Malaysian Securities Research Articles

Effects of human capital and fund characteristics on mutual fund performance in Malaysia

Background: The evolution of the mutual funds industry has changed investors’ perspective. Instead of just focusing on which fund performances are best, investors pay great attention to who is managing and delivering superior returns in their investment portfolios. Nonetheless, it is very scant of comprehensive studies concern with human capital managerial characteristics that link with fund performances. Hence, this study proposes the integration of fund performances, managerial characteristics, systematic risk, expense, and turnover ratio, with single and simultaneous equations based on asset pricing models. Methods: Using a sample of Malaysian fund managers, data from fund management companies, Thomson One database, and fund master prospectus over the periods of January 2012 to December 2014, the fund performance was measured using Jensen alpha (CAPM single factor), and Fama and French three-factor model on single and simultaneous equations. The examination was further carried out by employing the ordinary least squares and three-stage least squares methods. Results: The results suggest that for fund managers, holding a business degree was the key factor to determine the fund performance, while having Master’s degree was not the primary concern. Fund performance and risk behavior varied across fund managers of different gender. Conclusions: The expense ratio, turnover ratio, and fund objective were significantly correlated with fund performance. This study provides ultimate implications for fund management companies, when it comes to the efficient allocation of human capital. Fund management companies should focus more on the team-managed funds phenomenon, instead of on single-managed funds. Overall, this study provides significant guidance for the Malaysian Securities Commissions and fund management companies, to develop a more competent funds market in Malaysia. Specifically, by strengthening the fund industry policies, the typical agency problems, such as too-high managerial expenses, and excessive risk-taking can be alleviated.

Corporate governance challenges and opportunities in mitigating corporate fraud in Malaysia

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and the likelihood of corporate fraud in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe sample of fraudulent companies in this study is the public listed companies that were charged with furnishing false statements to the Securities Commission of Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad and was listed in the Malaysian Securities Commission Enforcement Release from the year 2000 to 2016. The non-fraudulent companies, which are the control companies in this study, were selected from public listed companies listed in Bursa Malaysia, based on their similarity to the fraudulent companies in terms of time, size and industry type. The panel probit regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and the occurrence of corporate fraud.FindingsThe findings of this study suggest that board size and executive directors’ compensation are the corporate governance characteristics that can effectively combat corporate fraud incidences in Malaysia. The corporate governance features, namely the board of directors’ independence, frequency of board meetings, CEO duality, CEO’s age, and share ownership owned by directors and CEO, do not significantly influence corporate fraud incidences in Malaysia.Originality/valueAlthough previous studies provide inconsistent findings on the association between board size and corporate fraud incidences, this study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence that smaller board sizes provide more effective monitoring functions to minimize corporate fraud incidences in the Malaysian context. The empirical evidence also supports the agency theory proposition where managers with high compensation will act in the best interest of shareholders and less likely to focus on their interests, thus deterring them from committing fraudulent acts.

Food Value Chain, Sustainable Intensification and Food Security in Malaysia

Malaysian seed industry is at an early phase of development due to a lack of participation and an undeveloped seed industry, hence, previous research on this area is very limited. This research adopts Yin’s case study approach which have been applied in a wide range of scholarly studies to the context of agribusiness research project . The findings of this study pertain to the components in the food value chain that influence food security which reveal that the respondents perceive food security is built on four important dimensions; namely, accessibility, availability, stability and utilization. Based on the respondents’ view, Malaysia’s food security status is not at the most healthy level since respondents noted the import bill remains at an all-time high causing an urgent need to address this problem. Most feel an increase in agriculture productivity is the most likely recommended option. Agriculture productivity depends on agriculture input of which, the seed is the fundamental component of the food value chain, hence, respondents suggested intensifying the seed industry to increase productivity.

Meat and meat-based products: Challenges and opportunities in halal food security

The demand for halal meat and meat-based products among the Muslim population in Malaysia has been increasing as meat is an essential food. Meanwhile, the non-Muslims are also becoming aware of the quality of halal meat, hence the access towards halal meat and meat-based products are increasing as well. However, the local production of halal meat is insufficient to cater the demand and this leads to the dependency on imported meat to ensure that halal meat is made available and accessible to the society in Malaysia. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of halal meat and meat-based products for the sustainability of the halal food security in Malaysia. Document searching technique based on the available literature was used to fulfil the objectives of the study. The study found that the complex halal meat chain with several government agencies concerning halal matters lead to the inefficient treatment of maintaining the halal integrity. For this reason, focusing on the viable opportunities to increase the local meat production is significant in ensuring that the supply of meat is sufficient and halalan tayyibban.

