Multiracial Country Research Articles

The effect of ethnic relations course on the students perceptions towards ethnic relations among first year students of one public university in Malaysia

Malaysia is a multi-racial country and unity is an important agenda for the country's political, social and economic stability. The Malaysian prime minister enhanced this vital agenda with his “One Malaysia” concept that alert the Malaysian citizen to have a high sense of responsibility towards building a united nation. Every citizen should have high tolerance attitude among them. The Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education has taken stern action in realizing this concept of unity by introducing a course known as Ethnic Relations. The course should be taken by every students in private and public universities. A study was conducted on first year students perceptions towards ethnic relations in Malaysia mainly between the Malays and the non Malays which consists of Chinese, Indian and other ethnics. The sample of the study were 320 first year students of one of the public university in Malaysia who register for Ethnic Relations course in the first semester for the 2009/2010 session. Questionnaires were given to the students before the implementation of the ethnic relations module and after their completion of the course. The aspects of questionnaires are culture, identity, stereotype, interaction, prejudice and plurality. This is an action research and data was analyzed by using mean. Before the implementation of the module, from the mean it was found that there was a difference of perceptions between the different ethnic related to the aspects of culture, identity and stereotype. The findings will be discussed later in the paper.

Clinical and Pathologic Differences Between BRCA1‐, BRCA2‐, and Non‐BRCA‐Associated Breast Cancers in a Multiracial Developing Country

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 confer an increased risk to breast and other cancers, but to date there have only been limited numbers of studies of BRCA1- and BRCA2-associated cancers among Asians. Malaysia is a multiracial country with three main races: Malays, Chinese, Indians. We determined whether tumor pathologic features and clinical features differ in patients with and without BRCA mutations in this Asian population. We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 152 women with breast cancer who underwent genetic testing for BRCA mutations. The patients self-reported ethnicity, age at onset, and clinical stage at diagnosis and tumor pathology were reviewed. A total of 31 patients carried germline deleterious mutations (16 BRCA1, 15 BRCA2). We found that tumors in BRCA1 carriers were more likely to be estrogen receptor (ER)-negative and progesterone receptor (PR)-negative. HER2 was more likely to be negative in both BRCA1 and BRCA2 subjects compared with non-BRCA subjects. We found a strong association between triple-negative status and BRCA1 carriers. In addition, tumors in BRCA1 carriers were more likely to be higher grade than those in BRCA2 and non-BRCA carriers; but the difference was not statistically significant. These results suggest that tumors associated with BRCA1 mutations are distinct from those of BRCA2-associated and non-BRCA-associated breast cancers, and that the tumors associated with BRCA2 mutations are similar to the non-BRCA-associated breast cancers. Further studies are required to determine if the prognosis is different in each of these groups and the best management strategy for each group.

A convenção sobre a proteção e a promoção da diversidade cultural e a Constituição brasileira

O texto cuida da proteção e da promoção da diversidade cultural no Brasil e da aplicação, no território nacional, da Declaração Universal da Diversidade Cultural, que encontra na legislação brasileira um campo favorável á sua implementação. Como regra geral, tal proteção resulta das normas constitucionais relativas aos direitos culturais, do conceito de patrimônio cultural imaterial, da proteção dos interesses difusos e coletivos e dos direitos autorais e liberdade de expressão. Merece destaque, na legislação brasileira, a superação de uma das inconsistências da Declaração, relativa à não-previsão de disposições que tornem efetivo o Direito, em virtude da possibilidade de utilização do direito de ação e da atuação do Ministério Público. A garantia da diversidade apresenta a dupla dimensão de dever do Estado e direito do cidadão; trata-se de direito relativo à cidadania pós-material, que exige prestações positivas do Estado, mas que não dispensa a participação da sociedade. Neste campo, a Constituição brasileira incorpora a idéia da cidadania cosmopolita, com fundamento na prevalência dos Direitos Humanos nas relações internacionais, o que também implica a proteção da diversidade cultural como patrimônio da Humanidade pela legislação brasileira.

