Could humans be infected by computer viruses?

 (PhysOrg.com) -- A scientist at the University of Reading has become the first person in the world to be infected by a computer virus.

 Dr Mark Gasson, from the School of Systems Engineering, contaminated a computer chip which had been inserted into his hand as part of research into human enhancement and the potential risks of implantable devices.

These results could have huge implications for implantable computing technologies used medically to improve health, such as heart pacemakers and cochlear implants, and as new applications are found to enhance healthy humans.

Dr Gasson says that as the technology behind these implants develops, they become more vulnerable to computer viruses.

"Our research shows that implantable technology has developed to the point where implants are capable of communicating, storing and manipulating data," he said. "They are essentially mini computers. This means that, like mainstream computers, they can be infected by viruses and the technology will need to keep pace with this so that implants, including medical devices, can be safely used in the future."

Dr Gasson will present his results next month at the IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society in Australia, which he is also chairing.

A high-end Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip was implanted into Dr Gasson's left hand last year. Less sophisticated RFID technology is used in shop security tags to prevent theft and to identify missing pets.

The chip has allowed him secure access to his University building and his mobile phone. It has also enabled him to be tracked and profiled. Once infected, the chip corrupted the main system used to communicate with it. Should other devices have been connected to the system, the virus would have been passed on.


Dr Gasson said: "By infecting my own implant with a computer virus we have demonstrated how advanced these technologies are becoming and also had a glimpse at the problems of tomorrow.

"Much like people with medical implants, after a year of having the implant, I very much feel that it is part of my body. While it is exciting to be the first person to become infected by a computer virus in this way, I found it a surprisingly violating experience because the implant is so intimately connected to me but the situation is potentially out of my control.


"I believe it is necessary to acknowledge that our next evolutionary step may well mean that we all become part machine as we look to enhance ourselves. Indeed we may find that there are significant social pressures to have implantable technologies, either because it becomes as much of a social norm as say mobile phones, or because we'll be disadvantaged if we do not. However we must be mindful of the new threats this step brings."

Provided by University of Reading
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Govt delays decision on sukuk size and timing

Swings in emerging-market assets the reason, say sources

 It is still a 50:50 chance that Malaysia will try to tap in such a shaky market
- Sergey Dergachev of Union Investment

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has delayed making a decision on the size and timing of its first sale of Islamic bonds in eight years due to unstable market conditions, say two people with direct knowledge of the plan.

The decision would not be made this week because of swings in emerging-market assets, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because discussions were private. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah didn’t pick up calls to his mobile phone seeking comment.

The Government had planned to determine the final size of the sukuk notes this week after completing an international roadshow to promote the securities to investors in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the US. Sales of sukuk rose 31% so far in 2010 from the same period of last year.

“It’s still a 50:50 chance that Malaysia will try to tap in such a shaky market,” said Sergey Dergachev, who helps manage about US$6bil of emerging-market debt at Union Investment in Frankfurt.

Emerging-market assets have slumped over the past month as the debt crisis in the European Union fuelled concern the global economic recovery will stall. The extra yield investors demand to hold debt of developing nations over US treasuries widened 25 basis points in the past week to 345 basis points yesterday, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co’s EMBI+ Index.

The sukuk deal was subject to stable market conditions and it would take time for Middle Eastern investors to process any purchases, said the other unnamed person with knowledge of the matter.

Malaysia is turning to the international debt market for the first time since 2002 as it aims to increase development spending and boost economic growth. Indonesia this month trimmed the size of its planned sales of Islamic and yen-denominated debt because of concern that Greece’s debt crisis would spread.

The MSCI Emerging-Markets Index has lost 17% from its April 15 high on concern Europe’s 750 billion euro (US$922bil) aid package for indebted nations would fail to prevent a global economic slowdown.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday that it was considering issuing ringgit- and dollar-denominated debt among “various options” to meet funding needs.

The company planned to issue US$500mil of conventional bonds and RM1bil of sukuk to finance its second low-cost carrier airport project, Reuters reported last Friday, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the deal.

State-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (Petronas) Islamic dollar bonds rose, snapping a five-day drop.

The yield on Petronas’ 4.25% sukuk due in August 2014 fell two basis points to 3.94%, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. — Bloomberg

Can Malaysia make it easier to pay taxes?

