No description available.

This thesis examines the attitude of Malaysia’s Islamist movements – (1) The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS); (2) The National Trust Party (AMANAH); (3) The Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) and (4) the Malaysian Muslim Solidarity Front (ISMA) towards the 2011 Arab Uprisings events or popularly known as the ‘Arab Spring’ in the Middle East and North Africa. In particular, it explores the knowledge and perceptions of selected Islamist movement activists, politicians and members in Malaysia towards the Arab Uprisings as well as considering how the events impact their activism, political approach and attitudes towards the issues of regime change, civil disobedience, political revolution, democracy, Islamism and political stability. This thesis also identifies a number lessons learnt by the Malaysian Islamists from the development of post-Arab Uprisings in the MENA region. The tendency of Malaysian Islamists to be influenced by the development in the Middle East and global political Islam are not seen as something new as evidently shown in the case of the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution. This popular event was known for its indirect impact on the political activism and approaches of PAS and ABIM in Malaysia back in the 1980-1990s, as well as inspiring many Malaysian Islamists to uphold the struggle of establishing an Islamic state in the country. Following the recent uprisings in several Arab states, which also witnesses the rise of Arab Islamist parties in securing a ruling power, these events have also been widely followed by the Malaysians in general and the Islamists in particular with great interest. Furthermore, the major involvement of Malaysian Islamists in a series of mass protests, popularly known in Malaysia as the “Bersih movement” (circa 2011-2016), against the ruling government, were perceived by numerous local and foreign journalists as an attempt to create a “Malaysian Spring” which inspired by the ‘Arab Spring’ phenomenon for the sake of toppling the current regime. However, there have been strong opinions voiced by the Malaysian authorities and various local scholars suggesting that there was no basis for presuming an Arab Uprisings impact in the context of the Malaysian experience. This raises the question of the relationship between the Arab Uprisings and Malaysian Islamists. Nevertheless, no matter how relevant the questions raised between Malaysia’s Islamist movements and the ‘Arab Spring’, the central concern that needs to be highlighted is the extent to which Malaysian Islamists grasp the fundamental issues of the 2011 Arab Uprisings before jumping to any conclusion about the polemics of the “Malaysian Spring”. In so doing, both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied through a questionnaire based-survey which was conducted in Malaysia involving 530 respondents, primarily among the registered and active representative of Malaysian Islamist between the ages of 18 and 45, as well as 15 in-depth interviews with selected Malaysian Islamist activists and leaders ranging from those in opposition political parties (PAS and AMANAH) to those in non-government Islamist organisations (ABIM and ISMA). The survey of Malaysian Islamists’ attitudes towards the Arab Uprisings development covered a variety of dimensions, namely understanding the general issues about the Arab Uprisings’ phenomenon, factors that lead to the Uprisings, the role of Islamist movements, the influences of the Uprisings on Malaysia’s Islamist movements activism and finally lessons learnt from the Arab Uprisings. The data is statistically analysed with the assistance of the SPSS computer package, and by using a number of statistical procedures, such as frequencies and cross-tabulations. The outcome of this research shows that the majority of respondents have an outstanding knowledge on the Arab Uprisings which was mostly obtained via new social media such as Facebook and Twitter, along with mixed perceptions toward the events. Furthermore, they also reached an understanding that the uncertainties in the Arab world would eventually lead to another wave of uprisings in the long term. Speaking of the global impact of the Arab Uprisings events, some elements of political repression, coupled with corruption and power abuses (which some claimed to be practised by the Malaysian regime), led to a number of Malaysian Islamists believing that they were inspired by the acts of mass street protests during the Arab Uprisings. This inspiration came when they witnessed the ousting of several long-serving autocratic Arab rulers in their respective states by the Arab protesters. However, the fear of insecurity and political instability which is currently evident in the post-Arab Uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria and the Yemen led to many respondents favouring political stability rather than regime change. Most of the respondents were quite sceptical about the polemics of the “Malaysian Spring” as most of them neither disagreed nor agreed that the series of political rallies by the Bersih movement were an indirect effort to topple the ruling government which was ‘accused’ by several pro-government media, politicians and authorities in Malaysia. Overall, this empirical research found that the majority of Malaysian Islamists from PAS, ABIM, ISMA and AMANAH are supportive of a free and democratic elections as a relevant medium for political change, rather than overthrowing the current regime via civil disobedience, street demonstration, or ‘revolution’.

