Malaysian Citizens Research Articles

The Implementation of al-Mâ’ûn’s Theology in the Philanthropy of Muhammadiyah Citizens in Malaysia

The aim of this research is to describe the implementation of social solidarity from ‎the theological understanding of surah al-Mâ’ûn by the residents of ‎Muhammadiyah in Malaysia during the covid-19 pandemic. This research model is ‎a case study on the generosity behaviour of migrant workers or better known as the ‎Indonesian Migrant Workers (TKI) Muhammadiyah in Malaysia. This research ‎method uses a qualitative approach. The data collection technique is done by online ‎observation, interviews and documentation. This study applies an interactive ‎analysis through data collection, data reduction, presentation and conclusion ‎drawing. The purpose of this study is to determine the form of social activities ‎carried out by Muhammadiyah citizens in Malaysia who on the other hand are ‎migrant workers in response to the global covid-19 pandemic. The results of this ‎study can be concluded that the implementation of the value of social solidarity in ‎the Muhammadiyah community in Malaysia, especially for migrant workers, shows ‎that citizen philanthropy indirectly creates a cooperative activity, an activity of ‎mutual help and willingness to sacrifice for others. It is clear how some of ‎the residents participate in an unconditional way in trying to help other residents ‎who do not have basic needs due to the strict social distancing run by the ‎Malaysian Royal Government.

Factors Influencing Vaccination Decision among Parents in Malaysia

Vaccination is an important solution to a particular illness. In addition, vaccination is a treatment that makes the body more resistant to infection. Recently, vaccination awareness has been quite worrisome. Refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccines threatens the progress in avoiding vaccine-preventable diseases. Therefore, this study explored the most significant factor influencing vaccine hesitancy among Malaysian parents. A total of 203 Malaysian parents participated in this study. A logistic regression analysis was performed to show the influential factors. It is found that among educational level, living area, vaccination awareness and media exposure, only media exposure (p=0.000) was significant. It showed that media exposure is affecting parents’ hesitancy in vaccinating their children. It is hoped that this study beneficial to raise awareness of vaccination among Malaysian citizens. This study can convince relevant organizations to launch an awareness campaign about the importance of vaccination. From here, the government can fulfil its responsibility to educate people about the importance and benefits of vaccination.

Removal of Refugee Protections: Impact on Refugee Education, Mental Health, Coping, and Advocacy

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the removal of refugee protections on refugee education and mental health, in addition to the protective roles of advocacy, community, and religion. We conducted semi-structured interviews with seven Chin refugees from Myanmar who were refugee school leaders in Malaysia (mean age = 23; 57% female); we also interviewed four Malaysian citizens, with expertise in refugee education (mean age = 35; 100% female). We conducted follow-up interviews with five of the Chin participants. We found that (a) Chin refugees were deeply concerned about how removal of protections impacted refugee education, fears of refoulement, and the well-being of their refugee education community; (b) Logistical, community, and emotional support played a protective role; and (c) An unprecedented multi-step advocacy process by the Chin community contributed to successful reinstatement of their refugee protections, including protections for their refugee schools. Discussion addresses the importance of pre-consultation school research on policy impacts and advocacy with marginalized school communities prior to starting consultation, with a focus on how refugee community protective factors and advocacy can act as forms of resilience in the face of negative policy impacts on education and mental health.

Extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology for COVID-19 Contact Tracing Application by Malaysian Users

The Malaysian government has mobilized its strength to confront the current COVID-19 pandemic and has sought to develop and implement a digital contact tracking application, making it an integral part of the exit strategy from the lockdown. These applications record which users have been near one another. When a user is confirmed with COVID-19, app users who have recently been near this person are notified. The effectiveness of these applications is determined by the users’ willingness to install and use them. Therefore, this research aims at identifying the factors that would stimulate or slow down the adoption of a contact-tracing app. It proposes solutions to mitigate the impact of the factors affecting the user’s acceptance of COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing Apps. A quantitative approach was followed in this research, where an electronic survey was spread in Malaysia, for the objective of data collection, considering the previous discussion of the results. Then, using PLS-SEM, the collected data were analyzed statistically. The findings of this study indicate that the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) factors (Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilities Condition) were significant predictors of MySejahtera application adoption among citizens in Malaysia. On the other hand, the factors of app-related privacy concern were found to be insignificant for MySejahtera application adoption.