Pemudah is working on an effective and efficient tax system to strengthen Malaysia’s revenue collection and the public sector

Policy Perspective - By Datuk Chua Tia Guan

 “IN Sweden, we pay taxes online. The corporate income tax, value-added tax, labour contributions and property tax are filed in a single form. Doesn’t everyone do it that way?” This is a question raised by Mr Astrid, a business owner in Sweden where the tax system is highly simplified.

Back home, in Malaysia, what kind of tax system do we want? Have we ever asked ourselves, why can’t we do away with individual tax filing for employees who don’t have income other than salary since they are already under the Schedular Tax Deduction scheme?

How much more tax revenue needs to be collected from such filings vis-a-vis the additional administrative cost incurred?

Successful Tax Reforms

According to the World Bank, simple moderate taxes and fast, cheap administration mean less hassle for businesses – also more revenue collected and better public service. Since 2005, 90 reforms in 65 economies have pointed to the following four most successful tax reforms:

l Introduce online filing
 “A quarter of the world’s countries have electronic filing and payment of business taxes. That means no need for paper documents – and no need for personal interaction with tax officers. A third of the world’s countries now use electronic payment methods such as bank transfers – and half use payment by cheque.”

l Combine taxes
“Almost 50% of countries have more than one labour tax or contribution, 27% more than one tax on profits and 41% more than one tax on property. If the base is the same (salaries, profits or property value), why not just combine them? Having multiple taxes increases the bureaucratic burden for both the taxpayer and tax administration.”

l Simplify tax administration
“Making the tax rules for business complex is unlikely to bring about more revenue – quite the opposite in fact. Countries that do not require special books (i.e. separate book-keeping requirements for tax purposes only) have 10% more revenue (as a percentage of GDP) on average than countries that do. And having a clear tax law increases tax revenue by 6% on average.”

·Reduce tax rates and broaden the base
“High tax rates can force companies into the informal sector (i.e. businesses have a strong incentive to evade taxes). Such countries can increase tax revenue by lowering rates and persuading more businesses to comply with the new tax system.”

Focus Group on Paying Taxes

Based on the above successful tax reforms in other countries, the Pemudah’s (Government’s Special Task Force to Facilitate Business) Focus Group on Paying Taxes addresses the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-sized company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measuring the administrative burden in paying taxes.

These measures include the number of payments an entrepreneur must make; the number of hours spent preparing, filing and paying; and the percentage of profits they must pay in taxes. Malaysia’s ranking in the World Bank’s Paying Taxes Indicator is tabulated in the table above.

The Focus Group is working on three broad areas:

·Income taxes – corporate tax, individual tax, and stamp duty;
·Customs taxes – sales tax, service tax, excise duty, and goods and services tax;
·Other taxes – Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Social Security Organisation (Socso), Human Resource
Development Fund (HRDF), road tax and quit rent.

Paying Taxes Made Easy

Paying taxes has been made easy with many improvements to the public delivery system in taxation made by the relevant ministries and Government agencies, some of which through the recommendations of the Focus Group on Paying Taxes.

The following are the improvements made to date:

Income Taxes by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB)
·Reducing the period taken for refunding tax overpaid due to companies and individuals from one year to between 14 and 30 days in cases of submissions through e-Filing;

·Refunding tax overpaid for the current year of assessment without reference to the previous years of assessment;
·Years prior to 2006 assessment to be finalised later and further monies repayable/tax payable to be dealt with separately; and
·Refunding tax overpaid directly to taxpayers without the need for formal application.
·Reduce the number of procedures and the processing time taken in the assessment of stamp duty.
·Introduce e-registration for companies and individuals to register their tax files online.
·Companies can submit their estimates and revisions of corporate tax liability online.
·Issue guidelines to stipulate the conditions and circumstances that would allow overpayments to be set-off against tax instalments. This includes guidelines on when a group of companies could enjoy this set-off and the required documents.
·Issue guidelines to stipulate the circumstances in which lower tax estimates could be considered.
·Issue guidelines to stipulate circumstances in which penalties on late payment or under-estimation could be lowered or waived and the scale of penalties which would increase with the number of offences the companies committed.
·Individual employees are relieved of the burden of having to claim for deduction in their personal tax returns with the introduction of a list of common employment benefits.
This guide helps to clarify to the employers the activities that could be considered as expenditures incurred by the employees.
·A joint review of the Public Ruling on Entertainment Expenditure has helped to clearly outline the circumstances under which a company would be eligible for a full or partial deduction on entertainment expenses.
·Taxpayers and tax agents can submit their tax returns at any assessment branch in addition to the central processing centre. All that is required is that they provide the proof of submission by manual means.
·The IRB has also incorporated an English section on its website to ensure that non-residents and foreigners are able to access information pertaining to their tax returns.
·The IRB’s Client Charter now stipulates the timelines for IRB staff to address taxpayers’ appeals and objections. There is an internal mechanism to monitor their adherence to the charter.