Inter-Racial Social Distance Over Time in a Multi-Racial Country: The Case of United States

This paper looks at changes in social distance / proximity of white Americans from minority racial groups in America. Its contribution lies in its utilization of robust Census data on inter-racial marriages over four periods to draw conclusions instead of survey data from subjective sources on the intensity of relationships. It distinguishes between white assimilation from a race, which is based on the probability of close social contact of a white person with a member of a minority race (in this case measured by the proportion of white marriages that involve a partner from that minority race) and social proximity (which measures how far the probability of contact is over or under-representative of that racial group's share in the total population). A gender distinction is also identified in behaviour regarding assimilation and proximity. With regard to white males, among the three major minority racial groups (Asians, Blacks and Native Americans) Asian females were the most assimilated group throughout the period, 1960 - 2000, and increased their lead over the others in this period. Black females, however, lost their second place to Native Americans over this period. In the case of white females, Blacks (males) were the most assimilated race in the period, 1960-2000, whereas Asians were able to just inch ahead of Native Americans. The rankings of social proximity of white males to females of different races do not change over time with Asian females being the most proximate followed by Native Americans and then far behind by Blacks. For female whites, the rankings again are constant over time with Native Americans being the most proximate followed by Asians and then by Blacks. It is also found that only Asian women are getting significantly more socially proximate to white men over time whereas other race-gender combinations do not exhibit that tendency towards whites of the opposite sex. There is also a significantly positive correlation between economic proximity and social proximity to different minority races in the case of white males but no such correlation exists for white females.

Leadership and Ethnicity in Public Companies in Malaysia

Corporate Governance gained prominence in Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis of 1997, which operated as a wake up call that the existing corporate governance structures in public listed companies were insufficient. In response, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange issued the Listing Requirements on 22 January 2001 to regain investors’ confidence and attract foreign direct investments. The Listing Requirements included a Code of Best Practices in Corporate Governance that favours the leadership structure of separate Chairman/Chief Executive Officer posts. Malaysia is a multi-racial country comprising predominantly of the indigenous Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. The Chinese in Malaysia continue to play a significant role in the economy. These Chinese practise a distinctive Chinese business culture in the running of their businesses. The literature reveals that the adoption of the prescribed leadership structure of separating the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer positions is not likely to improve the financial performance of Chinese controlled companies. An empirical research is conducted, using 218 Chinese controlled public listed companies in Malaysia. The data covered three years from 2001 to 2003. Financial performances of the companies were measured using return on equity, earnings per share, dividend per share, liquid asset per share and gross margin. t-test and Mann Whitney test were used. The results show that there has been widespread adoption of the leadership structure recommended under the Code by the sample companies. The results also show that adoption of the prescribed leadership structure under the Code has no significant impact on the financial performance of the sample companies.

Perception of the public towards the mentally ill in developed Asian country

This study assessed public perceptions and attitudes towards and causal beliefs about mental health problems in Singapore - a multi-racial country in South-East Asia. A nation-wide survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted on those aged between 15 and 69 years. The overall response rate was 68.1% with a total of 2,632 respondents. About 38.3% (95% CI, 36.4-40.2) believed that people with mental health problems were dangerous and 49.6% (95% CI, 47.7-51.5) felt that the public should be protected from them. A negative attitude towards mental health problems correlated with greater age and less education. The Chinese were more likely to want to hide their illness should they become mentally unwell while the Malays seemed to have a more tolerant attitude (P = 0.032). Public awareness and anti-stigma campaigns should focus on those commonly held misconceptions and target specific populations.

