Q & A
with
YBhg Dato’ Hj Rais Hussin bin Hj Mohamed Ariff
YBhg Dato’ Hj Rais Hussin bin Hj Mohamed Ariff
Executive Chairman, GoldNet International Sdn Bhd
| 1. Background of the project, type of product, is it the first of its kind? |
| Goldnet International Sdn Bhd (Goldnet) was established with the mission to provide high quality gold and silver products that can be used for investing in precious metals and at the same time used for many other purposes and occasions.Today GoldNet is launching its maiden gold dinar and silver dirham of the state of Perak. |
| 2. Why is the state government of Perak embarking on this project? |
| The state government has been monitoring the global economic and financial condition for a couple of years. Considering the trend global financial and political turmoil the world is currently, the state government decided to embark on this project.The global crises – particularly the dollar crisis, sub prime crisis, political chaos etc. - are expected to cause hyperinflation globally, particularly affecting commodity and grain prices. Precious metals, particularly gold has been shown to be a good hedge against inflation, which means as global inflation rises, gold price increases too. Hence the state government is interested in this project so as to provide the people with a means to protect their savings from being eroded by the serious inflation. |
| 3. How will this project benefit Malaysians, Malaysia and the state of Perak? |
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Tremendous benefits from economic, investment, political and religious perspective. Firstly, it would provide not only Perakians but all Malaysians a means to protect their savings from inflation. Not only that, as an investment item it is capable of providing good returns at current times. But nonetheless, it should be remembered all investments carry risks of loss. The following graph depicts gold price from year 2000to 2010. Gold price has been rising exponentially; and GoldNet expects gold price to rise drastically this year.
 The spillover benefits to the economy of Perak from this venture include creation of distribution agents, more minting of dinars and dirhams due to increased demand locally and internationally, increased mining activity, designing, hallmarking, assaying etc. In the future gold is expected to provide tremendous benefit to the state and country by cushioning against global monetary meltdowns – in terms of stability, justice and sustainability. |
| 4. What is a dinar and what is a dirham? |
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The dinar is a gold coin with a weigh of 4.25 grams of fine gold. The dirham is a silver coin that weighs 3.0 grams of pure silver.The word dinar is derived from the word ‘denarius’ the Roman coin that circulated among the Arabs since even before the advent of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Hence even though the dinar is normally associated with Islam or Arabs, it is indeed Roman in origin.The dirham on the other hand is derived from the Persian coin ‘drachma’ that also circulated among the Arabs, even before the advent of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.The Prophet nonetheless accepted both dinar and dirham as the monetary standard for the Islamic shari’ah. Nevertheless, the first Islamic coin was minted only in the year 75H(697AD) by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (646–705 AD) who was the 5th Umayyad Caliph.The gold dinar and silver dirham minted during the Umayyad Caliphate are as below.
 Abd al-Malik replaced the Roman and Persian inscriptions on the dinar and dirham, respectively, with the shahadah ‘There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is His messenger.’ and simplistic inscriptions based on Qur’anic verses.Imam Ghazali asserted that God created gold and silver as the true measure of value.These two coins were the monetary standard of the Islamic empire for centuries until the Ottoman caliphate collapsed in 1924. |
| 5. How does the gold dinar of the state of Perak differ from the gold dinar of the state of Kelantan? |
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| 6. What is 916 gold or 917 gold? |
| Pure gold is generally given to a purity of 99.9 percent gold and above. Pure gold is also known as 24K gold. 916 gold means that 91.6% of the alloy metal is gold whereas the remaining 8.4% is other metals. 916 gold is also known as 22K. Note that22 divided by 24 gives 91.6%. Hence 22K also means that 22 out of 24 parts of the alloy is gold.Similarly, 917 gold means 91.7 percent is gold content. |
| 7. Why is the dinar of the state of Perak made of fine 99.9 Gold? |
| It’s clear that the intentions of the original Muslims were to mint the dinar using aspure gold as possible, as permitted by the refining technology of the time. When the shariah monetary standard was based on gold, it was meant to be pure gold and not gold mixed with some other impurities.The first Islamic gold dinars minted by caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, more than1,300 years ago, were made from 97 percent pure gold. There were times in Islamic history when the coins were almost pure gold, for example during the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt.Accordingly it is only appropriate with today’s technology we mint the dinar as pure gold as possible. |
| 8. What products Gold Net is currently offering? |
| Currently GoldNet is offering only gold dinars and silver dirhams of the state of Perak. They come in three denominations each – ½ dinar, 1 dinar and 2 dinars and 1dirham, 2 dirham and 10 dirham.More products are in the pipeline. |
| 9. Where can I buy the state of Perak’s dinar or dirham? |
| The dinar and dirhams of the state of Perak are distributed through a number of channels. Firstly, one can of course buy or sell the dinar at the GoldNet’s premises or online through its website www.GoldNet.com.my. GoldNet has also appointedregistered distributors throughout the nation who are ready to buy and sell the coins.Nubex is one of them which have many agents throughout the nation. One can also purchase through Nubex website www.nubex.com.my |
| 10. How does the price of dinar or the dirham is determined? |
| Every day GoldNet International Sdn Bhd would quote the buying and selling price for the dinar and dirham. The prices fluctuate daily based on the international price for the two metals. The buying price and selling price refer to the prices GoldNetwould buy and sell respectively to the public. Therefore, if one wishes to buy a gold dinar, one would pay the "sell” price, while one can sell back the dinar at the "buy” price.The buy and sell prices are also known as ‘bid’ and ‘ask’ prices. They would be available from the GoldNet’s website and also from the appointed dealers, including the website of Nubex, www.nubex.com.my. In the near future, the prices are also available through handphones by sending the sms message "D&D Quotes” to XXXX. A charge of20 sen is applicable for every sms enquiry. |
| 11. What is the minimum investment required? |
| The minimum investment is in the 1 dirham which costs RM25 per piece. The ½dinar costs about RM370.5 at current level of prices. (Please note that the price quoted is as of May 20, 2011. The price would change according to prevailing market price of gold and silver). |
| 12. Where can I sell the gold dinar and silver dirham of the state of Perak? |
| The gold dinar and silver dirham of the state of Perak can be sold back toGoldNet or its appointed agents like Nubex Sdn Bhd. Nubex has second level agents all over Malaysia to whom the dinar and dirham can be sold back. If necessary the coin may be assayed to ascertain their originality before they can be accepted. The customer will have to bear the cost of assaying. The dinar and dirham can also be sold online through the websites of GoldNet and Nubex. Please see details on the respective websites. |
| 13. Prior to this, there were a number of investment schemes towards gold dinar and silver dirham. What is the differentiating factor of the gold dinar of Perak? |
| GoldNet deals with physical gold and silver. It does not deal in paper gold orpaper silver, or in derivatives like futures market. Also its business model is not based on multi-level marketing. |
| 14. Are there proposals to expand to other states? |
| Yes. There are already enquiries to mint gold dinars and silver dirhams for other states. Indeed, there are also enquiries to replicate the venture in other countries. |
| 15. How can I contact GoldNet or Nubex? |
| The contact information for both are as below: |
| GoldNet International Sdn Bhd No 21 Jalan Damar SD15/4A Bandar Sri Damansara 52200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Malaysia Fax : +6(03)-6280 2678 For Further Information Email : info@goldnet.com.my |
Nubex Sdn Bhd C-315, Centre Wing Metropolitan Square, Damansara Perdana, 47820 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Tel : +6(03)-7729 9640  +6(03)-7729 9640/04Fax : +6(03)-7729 9940 info@nubex.com.my www.nubex.com.my |