Customs Taxes by the Royal Malaysian Customs
·Companies are now allowed to make payments at the nearest Customs office instead of only at controlled stations.
·Excise Forms 7 and 8 can now be downloaded from the website and forms can be submitted through diskette, CD or thumb drive.
·The new Sales Tax Composite Form CJP1 is now only needed to be submitted in three copies instead of the obligatory six copies previously.
·Eliminate the requirement to submit the Daily Sales Record (Attachment A of Form CP3) for Service Tax purposes as well as an attachment to the Sales Tax Form CJ10.

Other Taxes
 ·Encourage electronic submission of EPF, Socso and HRDF contributions by employers.
·Introduce MyCOID where companies require just one standard identification number (i.e. the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) registration number) to interact with different Government agencies including CCM, IRB, HRDF, EPF, Socso and SME Corp.

Tax Reform

Tax reform is an important element of our Economic Transformation Programme (i.e. the New Economic Model). Effective and efficient tax system will strengthen our revenue collection and the public sector at large.

Continuous improvements to the tax system would ensure that we are globally competitive in attracting foreign direct investments and encourage domestic investments. The following are some of the proposals currently being pursued by the Focus Group on Paying Taxes:

·Currently, in relation to employment income, the Schedular Tax Deduction (STD) is made on the basis that tax reliefs are claimed on EPF, spouse and children only. As such, the STD may be over-deducted and resulted in a tax refund situation.

It is proposed that taxpayers with only an employment income source who do not wish to claim the tax refund be exempted from annual tax filing.

·It is proposed that IRB makes an advance announcement that compensation for late refund for tax will be implemented, say in 2015. This will allow IRB to have sufficient time to make preparation for the execution.

·The six-year timeframe within which a tax audit can be carried out is too long and creates uncertainty for business. In Australia, the timeframe is four years and in the United Kingdom it is around two years. In line with global benchmark, it is proposed that time barred to be reduced from six years to four years.

·To consolidate the payments for EPF, Socso and HRDF into one payment.

·To standardise the definition of wages for the purpose of computing EPF, Socso and HRDF contributions.

Together, We Can Do It Better

Since the establishment of Pemudah, many improvements to the public delivery system as initiated by the task force have been made by the respective ministries and agencies.

These improvements are in the areas of starting a business, business licences, dealing with construction permits, immigration matters, tax administration, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, registering property and e-payment facilities.

Details can be found at Pemudah’s website, www.pemudah.gov.my.

These improvements would not have been achieved without the hard work of the government ministries and agencies as well as the suggestions and feedback from the public. We strongly believe that together we can make Malaysia a good place to do business and a great place to live.

Datuk Chua Tia Guan is a member of Pemudah and chairman of Pemudah’s Focus Group on Paying Taxes.

New directions for young lawyers

The younger set of lawyers needs to be at the forefront of discourse on changes to legislation practice today as they will inherit the system that will ultimately evolve.

THE National Young Lawyers Committee (NYLC) was formed by the Bar Council with the main objective of dismantling the shackles of Section 46(1)(a) of the Legal Profession Act 1976 that disqualifies an advocate and solicitor of less than seven years’ practice from being a member of the Bar Council, or Bar Committee, or any committee of the Bar Council.

It was thought that this disqualification smacked of inequality to young lawyers. After a series of representations to the Attorney-General, Parliament finally, on Oct 2, 2006, repealed Section 46(1)(a), and thereby removed the shackles on young lawyers.

With the shackles removed and young lawyers empowered, what now for the young lawyers? The NYLC’s current primary objectives are:

> Promoting and protecting the interests of young lawyers and pupils in chambers;

> Enhancing the continuing professional development of young lawyers and pupils in chambers for the betterment of the Malaysian Bar and society;

> Providing a platform for interaction and facilitating the exchange of perspectives and views on numerous issues concerning the Bar, professional practice, the administration of justice and law reform; and,

> Maintaining and nurturing good working relations with other Bar Council committees, and various NGOs and the media in advocating issues of concern affecting young lawyers and society in general.