A Food Insecurity Systematic Review: Experience from Malaysia

Living free from hunger is a basic human right. However, some communities still experience household food insecurity. This systematic literature review explored different aspects of household food insecurity in Malaysia including vulnerable groups, prevalence, risk factors, coping strategies, and the consequences of food insecurity. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Thirty-three relevant articles were selected from scientific databases such as CINAHL, Pubmed and Google Scholar, scrutiny of reference lists, and personal communication with experts in the field. The prevalence of household food insecurity in Malaysia was unexpectedly reported as high, with affected groups including Orang Asli, low-income household/welfare-recipient households, university students, and the elderly. Demographic risk factors and socioeconomic characteristics included larger household, living in poverty, and low education. Coping strategies were practices to increase the accessibility of food in their households. Consequences of household food insecurity included psychological, dietary (macro- and micronutrient intakes), nutritional status, and health impacts. In conclusion, this review confirmed that household food insecurity in Malaysia continues to exist. Nevertheless, extensive and active investigations are encouraged to obtain a more holistic and comprehensive picture pertaining to household food security in Malaysia.

Response on Uptake of Nutrients and on Grain Yield from Rice Husk Biochar Application on Oryza sativa L. Grown in a Low Yielding Granary Area of Tanjung Karang, Selangor, Malaysia

Rice (<em>Oryza sativa</em> L.) production plays a major role in enhancing food security in Malaysia. Lower rice yield and improper soil management practices have raised serious concerns about rice cultivation in Malaysia. The objective of this study was to examine the short-term effects of rice husk biochar (RHB) application on rice yields production on low yielding area for two crop cycles. RHB was applied at the rates of 0, 5, 10, and 20 Mg ha<sup>-1</sup>. Rice husk biochar was applied one week before rice seeds, of variety MR 263, were directly seeded. Results of the study showed that RHB significantly increased grain yield by 44% and 46% in first and second crop cycles, respectively, as compared to the control treatment. Likewise, RHB amended plots showed significant improvement of rice yield components, viz. productive tiller, panicle length, and weight per panicle, than those of the control plots in the first and second crop cycles. Furthermore, RHB significantly increased nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) uptake by 17%, 18%, 29%, respectively, in the first crop cycle, and 26%, 23%, 110%, respectively, in the second crop cycle. RHB application also significantly improved soil available P, exchangeable K and exchangeable Mg in the two crop cycles. Another interesting finding was that the use of RHB reduced soil total carbon loss by 4% to 12% compared with 19% by the control treatment. These findings suggest that RHB can potentially be used as a soil amendment to increase rice yield production, enhance soil nutrient availability and nutrient uptake, as well as reduce carbon losses especially during drought period.

RELEVANSI PEMBANGUNAN KENDIRI DALAM PEMANTAPAN KERJAYA AHLI AKADEMIK EKSPATRIAT DI UNIVERSITI AWAM MALAYSIA

The presence of international staff or independent expatriate academicians in the cross border higher education world today is indeed a global issue that brings benefits to the development of higher education worldwide. The decision taken by independent expatriate academicians to come to the host country to pursue a career as an academician will certainly have useful implications on the career they are pursuing. Through in-depth interviews based on a qualitative approach adopted on thirty (30) selected voluntarily respondents in three public universities, the objective of this study was to find out the implications on self-development of careers as independent expatriate academicians serving in the host country. From the findings received as a result of the interviews conducted, the implications for self-development in terms of the career which could be seen were (I) Promotion (II) Lucrative income (III) Security in Malaysia and (IV) Harmony in the workplace. From each finding stated by the respondents involved, it had been proven that the decision was taken by independent expatriate academicians to the host country in pursuing a career as an academician had given the positive implication that indirectly brought benefits to themselves. The implications for self-development on a career as an independent expatriate academician were also able to lead to the retention of human resources of independent expatriate academicians which can reduce the turnover rate in an organisation such as academics in Malaysian Public Institutions of Higher Learning.

