Reform In Malaysia Research Articles

Assessing Malaysian Health Care Reform

This study assesses the healthcare reform in Malaysia since its independence. Previous studies and official reports on healthcare reform were analyzed through content analysis. The discussion starts with geographical and socioeconomic factors, then moves to the inception of the Malaysian Health Care System, focusing on the development of primary health system reform initiatives in the country. This paper illustrates the rigorous journey of system reform, emphasizing that political commitment and backing from stakeholders and citizens are vital for its success

A Flexible Model for Fuel Subsidy Reform in Malaysia

A Flexible Model for Fuel Subsidy Reform in Malaysia

Parental Liability Law in Malaysia for Children’s Misconduct: A Legal Overview

This article explores into the evolving landscape of parental liability law in Malaysia by examining its foundations in criminal law, torts, and the Child Act 2001. It also draws comparisons with the United States to shed light on the potential prospects for reform in Malaysia. By analysing the Malaysian legal framework, which includes provisions from the Penal Code, Child Act 2001, other statutes, and Islamic jurisprudence, the article uncovers the existing contours of parental liability and highlights areas where clarity and refinement are needed. The study emphasises the need for a balanced approach that holds parents accountable for their children's actions without imposing unjust or excessive penalties. Drawing from the comparative analysis with the United States and Islamic viewpoints, where parental liability laws vary across states, the article showcases the diverse approaches taken to address similar issues. Lessons learned from the U.S. experience offer valuable insights for Malaysia as it seeks to modernise and adapt its parental liability laws to contemporary family dynamics and societal challenges.

Assessing Malaysian Health Care Reform

This study assesses the healthcare reform in Malaysia since its independence. Previous studies and official reports on healthcare reform were analyzed through content analysis. The discussion starts with geographical and socioeconomic factors, then moves to the inception of the Malaysian Health Care System, focusing on the development of primary health system reform initiatives in the country. This paper illustrates the rigorous journey of system reform, emphasizing that political commitment and backing from stakeholders and citizens are vital for its success

Electoral System Reform in Malaysia: A Delayed Success?

The Election Commission (EC), Malaysia’s electoral body, is frequently chastised by the public for its lack of neutrality, manipulation of the electoral roll, gerrymandering practices in constituency delineation, and unfair media access to contesting parties. As a result of these weaknesses, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto for the 14th General Election (GE-14) promised to reform the country’s electoral system if they won the election. The PH Manifesto won 121 of the 222 contested parliamentary seats, capturing the people’s hearts. Hence, this article examined the electoral system reforms enacted by the PH administration from its election victory in May 2018 until the end of its term in February 2020. The article asserts that PH had successfully instituted four major reforms in the country’s electoral system, including placing the EC under the parliament, cleaning up the electoral roll, enhancing electoral transparency, and amending the federal constitution to allow Undi18 (Vote18) and automatic voter registration, despite its brief tenure in power. However, the electoral system reforms stalled following the collapse of the PH government due to the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government’s lack of commitment to continue this reform.

Conceptual Framework on Antecedents of True and Fair View Reporting Surrounding Migration to Accrual-Based Accounting by Public Sector Entities: A Case of Federal Statutory Bodies (FSB) in Malaysia

Following the institutional reforms in Malaysia, the Federal Government issued Treasury Circular PS 1.2/2020. Federal Statutory Bodies (FSBs) are now required to adopt the Malaysian Public Sector Accounting Standard (MPSAS) as the standard for preparing financial statements. While most private sectors strongly embrace accrual accounting systems and derive many benefits from them, the practice and application in the public sector, including FSBs, is still in its infancy. Therefore, this study examines the antecedents of true and fair view reporting in the context of migration to accrual accounting by FSB in Malaysia. This study is due to the lack of research on accrual accounting in the public sector, as researchers rigorously focus on the private sector that controls the economy. In addition, there are few studies on the conversion of the public sector in emerging economies to accrual accounting. The study provided a conceptual discussion on the antecedents that potentially affect the true and fair view reporting through the adoption of accrual accounting. The discussion is expected to benefit many stakeholders, especially regulators and policymakers, as emerging economies such as Malaysia continue to actively pursue institutional reforms. By adding new variables from the study so that they can be used in various and extensive aspects of the research.