These objectives are insufficient to provide for the needs of society and young lawyers in the current environment.

Society will expect – and even demand – reciprocity of duty and social responsibility with empowerment. Issues on promoting young lawyers’ interests and continuing education should no longer be accorded priority with the existence of the NYLC and a continuing professional development system by the Bar Council.

The NYLC needs to take a stand on professional practice and law reform, and push for its views to be heard.

It is no longer sufficient to merely facilitate an exchange of perspectives and views.

One of the main objectives and duties of the Bar Council, as promulgated by Parliament, is to uphold the cause of justice without regard to the interests of its members and without fear or favour.

This object has been echoed and reiterated by the Bar Council to the tune of infinity.

That notwithstanding, it is still beholden on us young lawyers to sing to this tune and to hold on to it as our primary objective.

To this end, the NYLC needs to expand its aims and objectives to uphold the cause of justice in two wide areas: legal practice in the fast changing environment and law reform, including new legislation.

Litigation practice has seen much change in the past year due to the dogged pursuit by the Chief Justice of the elimination of the backlog of cases.

The changes that have been implemented in litigation practice have certainly affected the administration of justice, young lawyers and society as a whole.

The question being persistently asked is whether the changes benefit society in term of economics of litigation, social values, access to justice, quality of justice meted out and so on and so forth.

Given that the young lawyers will inherit the system of practice that will ultimately be moulded by the current changes, it is critical that the NYLC looks into the changes in detail and gives its views without regard to the interest of its members.

Is the current practice direction by the Court of Appeal in fixing dates for the hearing of appeals without regard to the availability of counsel in breach of the litigant’s right to his choice of counsel?

Is it in the interest of society to encourage lawyers to form large partnerships to ensure that there will be a lawyer to attend to a hearing fixed on a day when the counsel in charge already has another hearing scheduled to proceed in another court?

Will this practice ultimately benefit society or will it burden society with higher costs?

Should the courts commence proceedings at 8.30am, in yet another new direction to change the practice of litigation, bearing in mind that some courts are currently proceeding beyond 5pm – and in some cases till 9 pm – in an effort to eradicate the backlog.

In conveyancing practice, is it in society’s interest to have a fixed scale of costs with no discretion for the lawyer to give a discount?

Although this had been debated for the last seven or eight years, and the resolutions at the AGM of the Malaysian Bar had always supported the no-discount rule, young lawyers should look at the issue from the current perspective, taking into consideration the ever changing nature of society, the future of conveyancing practice, the new Competition Act, bearing always in mind society’s interest.

Is there a pressing need for enforcement rules to ensure the no-discount rule is adhered to? Why can’t lawyers adhere to rules without having to have rules for enforcement?

The NYLC should continue the call to all young lawyers to take up legal aid cases.

The resolution by the Malaysian Bar for every lawyer to take up at least one legal aid case a year must be made compulsory for all, and not remain just a resolution on paper.

All young lawyers must make it their aim to adhere to the resolution and to lead by showing their willingness to heed the call of duty.

The proposed National Legal Aid Foundation will further provide members who choose to do more legal aid work with some form of remuneration.

Law reform and new legislation affecting society are also critically in need of the NYLC’s attention.

New legislation had in the past been promulgated without any, or much input, from all sectors of society.

Although currently there is more consultation with the stakeholders when introducing new legislation, much more needs to be done to ensure transparency and the full flow of information on the effects of the legislation.

Current legislation in the news include the amendments to the Internal Security Act (which the Bar has always advocated for repeal thereto), the introduction of the Whistleblower Act, the Competition Act, etc.

What will be the effects of such legislation on society?

What about the long awaited amendment to the Law Reform Act, which was supposed to allow the non-Muslim spouse of a convert to have access to justice in civil courts?

How can we continue to press and push for amendments to the Printing and Publications Act and other laws that suppress freedom of speech?

In addition to its current aims and objectives, the NYLC will need to expand its priorities and objectives, and strive to attain greater heights in response to the expectations of civil society.

Young lawyers are called upon to heed the call of duty in upholding the cause of justice without fear or favour in implementing the way forward for the NYLC.

