Multiracial Country Research Articles

Contesting Syariah Laws in Malaysia: Religion, Human Rights and the State’s Response

Malaysia is a multiracial country with Islam as the Religion of the Federation. Its Federal Constitution is crafted in a way that Islam - the religion of the Malay majority - occupies special position in the constitution and makes significant presence in public life. But Malaysia is not a full-fledged Islamic state. Secular criminal and civil laws are in force and attempts to introduce Islamic criminal laws (hudūd) were thwarted by the provisions in the constitution itself. While the more conservative Muslim groups view the entrenched position of Islam in the constitution as one of the most important pillars of Malaysian nation, the more liberal groups see it as a hindrance to the creation of a more liberal and progressive Malaysia. This paper aims at analyzing the contestations between the two groups on the implementation of syariah laws and the impacts of these contestations on politics and law in contemporary Malaysia.

The Popularization of Chinese Language in Multilingual Environment —Based on the Analysis of Examples from Malaysia

Similar to other languages, Chinese has been affected by the multilingual environment where it communicates and therefore changed inevitably. Malaysia is a multiracial country. While all races keep their own ethnic characteristics and language habits, they affect and integrate with each other, forming Malaysia’s unique multilingual environment and multicultural atmosphere. This paper aims at studying Communication of Chinese language in this unique language environment and providing reference for research on Communication of Chinese language in multilingual environment.

Religion as a Determinant of Child Welfare in Custody Cases in Malaysia and Classical Islamic Law: A Comparative Overview

It is paramount to consider the welfare of a child when determining the custody of a child. However, in the event of a parent’s conversion to Islam, the issue of religion also arises, i.e. whether the religion of a parent is considered the main factor or one of several factors in determining the interests of the child. In Malaysia, since both Islamic and civil law recognise conversion as grounds for divorce, the question concerning the custody of children and the determinants of religion for the best interest of children will be the main issue. This research aims to examine the significance of religion in determining the welfare of children in custodial dispute cases and to search for possible solutions from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence relating to custodial conflict upon conversion of one spouse to another religion, particularly in a multiracial country like Malaysia. Our findings show that religion is the primary criterion in determining the welfare of children in custody cases from the classical Islamic point of view. However, Islamic law also offers various other solutions if there is a conflict involving non-Muslim parents.

Are speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR) outcomes influenced by ethnicity?

Due to its objective nature, auditory brainstem response (ABR) evoked by complex stimuli has been gaining attention lately. The present study aimed to compare the speech-evoked auditory brainstem response (speech-ABR) results between two ethnic groups: Malay and Chinese. In addition, it was also of interest to compare the speech-ABR outcomes obtained from the present study with the published Caucasian data. Thirty healthy male adults (15 Malay and 15 Chinese) were enrolled in this comparative study. Speech syllable/da/presented at 80 dBnHL was used to record speech-ABR waveforms from the right ear of each subject. Amplitudes and latencies of speech-ABR peaks (V, A, C, D, E, F and O), as well as composite onset measures (V/A duration, V/A amplitude and V/A slope) were computed and analyzed. When the two ethnic groups were compared, all speech-ABR results were not statistically different from each other (p>0.05). When the data from the present study were compared with the published Caucasian data, most of the statistical analyses were significant (p<0.05). That is, Asian subjects revealed significantly higher peak amplitudes, earlier peak latencies, higher V/A amplitudes and steeper V/A slopes than that of Caucasians. The speech-ABR results between Malay and Chinese were found to be essentially similar due to anatomical similarities. Nevertheless, specific normative data for Asian adults are required as their speech-ABR results are different from that of Caucasian males. This issue should be addressed before it can be applied holistically in multiracial countries.

Depiction of the community living, religion, art and culture of the Malaysians in the Tamil School text books

