No / Our aim is to increase understanding of the potential effects of culture and corporate governance on social disclosures. The ethnic background of directors and shareholders is used as a proxy for culture. Corporate governance characteristics include board composition, multiple directorships and type of shareholders. The dependent variable, disclosure in annual reports of Malaysian corporations, is measured by an index score as well as in terms of number of words. Our results indicate a significant relationship between corporate social disclosure and boards dominated by Malay directors, boards dominated by executive directors, chair with multiple directorships and foreign share ownership. Four of the control variables (size, profitability, multiple listing and type of industry) were significantly related to corporate social disclosure with the exception of gearing. This study has public policy implications for Malaysia as well as a number of other countries in the Asia¿Pacific region.

Yes / Before 2012, there was no law on sexual harassment in Malaysia. However, when the Employment Act 1955 was amended in 2012, employers must inquire into sexual harassment complaints, failing which a criminal penalty will be imposed. Unfortunately, the new law did not allow a complainant to claim damages from the harasser or the employer. After more than two decades of campaigns by women's rights groups and NGOs, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill 2021 (hereinafter 'the ASHB 2021') was finally enacted and passed in July this year. Given the novelty and absence of any academic research, this paper seeks to examine the provisions of the Bill critically to understand its scope, coverage and broader implications for sexual harassment victims. The paper employs a qualitative research methodology, adopting a doctrinal approach and content analysis of the primary source, the ASHB 2021, that would provide a deeper understanding of the legislation. The authors contend that despite being regarded as a victim-centric law, the Bill is half-baked and inadequate to protect sexual harassment victims due to its failure to include significant provisions on the sexual harassment definition, the protection against victimisation and employers' obligations to prevent and address such conduct. / The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Faculty of Law, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, which facilitated the writing and publication workshop and funded this paper.

No / In the past two decades, the ultra-dependency and unlimited access to the Internet has changed relationships, and communication and have brought numerous benefits for users worldwide. However, as a double-edged sword, such technology has also generated a high degree of risk of victimisation, especially cyberstalking. Evidence has indicated that cyberstalking has led to more heinous crimes such as cyber fraud through data mining and social engineering. Moreover, when the crime transcends into the real world it results in rape and even murder. The use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning has also aggravated the situation where victims are now exposed to various vulnerabilities and risks as it opens new pathways for stalkers to commit this heinous crime. Given the severe impacts of cyberstalking, this chapter will examine the nature of the crime, the use of artificial intelligence in committing stalking, the motives of cyberstalkers and the legal response towards the crime.

This project investigates.the political and economic development of Ghana and Malaysia and identifies key factors that led to their divergent development paths - specifically Malaysia's relative success and Ghana's setbacks. Both Malaysia and Ghana are former British colonies that gained their independence in the same year. Although they had similar economic conditions at independence, over the course of 40 years, they have experienced very different economic and political development. Thus, this study begins with a most similar systems design but winds up employing a most different systems model. The factors explored in this thesis include gross domestic product (GDP), GDP growth rate, foreign direct investment, electrical power consumption, and external debt. This study aims to identify patterns for successful and unsuccessful development using Malaysia and Ghana as archetypes.

This thesis examines the regional electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) recycling network in Malaysia and Singapore, with a secondary focus on the articulations of informal labour within the network. I argue that there is a need to theorise production networks post-consumption; i.e. to focus on the activities and processes that occur after a commodity is consumed and subsequently discarded. I argue that discarded e-waste are not ‘value-less’ waste, but instead embody value (specifically latent use value), and have the potential to be re-inserted as ‘raw materials’ into production networks through the processes of recycling. Also, key to the processes of value (re)creation, enhancement and capture is the labour process. I examine informal labour by focusing on karung guni (a local term for the rag-and-bone man) – analysing their critical role in value (re)creation in this regional e-waste recycling production network through the lens of petty commodity production. I argue that karung guni are constitutive of this production network through their collection and primary processing of e-waste, which forms the basis for subsequent value creation, enhancement and capture by downstream actors. Conceptualising karung guni as petty commodity producers – who own both the means of production and their own labour power – is significant in problematising as not so straightforward the separation of capital and labour into discreet categories as normally presented in global value chains (GVC)/global production networks (GPN) approaches. This thesis makes four significant contributions to the GVC/GPN literature. First, it recognises activities beyond the point of consumption (which has been the focus of present GVC/GPN research). Second, it conceptualises the constitutive role of informal labour in the development and structure of production networks. Third, it emphasises the continued relevance of the state. Fourth, by adopting a multi-sited case study method, it contributes to debates on how to carry out GVC/GPN research.