The Longitudinal Study of Measuring Corporate Tax Planning: Evidence from Industrial Product Companies

This paper examines the extent of corporate tax planning undertaken by a sample of 43 Malaysian-listed industrial companies during the period from 2000 to 2020. This longitudinal study covers the period of tax and accounting reform in Malaysia. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were conducted to examine the differences among variables. This paper contributes to the analysis of whether there is a significant difference between corporate tax planning and the impact of tax and accounting reform in the Malaysian environment over the past 20 years. The results show that there is a significant difference between the effective tax rate and the statutory tax rate. This observation suggests that the tax planning strategies adopted by firms have the potential to reduce the amount of tax payable. Further research is needed to identify the factors that have an impact on the remarkable discrepancy between the two variables. The results of this study suggest that firms are using efficient tax planning techniques resulting in significant tax savings.

Parliamentary Institutional Reforms in Malaysia: The Case of the Pakatan Harapan Era, 2018–2020

The parliamentary institution is the nation’s highest legislative body in a democratic system, where it enacts, amends, and approves federal laws, examines government policies and approves government spending. However, in Malaysia, during the Barisan Nasional (BN) era, this institution was frequently criticised due to its numerous flaws. Among them were executive control over parliamentary institutions, disregard for the opposition’s role and unequal development provision between government and opposition parliamentarians. Therefore, during the 14th General Election (GE14) campaign, Pakatan Harapan (PH) promised to implement parliamentary reforms, and that pledge carried PH to victory in the GE14. This article utilised the concept of institutional reform as a tool of analytics to discuss parliamentary institutional reforms during the PH’s governmental term from 2018 to 2020. The primary sources of this study were interviews and secondary sources, which were obtained through books, journals and newspapers. This article argues that the PH government has successfully implemented several parliamentary institutional reforms in only 22 months. The reforms were the reform of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the establishment of more parliamentary select committees, the restructuring of constituency development funds for members of parliament (MPs) and the appointment of non-partisan speakers. All these reforms have benefited Malaysia’s parliamentary institutions by increasing the role of the opposition, allocating fair constituency development funds to parliamentarians and improving the parliamentary image. Nevertheless, comprehensive reforms were not implemented because the PH government was ousted from power at the end of February 2020 because of the actions of several PH MPs who defected from the party.

The Impact of Global Human Rights Advocacy on State Practices: A Multi-Country Study

This study investigates the influence of international human rights advocacy on state practices in Indonesia and Malaysia. The research uses a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of human rights indicators and qualitative analysis of case studies and interviews. The findings show successes and challenges in the relationship between advocacy efforts and state behavior in both countries. The quantitative analysis shows improvements in certain areas, such as gender equality in Indonesia and legislative reform in Malaysia, while challenges remain in terms of freedom of expression, religious freedom, and minority rights. The qualitative analysis provides deeper insights, highlighting the important role of advocacy in raising awareness, promoting accountability, and pressuring governments to address human rights violations. However, barriers to effective implementation exist due to political resistance and societal divisions. A comparative analysis between Indonesia and Malaysia shows similarities and differences, with Indonesia showing a greater response to reform and Malaysia showing resistance that limits freedoms. This research contributes to the field by emphasizing the need for context-specific analysis and tailored approaches to address human rights challenges.

Civil society collective action under authoritarianism: divergent collaborative equilibriums for political reform in Malaysia and Singapore

ABSTRACT When individual civil society organizations (CSOs) in autocracies act collectively to campaign for a particular cause, they are more likely to succeed in pressuring an incumbent autocrat enact liberalizing reforms or resist democratic erosion. Under what conditions do CSOs engage in collective action for political reform in autocracies? The article argues that CSOs are more likely to act collectively for political reform when public interest in political reform and public support for CSOs is high. High public interest and support provides psychological motivation for collective action, psychological immunity from autocratic repression, and material immunity from a reliance on state funding. Increased salience and publicity from collective action further generates greater public interest and support. A positive collaborative equilibrium among CSOs ensues. However, when public interest and support is low, CSO leaders demur from collective action for fear of provoking the authoritarian state. A disinterested public demotivates CSO leaders, resulting in a negative collaborative equilibrium. We demonstrate this argument through a controlled comparison of divergent collaborative equilibriums for political reform in Malaysia and Singapore, utilizing original interviews with civil society activists in the two countries supported by public opinion data from the Asian Barometer and the World Values Survey.