COVID-19 Pandemic Management: A Review of the Digitalisation Leap in Malaysia

The first cases of COVID-19 materialised in Malaysia in January 2020, and the trend of COVID-19 cases boosted remarkably. As the globe changes its usual services and norms with digitalisation, many countries have used information technology embedded within digitalisation to manage COVID-19. This applies specifically for containment and contact tracing among Malaysian citizens. Malaysia is one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to have designed digital applications to control and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, hence making it one of the top 50 nations under the UN’s 2020 E-Government Development Index (EGDI). This study intended to investigate the effectiveness of digitalisation in controlling the spread of COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia from 11 March to 9 June 2020 (90 days), with a specific focus on the aspects of containment and contact tracing. This research concluded that using digital applications and government administrative orders advised by national healthcare policy, through movement control orders (MCO) and conditional movement control orders (CMCO), slowed down the rate of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. Similar endeavours by Malaysia’s neighbouring countries have also administered current technological advancements to battle the pandemic with healthcare efforts.

Post-locked down mental wellbeing among Malaysian adults: factors of life satisfaction in urban Malaysia

Under the enforcement of the recovery movement control order (RMCO), citizens of Malaysia were allowed to commute for work with tight protocols of social distancing. In this period of time, most individuals were adjusting to the new norm after being locked down for about six weeks. With an assumption that the social dynamics could have been different from the pre-pandemic era, this study aims to investigate how mattering predicts life satisfaction among individuals who live in the urban area of western Malaysia in the aforementioned timeframe. The role of other variables, namely perceived social support (PSS), resilience, and spirituality was also investigated. Data was collected from 402 adults between 18 and 66 years of age (M=25.44) who reside in the urban areas of Malaysia. A moderated serial mediation hypothesis was tested by employing the Bootstrap method in PROCESS Macro model 92. Our findings suggested that resilience does not play a significant role in the equation due to its insignificance in predicting life satisfaction after controlling the rest of the variables.

A Study of Muslims’ Perceptions of Zakat as a Tax Reduction in Malaysia and Indonesia

The study of zakat and taxes is still a highly regarded topic, especially in relation to the public’s perception of zakat as a tax reduction. The aim of this study is to examine the influencing factors towards the perception of Muslims on the zakat policy as a form of tax reduction based on an adopted research model. To assess the quality of the models and hypothesis, the Partial Least Square (PLS) - Structure Equations Model (SEM) is used in this study. There is a total of 152 respondents involved in this study whereby the respondents are almost evenly divided between Malaysians and Indonesians. The Malaysian citizens are a total of 77 people (50.7%) and the remaining 75 people (49.3%) are Indonesian residents. Based on the SEM results of the formation factors in the test produced by the method of Exploratory Factor Analysis, it can be said that only the knowledge about tax, religiosity and satisfaction variables have a significant and positive influence or impact on the perception towards tax through zakat system. The results of this study can reduce the gap in perception and understanding among the Muslim community regarding the perception of Muslims towards tax breaks through the zakat system and will surely play an important role for countries, policy makers and zakat or tax institutions both in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as around the world in utilizing practices which can be considered highly and positively beneficial to the Muslim society.