In the aftermath of the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis, there are signs that in Malaysia, corporate governance practices are gradually converging towards the Anglo-American model. Drawing on three key theoretical lenses, namely agency theory, institutional theory and resource dependence theory, this study investigates an unexplored phenomenon in corporate governance reformation, at least in the context of Malaysia. The study examines the relationship between corporate governance elements and the level of foreign equity ownership (FEO) in Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs). More specifically, the aim of this study is to answer the following research question - Does corporate governance influence the level of FEO in Malaysian companies? In the context of this study, corporate governance is taken to be the aggregate of board of directors characteristics, directors attributes and ownership structure. On the other side of the equation is FEO, which is taken to be the proportion of equity owned by foreigners. The majority of foreign investors who are making investments in Malaysia originate from Western countries, and are accustomed to the Anglo-American corporate governance system. Thus, this study examines the influence of governance mechanisms in attracting foreign investors in a unique governance context following a major economic event i.e. the Asian financial crisis of 1997/1998. Accompanied by institutional theory and resource dependence theory, agency theory is used as the key lens to explain the hypothesised relationships. The study's hypotheses are tested using the panel data derived from 1,836 observations over a 12 year period, from 2000 through 2011. By considering the existence of heteroscedasticity and the serial correlation problems, the generalised least square (GLS) method was employed to estimate the model. To enrich the findings, logistic regression analysis was further applied and the potential endogeneity issue was resolved with a GMM test. The findings indicate that the level of FEO in Malaysian PLCs is significantly related to foreign directorships, the Western educational background of directors, professional directors, and multiple-directorships. However, the results defy the significant relationships of board size and outside directors, as generally proposed in the extant literature. In addition, the role of ownership structure is important in foreign investors behaviour, since it is found that foreign investors avoid investing in family-controlled companies and in companies with high institutional ownership. Therefore, from the overall results of this study, it can be concluded that there is evidence that corporate governance mechanisms do influence foreign investors decision making, at least in Malaysian PLCs. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of the relevant literature, theory, methodology and practice. In brief, this study has great potential impact in many respects including its relevance for policymakers in setting up new policies, designing new rules and strengthening existing regulations, both at country and firm levels.

The objective of the thesis is to investigate Malaysia’s pay determinants from three different perspectives, namely: employees’ perspective, employers’ perspective, and both employees-employers’ perspectives. As a matter of fact, previous studies have not been able to document the potential impact of employers and firms on pay determinants within the Malaysian economy, owing to a lack of appropriate data. Therefore, with the availability of new datasets – worker-level dataset (WLD) and firm-level dataset (FLD) obtained from the Second Malaysian Productivity Investment Climate Survey (PICS-2), we have developed a matched-worker-firm dataset (MWFD), so that by employing such dataset it will add a new dimension to pay analysis in Malaysia as well as allowing for a comprehensive understanding and clearer picture of Malaysia’s pay system. From the employees’ prospective, the findings of this thesis indicate that a worker with a higher education level, skills and training generally gets a higher pay compared to those without. In addition, a worker who undergoes training from his/her current employer gets a higher pay compared to those who had training from a previous employer or only off-the-job training. At the same time, workers with complex computer skills, as well as those who are in professional employment and management, also receive a considerably higher pay. From the employers’ prospective, however, the findings indicate that firm size, human capital stock in the firm, worker performance, capital stock, and firm performance are important factors that affect the Malaysian average monthly pay. Besides, the elasticity of pay with respect to employer size is two percent, and this figure supports the notion that the Malaysian labour market can be characterised as imperfect competition. From both employers-employees’ prospective, it is obvious that both observable worker characteristics and unobserved firm-effects are key elements of pay determinants. Nevertheless, firm effects seem to explain the variability in pay determinants more than observable worker characteristics. In addition, the relationship between pay component and firm performance exhibits a positive tendency. This implies that workers get a higher pay either because of worker characteristics or that firm-effects are being employed in firms that are more productive and profitability.

