Action In Malaysia Research Articles

Comment on “Social Justice and Affirmative Action in Malaysia: The New Economic Policy after 50 Years”

Comment on “Social Justice and Affirmative Action in Malaysia: The New Economic Policy after 50 Years”

Comment on “Social Justice and Affirmative Action in Malaysia: The New Economic Policy after 50 Years”

Comment on “Social Justice and Affirmative Action in Malaysia: The New Economic Policy after 50 Years”

Social Justice and Affirmative Action in Malaysia: The New Economic Policy after 50 Years

Malaysia's New Economic Policy (NEP), promulgated in 1971, established a two‐pronged national social justice agenda of poverty reduction, and social restructuring or pro‐Bumiputera affirmative action. This distinction of these policy objectives must be appreciated, but various misconceptions, especially regarding affirmative action, have resulted in polarization and stalemate after 50 years of the NEP. Social justice and affirmative action must be conceptualized and evaluated with clarity and rigor, with policy objectives, mechanisms and outcomes aligned. Malaysia needs to systematically formulate a new social justice paradigm, building on the NEP and anchored on the principles of equality and fairness. In the affirmative action sphere, this framework must focus on developing capability and competitiveness, and balance identity, need and merit in the allocation of opportunity.

Race-based affirmative action in Malaysia: Misrecognised subjectivities, enduring inequalities

Malaysia's race-based affirmative action is often studied within the objective domain of resource deficit and distribution. In this paper, I focus on the subjective domain to interrogate how the racial identity modes of Bumiputera Malay youths shape their social attitudes towards affirmative action in Malaysia. Drawing on in-depth interviews, I posit three racial identity modes that correspond to three social attitudes towards affirmative action. The findings point to the disjuncture between Malay subjectivities and their colonial construction; the contestations over affirmative action that go beyond redistribution to recognition; and the neglect of intersectionality in conceptualising Bumiputera disadvantages. I argue that affirmative action can be better understood by incorporating non-elite perspectives, featuring different sites, scales and actors in the reproduction of subjectivities; the politics of affirmative action has to be reconstituted as struggles for recognition and redistribution; and the intersectional disadvantages of Bumiputeras must be foregrounded in the reclaiming of this policy agenda in Malaysia.

Prevalence of dementia and quality of life of caregivers of people living with dementia in Malaysia.

Dementia is the major cause of disability among older persons and leading physical and psychological sequelae for both the person living with dementia (PLwD) and their caregivers. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of dementia in Malaysia and identify the factors influencing quality of life (QoL) of caregivers of PLwD. A nationwide survey was conducted among individuals aged ≥60 years. Cognition was assessed with the Identification and Intervention for Dementia in Elderly Africans (IDEA) tool. QoL of older caregivers was assessed using the Control, Autonomy, Self-Realization and Pleasure (CASP-19) questionnaire. The prevalence of dementia among older adults aged ≥60 years in Malaysia was found to be 8.5%. The prevalence was found to be higher among females, those with no formal education and those in rural areas in Malaysia. The mean QoL of family caregivers of PLwD was significantly lower than the caregivers of older adults without dementia were (P < 0.001). Multivariable linear regression analysis on the subpopulation of PLwD showed that inability to carry out activities of daily living among PLwD (P = 0.014) and low to fair social support for the caregivers (P < 0.001) were negatively associated with QoL of caregivers of PLwD. The high prevalence of dementia among older adults in Malaysia emphasizes the need for affirmative action in Malaysia. The functional capacity of the PLwD and social support determines the QoL of caregivers of PLwD in Malaysia. Thus, the community as a whole needs to provide support to PLwD and their caregivers. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; 20: 16-20.

The Statutory Derivative Action in Malaysia: Comparison with an Australian Judicial Approach

AbstractThis article examines the operation of the Malaysian statutory derivative action through an analysis of Malaysian judicial decisions from 2008 to 2015. It considers the extent to which the statutory derivative action has achieved its underlying objective of facilitating better shareholder access to redress. The analysis focuses on applications for leave to bring derivative actions for breaches of directors’ duties, considering the manner in which the courts have interpreted and applied the criteria for granting leave and the rate of success in obtaining leave. The findings are compared with an analysis of Australian statutory derivative actions and situated in a broader comparative context. The article considers the effectiveness of the Malaysian statutory derivative action in facilitating better shareholder access to redress and canvasses possible explanations for the Malaysian approach.

Smart Schools an Innovation in Education: Malaysian's Experience

According to the new environment created by the information period, training and learning new skills are being inevitable. Retraining the skills of group working to coordinate the information age has created special conditions for education. Smart schools are one of the strategies adopted by schools in response to today's modern needs. Smart schools are active for entrepreneurship, using modern methods to improve the quality of education, and training qualified people who at any time have the capability and efficiency of modern industry. The purpose of this study, is the use of ICT in Malaysian Smart School and comparing it with the Smart Schools in Iran. To conduct this study, library, documents, Web sites and electronic journals are available. The results of this study show that although there are significant differences between the education system and deployment of ICT in Iran with the standards in smart schools in leading countries like Malaysia, according to the original development of smart schools in Iran which has been adapted from Malaysia, recognizing the realities of this action in Malaysia, can be effective in the development of schools in the country and prevent indiscriminate development.