Harmonious Construction or Judicial Disobedience of Stare Decisis? Suraini Kempe & Ors v Kerajaan Malaysia & Ors

In Suraini Kempe & Ors v Kerajaan Malaysia & Ors, the High Court ruled, on a harmonious construction of the relevant constitutional provisions on citizenship and equality before the law, the word ‘father’ in Article 14(1)(b), read together with section 1(c) of Part II of the Second Schedule of the Federal Constitution includes the mother of the children born out of Malaysia, and therefore declared, among others, that children born out of Malaysia, to mothers who are Malaysian citizens, are entitled to citizenship by operation of law if all the procedures to those followed by the father are adhered to. A harmonious construction is one where two provisions of the Constitution bearing upon the same subject are read together and so interpreted as to give meaning and effect to, and not render, the provision of the Constitution as otiose or nugatory. Curiously, the learned judge avoided referring to a recent Federal Court decision which ruled there was no necessity to adopt any other requirement to construe the constitutional provisions. The decision, albeit by a majority, is binding on the learned judge. This case comment argues that the learned judge disregarded and disobeyed the well-entrenched doctrine of stare decisis.

Determinants of house prices in Malaysia

PurposeThis paper aims to empirically examine the relationship between macroeconomic factors and housing prices in Malaysia from 1991 to 2016.Design/methodology/approachThis study was based on annual macroeconomic data from 1991 to 2016. For the model that was constructed, house prices were treated as the dependent variable and other variables, namely, the interest rate, the gross domestic product (GDP) and the consumer price index (CPI) as explanatory or regression variables. All these data come from the annual publication of the World Bank’s statistical report. In the meantime, data on house prices have been obtained through the publication of the National Property Information Centre in the form of an index. In the study, the bounds testing approach for cointegration was used because the Engel Granger cointegration tests can be used only if all the series are stationary at first difference. And it is against this background the author could not use it because our variables are a combination of series integrated of orders I (0) and I (1).FindingsThe results of this study revealed a positive equilibrium relationship in the long run between interest rate, CPI and housing prices and negative for the GDP. In addition, in the short run, housing prices were shown to have a positive relationship with GDP and CPI, but no relationship with the interest rate, based on the assumption that “all other things being equal”.Research limitations/implicationsThe data on economic factors (GDP, RI and CPI) used in this study are secondary and not from the Malaysian Department of Statistics and Economic Studies. Furthermore, the result of this research only reflects the Malaysian reality, and therefore, cannot be generalised to the entire housing market worldwide.Practical implicationsThe result of this study can be used for housing valuation by Malaysian property market players, investors and especially policymakers.Social implicationsThis study’s findings can help Malaysian policymakers to limit the high price fluctuation in the housing industry and help Malaysian citizens to buy their own homes at a reasonable price.Originality/valueThe contributions of this study are structured around two points. The first is the contribution to the body of knowledge, where the results of the study will contribute to the growing number of literature in the housing sector. Moreover, the second contribution of this document is the strength of its recommendation to policymakers. This is because it analyses only the main macroeconomic determinants (IR, GDP and CPI) that are essential to better influence the housing sector as quickly as possible, as opposed to those that use many variables that could lead to possible specification errors.

THE PERCEPTION, BEHAVIOURS AND ACCEPTANCE OF COVID-19 VACCINE AMONG MALAY SENIOR CITIZENS

Despite concerted efforts taken since the launched of immunization campaign for Malaysians, the country still wary of individuals who consistently disputing the validity and legality of the vaccine. Further to that, there are also Malaysia citizens who do not believe in the effectiveness of the vaccine which lead to refusal in receiving it voluntarily. The study aimed to (i) to explore the understanding of the Malay senior citizens on health communication campaigns related to the COVID-19 vaccination programmes, (ii) to review the sources of information used by the senior citizens in obtaining information related to the vaccine and COVID-19, and (iii) to explore the behaviours of the senior citizens and their acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine. The study involved 10 Malay senior citizens within the range age group of 55-65 years. In order to seek diverse insights on the information seeking behaviour and the preferred sources, the study focused on the influence of cultural, religious diversity and the implementation of health communication campaigns by the government on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Further, the study also explored the level of understanding and perception on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine among senior citizens. Qualitative methodology was applied using focus group discussion in the data collection, and NVIVO software was used for analysis. The study found hesitancy on the vaccine resulting from the unsure sources of information. Senior citizens from Malay community were very concerned on receiving the vaccine. Additionally, the result indicated that the national immunisation campaign is less effective especially to those who reside in rural areas. The majority of the participants obtained information sources related to vaccines and COVID-19 through social media compared to mainstream media. Inasmuch the overseas media provided more authentic information than the local media, it was equally significant that the informants also found the information by the National Security Council (MKN) and the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) to be authentic and were always referred to.