The Tamil Language is given national security and instructional qualification in the Primary Schools by the constitution of Malaysia. This paves the way to the teaching of Tamil from the first to the sixth standards in Malaysian Schools. The Development of Arts, Tamil Section under the Ministry of Education, Malaysia has designed the Tamil Language syllabus for Primary Schools and Tamil Schools. Based on this syllabus, the Text Book Department Prepared Tamil Language Text Books from the first standard to fifth standard. Since Malaysia in a multi-racial country, the Tamil language text books have been prepared to bring out the pieces of information about the community living, religion, art and culture of the Malaysians. This article studies how these aspects are covered in the text books prescribed in the middle schools and Tamil schools. Key words: Tamil Language, Community living, Religion, Art, Culture, Text book. ஆயவுச சுருககம: மலேசிய அரசியல சடடததில தமிழ மொழிககுத தேசியப பாதுகாபபும தொடககப பளளிகளில பயிறறுமொழித தகுதியும வழஙகபபடடுளளது. இசசடடததின வழி, மலேசியப பளளிகளில முதலாம ஆணடு தொடஙகி ஆறாம படிவம வறை தமிழமொழி கறபிககபபடுகிறது. மலேசியக கலவி அமைசசில இடமபெறறுளள கலைததிடட மேமபாடடுப பிரிவின தமிழப பகுதி தமிழபபளளிகளுககும இடைநிலைப பளளிகளுககும பாடததிடடததை வகுததுளளனர. இபபாடததிடடததை அடிபபடையாகக கொணடு மலேசியப பாடபபுததகப பிரிவு ஆணடு ஒனறு முதல படிவம ஐநது வரை தமிழமொழிப பாடபபுததகததைத தயாரிததுளளனர. மலேசியா பலலின மககள வாழும நாடாக இருபபதால தாயமொழிப பாடபபுததகஙகள பலலின மககளின குமுகாயம, சமயம, கலை, பணபாடு, ஆகியத தகவலகளைத தாஙகி தயாரிககபபடுகினறன. இவவாறு உருவாககபபடட தமிழபபளளிகளிலும இடைநிலைப பளளிகளிலும பயனபடுததபபடும தமிழமொழிப பாடபபுததகததில காணபபடும பலலின மககளின குமுகாயம, சமயம, கலை, பணபாடடுத தாககம எவவாறு உளளது எனபதை ஆராயவதே இவவாயவுக கடடுரையின நோககம. குறிபபுச சொறகள: தமிழ மொழி, சமுதாயம, சமயம, கலை, பணபாடு, பாடபபுததகம

다민족국가 선교전략에 관한 소고: 북카프카스 지역 소수민족의 인문지리, 역사, 정치적 상황 분석을 중심으로

본 논고는 기독교 선교 전략을 모색하는 차원에서 다민족, 다문화 지역에 대한 선교 전략을 어떤 방식으로 접근할 것인가, 그리고 어떻게 그에 합당한 전략을 모색할 것인가를 러시아연방 내의 북카프카스 지역을 사례로 들어 논증한다. 즉 하나의 국가 내에서 다문화 이해를 통한 선교 전략에 대한 논의를 러시아연방 북카프카스 지역의 인문지리, 역사, 정치적 상황을 통해 통찰적으로 분석하는 내용이다. 본 논고에서는 북카프카스의 다민족 국가의 선교 접근 전략을 북카프카스를 중심으로 살펴보는 것과 동시에 북카프카스에 속하는 체첸 민족을 북카프카스 민족 그룹의 대표 주자로 선정하여 체첸 민족을 중심으로 역사, 정치, 사회적 관계를 다루고 있다. 하나의 소수 민족을 연방 내에서 분석하는 것은 다민족 선교에 매우 주요한 관점을 제공한다고 판단된다. 체첸이 소연방 해체 이후 독립을 추구하였는데, 이 사실은 다민족 국가에 속하는 민족 그룹의 역사적, 정치적 특성들을 연구할 수 있다는 점에서 다민족, 다문화 선교전략의 모델이 될 수도 있겠다. 본 논고는 북카프카스 인문지리 특성, 그리고 체첸공화국의 인문지리, 역사적 기원, 러시아 민족과의 관계, 체첸 전쟁 등 현재의 정치적 상황을 통해서 다민족 국가의 선교전략을 도출하는 내용으로 구성되었다. 본 논고에서 필자는 다민족 국가의 선교전략은 치밀한 지역연구를 통해서 그 전략적 방향성을 재고해야 한다는 입장을 피력하였으며, 민족의 종합적 상황을 통해 구체적인 선교전략을 추진해야 한다는 당위성을 제시하였다.

A Review on the Emergence and Growth of Halal Studies

Malaysia is a multiracial country with Islam being the largest practiced religion. One of the most important concepts in Islam is the concept of halal. Halal industry plays an important role in the whole world, especially for Muslim society. The demand for halal product either for food or non-food product has been increasingly from day to day. The study aims to finding out the applicable of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in halal studies. Thus, this paper aims to know whether any systematic literature review on halal studies with the use of Theory Planned Behaviour has been done especially on various products such as cosmetic, food and etc. The literature review will be based on 17 articles and journals relating to halal studies. The journals and articles have been selected from various databases between year 2007 – 2014. The main objective is to identify the trends (year) on halal studies with the use of Theory of Planned Behaviour. The second objective is to identify the themes use in halal studies. In conclusion, it is hope that this paper will offer directions for future research in halal study with the use of Theory of Planned behaviour (TPB) model.