MALAYSIA: The Challenge of Money Politics and Religious Activism

1. Umno, Money Politics, And The Malay Agenda In January 2005, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi began his fifteenth month in office as leader of this multi-ethnic nation of 26 million people, with a raft of issues that remained unsettled since assuming office on 1 November 2003. Abdullah was faced with pressing problems such as money politics, cronyism, budget deficits, glaring failures of several government-linked companies (GLCs), and religious intolerance. On a personal level, 2005 was a particularly difficult year for Abdullah, as his ailing wife Endon Mahmood succumbed to breast cancer in October after battling it for two years. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) General Assembly (19–23 July 2005) furnished the testing ground for Abdullah's leadership style and ability to emerge as a conciliator and problem solver for intra-UMNO politics and the general management of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). The BN is a 14-member coalition government in which two ethnic-based parties — the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) are senior partners representing numerically significant minorities in the country. The Prime Minister was conscious of the fact that he was not only UMNO President — the political party with 3.4 million Malay members — but was also the Prime Minister of a multiracial country. Abdullah squarely addressed the issue of money politics, which figured largely in the month-long run-up to the General Assembly. In his keynote speech, he remarked: “there can be no pride in winning an election through corrupt means and subsequently accepting money to bribe others”. Adding that it would be a tragedy for the Malays if wealth was used to barter power and power was used to sell out the race, Abdullah stressed that efforts to enhance integrity and eradicate corruption would cover both the public and private sectors, including statutory agencies and GLCs. The premier was evidently referring, in his speech, to the recent suspension of Isa Ahmad, the UMNO Vice-President and Federal Territories Minister, who secured the largest number of votes for the three vice-presidential posts in the September 2004 party elections.

Ethnicity as a Determinant of Asthma-Related Quality of Life in a Multiracial Country

In a multiracial country like Malaysia, ethnicity may influence the measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in asthmatic patients. We invited 131 adult patients [44 Malays, 42 Chinese and 45 Indians; mean (95% CI) age: 43 (40.2-45.7) yrs; 28.2% male] with moderate-to-severe persistent asthma followed up in an urban-based hospital outpatient clinic to complete a disease-specific HRQL questionnaire [St Georges' Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ)] and to provide socio-demographic and asthma-related data. Indians reported significantly worse SGRQ total score, compared to Malays [mean (95% CI) difference: 10.15 (0.51-19.78); p = 0.037] and SGRQ activity score, compared to Malays [13.50 (1.95-25.05); p = 0.019] and Chinese [11.88 (0.19-25.05); p = 0.046]. Further analysis using multivariate linear regression showed that Indian ethnicity remained independently associated with SGRQ scores. Our finding highlights the relevance of ethnicity in assessing HRQL of asthmatic patients in a multiracial country such as Malaysia.

Strengthening ethnic identity consciousness and the role of tactical voting in multi-racial Malaysia

Malaysia is often touted as an exemplar of a peaceful multiracial country, with the tensions in inter-ethnic relations engendered by the 13 May 1969 race riots overcome. However, three decades of steady economic growth coupled with the New Economic Policy have helped to strengthen consciousness of ethnic identity and social polarisation in society. This paper discusses how tactical voting in the mixed constituencies has helped the National Front to secure its two-thirds majority in parliament and maintain inter-ethnic calm.

From exclusion and alienation to a multi-racial community:The image of the mtis in New Caledonian literature

In her 2005 New Year's greetings, Marie-Nolle Thmereau, the President of the New Caledonian government, expressed her confidence in the future of her multiracial country, echoing the recognition of New Caledonia's demographic make-up in official discourse since the Noumea Accord (1998). This view of New Caledonian society has not, however, always been so optimistic or encompassing. The island's mixed population of some 230,000 has given rise over the years to social and political tensions. In this context, representations of Self and Other found in the island's literature, particularly as they concern the historically highly contentious issue of biological and cultural interaction, provide valuable perspectives on this subject, enabling us to trace the evolution of local attitudes to the question of mtissage and acquire a broader vision of the lived experience of the island's population.

Teachers Teaching Students from a Multicultural Background: The Case of Malaysia

Teacher educators like talking about the pre-service — in-service continuum as a way of expressing their views, that inevitably, they are expected to play a multifaceted role in and outside of the classroom. In this respect, what is of greater concern is that many teachers are inadequately prepared to teach ethnically diverse students. Malaysia is a multiracial country comprising three main races: Malays, Chinese and Indians. All three bring with them significantly different cultural beliefs, norms and practices. A typical Malaysian classroom has students from all three races. The question is: are teachers adequately prepared to teach students who come from three different cultures? This paper will attempt to present snapshots of a number of issues concerning teachers currently teaching students from a multicultural background in Malaysian classrooms. Data for this initial investigation were gathered in 2004 using survey questionnaires. While teachers generally strongly support the notion that knowing cultures of all races is important in establishing harmony in Malaysia and believe that they need to be familiar with cultures of the students they teach, there seems to be a number of issues that are of serious concern, including those related to syllabus, teacher education, teaching and learning processes and school climate, if teachers are to teach effectively a multicultural student body.