In Malaysia what was at first Standard English has over time changed and a variety called Malaysian English has arisen. This variety of English is full of colloquial expressions and the grammar also differs slightly from that of Standard English. This paper surveys Malaysian speakers’ attitudes towards Malaysian English and Standard English. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results show that the informants consider Malaysian English useful for informal and everyday communication whereas Standard English is more useful for international communication as well as more formal purposes. A good command of Standard English is still regarded as important. It became evident that while the informers were aware of Malaysian English and its linguistic characteristics, identifying them in written sentences was not easy. The informants’ attitudes towards Malaysian English and Standard English showed that one variety does not have to exclude the existence of the other. / Vad som först var standardengelska har i Malaysia över tid ändrats och en ny variant kallad malaysisk engelska har växt fram. Denna variant av engelska är full av lokala uttryck och grammatiken skiljer sig delvis från standardengelskans. Denna studie undersöker talares attityder till malaysisk engelska och standardengelska med hjälp av en enkät. Resultaten visar att malaysisk engelska är användbar för informell och vardaglig kommunikation medan standardengelska är mer användbar för internationell samt mer formell kommunikation. Att behärska standardengelska anses fortfarande vara viktigt. Det blev tydligt att även om informanterna var medvetna om malaysisk engelskas lingvistiska särdrag så var det inte helt enkelt att identifiera dem i skrivna meningar. Informanternas attityder till malaysisk engelska och standardengelska visade att en variant inte nödvändigtvis utesluter den andra.

The study of diaspora dictates a yearning to return home which finds its Chinese equivalent in the notion of louye-guigen ( 落葉歸根) - returning to the roots. However, reality is that diaspora comes to an end after settlement for two to three generations. We do see the prevailing trend of luodi-shenggen (落地生根) – the planting of permanent roots in the soils of different countries of Chinese overseas. In some Chinese communities, luodi-shenggen turns out to be a total assimilation while others developed a uniquely Chinese identity. This dissertation seeks to examine how the Sinophone as ennuciative tactic to afford a sense of homeliness to the Malaysian Chinese – Mahua (馬華) who maintain a practice of Sinitic languages in their daily life for generations while they unmistakably identify themselves as Malaysian. Such identification situates them in an inbetweenness where they engage in constant dialog to engender new speech act. Through the study of Chinese street names in George Town, Penang and the Sinophone cultural troupe Dongdiyin (動地吟), I argue that Sinitic languages afford the Malaysian Chinese a sense of home and that Sinitic languages are employed as a tactic in face of the grand narratives of their mother Chinese culture and the Malaysian national discourse, and to displace them. / published_or_final_version / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

No description available.

One of the new Malaysia's thirteen states, Sabah, gained its independence through Malaysia on 16th September 1963. The new state with a relatively new government was first faced with the enormous task of planning the state development. One of the Government's immediate concern and priority was to ensure the provision of proper and sufficient housing for the local people. Under this priority, the Sabah State Assembly passed the Housing Commission Enactment in 1967 which later became known as the Sabah State Housing Commission (SSHC), and then, the Housing and Town Development Authority (HATDA).The SSHC was created by the Local Government to execute primarily the task of constructing low cost housing. This is due to the fact that houses constructed during Sabah's recovery from the aftermath of Second World War were mainly of medium cost types. There was no effort by the Colonial Government to provide low cost houses for the low income population.Kota Kinabalu, a relatively new town is the capital city of Sabah. Most of the SSHC activities were executed here. The city rapid development as evidenced by many high rise buildings offers job opportunity and social facility as well as amenity, and thus has become a major attraction to both the local people from smaller towns, and illegal immigrants from the nearby South East Asian countries.The creation and completion of this project has made clear HATDA's evaluation of success in providing the low cost housing for the low and middle incomes people in Sabah. In addition to its evaluation of success, many other issues relevant to low cost housing development has been explored. Those issues were HATDA's future strategies to deal with the fast growing local population and demand for the low cost housing units, recommendations to control illegal immigrants from the nearby Asian countries, ways to improve local political issues that affects future HATDA's goal and plan, and create a better relationship with the Federal Government that could ease the funding problem of the low cost housing in the future. / Department of Urban Planning

Existing literature and much of the research on marriage and family experiences have been largely and commonly problem-based and deficit-oriented. Even though some strength-focused approaches to the study of marriages and families have been undertaken and have gained momentum there is still much empirical work needed in order for us to understand the complexity and intricacies of what constitutes a quality marital relationship. In this qualitative research study, I analysed how quality of marriage is conceptualised and understood by Malays within a Malaysian context. I undertook the research in order to capture and understand how a cohort of Malay people understand and give meaning to the concept of 'good quality marital relationship'. Research studies on marital quality in Malay culture are very limited and numerically at least, they compare poorly to western scholarly output on this subject. Even though much contemporary marriage literature refers to the importance of gaining an appreciation of cultural issues related to marriage and family, there is a real need for more cross-cultural research. In examining Malay concepts of quality marriage I not only address a culturally-specific research need but attempt to use this to advance cultural sensitivity among relevant policy makers, practitioners, researchers and members of the public. In this research, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in the Kubang Pasu district, in Kedah, one of the northern states of Malaysia with forty-five participants across different socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds. In what is an exploratory study I adopted a combination of maximum variation and purposive sampling and utilised a grounded theory framework to underpin the analysis. The data were analysed using both rigorous manual coding and NVivo qualitative software.