Blended Learning in Teaching Secondary Schools’ English: A Preparation for Tertiary Science Education in Malaysia

Science and Technology Education is one of the efforts to meet the National Vision 2020. Most of the Science based courses in tertiary education are conducted using English. As an initial preparation to tertiary science education, English foundation must be strongly rooted as continuity from secondary to tertiary education. At the same time, educationists are shifting their traditional teaching method towards online learning. Malaysia is a multi-racial country with Malay, Chinese and Indian as the three main races and many other minority natives. English, as a subject or as a medium of instruction stays a very important role in Malaysia education. Over the years, the performance in English of students has been very unsatisfactory. Educationists are looking at many measures to improve students’ performance in English and one of the measures that stands out is blended learning. Different subject teachers are having their own ways in applying blended learning. The paper investigated why English teachers apply blended learning in their lessons and what are the tools used in their blended learning lessons. Data were collected from English teachers from secondary schools in Bintulu, Sarawak. In depth interview was used to collect qualitative data. The study identified ten reasons why English teachers applied blended learning and identified eleven tools used by English teachers in their blended learning lessons.

Jesus and Lu Du: Correlation

Today Myanmar is a multi-racial and multi-religious country and has an estimated population of 60 million people. The population is comprised of some 135 ethnic groups speaking 106 languages and living together under the generic name, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The civil war in Myanmar has lasted for 64 years, from 1949 until now. Today the people (Lu Du) of Myanmar are powerless and cry for justice and peace. This paper proposes a theology appropriate for the Lu Du by tracing the correlation between Jesus and the Lu Du. It builds on the work of Minjung and Dalit theologians to emphasize the importance of the historical event of the cross of Jesus for interpreting the suffering of the Lu Du. It also stresses the place of a theology of the Holy Spirit in the context of Myanmar. Finally, it describes the significance of the resurrection of Jesus as a historical event which gives motivation and hope to Lu Du to work for and claim the promise of their special place in the Reign of God. The imagery of God’s Reign provides a concrete aspiration for an ecumenical journey towards justice, unity and peace. Building a peaceful community in Myanmar is not the sole responsibility of Christians, Buddhists, Muslims or people of other faiths. In fact, the Holy Spirit is a primary force in the movements of Lu Du from the beginning. The Holy Spirit motivates and persuades the Lu Du for freedom as it is the ultimate Will of God. It should be the product of peaceful transformation of the poor - empowering individuals and building relationships.

P63 – Some unusual asthma triggers in tropical climes: an evidence‐based review

Malaysia, a multi-racial country embraces different religious practices and customs. In this bazaar, we identified some unique asthma triggers that need sharing with other doctors. Awareness of these triggers can lead to better prevention and management.

Economic Aspects and Applied Policies of Poverty Reductionin Malaysia

Poverty is multidimensional, involving not only income deprivation, but also ill-health, illiteracy, lack of access to basic social services, and little opportunity to participate in the processes that influence people's lives. Malaysia, a multiracial country, managed to drastically reduce the incidence of poverty and lessen income inequality while achieving rapid economic growth and maintaining racial harmony. What transpired in Malaysia during the 1970.2000 period was complex and challenging, requiring masterful management by the government of the varied demands of a heterogeneous population [1].The incidence of poverty and hardcore poor in Malaysia has dramatically declined from 1970 to 2002. Poverty incidence in the rural areas has also been on the down trend from 60 per cent in 1970 to 11.4 per cent in 2002.Urban poverty is relatively lower, falling from 22.3 per cent in 1970 to 2 per cent in 2002.The study assesses the policies, strtegies, programes and the tools that used to reduce incidence of poverty in Malaysia. The research also looks to represents some lessons from the Malaysian development experience specially in poverty reduction. The Poverty Line Index (PLI) for Malaysia was introduced in June 1977 using the 1973 Household Expenditure Survey (HES).It was based on the minimum requirements of a household for food, clothing and footwear, and other non-food items such as rent, fuel and power. Beside PLI the research used secondarry data from it’s relevant sources to achieve the aims of study.The paper concluded that the Malaysian growth regarded as challenges, policy development and progress were in many dimension unique. Nevertheless, there are successful lessons that can provided and adopted from the Malaysian model.