European Union and Hungarian Language Policy

Eastern European countries has been historically multiracial European countries, therefore, the language policy of EU becomes a test case for the practical lives of peoples on the question of the preservation of national identities without national boundaries. This thesis shows what kind of language policy that EU practices to integrate its member states' peoples which practically transcend the borders and how each state deals with these necessities with European Integration and the Globalization. In my paper, Hungary was analyzed as an example.

Sensitizing Students to Cultural-linguistic Diversity through English-Language Classes in a Multicultural Taiwan

ABSTRACT Taiwan, once called Formosa (meaning “beautiful island” in Portuguese), is a country with a diverse ethno-linguistic heritage, and therefore it is a multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual country. The society consists of more than 10 different aboriginal communities in addition to the 3H: three different groups of Hun peoples (Hoklo or Minnan group speakers, Hakka speakers, and Holam in Amis language—the latest immigrants). This paper explores how the different cultural backgrounds of senior high-school students in Taiwan in a multilingual classroom that promoted multilingualism allow them to come to value other languages spoken in their classes or in their communities. Evidence supporting students' attitudes and motivation in learning community languages and English came from close analysis of interactional patterns with peers and teachers in classes and informal settings, from students' explanations of their school experiences in group work, and from interviews with students, parents, community figures, and educational leaders over a four-month period during the process of the course. Sensitizing students to cultural-linguistic diversity through English language classes in a multicultural Taiwan has the potential to promote multilingualism and pluralism in minority and majority group students who study several languages at a time in a multilingual classroom.

The faces and facets of English in Malaysia

A discussion of both the selection and significance of sub-varieties of English in Malaysia. Malaysia is a multi-racial country, with a diversity of languages that includes Bahasa Malaysia (the national language), English (introduced during the colonial period from the late-eighteenth to mid-twentieth centuries), and a number of Chinese dialects, Indian languages, and other minority languages. Despite this complex linguistic tapestry, English continues to command considerable respect and prestige, and demonstrates an impressive range of intra- and international uses. It is a vehicle of communication within and across diverse linguistic and cultural groups at many levels of interaction, but clusters mainly around particular domains of use. It is important to the educational endeavours of the people and the technological, economic, and political aspirations of the nation.

Sejarah Religio-Politik di Singapura: Interaksi Islam dalam Dinamika politik Multi Etnis

In this article, the writer tries to explain the historicity of political system formulation and government in Singapore. Besides, the writer also explores the religion role in establishing state institution. Moreover, the writer specifies that social structure of Singapore society-the multiracial country with the majority of Chinese immigrant have been working out nationalism awareness. The political social interaction based on ethnic and religious sentiment had crystallized and ended by separation of Singapore from Malaysia federation, as a free country based on industry and trade. In many sectors, the sake of Singaporean Moslems is accommodated. The accommodated Moslems' aspiration is along with the improvement of Moslems awareness of the important of formal institution to accommodate their aspiration. However, Islam is still paced as a distrustful movement.

Culture and Managerial Styles: A Study of Potential Managers in Malaysia

Multimedia University, (MMU) is the oldest and largest private university in Malaysia (a multiracial country). Its main campus in Cyberjaya, Selangor has four Faculties: Creative Multimedia (FCM), Information Technology (FIT), Engineering (FOE) and Management (FOM). English is the language of instruction. A questionnaire based on Basse (1982) was used and 931 usable responses obtained (about a quarter of the population). The independent variables were age, race (Malay, Chinese, Indian,’Others’), year of study and the Faculty. The dependent variables were the five managerial styles (Factual, Intuitive, Analytical, Normative and European) as measured by the questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha >0.9). Using One-way ANOVA etc. It was found that there were significant differences (at p<0.05) in managerial styles between races and academic years. FCM students were unique in that they preferred the Factual style, those from other Faculties preferred the Analytical style. Malay and Chinese students preferred the Analytical style, Indian students preferred the Factual style. Undergraduate courses at MMU are designed, inter alia, to produce managers for the students’ chosen profession. The implication of this and the results obtained are discussed in terms of national and individual needs and the possible desirable changes in the courses at MMU and other institutions of higher learning.