MUST THE PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ENTAIL THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS? THE CASE OF MALAYSIA’S PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACT

The enactment of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015 (POTA) in Malaysia has led to numerous detentions and rulings that are arguably violations of human rights. Through an analysis of primary and secondary materials, viz., the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, court decisions and relevant statutes, this paper questions the necessity of such draconian preventive detention legislation as POTA and concludes that a valid concern for national security has infringed the rights of Malaysian citizens. Thus, POTA must be re-evaluated and re-examined to ensure that the Malaysian government defends the traits that differentiate them from the terrorists they are combating.

A Study of Risk Factors in Acute Myocardial Infarction of Adults Ages 18 To 45 in A Tertiary Referral Centre for Cardiology Services in Malaysia's East Coast.

Introduction: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the major cause of death worldwide. There is limited data on the characteristics of afflicted young adults. Recent increase in recreational drugs has been associated. No local studies have ever reliably attributed this in young adults. This study aims to study the characteristic of AMI cases among young adults and these associations. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary referral centre for Cardiology services, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA), Kuantan, Pahang. It involved screening 818 patients presenting with AMI at the Emergency Department of HTAA over a one-year duration. Malaysian citizens aged 18 to 45 years old diagnosed with new AMI were included. Urinary samples were collected for recreational drug screening. Results: The incidence of AMI cases among young adults in HTAA Kuantan, Pahang were 10.3 per 100 persons of total AMI cases in a one-year period (95% Confidence Interval, 8.4%-12.6%). Fifty-eight patients who met the inclusion criteria were recruited, 1.7 % tested positive for amphetamines. Males made up 96.6% of the patients and the most common risk factor identified for young adults with AMI was smoking (N=45, 77.6%) followed by obesity (N=33, 56.9%). Conclusion: Recreational drug use at AMI presentation was negligible. Males made up the majority and smoking was the most prevalent risk factor. To date, this is the first study in Malaysia looking at the incidence of young adults with AMI and their preponderant characteristics.

Towards A Strategic Approach Of Covid-19 Cluster Web Mapping In Malaysia

The world was shocked by an unprecedented outbreak caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In Malaysia, it started with the largest number of COVID-19 cases with the first wave of infection on 25 January 2020. The objectives of this paper are to obtain the perspective of the respondents about the need for web-mapping in the form of mapping the geospatial data in Malaysia and to visualize the current online datasets of COVID-19 disease case clusters. The study area would cover the entire Malaysia since a rapidly increasing number of citizens were affected by this virus. To be specific, this study focused on the active clusters of COVID-19 in Malaysia. The data were freely shared in real-time by referring to the Ministry of Health (MOH) channel. The hotspots map were explored using the Map Editor by Cloud GIS. The approach has been illustrated using a dataset of whole Malaysia which are locally transmitted confirmed cases in four phases of COVID-19 wave in Malaysia. This study is significant to raise public awareness of the virus, especially among Malaysian citizens. It can provide an accurate estimation of the cluster tracking of the COVID-19 system by using geospatial technology. Therefore, people are more concerned and followed all the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) provided by the government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

THE EARLY EXPOSURE OF BUSINESS DURING TEENAGE LIFE AND THE INTENTION OF BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR

