Women's employment decisions in Malaysia: Does religion matter?

Religion may influence female employment decisions because different religions specify different life styles. This study investigates whether religion is a significant determinant of married and single women's paid-work and full-time employment in Malaysia. Using the Second Malaysian Family Life Survey and a sequential logit approach, this paper finds that religion is less influential in urban areas than in rural areas.     

论潮人在马来西亚柔佛麻坡的开拓

文章根据大量的文献资料和实地调查与口述历史资料 ,从甘蜜的种植 ,柔佛、麻坡的港主制度 ,柔佛、麻坡的潮人港主 ,以及潮人与麻坡的开埠、潮人的商业网络等方面 ,论述了早期潮人对柔佛、麻坡经济的开拓及其不可湮没的历史功绩     

Social networks and the organisation of big business groups in post New Economic Policy (NEP) era in the 1990s in Malaysia

Personal ties are generally regarded as important to big business growth in Malaysia, particularly after the New Economic Policy (NEP) in the 1990s. Common types are informal ones established between multi-ethnic big business people and Malay key state and political leaders. Other types of ties, company directorship links and informal ties, are seldom studied especially those between the business people and former state bureaucrats and corporate professionals. Thus, by conceptualising the directorship links and informal personal ties as social networks, the author conducted a sociological analysis of some intra- and inter-ethnic directorship links and ties established by four prominent big businessmen after the NEP in the 1990s. This article reports the main finding on the links and ties becoming a common organisational mechanism of business groups owned and controlled by the businessmen, besides providing access to the state. Therefore, another understanding of inter- and intra-ethnic personal ties in big business growth, especially after the NEP is achieved.     

马来西亚留学教育的变化及其原因探析

20世纪90年代中期以前,马来西亚的留学教育主要表现为大量学生出国留学;90年代中期以后,出国留学的学生大量减少,而外国留学生数量则迅速增加,马来西亚由原来的留学生派遣国变为留学生接受国.导致马来西亚留学教育这一变化的主要原因有:政府制定了区域优质教育中心的目标,并围绕这一目标采取了一系列有效措施;国内教育机会增加;允许外国大学在马来西亚办分校和合作办学;积极推动发展双联课程等.马来西亚的经验对我国发展来华留学教育有一定的借鉴意义.     

Mortality among elder abuse victims in rural Malaysia: A two-year population-based descriptive study

Our study aims at describing mortality among reported elder abuse experiences in rural Malaysia. This is a population-based cohort study with a multistage cluster sampling method. Older adults in Kuala Pilah (n = 1,927) were interviewed from November 2013 to May 2014. Mortality was traced after 2 years using the National Registration Department database. Overall, 139 (7.2%) respondents died. Fifteen (9.6%) abuse victims died compared to 124 (7.0%) not abused. Mortality was highest with financial abuse (13%), followed by psychological abuse (10.8%). There was a dose-response relationship between mortality and clustering of abuse: 7%, 7.7%, and 14.0% for no abuse, one type, and two types or more, respectively. Among abuse victims, 40% of deaths had ill-defined causes, 33% were respiratory-related, and 27% had cardiovascular and metabolic origin. Results suggest a link between abuse and mortality. Death proportions varied according to abuse subtypes and gender.     

The other side of Malaysia’s enviable economic and multiethnic stability: the obstinate resilience of ‘money politics’

Many governments, in their zeal to progress and deliver the fruits of development, are caught in a web of unsavory habits and practices that impair not only their international image but also domestic legitimacy. One such perennially persistent and resilient disease is ‘money politics.’ Taking Malaysia as a case study, we note that despite sustaining a remarkable record of economic and multiethnic stability, the country has also been helpless in mitigating this obstinate issue. In this article, it is posited that the phenomenon is not a new or recent portent but has actually persisted even prior to independence. We shall then contend that unless the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government attaches greater priority in stamping out this political bug, the country’s otherwise enviable development trajectory and the quest to reach a ‘developed nation’ status via its Vision 2020 declaration, even if fulfilled, are not cause for celebration, given its implications to the country’s economic sustainability and multiethnic stability.     

Fabric that weaves stories: Pua kumbu and contemporary Iban identity construction in Sarawak,Malaysia

This article examines the process of identity construction among the Iban indigenous people of Sarawak in Malaysia through pua kumbu – their sacred and ritual cloth. Although the Ibans are popularly known for their headhunting practices and longhouse dwellings, these cultural practices are in major decline and therefore pua kumbu is brought to the forefront as a significant means of identity construction. By illustrating the meanings, narratives, and ceremonies associated with pua kumbu, this article demonstrates that pua kumbu is not just a piece of sacred or ritual cloth; rather, it has significant meanings in the everyday life of the Ibans. It connects the Ibans with distinctly eternal meanings of their life and cosmology, past histories, and their connections to the physical environment. It thus helps the process of maintaining a boundary and identity construction of the Ibans by distinguishing between ‘us and them’ – the Ibans and others.     

Evaluation of a school-based sexual abuse prevention curriculum in Malaysia

This article examines a personal safety curriculum (Keeping Me Safe) offered to Standard Three students (mostly nine-year-olds) in five primary schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Staff of the Malaysian NGO, Protect and Save the Children, Association of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (P.S. The Children), facilitated six weekly one-hour sessions featuring games and role play to teach children about potentially unsafe situations and touches, and to develop appropriate safety strategies and skills to ask for help. The students (n = 261) and a control group (n = 184) completed a 25 item questionnaire before and after the program, and for the experimental group only, again two months later. The assessment was supplemented by observations of each session, student interviews, and parent and teacher focus groups. The experimental group students showed substantial gains on about two-thirds of the questionnaire items. However, a minority of the students failed to absorb key messages of the curriculum. Challenges to implementing prevention programs in Malaysia are discussed.     

Malaysia's outward FDI: The effects of market size and government policy

This paper extends the empirical literature of Malaysia's outward FDI (OFDI) by considering the impact of foreign market size and home international reserves using multivariate cointegration and error-correction modeling techniques. The empirical results reveal that there is a positive long-run relationship between Malaysia's OFDI and its key determinants, viz. foreign market size, real effective exchange rate, international reserves and trade openness. The main findings suggest that apart from the market-seeking incentive and the adoption of outward-oriented policies, the Malaysian government could also encourage OFDI by implementing liberal policy on capital outflows. On the basis of these findings, we draw some policy implications for the country's economic development and the internationalization of Malaysian firms in the era of globalization.     

马航 MH17事件与保障民航安全的国家责任

马航MH17航班被击落事件是人间悲剧,震惊世界,深受谴责。航空运输必须大力发展,保障空中航行安全是首要任务。航空器运行必须统一技术标准,空中交通必须统一规则,服从统一的空中交通管制。保障空中航行安全法规已成一定体系,保障空中航行安全技术措施成效显著,但应总结经验教训,进一步完善。国际社会是主权国家组成的社会。在国际航空关系中,主权国家发挥着重要作用。国际关系“法治化”已是大势所趋。应加强国际法治,凡违反强制性法律规范的不法行为,应承担国家责任,以杜绝民航飞机被击落悲剧的再次发生,切实保障空中航行安全。