Zakat is an obligatory payment that a free and rational Muslim who owns a certain amount of wealth has to observe. The idea of zakat investment was initiated by the belief that providing the poor and needy with a non-substantial amount of fund that is mostly used to pay for their consumption is not enough to tackle poverty. Collection of zakat itself also has been shown insufficient even to provide them with a subsistence level of income. Muslim scholars suggest a long-term measure involving the investment of zakat that not only supplement the poor with a stream of income that is more consistent and continuous, equip them with the opportunity for equity participation or provide them with projects that help improve their livelihood but also provide a source of revenue to fund overall Muslim economic development. However, Muslim scholars found that investment of zakat may make the payment legally vulnerable from the Shari>ca (Islamic law) point of view. Thus, many fatwa>s and views have been expressed by the Muslim scholars as guidelines to ensure that the investment activities conform to Shari>ca. This study examines contemporary policy and practice in the management of zakat investment in Malaysia, particularly at two zakat institutions: Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan and Lembaga Zakat Selangor. These two institutions are selected because they are the most vibrant zakat institutions in the country in terms of zakat revenue and they also are the most active in investing zakat. Given the many background complaints about the institutions’ inefficiencies in managing zakat particularly the large amount of undistributed zakat, it is thus pertinent to analyze the compliancy of these investment activities with the principles and purposes of zakat. The study finds that these institutions accordingly have moulded their investment activities not only to observe the principles of zakat but also according to the modern changes in the administration of zakat in the country as well as to cater for the recipients’ current needs. The study also finds that various policies have been set up to guide the management of these investment activities. Still, there remain numerous possibilities for improving these further.

By taking the experiences and narratives of Indonesian women in Malaysia as the empirical material, this dissertation offers an analysis on spatialised power practices in the context of paid domestic workers. Family survival prompts these women to work abroad, but patriarchal norms shift their economic contribution as supplementary to the men’s role as the breadwinner. The interviews reveal that these women chose Malaysia as their destination country after having listened to oral stories, but despite the transnational mobility involved in their decisions, they are rendered immobile in the employers’ house. Furthermore, the analysis shows an intricate ensemble of power relations in which gender, class and nationality/ethnicity interact with each other, inform and reproduce spatialised domination and labour exploitation practices by the employers. Immigration status of the workers, meanwhile, puts them in a subordinated position in relation to the employers, citizens of the host country. Without the recognition from the state on this particular form of embodied labour, the employers are responsible for defining the working conditions of the workers, leading to precarious conditions. Findings on several resistance practices by the workers complete the analysis of power practices, where resistance is treated as an entangled part of power. Contributing to the study of gendered geographies of exploitation, the study identifies the home and the body as the main levels of analysis; meanwhile, practices at the national level by the state, media and recruitment/placement agencies and globalisation processes are identified as interrelated factors that legitimate the employers’ practices of exploitation. Finally, the dissertation contributes to feminist geography analysis on gender, space, and power through South-South migration empirics.

This study describes the use of Landsat MSS and TM for geological applications in two Scottish areas: Lochindorb and Loch Tuel; and one Malaysian area: Kedah-Perak. The areas are poorly exposed and highly vegetated. The data were digitally processed with the objective of producing more interpretable images. The processes include contrast enhancement, ratioing, subtraction, principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, filtering, the combination of images as colour composites, and producing negative images of the data. Geological interpretation of the most informative images was undertaken by visual interpretation. In the Lochindorb area, Landsat MSS imagery did not prove useful for superficial deposits mapping, and the resolution offers by the TM is still not sufficient for semi-detailed mapping at scale 1: 50,000. The combination of TM imagery and aerial photographs, however, made the mapping task easier and produced "better" map. In the Kedah-Perak area, textural information is more important than spectral information for lithological interpretation and many image units correlate well with major mapped rocks. Lineaments are well expressed on Landsat imagery and are mapped for the Loch Tummel and Kedäh-Perak areas. The lineament maps for both areas confirm many mapped faults and reveal a new prominent lineaments (probably faults). For the Loch Tummel area, the relative merits of TM versus MSS data were examined. Both produced similar results regarding major lineament orientations, but the TM provides a good improvement over the MSS in the ability to map lineaments. For both areas, lineaments appear to be correlated with geomorphology (lithology), and with the occurrence of ore deposits and probably geologic structure for the Kedah-Perak area. Landsat imagery can be used to aid lithological mapping in Malaysia, but has not proved useful for Scotland (U. K. ) because of different objectives and constraints. However, Landsat imagery is an effective tool in mapping lineaments for both areas.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY / Bibliography: leaves 49-54. / by Roberta Dean. / M.S.