Malaysia’s Electoral System: Issues and Framework for Electoral System Reform

Elections are the foundation and inevitable elements of democracy. As an inevitable element of democracy, it imposes democratic country to fix its election to be free and fair. Moreover, fair elections also enable regimes change and the implementation of good governance and may significantly advance or impede long-term democratic development. In recent years, the Malaysian government has increasingly faced negative perceptions toward the electoral system. The negative perceptions toward the Malaysian election are influenced by the performance of the Election Commission (EC). The ignorance or failure of the government to improve the credibility of every election led to the demand for reform from civil societies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to bring the election framework in line with the concept of an ideal election. Therefore, this article aims to explore the issues of electoral reform and to suggest a framework for electoral system reform in Malaysia. This research applies a qualitative method which is document analysis and interview. The result of this study found that issues on the electoral system includes all election cycle. The electoral system reform framework shows few elements on electoral cycle such as voter education, absentee voter, and empowerment of Election Commission (EC) need serious attention from the government. This research contributes in term of reform suggestion to increase the efficiency and election credibility.

Reforming the Dewan Negara: Its Evolution and Options for Reform

Despite its prominent position as the upper House of the Malaysian Parliament, the inherent structural and operational weaknesses of the Dewan Negara culminates in a chamber that fails to inspire public attention and confidence. This is a significant contrast with the attention that the lower House, the Dewan Rakyat usually draws and is a departure from the original vision that it should be an influential forum of debate and discussion. Nonetheless, the general apathy with which the public may perceive the chamber should not distract from the benefits that serious reform of the chamber may provide. As attention paid to parliamentary reform in Malaysia increasingly focuses overwhelmingly on the Dewan Rakyat, it is equally important that the Dewan Negara be considered as an integral element to any parliamentary reform efforts. In dealing with this issue, this paper explores the historical evolution of the Dewan Negara and the current issues it faces. It then performs a comparative study of the Australian and Canadian Senates to glean usable lessons, culminating in a discussion of possible reform options for the Dewan Negara.

Genealogy and Reform of Islamic Family Law: Study of Islamic Marriage Law Products in Malaysia

As an Islamic country, Islamic family law reform in Malaysia is experiencing various dynamics. This article aims to examine the genealogy, reform, and products of Islamic family law in the field of marriage (munakahat) in Malaysia. The authors find that Malaysia’s Islamic law reform is divided into three periods using literature research. In the Malay period, Islamic values were generally embedded in the law in Malaysia. During the British colonial period, English law had dominated and was used as common law, which was absorbed in various legislation and jurisprudence in Malaysia. It was only after independence that efforts to reform and codify Islamic family law began, marked by the stipulation of the jurisdiction of the federal territorial government and the territorial government into thirteen states. The codification of family law began with establishing a committee to amend Islamic law and be guided by other Islamic countries. The authors find four areas of marriage that have been reformed in Malaysia, namely the age limit for marriage, marriage registration, polygamy, and divorce. Among the four areas of marriage law, the authors find slight differences in regulations on the technical and material grounds in each state in Malaysia.

Civil Society Networks and Malaysian Government Reform: Considering Issue Homophily in Interorganizational Relationships

Abstract While communication research on interorganizational homophily has grown, little is known about how issue homophily—defined here as the propensity to form ties based on shared issue priorities—influences interorganizational relationships in civil society. Our theoretical framework brings together homophily research and issue niche theory to explore the potential influence issues have on interorganizational network tie formation. Our empirical case is the network of civil society organizations focused on government reform in Malaysia. Using data gathered from a survey with organizational leaders (n = 90), exponential random graph models with binary and valued data explored how two types of homophily are associated with tie formation and cooperation in interorganizational relationships. Key findings from the study include that more important issues appear to drive tie formation and levels of cooperation in the network, only specific issues lead to homophilous ties, and issue homophily does not lead to greater levels of cooperation among civil society organizations.

CEFR as Language Policy: Opportunities and Challenges for Local Agency in a Global Era

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has become one of the most widely cited documents in language education across the globe, its influence now felt far beyond the confines of Europe, the context for which it was originally produced. In Malaysia, CEFR was given particular prominence in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 and English Language Education Reform in Malaysia: The Roadmap 2015-2025, both of which positioned the framework as the primary yardstick by which curricula were to be developed and against which achievements (or lack thereof) were to be evaluated. This paper examines CEFR from the perspective of language policy, focussing particularly on the implications this document has for local agency in the Malaysian context. The paper begins by examining the constructs of language and language education underlying CEFR, pointing in particular to how these reflect the socio-political context for which the framework was developed. The next section examines how policy texts in the Malaysian context, in particular the 2015 Roadmap, have interpreted CEFR, highlighting in particular the way that these texts (as other policies across the globe) have tended to treat the CEFR reference levels as a global standard, with little scope for local agency. The final section considers alternative, localized models for using CEFR as language policy in Malaysia, in particular how the framework may be used in support of an inclusive agenda in which diversity and multilingualism are embraced.