Development of Real Time Night Vision Camera Monitoring Robot Integrating DTMF and GPS System

In general, spy robots were employed mostly in military field to patrol over the country border and also can be assigned for a rescue and search mission. Even though this technology has a rapid growth recently, the major problem is what is there in Malaysia security sector, there are many lacks in this technology if compared to other countries. Furthermore, most robots use the RF technology which means the person can only monitor or control the robot within a limited range. Even though the patrol robot can be operated from a long range, there is a circumstance that it can be hard to be located or tracked. Moreover, the ordinary camera can’t deliver a better performance under dark circumstances. In view of confinements that have been featured previously, this project plans to develop a mobile patrol robot with wireless night vision camera that can be controlled by using DTMF and GPS system that can be used in military field. There are several parts to be in implement in this project as following; software simulation & hardware development of robot. As example the DTMF technology, GPS system and wireless night vision camera as well are implemented in this project so the working principle of the robot features needs to be simulated and programmed into the robot using Arduino and Proteus software. Only then if the simulation is succeeded the progress is then proceeded to the hardware development of the robot. Later the successful simulation is integrated into the robot to make the robot can be fully operated. To conclude, this robot is supposed to be able to easily be tracked by GPS system and monitored from long range using DTMF while performing such monitoring or guarding duty at the country border or other public areas.

Trends in Production of Vegetables and Fruits in Ensuring Food Security in Malaysia

Malaysia is experiencing high inflation of world food prices and the growing number of food imports due to its inability to cater for food production within the country to meet consumer demand. Efforts to overcome it have been pursued through the special policy of the agricultural sector since 1984 under The First National Agricultural Policy (NAP1), followed by The Second National Agricultural Policy (NAP2), The Third National Agricultural Policy (NAP3), The National Food Security Policy and The National Agro-Food Policy. Vegetables and fruits are important food commodities that have been emphasized in the implementation of these policies. This study focuses on the production of vegetables and fruits during the policy period of 1984-2015. This qualitative study was carried out using a library study approach to collect data. Some library materials have been used as references including The Fifth to The Eleventh Malaysia Plan, NAP1-3 and The Economic Report. Content analysis methods have been used to analyze data. The findings show that the growth of vegetable and fruit production increases at a moderate and sometimes low rate and is still a dependence on imports as this sector is very risky with the weather causing its production to decline.

URBANISATION AND THE CONCERNS FOR FOOD SECURITY IN MALAYSIA

Urbanization is an effect of population growth. Increasing population contributed to the expanding of urban areas as cities try to accommodate more people within a minimal landscape. Urbanization takes up valuable land, sometimes productive agricultural land that feeds the population. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the connection between urban sprawl and its impact on agricultural productivity, and ultimately whether it affects food security in Malaysia. For this qualitative exploratory review exercise, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of secondary data was employed as the base for this study. Data mining techniques were used to gather relevant literature that included archival data, academic writings, and publications. The data are then dissected, analysed, and clustered using Atlas ti 8 software, focusing on thematic analysis. Urbanisation did affect the self-sufficiency level (SSL) of Malaysian food security, especially on landintensive food products such as vegetables and livestock. Recent government initiatives such as urban farming, land use policies were promoted to reduce the differences in food imports, ensuring Malaysian food security to be at an acceptable level. Significant development of this population dense proximity has created urban sprawl beyond the city limits, taking up valuable land space. Land-use conversion from agricultural land in Malaysia has been studied regarding its adverse effects on agricultural production. Urbanization therefore does affect food security through the land conversion of agricultural lands.

Migrant Workers with Social Security in Malaysia: Are they being discriminated against?

Migration and cross-border mobility of workers are expected to further intensify in the coming years as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) works towards a full regional integration. Malaysia is one of the countries that receive migrant workers supplied by sending countries in ASEAN. The initial finding shows that migrant workers in Malaysia face discriminatory treatment, with insufficient legal coverage under the existing laws. Using the qualitative research methodology, this article analyses the coverage and protection given under existing laws to migrant workers, which would ensure basic social and labour protection and with reference to International Labour Standard. Keywords: Migrant workers; Discriminatory Treatment; Social and Labour protection; International Labour Standard eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5iSI1.2298

MACROECONOMIC SHOCKS AND LEVERAGE EFFECT ON MALAYSIAN ISLAMIC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST STOCK RETURN