Affirmative Action in Malaysia and South Africa: Contrasting Structures, Continuing Pursuits

This paper examines affirmative action in Malaysia and South Africa, two regimes that favor majorities. Malaysia’s highly centralized and discretionary programme is in contrasts with South Africa’s more democratized, decentralized and statutory structure. With regard to affirmative action outcomes, both countries have made quantitative gains in increasing representation of Bumiputeras in Malaysia and blacks in South Africa, in tertiary education and high-level occupations. However, there is also evidence to suggest continuing, primarily qualitative, shortfalls, in terms of graduate capability, dependence on public sector employment, and persistent difficulty in cultivating private enterprise. The results reported here emphasize the importance of implementing affirmative action effectively in education, while exercising restraint in employment and enterprise development.

Background, Performances, and its Recent Trends of Affirmative Action in Malaysia

Background, Performances, and its Recent Trends of Affirmative Action in Malaysia

The Role of MARA (The Council of Trust for Indigenous Peoples) in Enforcing Affirmative Action in Malaysia

Malaysia is one of a few countries in which a majority and politically dominant ethnic group, the Bumiputera1 were socially excluded and economically in the aftermath of colonial rule. Bumiputera under-representation in tertiary education institutions and upper occupational positions, and in ownership and control over economic activity, were starker in Malaysia than in most nations that implement forms of affirmative action. Post-independence Malaya was characterized by a social structure, aptly described as an ethnic division of labour, in which groups were preponderantly and persistently confined to particular occupations and industries. Through British colonial rule and migration processes, foreign interests came to dominate the ownership of resources and capital, while Malays, Chinese and Indians, lived and worked in separate geographic and economic spheres. Ethnic social stratification was reinforced by disparities in educational and job opportunities. One of the affirmative action been taken by the government is the establishment of MARA (The Council of Trust for Indigenous Peoples) in 1966. Under the tertiary education, MARA (Council of Trust for the Indigenous People) set up junior residential colleges primarily for pupils in rural and unprivileged areas which enjoyed higher standards of teaching and facilities, especially in science classes. Throughout the years, MARA has established many other institutions too in order to increase the social mobility of the Bumiputera. MARA has played the main role as a statutory body in helping Malaysia to perform an affirmative action. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n11p193

The Statutory Derivative Action in Malaysia

A derivative action is an action brought by a shareholder or director of a company in the name of and on behalf of that company in respect of a wrong done to the company, rather than to its shareholders. It is ‘derivative’ as the party bringing the action does not have the right to sue, but such a right is ‘derived’ from that of the company. Normally, the authority to take legal action lies with the board as it has management responsibility. However, where the alleged wrongdoers are the directors themselves who control the company, the law gives shareholders the ability to commence action on the company’s behalf.

Affirmative Action in Malaysia: Education and Employment Outcomes since the 1990s

An important element of Malaysia's affirmative action regime has been to expand tertiary education access and upper-level occupational opportunities for the Bumiputera beneficiary group. However, the momentum of change has dwindled in recent years; Bumiputera representation in managerial and professional positions remained fairly static across 1995-2005. This paper provides a framework for conceptualising affirmative action and outlines Malaysia's affirmative action programmes in education and employment. It compiles evidence of affirmative action outcomes from official publications and various surveys, and derives new information from census data. Tertiary education quantitatively burgeoned from the 1990s, but the growing importance of educational quality adversely affects Bumiputera graduates, who predominantly enrol in less regarded domestic public institutes. In addition, Bumiputera continue to rely heavily on the public sector for employment in managerial and professional positions. The findings demonstrate a critical need to arrest the quality decline in public education and to judiciously modify affirmative action programmes.

Affirmative Action in Malaysia

The prevailing practice of affirmative action typically involves introducing measures to raise participation of members of an economically disadvantaged group in areas of education, employment and business, where they had been historically excluded or underrepresented. Measures taken are generally in form of preferential policies toward members of a designated group, based on criteria such as a particular ethnicity, gender, or religion. Precisely because affirmative action measures entail bestowing preferential treatment on members of a designated group, they invariably will generate controversy; in particular preferential treatment on basis of ethnicity and gender has generated intense, passionate debate. While affirmative action policies vary substantially across countries in terms of beneficiary groups, nevertheless, in nearly all countries beneficiaries are groups which are economically and socially disadvantaged and politically subordinate.1 Malaysia's affirmative action policy differs from those of other countries in one crucial respect ? it is the politically dominant majority group which introduces preferential policies to raise its economic status as against that of an economically more advanced minorities.2 The majority ethnic group that has power to legislate affirmative action policies and receive benefits from those policies in Malaysia are Malays.3 Conversely, it is Chinese and Indian ethnic minorities, most advanced economic groups, who have felt most victimized by affirmative action policies. Another unique feature of Malaysian affirmative action is that preferential treatment for Malays and other indigenous groups was written into Malaysian Constitution, under Article 153. In other words, affirmative action in Malaysia is a consitutionally sanctioned and exclusively ethnic-based policy where only Malays and other native groups are entitled to receive preferential treatment. Besides being written into Constitution, wording of Article 153 links ethnic preferential