The course of Christian mission in Malaysia spans a period of almost fivehundred years. It traversed a path that began as a military crusade but then fellshort of its goals in the centuries after and has now arrived once more at thecrossroads. This dissertation reflects upon the course taken thus far and fromits present juncture ponders the passage ahead. The starting-point is mission as it was perceived in the past: an enterprise of

Abstract This thesis sets out to explore Shirley Geok-lin Lim's poetry collection Monsoon History in terms of three aspects: language, migrancy, and ethnicity. It also attempts to examine Shirley Lim's diasporic identity by embracing the border thinking. The notion of border-crossing, either physically or psychologically, passes through each chapter to represent the poet's identity and to re-create a space for herself to articulate. It is a study of Lim's exile experiences and how she establishes the poetics of diaspora for Asian American literature. In the introduction, the concept of diaspora and the theoretical framework will be explicated. The first chapter probes into the relationship between Shirley Lim and her choice of language in writing. I adopt Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's analysis of language and definition of ¡§minor literature¡¨ to discuss the deterritorialization of Lim's writing. The second chapter traces Lim's migrant status, in which I resort to Edward Said's ¡§Reflections on Exile¡¨ and his different categorizations of exile. The third chapter, appealing to several theorists or critics, such as Benedict Anderson, Ernest Gellner, and Ling-chi Wang, deals with Lim's problem of ethnic identity displayed in her poetry. The last chapter concludes with an overall argumentation that the destination and dissolution of Lim's identity is an Asian American because of reterritorialization of language, migrancy, and ethnicity.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The three studies reported in this thesis investigated the contributing factors of L2 writing among adult ESL learners in the academic setting. The major purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between L2 proficiency, writing strategies, writing attitude, writing errors and L2 writing performance. This thesis aimed to provide insights for the contributing factors that are predictive of L2 writing performance in adult ESL learners, studying in English and non-English dominant settings. Study 1 (reported in Chapter 3) focused on determining the appropriate measures for investigating the individual factors of writing performance; particularly learners’ writing strategies, learners’ second language proficiency, first language (L1) interference and their relation to writing performance. Thirty-one intermediate students of L2 served as participants. A measure of vocabulary size and a writing strategy questionnaire were administered to the students. Findings in this study indicated that most of the participants’ planning strategies were limited to having a mental or written plan whereas over half of the respondents reported that they always start with an introduction and were more likely to stop drafting after a few sentences. In terms of drafting strategies, it was found that most respondents reread what they had written to get ideas on how to continue but did not go back to their outline to make changes in it. With regard to L1 use, a majority of participants do not write bits of text in their native language. Nevertheless, quite a number of participants indicated that they would write in their L1 if they don’t know a word in English. Findings in this study also suggested that participants’ biggest concerns were related to grammar and vocabulary, which resulted in them making surface level changes and checking. An overall analysis of participants’ writing output and responses from the questionnaire also provided important insights to the improvement of the measures. The revision process included rewording and rephrasing ambiguous items, removing irrelevant items from the questionnaire and restructuring the writing task for the next study. In Study 2 (presented in Chapter 4), a follow-up study was conducted to examine L2 writers’ proficiency level, writing attitude, writing errors and writing strategies in an English-dominant setting. Nine research questions were designed to guide the study framework and gather specific data regarding the research aims. A writing measure, vocabulary tests and a questionnaire were administered to the students. Findings from Study 2 indicated that L2 proficiency, particularly vocabulary size, was related to writing performance. In addition, it was also discovered that L2 writers who performed poorly were prone to performing writing strategies related to surface level checking. Therefore, it was concluded that linguistic barriers in L2 affect both writing performance and students’ ability in applying the effective strategies in writing. Apart from that, Study 2 also found that the use of L1 and translation into L2 was associated with lower writing performance. Additionally, Study 2 found that pronoun, word and sentence errors were the most prevalent errors among ESL students. A possible reason for this is because L2 students need to work with two languages while writing, mainly the grammar rules in English which are not found in their L1 as well as their own native language. Thus, L2 students face the challenge of working out English grammar rules while writing. Overall, findings in this study suggest that prevalent writing errors in English may be a sign of L1 interference and that as the use of L1 increases, writing performance decreases. In Study 3 (reported in Chapter 5), the role of proficiency level, writing attitude, writing errors and writing strategies was explored by measuring the relationship between writing attitude scores, errors in writing, strategy use and essay scores. Additionally, the role of L2 proficiency in writing performance was also investigated by assessing the relationship between vocabulary size scores, writing errors and writing performance. Findings from Study 3 revealed unexpected findings with regard to the relationship between L1 use and writing performance among the three sample groups. L1 use was found to be correlated with writing performance for Group A but not Groups B and C. It was argued that L2 writers of different L2 proficiency level and academic experience may have different orientations of L1 use. Further work on the impact of L1 use on L2 writing will be needed in order to provide insights into this area. With regard to writing errors, a relationship between errors and writing performance was reported. It was found that subject verb agreement error appeared to be a common factor for the three groups in the study that was related to writing performance. In addition, errors were also significantly correlated with L2 proficiency, suggesting that as L2 proficiency increased, errors decreased. Overall, Study 3 argues for the importance of developing and enhancing learners’ L2 proficiency to reduce errors and improve learners’ writing performance. Additionally, Study 3 also argues for the need to emphasize effective writing strategies in the ESL writing classroom.