Over the past decade, Malaysia’s Islamic capital market is emerging in achieving a total worth of 1.9 million or 61 percent of the overall Malaysian capital market as per December 2018. The establishment of Islamic Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) gained a demand from investors in the Islamic capital market that claims to be a safe investment as it attached to the real estate to generate the source of income. Nevertheless, the Islamic REITs are structured and operating in accordance with the Shariah principle laid out by the Malaysia securities commission, as it is beneficial to the potential investors given its high liquidity and diversification opportunity compared to investing in physical property. In addition, although Islamic REIT is deemed to have a stable return given the real estate portfolio, there is still risk inherent such as an impact of the external forces. Therefore, the impact of macroeconomic factors shocks towards Islamic REITs is significant to the investors, policy makers and government to outline their relationship and facilitate their future growth. However, the evidence published on the listed Islamic REITs stock return in Malaysia is very limited and has seldom been modelled. The Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model and Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (EGARCH) model employed in this study to analyze the Islamic REIT stock return. The empirical finding show that the Islamic REITs exhibit an unstable behavior and volatility would take a longer time to respond to a shock in the market. Nevertheless, the magnitude of changes in price level of Islamic REITs tends to be greater in responding to new market information. Furthermore, it points out that the leverage effect of all the macroeconomic shocks towards Axis REIT and mix macroeconomic finding leverage effect for Aqar REIT and KLCC REIT in Malaysia. Nutshell, this study provides a discussion of Islamic finance to set a basis for Malaysian Islamic REIT, the regulatory framework, and conceptual model property trust funds in Malaysia.

SOVEREIGNTY, NATIONAL INTEREST AND SECURITY IN BILATERAL INVESTMENT TREATIES OF MALAYSIA

The bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have continued to play a significant role in regulating foreign direct investments (FDI) in many countries. Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including Malaysia, have signed BITs to facilitate trade among nations. Malaysia’s FDI laws and BITs were established to protect foreign investors, however, neither legislation had provided specific provisions on the protection of sovereignty, national interest and security. This study was conducted to address the question; to what extent are sovereignty, national interest and security protected through BITs upon the introduction of FDI into Malaysia? This study employed a non-doctrinal socio-legal research methodology, whereby the authors analyzed 15 BITs between Malaysia and other countries to explore the provisions that pertains to the protection of sovereignty, national interest and security in Malaysia. The findings conclude that the existing Malaysian BITs contain provisions to promote and protect foreign investments, however, lacked the necessary provisions on the protection of sovereignty, national interest and security. Therefore, the government should reconsider these important factors when signing future BITs.

Paddy, rice and food security in Malaysia: A review of climate change impacts

Malaysia has focused its self-sufficiency policy on rice and paddy production, which are the country’s primary staple food and food crop. Throughout the Eleventh Malaysian Plan (2016–2020) and Nati...

The Influence of Corporate Governance on Financial Performance Mediated by Gender Diversity

Corporate governance (“CG”) practices have raised a concerned issue by many countries worldwide particularly Asian countries following the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 including Malaysia. Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) was first introduced in year 2000, revised in 2007, 2012 and culminating in the new supercharged 2017 version. CG has form part of the Listing Requirements of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (Bursa Securities) that must be complied with by a listed issuer and its directors. The aim of this survey-based research administered 250 questionnaires to the middle and top-level managers of Malaysian firms to examine the influence corporate governance practiced in the country. Many researches on corporate governance in Malaysia are based secondary data and hence the questionnaires are designed to critically examine the corporate governance (board structure, CEO duality, audit/risk management committee and corporate reporting) on financial performance of Malaysian organisations in terms of sales, profitability, return on equity and share price. Further research on mediating effect of gender diversity may help to provide a basis for paradigm shift and result in better representation of gender at the level of decision making and in influencing corporate governance on the performance of the companies. The research found that the corporate governance variables overall have no significant impact to explain the performance of the listed companies. It suggests future researchers to explore into other factors that could possibly affect the company performance.

Renewable Energy and Energy Security in Malaysia

Robust economic growth, increasing population and personal consumption are the main drivers for the rapid increase of energy demand in Malaysia. Increasing demand has compounded the issue of national energy security due over-dependence on fossil fuel, depleting indigenous domestic conventional energy resources which in turns has increased the country’s energy import dependence. In order to improve its energy security, Malaysia has seriously embarked on a renewable energy journey. Many initiatives on renewable energy have been introduced in the past decade. These strategies have resulted in the exploding growth of renewable energy deployment in Malaysia. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of renewable energy deployment on energy security. Secondary data was used to calculate the energy security indicators. The study also compared the results of applying different energy security indicators namely Availability, Applicability, Affordability and Acceptability dimension of energy resources. The evaluation shows that Malaysia will experience improvement in Energy Security, particularly on Availability, Affordability and Acceptability dimensions of energy security. This study suggests that energy security level could be further enhance by efficient utilization of energy, reducing carbon content of energy and facilitating low-carbon industries.