Putik Lada
By TONY WOON

The writer is the Chairman of the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Bar Council. Putik Lada, or pepper buds in Malay, captures the spirit and intention of this column – a platform for young lawyers to articulate their views and aspirations about the law, justice and a civil society. For more information about the young lawyers, please visit www.malaysianbar.org.my/nylc.

Prof Gupta: Capitalise on nation’s strength

 Never too late to start innovation-driven economics, say expert

KUANTAN: The Government’s think-tanks need to identify sectors that Malaysia has the edge in and to capitalise on these in its quest to be a developed nation.

Prof Anil K. Gupta, one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and globalisation, said innovation must then be applied on these sectors to achieve national prosperity and competitiveness.

Citing Silicon Valley in the United States, Bangalore in India, Singapore and Finland, Prof Gupta said the global economy was dominated by clusters consisting of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field.

 

“Unless the diversities result in infighting among the people, innovation is a combination of diverse ideas to the country’s benefit,” he pointed out. PROF ANIL K. GUPTA

“An innovation cluster is never-ending, has no limit and will keep developing over the years, with the Government having a major role to play in ensuring sustainability,” he said after delivering a talk entitled “Sustainable Inno-vation Leadership: Learning and Sharing Best Practices for Building Effective Strategic Initiatives” at the Pahang Foundation Complex here yesterday.

“It is pertinent that the Govern-ment focus its resources on developing these niche economies through education, research and development and offering of tax incentives, for example.”

Prof Gupta was in the state at the invitation of Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob to open the Innovative Pahang – Driving State Excellence for assemblymen, top civil servants and captains of industry to expose them to best practices for human capital development and infrastructure excellence.

Prof Gupta said it was never too late to start innovation-driven economies although some neighbouring countries, including Singapore, were ahead in developing world-leading biotechnology hubs.

He said Malaysia’s diversity was an added advantage as its different peoples could contribute different ideas.

“Unless the diversities result in infighting among the people, innovation is a combination of diverse ideas to the country’s benefit,” he pointed out.

Adnan, describing the event as a rare and vital occasion, said Pahang was taking steps to spearhead change at every level to meet the global challenge.

He said Pahang was all for a fair and equal distribution of wealth and against monopoly of the eco-nomy by a select few.

”We will work towards realising Malaysia to be a high income nation and to look after the wellbeing of all people, regardless of race or religion,” he said.

“At the same time, we will manage our natural resources properly for the sake of future generations.”

Adnan stressed on the need to revamp the education system to offer courses tailored to the needs of the market, and to stamp out abuse of power and corruption among politicians and civil servants.

China crash unlikely but India’s outlook less rosy

WE all know that there is an endless list of people, at least based on what is being reported in the Western mass media, forecasting that China’s economy will crash soon.

Based on the latest April data on China’s property price, bank lending and inflation rate, it would appear that all the dire forecasts for China are unfolding right in front of our eyes.

As i Capital has advised repeatedly, it does not see China crash landing this or next year. In fact, it continues to see a soft landing in the coming months.

By focusing on China, what the China bashers have not shown is that between the two emerging Asian giants of India and China, India should be the economy that is heading for a crash.

The three charts above show key economic statistics for these emerging giants.

India’s situation is somewhat similar to Greece. She has persistent and high levels of budget deficit, external trade deficit and also a high inflation rate.

In contrast, China’s economy is better managed. Despite such contrasting economic performance, why is it that China is forecast to crash and not India?

Is it because China has some problems with some minorities? The China bashers love to highlight Tibet and Xinjiang as China’s major trouble spots. This cannot be because the social problems that India faces are even more serious than China’s.

In 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the Naxalites “the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country.”

In 2009 he said that India was “losing the battle against Maoist rebels.” The Naxalites are very popular and growing in popularity in India. So why zoom in only on China?

The answer is simple.

To the China bashers, India is seen as a rare Asian democracy which they will go all out to portray as the model nation.

In contrast, China is still portrayed as a communist country and they would go all out to discredit her as a successful nation, and if possible to cause the country to break up.

Unfortunately, the facts of the matter do not support such a conclusion.

No matter how one looks at it, China’s economy is not ready to crash.

Based on anecdotal evidence, the property bubblet is already being busted. Property prices are already peaking.

The numerous measures need time to take effect.

The economic and housing data in the coming months will be more reflective of the underlying trend and thus more accurate.

The Power Of Personal Passion

How entrepreneurs can turn what they love doing into successful businesses.