Leadership has been an active area of scientific research since the Second World War, with scholars developing different perspectives on antecedents, processes, and outcomes. Since the founding of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in 1949, the political party has been subjected to many leadership challenges and crises which have many a time threatened its unity and the interests of the party and members. Of interest will be the understanding of the attributes of leadership which the members would prefer. If these preferences of the members can be examined in the context of consumer/voter behaviour or decision in the electoral marketplace based on the contention that the leaders are products and services, we can bring marketing concepts and tools to the study of voter behaviour or decision (in elections) and so take a step towards an understanding of leadership while providing new evidence concerning MCA members' preferences for their President. Consumer behaviour theory can indeed be applied to voter behaviour in the electoral context. / One of the marketing tools available for this purpose is the use of conjoint analysis as a method for predicting choice of leadership, although it is considered exploratory and unprecedented as there are little or no attempts having been made to apply conjoint analysis for such study. Since the mid-1970s, conjoint analysis has been used as a method to realistically simulate consumer decisions in the context of trade-offs among multiple-attribute products and services in the product development and marketing domains. The reliability and validity of this method have been well documented in the literature. The application of conjoint analysis in the Leadership Studies domain will open up a new dimension of its robustness and dynamics as a method for predicting choice. / Consumer behaviour marketing has much to contribute to the broader interdisciplinary interest in politics and the functioning of the democratic process. This research was carried out in three stages: 1) to explore the leadership attributes model construct in a review of literature; 2) using a focus group study, to develop a final leadership attributes construct considered relevant, applicable and meaningful for the study of the members' preferences for their President; and 3) using web-based Adaptive Conjoint Analysis as a method for predicting choice, to operationalize the leadership attributes construct by subjecting them to voter behaviour (decision-making) during elections in the electoral marketplace. The results from the conjoint study show that Decisiveness, Vision, Openness, Inspirational Motivation, and Relational/Network are the top five attributes for the MCA members' preferences for their President whereas Charismatic (Idealized Influence), Intellectual (Basic Qualification), Communication Language Proficiency, Analytical, and Good Performance Record are the bottom five attributes for the preferences for the leadership. This is important because a significant part of political marketing is candidates and parties spending large amounts of money on targeting voters to influence their decisions as experienced by the MCA in the past especially during the leadership struggles. More importantly, the leadership struggles can be very costly and damaging to the interests of the party and its members if unchecked or moderated. The result of the research is not expected to be the solution to the leadership struggle but the implications for a new evidence of MCA members' preferences for the President as discussed may serve as guidance to the future leadership, as are directions for future research. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005.

This research inestigates and examines the relationship between innovation success, internal organizational factors, local cultural factors and external environmental factors in the Malaysian ICT industry. From the responses of 122 local and multinational companies operating in Malaysia, the independent variables having positive relationships with innovation success are external ecconomic environmental factors and leadership organizational factors, while independent variables having negative relationships with innovation success are collectivism local cultures and external social environmental factors. The findings also indicate that these factors do not influence the innovation on an individual basis, but they are working in unison.