

The divorced grandmother, possibly the oldest ever candidate in the elections, was announced as an independent candidate for Kuala Terengganu.

It was her fifth effort to qualify for candidacy. She said that she failed in her last four attempts due to technicalities and lack of documentation.

Many were initially sceptical of her intent at the nomination centre at Kompleks Seri
Iman here, but when returning officer Datuk Mat Razali Kassim officially stamped her candidacy, amusement filled the room.

The odds are stacked against her, as she will be up against seasoned politicians like PAS vice-president Mohamad Sabu and Barisan Nasional’s Datuk Razali Ismail.

Both politicians, however, took time to chat with Maimun, who appeared frail but zesty.

Even Barisan candidate for Batu Burok Nordiana Shafie wished the Kampung Pengadang Akar resident, who runs a kain songket business, well for the March 8 polls.

Maimun told newsmen that she did not mind raising RM10,000 to register as a candidate, and the RM5,000 as campaign deposit.

Speaking in a heavy Terengganu accent, she said it was money well spent “because I can talk and want to talk to the people.”

“I want to right the wrongs and bring down the prices of necessities,” she added.

She was also accompanied by her close friends Sinah Ali, 67, and Semah Said, 53, who acted as seconder and proposer respectively.

She will be using her own party name – Party Tanah Melayu Beragama Islam – to contest.

I think it's admirable that she still believes in a pure democracy, and the issues winning the votes. Power to the people!

From The Star: Kurup: I was punched:

KOTA KINABALU: A moment’s joy turned to pain for Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.

He was walking out of the Nabawan community hall after being declared winner of the Pensiangan parliamentary seat when someone punched him in the face.

“I was shaking hands with my supporters when this man jumped at me and I felt something hit me in the face and it became chaotic after that.

“I have an idea who he is. I feel saddened because it is not our culture to resort to violence,” he said after lodging a police report.

Kurup said he remained in high spirits despite the incident and was ready to serve his Pensiangan constituents.

The announcement that Kurup won the seat uncontested came at 5pm.

Election Commission director Md Idrus Ismail said the late confirmation was because
returning officer Bubudan O.T. Majalu had faxed in the names of three candidates for Pensiangan to the EC's headquarters here.

He said the commission thus assumed that there was a contest in Pensiangan among Kurup, Danny Anthony Andipai of Parti Keadilan Rakyat and Independent Saineh Usau.

However, upon checking, EC officials discovered that the returning officer had rejected the other candidates because they arrived late.

The two rejected candidates later lodged police reports that they were “blocked” from going to the centre.

Sabah Barisan Nasional is on track towards a clean sweep after bagging two parliamentary and one state seats on nomination day.

Nice. Democracy in action.