Eileen Gittins

About 10 years ago when I was fundraising for my second startup, I came across a former entrepreneur-turned-VC who had decided to return to the trenches. It was clear she was more than happy running her new company--she was unabashedly delighted. I remember thinking, "Really?," because her company was developing back-end technology that, honestly, was lost on me.

It didn't matter that I couldn't appreciate her company's business--the point was that she loved it. And I realized that I loved that she loved it. It was a bit of an epiphany, actually. It sounds obvious, but that level of passion is not only about commitment, it's about meaning and, just as important, it's about fun.

Most people think about their jobs as the thing they do, instead of the thing they get to do. When you can build a culture where people feel privileged instead of entitled, that's magic. And that's what the best Silicon Valley companies do: They tap into the power of personal passion.

Entrepreneur Lesson One: Do Something You Love

This is the first lesson in my own entrepreneurial playbook: Do something you love. Life will throw a lot of pies in your face, and there will be days when you can't get out of your own way--so there better be something big that sustains you. Big as in "you just can't not do this" big. Like when artists say they paint because they have to, or writers say they write because they can't not. It has to be way more than a paycheck.

Entrepreneur Lesson Two: Don't Be Afraid To Show It

Being a female CEO in a male-dominated business, the natural tendency is to be "more like Mike." That typically implies a non-emotional, fact-driven communication style. For the women out there reading this, please fight that feeling. Wear your passion on your sleeve. Men too. It's infectious. Everybody--whether a prospective investor, customer, employee or partner--wants to team up with people who love what they are doing and aren't afraid to say so.

When I was raising money for Blurb, a book publishing company, in late 2004 it was a very contrarian play. Everything was going online. Yet here I was pitching a business that would take the digital back to analog. Crazy, I know.

While there were many reasons Blurb ultimately got funded, I believe that principal among them was not only how passionate we were about the business, but how willing we were to communicate that passion. In addition to being a great business, it would be so much fun to enable everyone with a broadband connection and 10 bucks to be globally published. How could we not do this?

Entrepreneur Lesson Three: Hire For Passion And Curiosity
 
Skill is actually not the most important thing we look for as we build our team. We look for people who are passionate about something, anything. It's actually a great interview conversation; I learn more about candidates in the interstices, in the "not business" moments, than when we are talking about SEM conversion or agile software development. As a result of asking the passion question, we (a) don't hire the people who can't answer the question and (b) have hired people who are competitive boxers, BMW driving school instructors, part-time DJs, theater stage managers, 5 a.m. San Francisco Bay rowers and aspiring screenplay writers.

No matter how our employees' creative juices manifest, these are people who will "get" our customers. They understand how intense the creative process is, how much it means and how special it is when the outcome is even better than imagined. At our core, that's the promise of Blurb. Employees who understand this will create great experiences for our customers--whether in software, on our site, in the quality of book they receive or the service they get along the way.

Our folks' natural curiosity will cause them to discover new opportunities, not because it's their job, but because it's their DNA.

Entrepreneur Lesson Four: The Power of Story

We recently hosted a meeting with our worldwide market development folks. When asked how they talked about Blurb, to my astonishment, each of them told the same story--how the company was founded by a CEO who was a photographer (and serial entrepreneur), who had been photographing folks she had built companies with and wanted to share the images and stories as a gift back to them. Since you couldn't "gift" a website, she decided to make a book. And she found out how impossibly difficult and expensive a proposition that was. The result: Blurb was founded out of a real need by someone who had something to say, who had a design sensibility, who cared deeply about image quality and who wanted to share with her community.

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By Eileen Gittins is chief executive officer of Blurb.

 

Geithner to meet ‘Uncle’ Wang Over Yuan

 

BEIJING - MAY 25: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C), U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (L) and China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan (R) attend a press conference during the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) at the Great Hall of People on May 25, 2010 in Beijing, China. Hillary Clinton called upon Beijing to back international pressure against North Korea following the sinking of a South Korean warship, and to seek greater stability in the region.

May 24 (Bloomberg) -- The Chinese official who is facing Timothy Geithner in Beijing today jokingly calls himself the Treasury secretary’s “uncle” because of a family connection. Geithner may one day call him “Premier.”