THE PROBLEM OF AMERICAN BORN CHINESE’S INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE AS SEEN IN THE JOY LUCK CLUB

One thing that commonly happens in a multiracial country is the interracial marriage, so does in America. As we know that America is a multiracial country, a place where people with different races, ethnic and culture live. Here, many different ethnics start to interact and mix. The interracial marriage usually is not easy. The couple has to face the different cultures problems, besides that they also will face another problem from their families or society, the interracial marriage rejection. In the case of interracial marriage rejection, I will divide the rejection based on its reasons. The first reason is different cultures and the second reason is the generation gap.

Risk of postnatal depression after emergency delivery.

To identify whether women having emergency delivery are at increased risk of developing postnatal depression (PND). This is a retrospective comparative cohort study design. Two hundred and fifty Malaysian women were part of a previous study examining the prevalence of PND in a multiracial country and the effects of postnatal rituals. All women were at least 6 weeks post-partum when asked to complete the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Sociodemographic and birth data were obtained. Data collected were divided into two groups: 55 emergency delivery and 191 non-emergency delivery. There were four missing data. There was no significant difference in the mean age, parity, gestational period, baby birthweight, 5 min baby Apgar score and EPDS scores of the two groups. However, the analysis of PND indicated that women with emergency delivery had a relative risk of 1.81 compared with women with non-emergency delivery. The comparison of the two groups using chi2 indicated a significant (chi2 = 3.94, d.f. = 1, P = 0.04) increase in the presence of PND in the emergency delivery. When compared with women having non-emergency delivery, women having emergency delivery had about twice the risk of developing PND. Special attention to this group appears warranted.

Belgium's Immigration Policy

Belgium is one of the most multicultural and multiracial countries of the European Union. Today, the immigrant-origin populationI represents about 12 percent of the total population (about 10 million people). Contrary to some neighboring states, EU citizens2 account for more than 60 percent of the total immigrant-origin population. Among the non-EU, Moroccans (more than 120,000) and Turks (about 70,000) are the largest groups, but almost all the nationalities of the world are represented. The immigrant-origin population is unequally distributed in the territory. In the capital city, Brussels, it comprises more than 28.5 percent of the population, whereas in Flanders it does not reach 5 percent, and it is 10 percent in Wallonia. In 1974, the Council of Ministers made three important decisions. First, it officially stopped any new immigration of workers. Second, it took measures to control clandestine immigration. Third, it regularized a few thousand undocumented migrant workers. Since then and until very recently, the doctrine of zero-immigration has dominated the debates and policy initiatives in the field of immigration. Even though immigration to Belgium continued under different patterns (family reunions, free movement of EU citizens, foreign students, refugees and asylum seekers, illegal immigration) which contributed to the diversification of the Belgian population, there has never been a proactive policy of immigration based on the political acknowledgment that Belgium was indeed, de facto, a country of immigration. Stress has been put on means to reduce immigration as much as possible, to prevent migration, and to reverse it. Since 2000, a new debate has slowly been emerging. The impact of the report on replacement migration published by the Population Division of the UN has put the issue of a partial reopening of the borders in the media and on the political agenda. The Belgian corporate world views immigration of highly skilled workers as a partial solution to the labor market shortages. But the government is reluctant to envisage a more open approach to migration inflows. The logic of the markets and the logic of the state do not move in the same directions.

Racial background is a determinant factor in the maintenance dosage of warfarin.

Warfarin is a drug commonly used in the prevention of thromboembolic events. There have been reports suggesting that racial background may influence warfarin dose requirements. Malaysia is a multiracial country in which there are 3 major races, Malay, Chinese, and Indian. We examined 100 patients from our hospital on stable maintenance doses of warfarin, with international normalized ratio (INR) of 2.0 to 3.5. We found that the mean warfarin dose for Indian patients (n = 19) was 6.9 mg, for Chinese patients (n = 55) was 3.6 mg, and for Malay patients (n = 26) was 3.2 mg. The results showed that the Indian patients required a statistically significantly higher warfarin dose than did patients of the other 2 races (P < .0005). Age was also found to affect the daily warfarin maintenance dose.