Unemployment has been a big issue for fresh graduates nowadays because of the limitation of job opportunities due to the financial crisis and health pandemics. To measure whether there is a chance for Malaysian citizens to create more job opportunities, this research paper examines the early exposure of business during teenage life and determine the intention of becoming an entrepreneur in the near future. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study aims to identify those factors of early exposure of a business in teenage life, family influences, and social trends which can influence fresh graduates in becoming an entrepreneur. We conducted a pilot test to measure the reliability and validity of the instrument using questionnaires through Google form. There are 21 questions in total and the targeted respondents are 30 people throughout Malaysia. But to come up with a more significant outcome of our research, 56 more questionnaires had been distributed with an amount of 86 respondents in total. The form was answered anonymously and only those who are in the age of 13 to 32 were considered for analysis. All the questions contained in the questionnaire passed the Cronbach’s Alpha Test for reliability. The independent variables are early exposure of a business in teenage life, family influences, and social trends while the dependent variable is the intention of becoming an entrepreneur.

Teaching CEFR-aligned Writing to Young Learners: Practices and Voices of Teachers

The introduction of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)-aligned English syllabus into the Malaysian education system is a welcome initiative taken by the government as a part of “memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu, memperkukuhkan Bahasa Inggeris” to empower Malaysian citizens to compete in this era of globalization (Ministry of Education, 2015). The new initiative has also brought forth shifts in teaching approach and technique, and assessment method. Teachers must incorporate in their teaching, among others, formative assessment and differentiation techniques. It prompted a study to be carried out to obtain insights into the practice of teachers teaching CEFR-aligned syllabus. Five primary school teachers teaching five different writing classes to nine-year-olds participated in the study. Classroom observation protocol and guided reflective interview were used to obtain data for the study. The findings revealed that the classes were mainly teacher-centered, and teachers hardly used differentiation techniques. Several formative assessment elements were exhibited but not comprehensively. Teachers’ lack of training in CEFR and ineffective training system may be the cause of this observation.

ZAKAT AS TAX REDUCTION: STUDY OF MUSLIM COMMUNITY PERCEPTION IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA

This study aims to examine the model adopted based on Muslim consumer perceptions of taxes through the zakat system. This research uses three stages of comprehensive technical analysis through demographic depiction of respondents based on distribution frequently, then tests the adopted factors using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to select and determine the number of factors and related items. In the final stage, data analysis is carried out in the form of the modeling technique using Structure Equations Model (SEM) to test the quality of the models and hypotheses produced. 152 respondents were collected who were sampled in this study, the majority of respondents are 77 Malaysian citizens and 75 Indonesian residents. At the testing stage of the model through the Structural Equation Model (SEM), based on the results of the formation factors in the test, it can be said that only the knowledge about tax, religious, and service variables have an impact on perception toward through zakat system positively and significantly, but through testing the serviceability of a model results in a determinant coefficient of 0.668, which it was relatively strong to explaining independent variable.

Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak by Authorities in Malaysia Viewed from Fiqh Al-Ma’al Perspective

Malaysia is among the countries with the most citizens inflicted by covid-19 outbreak in Southeast Asia in early phase of year 2020, however persistent efforts performed by Authorities in Malaysia especially Ministry of Health has succeeded in constraining this disease among its people. Nevertheless, preventive measures done by Authorities in Malaysia raised several questions among the people particularly if viewed from fiqh al-ma’al perspective. This article aims to explain on the preventive efforts for covid-19 outbreak taken by Authorities in Malaysia viewed from fiqh al-ma’al perspective. Methodology of this article was based on qualitative study. Data were collected from document analysis by referring to books particularly related to fiqh Islami, kaedah-kaedah fiqh, usul fiqh, fiqh al-ma’al, contemporary fiqh books, current fatwas, journal articles and authorised websites. Data collected were abalysed and elaborated through inductive, deductive and comparative methods to gain for appropriate results in alignment with determined research objectives. This study found that preventive efforts for covid-19 outbreak executed by Authorities in Malaysia do comply with fiqh al-ma’al and those efforts are on the right track according to the fiqh. It clearly invites great maslahah (benefits) to the people. On account of that, it is hoped that Malaysian citizens not need to worry with the preventive efforts instead they should keep on supporting the sincere efforts until chain of covid-19 outbreak spread can ultimately be broken.