Malaysia’s electricity market structure in transition

The Malaysian electricity industry evolved from a vertically integrated utility into a single-buyer model, which considered a precursor to deregulation and a competitive market. This study considers electricity sector reform in Malaysia and proposes a market structure for the industry. We focus on the single-buyer model and the pool model for the analysis with the recommendation on reform stages required to ensure a smooth and successful market transition. A smooth transition from regulated market into deregulated market will ensure market stability and sustainability of the energy market. It will also provide enough time for the market participants to adapt and transit from regulated to deregulated energy market.

Ensuring Acceptability and Feasibility: The Challenges of Educational Policy Reform in Malaysia

ABSTRACT This article reports research on the implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013–2025, drawing on 49 extended interviews with senior policy makers at federal, state and district levels, and school principals, informed by a systematic review of international and Malaysian literature. The findings show that the reforms are poorly understood by officials and school leaders, leading to partial and unenthusiastic enactment. The paper concludes that such ambitious reforms need to be acceptable, to ensure “ownership” of the reform agenda, and feasible, to avoid disenchantment by officials, school leaders and teachers.

Revisiting PULSE 2 Textbook after Three Years: Have Teachers Changed Their Mind?

The present study aims to further explore Malaysian secondary English teachers’ perspective on the use of PULSE 2 in their language classrooms, after three years of its introduction in Malaysian secondary schools. The study is qualitative in nature, employing semi-structured interview as the approach for data collection the data. However, due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) the study was conducted through a Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) application, WhatsApp. ATLAS ti. was employed to perform the content analysis to the collected data. The findings revealed that the respondents preferred to use imported English textbooks with local modifications in their language classroom. Most of them also felt that the level of the language content and skills offered by PULSE2 did not match with their students’ abilities. They also reported grouses about the difficult foreign content of PULSE 2, which indicated that they have yet to change their mind about it even after using it for three years. It is suggested that relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) to review the use of imported textbooks such as PULSE 2 in Malaysia, as this will bear an impact on the creation of the country’s version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) called ‘CEFR-M’ as projected in the on-going English Language Education Reform in Malaysia by 2025. Not only that, selecting a textbook that is relatable, localized, and matches the students’ level is crucial in this COVID-19 era, where the new normal in education forces learning to be done remotely. Inevitably, there will be students who are less privileged, and their only hope to gain access to continuous education is through a textbook that can easily be used for self-study and is readily available, without having the needs to have access to advanced technological devices.

Tax Reform: Is it Welfare-Enhancing or Welfare-Reducing?

The ongoing tax reform in Malaysia has triggered our motivation to understand the effect of such reform on the public since the government has continuously emphasised that the changes would not burden the consumer. Whether this is a myth or reality is deemed interesting to ponder upon. Thus, this study aims to provide evidence concerning Malaysian tax reform on consumer welfare by looking at the price effect, consumer burden, and inflation. Price observations of the pre-, during and post-reformation period were conducted to provide meaningful evidence. Interestingly, the outcome of the observation rules out the public accusation that the tax reform would boost the price of goods and services and further result in a welfarereducing event. Also, a review of the recent statistics on poverty incidence does not show a negative effect of tax policy changes on society’s welfare. It is hoped that the discussion provided in this paper will shed light on the impact of tax reformation in Malaysia, albeit a further thorough examination might be required.

Parliamentary reforms and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): the way forward for an inclusive and sustainable parliament

ABSTRACT The 14th General Election in Malaysia was a pivotal turning point for the progressive parliamentary reform agenda. Recognising that parliamentary reform in Malaysia is highly complex, parliament plays a vital role in monitoring the SDG implementation. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to analyse the roles of parliament in advancing the SDGs through its reform agenda. It will be of great significance in elucidating parliamentary reform and embedding the 2030 Agenda to advance the functioning of parliament. The analysis was conducted using a qualitative approach through analysing parliamentary documents. The paper proposes an independent select committee, re-introduce the Parliamentary Service Act, empower the opposition, amend Standing Orders, and institutionalise a Parliamentary Research Services. The incorporation of the SDGs in the parliamentary reform agenda is vital to support parliamentarians in carrying out their duties effectively, which in turn assist the parliament to represent the voices of the people.