Vice Premier Wang Qishan leads the delegation meeting with Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, which is discussing yuan revaluation, Europe’s debt crisis and North Korea’s nuclear program. Wang, who oversees China’s financial sector, is mentioned for membership in the ruling Politburo Standing Committee and as a successor to Premier Wen Jiabao, two China experts say.

Geithner says Wang is China’s “definitive preeminent troubleshooter, firefighter, problem solver.” He is also a high-level emissary to business leaders: During a three- month stretch this year, Wang met with Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon and UBS Investment Bank Vice Chairman Leon Brittan.

“Wang has done everything and he’s very good at it,” said Robert Hormats, the U.S. undersecretary of state for economics, energy and agriculture and a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who first met Wang in the 1980s. “He knows the American relationship inside and out. He has had great relations with a number of American officials for decades.”

China’s Firefighter

China’s top leaders regularly tap him to extract the country from crises, including the 1998 collapse of a provincial investment company and the 2003 outbreak of a deadly virus in Beijing. As mayor, Wang also headed the Chinese capital’s preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Dimon said in an e-mail that Wang was “extremely smart, engaged and deeply knowledgeable about issues, finance and history.”

Yesterday Wang met Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, where they talked about the global economy, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Wang also dined with Geithner last night. Today, in opening remarks for the talks, Wang said the European debt crisis has caused a “chain reaction,” affecting market confidence.

Next Premier?

Li Cheng, director of research at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center in Washington, says Wang’s experience means he’ll likely be named to the standing committee in 2012, giving foreign bankers a familiar face at the top of China’s power structure.

Wang, 61, is also being mentioned within the party as a possible candidate to succeed Wen in 2013, when the country will be looking for a seasoned hand to guide China to full yuan convertibility, said Li and Victor Shih, a professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who studies Chinese politics and finance.

“He would help push for the convertibility of the yuan in a very positive way,” Shih said.

Geithner nudged Wang on the yuan from the outset of the meeting today in opening remarks at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in western Beijing.

“Allowing the exchange rate to reflect market forces is important” for China to maintain low inflation and to help shift resources to “more productive higher value- added activities,” Geithner said.

The yuan’s value has been fixed to about 6.83 to one U.S. dollar for almost two years.

Resisting Pressure

Wang won’t have the final say. He is one member of the 25-person Politburo, which sets policy for the government and the ruling Communist Party. And up to now, the government has resisted U.S. pressure to end or loosen the peg.

“Only the authorities of a sovereign country have the right to decide how to form the exchange rate,” Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said in Beijing on May 20.

Li Keqiang, the executive vice premier, is one of nine current members on the standing committee, and is the front-runner to succeed Wen, Brookings’ Li said.

Yet Wang’s experience, which includes stints as head of China Construction Bank Corp. and China International Capital Corp., the country’s first investment bank, as well as deputy governor of the central bank, outshines Li’s resume, said Brookings’s Li.

‘Can-Do’ Leadership

Hormats said Wang had the “can-do” leadership style of former Premier Zhu Rongji, who led a drive to sell shares of the country’s biggest state-run companies to foreign investors and shepherded China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization.

Wang, as vice governor of southern China’s Guangdong province, was tapped by Zhu to oversee the bankruptcy of Guangdong International Trust & Investment Corp. after its 1998 collapse due in part to soured real-estate investments.

A native of northern China’s Shanxi province, Wang often speaks without notes when giving speeches, peppering his remarks with anecdotes. He didn’t respond to a request for an interview.

In a Washington speech last July, Wang called himself Geithner’s “uncle,” referring to ties he had with the Treasury secretary’s father, Peter, who headed the Ford Foundation’s office in Beijing in the 1980s. Geithner, 48, who pronounces Wang’s name with the correct Chinese tones, was a Dartmouth College student in Beijing in the early 1980s.

Autographed Basketball

On the same trip, Wang met with President Barack Obama at the White House. The vice premier received an autographed basketball.

A year earlier, speaking at Washington’s Wardman Park Marriott, Wang’s sense of humor came out as he explained that while China’s economy was large -- it is now No. 3 in the world -- its per capita gross domestic product was a fraction of that of the U.S. He told Finance Minister Xie Xuren to check out then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

“Look at his wallet,” Wang said. “He has a really fat wallet.”

--Michael Forsythe in Beijing. With assistance from Rebecca Christie in Washington and Dawn Kopecki in New York. Editors: Anne Swardson, Bill Austin.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bill Austin at billaustin@bloomberg.net