MCCG 2012 versus MCCG 2017: Board Gender Diversity and Women CEO Issues within the Male-dominated Oil and Gas Industry

Purpose – This study investigates the impact of the two main determinants of strengthening the Board and Top Management Team through gender diversity contrasting between the pre and post MCCG 2017 era.Design/methodology/approach – The study will employ the judgmental sampling method followed by descriptive statistics, regression analysis and quantitative content analysis derived from MCCG 2012 and MCCG 2017 as issued by the Malaysian Securities Commission together with prior research to analyse the annual reports in order to explore the reporting of gender diversity across the Board and Top Management Team.Originality/value – This study is a systematic review of prior recent research developments in the Malaysian Securities Commission’s MCCG 2012 and MCCG 2017. The Board of Directors and Top Management Team scoring index could also be applied to other PLCs within the ASEAN oil and gas industry.

YTL Corporation Berhad

The company that have been chosen by our company is YTL Corporation Berhad. YTL Corporation Berhad is an integrated infrastructure developer with extensive operations in countries including Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Jordan and China and total assets of RM70.4 billion (USD17.3 billion). Tan Sri Dato (DR) Francis Yeoh Sock Ping as the CEO, the core businesses of the YTL Group comprise utilities, construction contracting, cement manufacturing, property development and investment, hotel development and management, e-commerce initiatives and internet-based education solutions and services. YTL Corp is amongst the largest companies listed on Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad and is a component of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Mid 70 Index. YTL Corp has also had a secondary listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since 1996 and was the first non-Japanese Asian company to list on the Tokyo exchange. YTL Corp, together with its listed entities in Malaysia (YTL Power International Berhad, YTL Land & Development Berhad, and YTL Hospitality REIT), has a combined market capitalisation of approximately RM21.2 billion (USD5.2 billion) as at 28 February 2019. YTL Corp also has a stake in Singapore-listed Starhill Global REIT, which owns prime retail assets in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, China and Australia. The YTL Group is committed to producing world class products and services at competitive prices. This corporate philosophy has enabled the YTL group to build up a growing customer base of more than 12 million customers globally over the last 30 years. YTL Corp also won many awards throughout their operation within the years. Currently in 2018, they were honoured with the award ‘Company of The Year’ in category of Conglomerate for CSR Malaysia Awards 2018. YTL Corporation won the 2018 Global Responsible Business Leadership Awards, in the category of Community Empowerment Excellence. YTL Corp operating 1,212 MW power stations in Paka & Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. They also do coal- fired power generation and electricity transmission and distribution. Meanwhile, the high-speed rail link between KLIA & KL Sentral also involved YTL Corp where they take 50% of the stake. YTL Corps was the first company to introduce turnkey construction in Malaysia. They also the first Independent Power Producer in Malaysia. YTL Corporation carries out its cement manufacturing activities through its subsidiary YTL Cement Berhad. YTL Cement owns over 70 batching plants 700 cement trucks, operating throughout Malaysia. They also do residential property development activity through YTL Land & Development Berhad.

Cyber Warfare Impact to National Security - Malaysia Experiences

This study analyzed the cyber warfare impact on national security and focusing on Malaysia experiences. The issues regarding cyber warfare have become a serious concern since it was a risk of national security in Malaysia. The objectives of the study are to analyze issues related to cyber warfare that affected Malaysian system security, to determine causes that caused to cyber warfare. This study used a qualitative research approach to evaluate the current defense approaches related to cyber warfare in Malaysia. The interviews were conducted with the respective respondents: the Senior Manager, Research Management Centre, Strategic Research, and Advisory Department of Cyber Security Malaysia Department. This study can contribute to expanding the security of national security by demanding the government to adopt a broad acquisition risk management strategy. It can assist in the development of highly effective aggressive and defensive methods to any company dealing with future cyber warfare challenges and risk.

Critical Review on Food Security in Malaysia for Broiler Industry

Critical Review on Food Security in Malaysia for Broiler Industry