ISU KETUANAN MELAYU DI MALAYSIA

This article discusses an important political concept in Malaysia, that is the political supremacy of the Malays. The Malays supremacy was resulted from a social contract between the native Malays, on one part, and the Indian and Chinese immigrants, on the other part, during the negotiation concerning the independent of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu before 1957. It was said in the contract the native Malays slackened the prerequisites for the citizenship of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu for the Chinese and Indian immigrants, while the Chinese and the Indian immigrants admitted a dominant position of the Malays in political administration. However, after the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu changed into Malaysia in 1963, the Chinese and the Indians begin to be disloyal to the social contract. They wanted equal right among all Malaysian citizens. By using archaeological dan ethnohistorical approaches, I will trace the origins of the concept of native supremacy in the Malay Nusantara sosiocultural context. Secondly, I will discuss the challenges facing the concept after Malay Land occupied by the British colonialist, particularly after the 1960es. The concept of “native sovereignity” is called beschikkingsrecht in Dutch language. It was invented by a Dutch expert of customary law, van Vollenhoven, in 1909 (ter Haar 1962). The concept of “native sovereignity” was originally aimed to remind the neighbour villagers or the foreigners when they passed on, or open a rice field, in a new area. They had to ask permission to the master of the land. Therefore, for the sake of harmonious social life, all ethnic groups in todays Malaysia, especially the new immigrants from different cultural background, it is suggested to learn and comprehend basic concepts in traditional native Malays customary law. Keywords: native Malays, ethnicity, native sovereignity, beschikkingsrecht, Will of the Malay Kings.

A Study on the Laws Governing Facial Recognition Technology and Data Privacy in Malaysia

The advancement of technology in the past decade has led humans to achieve many great things. Among that is facial recognition technology that uses a combination of two techniques which is face detection and recognition that is capable of converting facial images of a person into readable data and connecting it with other data sets which enable it to identify, track or compare it. This study delves into the usage of facial recognition technology in Malaysia where its regulation is almost non-existent. As its usage increases, the invasive features of this technology to collect and connect its data posed a threat to the data privacy of Malaysian citizens. Due to this issue, other countries' laws and policies regarding this technology are examined and compared with Malaysia. This enables the loopholes of the current law and policies to be identified and restructured, which create a clear path on the proper regulations and changes that need to be made. Thus, this study aims to analyse the limitation of law governing data privacy and its concept in Malaysia along with changes that need to be made. This study’s finding shows the shortcoming of Malaysia’s law in governing data privacy especially when it involves complex technology that has great data collection capability like facial recognition.

Usability Features to Improve Mobile Apps Acceptance among the Senior Citizens in Malaysia

Mobile apps are designed and specifically developed for a specific purpose. They are widely used nowadays as they benefit many users of different age groups, both the old and young. Although various apps caters to the different needs of the senior citizen users are available, there is a lack in understanding of how usability features of these apps influence the acceptance among the senior citizens. Though many of the existing studies proposed several features that may be beneficial to older users, it is unclear how these features promote the acceptance of mobile apps for older users in countries like Malaysia. Aiming to address this inadequacy, the current study investigate the needs, expectations, and usability features of several mobile apps that are relevant for the Malaysian senior citizen people, aged 65 years and above. The usability evaluation of the developed prototype was performed by using the System Usability Scale (SUS). Based on results of the evaluation, it was concluded that the inclusion of an elder-friendly usability feature can increase the acceptance of mobile apps among the senior citizens.