Is Malaysian Food Important to Local Tour Operators?

Known as a multiracial country Malaysia not only hold unique cultures, customs and traditions but also having a range of distinctive local food as part of the gastronomic products. International tourists perceived Malaysia having varieties of interesting food, snacks and ethnic cuisines which are worth to be explored. Various efforts are implemented by the government in promoting and marketing these products among the international tourists. However, the extent to which tour operators perceive the importance of Malaysian Malaysian food and their subsequent action behavior are not known and this paper r evealed such issues.

Commitment of medical graduates educated with and without community-based medical education towards community health care: A study from Malaysia.

Context: Community-based medical education (CBME) has become widely accepted as an important innovation in undergraduate medical education. In curriculum featuring CBE, students are acquainted with the community early in their studies however; the impact of this training can be judged best to see them practice the required aspects of CBME. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a very strong community dependant life style. Main national health problems have called for a change in health profession education from traditional hospital based health care to community-based delivery system. There are three major university medical schools that practice either community oriented or community based medical education in undergraduate medical curriculum. Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has a community based medical education (CBME) curriculum as compared to a community oriented education curriculum (COE) adopted by Universiti Malaya (UM) and a more traditional curriculum practiced by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Objective: To determine whether medical graduates from USM with a community-based medical education in its curriculum for more than 25 years are inspired to have stronger commitment towards community health as shown during their on-job practice of medicine compared to other graduates from UM and UKM, who have adopted community-oriented medical education. Methods: A questionnaire-based pilot study with 12 items (variables) was designed to obtain supervisor’s opinion on commitment of interns towards the health of community they serve. The questionnaire was administered to a randomized group of 85 specialists supervising the internship training program in five major disciplines including internal medicine, surgery, orthopedic, gynecology and obstetrics and pediatric medicine. The data received from 62 respondents from four major disciplines was analyzed utilizing SPSS version 12.0.1. Result: The responses received from 62 supervisors on 9 out of 12 variables were directly related to community commitments of interns. It was shown that the USM graduates who were taught through a CBME curriculum have performed better than the graduates from UM and UKM who followed a COE curriculum. p-value (< 0.001) was highly significant and consistent with higher mean score in those variables. Conclusion: The graduates taught through a CBME curriculum (USM) performed better in community commitments towards patients care compared to graduates from COE curriculum (UM) and a traditional curriculum (UKM).

The Language Identities of Malaysians as Portrayed in Upin and Ipin

Malaysian government has proposed the 1Malaysia concept as a means of maintaining the harmonious status in a multiracial country. Â Several efforts were done in realising the concept through media and one of it is through television animation series. The Upin and Ipin animation series is known to have successfully promoted Malaysian cultures and gained popularity for its vast moral contents, portraying Islamic values and educating Malaysians on the importance of harmonious relationships among people from different ethnic groups and religious backgrounds. This paper aims to discuss the language identities of Malaysians as portrayed in the animation series, of which the focus is on the linguistic elements. In this study, we conducted textual analysis, by which the language identities of the characters were analysed. Our data were 11 parts of the Upin and Ipin animation series that portrayed people from different ethnic groups interacting with each other. The findings show that the characters in the animation use different particles in representing their ethnicity. Besides that, a typical Malaysian speech pattern of the particle lah is found to be widely used by all Malaysians, regardless of their ethnic group. The first language interference, code switching and the act of accommodating a Chinese speech style are also discussed in light of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT).

How does racial democracy exist in Brazil? Perceptions from Brazilians in Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais

Gilberto Freyre conceptualized racial democracy to describe Brazil's non-racist and harmonious multiracial society in the early 1900s. I suggest there are three views for assessing racial democracy in scholarly literature: achieved Brazil is a multiracial non-racist society; oppressive Brazil is a racist society with strained interracial relations; and aspirational Brazil is a multiracial racist society that aspires to be non-racist. I then argue that exposure to US racial ideals via migration influences Brazilians' perceptions of racial democracy. I demonstrate this using interviews with forty-nine Brazilians who migrated to the USA and returned to Brazil and twenty-four non-migrants who did not migrate, in Governador Valadares, Brazil. My findings indicate that more returnees and non-migrants perceive Brazil as a multiracial racist country, which is consistent with the aspirational view of racial democracy.

Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia (PPPM) 2013-2025: Unity Among Students

Unity has always been an issue to a multiracial country like Malaysia. Unity is important to ensure the optimum productivity in a country, whether in economics, politics, education or social. Everyone plays a role and is interdependent of each other. Education is considered as the most effective bridge to unity. By having a common medium of instruction is another way to unite students. Schools are supposed to use national language as the medium of instruction so that national identity could be built. Moreover, students are expected to attend the same school, preferably national schools so that they could integrate better among each other. Lastly through providing equal opportunity and access to learning and moving up the social ladder is another means to unity that education can provide. Students are given equal opportunity to enrol to schools since Malaysia offers free education through our national schools. In line with that, Malaysia has produced an education development plan that highlighted unity in its educational aspiration, namely Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan (PPPM).

Social Media Contribution Towards Ethnocentrism

Malaysia is a multiracial country consisting of three main ethnics, namely Malay, Chinese and Indians. National unity among the ethnics is very important to ensure national harmony. Rapid growth and development in a country does not bring anything if people were not united. This can be seen when research done by Jusang Bolong (2008) showed that people like to communicate only with their own ethnic and many Malaysian are indifferent to racial integration which allowing ethnocentrism (Ismail Abdullah, 2009). Social media can be seen as a factor to create solidarity but at the same time encourage ethnocentrism. Therefore, this study is conducted to determine the level of public exposure to social media, the level of ethnocentrism in Malaysia and to identify the relationship between public exposures to social media with ethnocentrism. Researcher will be using survey method in collecting data while Mixed Effect Model will be used as a guide for this research.

A visual analysis of festive television commercials in Malaysia

Malaysia is a multiracial country with a diverse range of religions, leading to a broad range of religious festivals throughout the year. In recent years, corporate giants such as Petronas, Telekom Malaysia (TM), Tenaga and Astro have taken to airing television commercials (TVCs) that contain a local touch when greeting their customers. Perhaps the TVCs that have noticeably touched the hearts of most Malaysians are those sponsored by Petronas. Petronas used to commission the late Yasmin Ahmad to produce these TVCs. Thus, this paper is a visual analysis of the Petronas advertisements for one of the main religious festivals celebrated in Malaysia: Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The corpus selected for analysis is those TVCs directed by Yasmin Ahmad for Petronas between the years 1995 and 2008. The theoretical framework for the analysis of these social-commentary type commercials is the one proposed by Theo van Leeuwen.

The Legal and Ethical Dilemmas in Keeping Abreast with Innovations in Medical Sciences

Medical sciences have been advancing rapidly with the invention of various technologies such as xenotransplantation, ectogenesis and womb transplant. These technologies bring with them several ethical and moral issues that need to be carefully scrutinised in order to protect the interests of individuals and society. Although these techniques have yet to make their way into Malaysia, research and evaluation on their potential benefits and harms is pertinent to ensure that sufficient legal mechanism is put in place when these techniques are eventually introduced in this country. This paper thus aims to identify the legal, moral and ethical dilemmas brought by the advent of these technologies in the context of Malaysia as a multi-racial country with Islam declared as the official religion.

Sports: As an Appliance of Incorporation toward Malaysian Society

Problem statement: This research investigated the elements of sport t hat led to social integration in Malaysian society and identified the steps taken to achieve social integration through sports. As a multi racial country, Malaysia consist ing of three major races, the Malays, Chinese and Indians were seen practicing the sport cultures tha t were inherited by their forefathers. History show s that colonization by the western powers i.e., the P ortuguese, Dutch and the British were claimed to have great impact on the segregation of these three races. The Chinese congregated around the town areas specially controlling the tin mines industry, the Malays were seen mostly in the paddy plantatio n industry while the Indians dominating the rubber pl antation industry. The differences are not only see n in their choice of occupation and living areas but even seen in their choice of sporting activities. W ith such differences and diversity in beliefs and pract ices one would think it would be difficult for thes e different Races to work together as a team. Approach: To clarify this statement, the study employed an ethnographic approach to assist the case study w hich was conducted on 30 athletes, selected using propulsive sampling, 10 from each of the 3 main rac es. The data collecting methods used were interviews, observation and document analysis. Results: Triangulation technique helped to support the validity of the findings. Its aimed to capture the athletes' cultural practices and investigated wheth er the implementation of the national sports policy is effective in contributing towards the integration of the different races in Malaysia. Conclusion/Recommendations: The findings of the study showed some very interesting results which further strengt hen the claims that sports not only can be an agent of integration but also acts as a catalyst to bring pe ople of different races to compete with one goal in mind, striving for the nation rather than for one's race glory and victory.