Another son...

Walking to the Li Ka Shing Tower for one of my earliest study sessions, Howard (my classmate) asked if I knew who Li Ka Shing was. I did not. Howard told me that he is the richest man in Hong Kong. I imagined a super-rich-publicity-hungry billionaire who would want universities to name buildings after him in return for donation. The corporate image was strengthened because the building housed most of the business school offices and facilities. 

As weeks and months passed, I became more and more informed about how much influence that person has on his homeland. There would hardly be any business sector where he does not have a stake. Son of a school teacher from a relatively poor area of China, he is not only the richest man in Hong Kong but the richest man in China and 12^th richest in the world. When he was 15, his father died and he had to leave school and work to financially support his family. His rags to riches story is truly fascinating.

What is even more fascinating is his philanthropy, especially for the education sector. I happened to watch a programme about him on TV last night and he talked about his passion for education. He said that his father in particular and his father’s generation in general were aware of importance of education and even though he had to leave school, he made sure that his siblings put in efforts into their studies.

One of his favourite projects, a university was established in his home town in 1981 thanks to his investment of time, money and efforts. The operating expenses of the university are still largely covered by Li Ka Shing foundation (around 75%). His vision for the university was to make it a world class institution where even the traditions could be questioned and he is still actively involved in its development. It is now one of the leading universities in China with thousands of graduates serving the country.

He said that he thought about giving away his savings for charity in early 2000s but was not very comfortable with the thought that you give away your life savings to some people you do not even know. During one of those anxious moments one night, he said he had a realization. He has 2 sons and he thought that if he had 2 or 3 more sons, or even one more son, he would leave a part of his wealth to him. You do that because you think that your children would use the money as you would want it to be used. So, why can’t a charity be my third son. He was at peace then. Soon afterwards, he pledged one-third of his fortune (around $10bn) to charity.

He has so far donated more than $1b (US) for charitable purposes and more is pledged to a much renowned “Li Ka Shing” foundation. Around half of his donations have gone to the education sector and those are benefiting people and institutions througout the world.

Can we all ‘adopt’ another son? Could be wonderful even if some of us did!

Pakistan khappay?

We have a political stalemate situation in Pakistan now.

CJ Iftikhar was sacked because he started calling ISI and establishment people into the court in connection with the ‘missing persons’ case.

The military would not want him reinstated because he would restart the process. If he delves into the unconstitutional orders by Musharraf, not only mushi but current army top brass might be in trouble. It is not very difficult to find unlawful acts by a former ISI chief since ISI is there to circumvent normal legal process in the first place.

Zardari cannot reinstate Ifti cuz he himself would be in trouble AND lose establishment’s backing.

Top brass of military does not like Nawaz. The old romance (ISI and IJI ;-) ) of 90s is over!

USA doesn’t want Nawaz near the corridors of power.

Nawaz is seen as representing one province.

Nawaz cannot openly criticize establishment. He cannot cut off from PPP. He does not want to relate himself to Zardari! Karay tau kya karay!

Nawaz has massive support from areas (Lahore and Rawalpindi) which are also critical bases for military.

It is obvious that Gailani and some other PPP leaders did not like the decision but have to go with the party decisions.

We have Taliban up there.

We have USA military presence next door…. rather with their head stuck inside the door.

We have India looking greedily, merrily from the other side.

We have nuclear weapons out there somewhere!

God save Pakistan.

Sleepy Sunday...

I still love it. Lazy Sunday afternoon. Looking out of the window, the city is draped in a haze which adds to lethargy. 

Had a brief 'msn conference' with PJC in Lahore. Was fun. Just had coffee and now forcing myself to spend atleast a tiny bit of productive time. That might reduce the guilt.

It all begins...

Ah, well, let me put off writing more till some other time... Its 4am already and I should hit the bunker. About me, well, I love procrastination!