This thesis examines Malay identity construction by focusing on the complex processes of self-identification among queer-identified Malays living in Malaysia and beyond. By analysing representations of queer Malays in the works of contemporary Malaysian Malay writers, scholars, and filmmakers, as well as queer Malays on the internet and in the diaspora, the thesis demonstrates how self-identifying gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Malays create and express their identities, and the ways in which hegemonic Malay culture, religion, and the state affect their creation and expression. This is especially true when queer-identified Malays are officially conflated with being “un-Malay” and “un-Islamic” because queer sexualities contravene Malay cultural and religious values. This thesis begins by discussing the politics of Malay identity, particularly the tension between “authority-defined” and “everyday-defined” notions of being Malay that opens up a space for queer-identified Malays to formulate narratives of Malayness marked by sexual difference. The thesis then discusses how queer-identified Malays specifically construct their identities via various strategies, including strategic renegotiations of ethnicity, religiosity, and queer sexuality, and selective reappropriations of local and western forms of queerness. The ways in which “gay Melayu” identity is a hybrid cultural construction, produced through transnational and transcultural interactions between local and western forms of gayness under current conditions of globalization is also examined, as well as the material articulation of queer narratives of Malayness and its diverse implications on queer-identified Malays' everyday lives and sense of belonging. The thesis concludes with a critical reflection on the possibilities and limitations of queerness in the context of queer Malay identity creation. Such reflection is crucial in thinking about the future directions for research on queerness and the politics of queer Malay identity. It is hoped that this study will show that queer-identified Malays reshape and transform received ideas about “Malayness” and “queerness” through their own invention of new and more nuanced ways of being “queer” and “Malay.” This study also fills up the lacunae in the scholarship on Malay identity and queer Malays by addressing the productions of Malay ethnicity and sexual identity among queer-identified Malays within and beyond Malaysia's borders.

This thesis presents an interpretive case study of a Malaysian Government-linked Company (GLC) namely Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) which has recently implemented a business reengineering programme. This change programme was imposed by MAHB's parent company as part of a wider government reform agenda to address GLCs' 'underperformance' post-privatisation. Since long-term business value has become an increasingly important goal, MAHB has attempted to enhance its performance through various change initiatives which have led to institutional change. The thesis analyses the role of situational logics in the context of this institutional change, drawing on the situated logics perspective developed by ter Bogt and Scapens (2014), together with insights from the institutional logics and practice variations literature. Using semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis and observation, the study provides a comparative analysis of three subsidiaries and their relationship with the Finance Division's accounting change. The thesis recognises there are diverse situational logics that different groups of organisational actors apply in their day-to-day activities and change initiatives, emerging from a complex interplay of contextual and historical forces. This recognition enables us to understand how the three subsidiaries and the Finance Division of MAHB have differently interpreted the notion of performance improvement by applying these diverse situational logics. It sheds light on the issue of how accounting change can give rise to different responses. While the different responses present a theoretical puzzle-why there are different responses to accounting change-this thesis delineates how situational logics shape organisational responses by relating them to the underlying taken-for-granted assumptions of different groups of organisational actors. The thesis shows that the existence of diverse (or rather multiple) situational logics has led to multiple responses from different groups of organisational actors in the different parts of MAHB. The thesis also shows how multiple situational logics can co-exist or conflict and how this is contingent upon the compatibility and/or incompatibility of different interests at the intra-organisational level. Issues concerning multiple changes and multiple responses to institutional pressures, competing interests between public service and profitability, and the interplay of acceptance and resistance are all discussed in the thesis. Using the situational logics perspective, the thesis contributes to understanding the complexity of the ongoing processes of both the organisational change and accounting change at the intra-organisational level. This perspective enables us to understand the different courses of action and practices within the different parts of MAHB due to their situated functionalities. The thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the research findings and possible directions for future research.

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Li, Ho Fai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-117). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / English and Chinese Abstracts --- p.ii / List of Contents --- p.iv / "Index of tables, figures, and diagrams" --- p.vi / Lists of abbreviations and acronyms --- p.vii / Notes --- p.ix / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Research Background and Research Question --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Methodology --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Research Significance --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- "Theoretical Frameworks, Central Arguments and Organization of the Thesis" --- p.6 / Chapter 2. --- Theoretical Frameworks and Literature Review --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Historical Institutionalism --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Study of Heritage Conservation --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- The Study of Civil Society --- p.12 / Chapter 2.4 --- Political Economy of Built Heritage Conservation --- p.14 / Chapter 2.5 --- State-Civil Society Relations in Post-Independence Malaysia --- p.16 / Chapter 3. --- "Case Study of George Town in Penang, Malaysia (1957-2008)" --- p.24 / Chapter 3.1 --- Genesis of George Town as a British Colonial Town --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Development of George Town in 1950s-1970s --- p.25 / Chapter 3.3 --- Development of George Town in 1980s-2008 --- p.32 / Chapter 3.4 --- Updates of Development of George Town since 2008 --- p.60 / Chapter 4. --- "Analysis of the case of George Town in Penang, Malaysia" --- p.66 / Chapter 4.1 --- A Path of Institutional Change towards Heritage Conservation --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2 --- Structural Basis for Civil Society-state Synergy --- p.69 / Chapter 4.3 --- Conceptualizing the Constructability of Civil society-state Synergy --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4 --- "Identification of ""Critical Juncture"" in the Developmental Path" --- p.82 / Chapter 4.5 --- Sustainability of Civil society-state Synergy --- p.83 / Chapter 5. --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.88 / Chapter 5.1 --- Brief Review of the Heritage Movement in Penang --- p.88 / Chapter 5.2 --- Summary of Arguments --- p.89