Cmi Notes S1 201905 Final B

Course Notes/MPU-3322
MPU-3322 CONTEMPORARY
MALAYSIAN ISSUES
LECTURE NOTES
Social Issues
Environmental Issues
Economic Issues
Political Issues
Updated May 2019

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CHAPTER 1: SOCIAL ISSUES -- DRUG TRAFFICKING ANDDRUG ADDICTION
A. Drug Trafficking
1. What is drug trafficking?

 A global illicit trade.
 Involves the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject
to drug prohibition laws.
 The amount of the substance that needs to be involved in order to label it a trafficking
charge depends on the substance.
2. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Drug Trafficking in Malaysia

 Malaysia is neither a significant source country nor a major transit point for U.S.-bound
illegal drugs. However, drug trafficking through the country to supply domestic and
regional markets remains a challenge, and transnational drug trafficking organizations have
been attempting to expand crystal methamphetamine production in the country.
 Transnational drug trafficking organizations continue to use Kuala Lumpur as a trafficking
hub, and Nigerian trafficking organizations have been known to use commercial courier
services to ship methamphetamine and heroin into and from Malaysia.
 There is no notable cultivation of illicit drug crops in Malaysia. Demand for and the
consumption of drugs is limited on the local market.
3. Statistics: Number of drug-related arrest
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4. Mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking

Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 (Revised 1980) provides mandatory death
sentence for drug trafficking offences.
Reasons to justify the death penalty:

a. Remove the offender from the midst of the society to protect public’s interest
 To deter the offender from repeating the offence.
 Without a mandatory death penaltydrug traffickers may still be able to repeat
their offense once they have completed the term of their imprisonment.
b. Serve as a deterrent to potential drug traffickers.
 Death penaltysevere penalty. Therefore, policymakers and legislatures
anticipated that there would be more deterrents of such crimes.
 Serves as an example to prevent others from committing similar offence
 Keeping alive the constant threat of punishment by passing exemplary sentences,
particularly when the offence is deemed to be on the increase.
Reasons to abolish the death penalty:

In October 2009, ENCOD (European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies), which is
a European coalition of NGO’s and individuals concerned with the global drug issue, wrote a
letter of appeal to the Malaysian government, urging the government to abolish death penalty
for drug trafficking.
The death penalty should be abolished because it:

a. Runs counter to the universal protection of human rights
 At odds with the international trend of doing away the use of this measure.
 According to Amnesty International, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty.
b. Has not been effective in reducing the number of drug traffickers.
 Between January 2014 and October 2017, police have detained 702,319 people for drug
trafficking and possession.
 Of this, 21,371 cases fell under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 that used
to carry the mandatory death sentence, and 10,878 people have already been charged
in court under that section.
 Drug addiction amongst youths is still rampant death penalty had not been a very
successful deterrence.
c. Does not deal with the root cause of drug trafficking
 Demand for drugs still many people in Malaysia who want to take drugs.
 There would always be others who would step into the drug market to sell drugs when
the former traffickers had been executed.
d. The core business of globally organised criminal organisations
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 Those arrested for drug trafficking relatively small amounts“low-ranking drug

mules” who did not have major responsibilities in this business.
 Killing them will not scare the drugs gangs away, as the drug gangs will only need to
get replacements for the executed traffickers.
5. Causes of Drug Trafficking

a. Financial incentives
 Fuelled by the economic principle of supply and demand in a world a high
demand for illicit substances that cannot be obtained through any legal means.
 Large amounts of money to be made.
b. The possibility of escaping the gallows
 Enhances their courage to break the law.
 Being charged under section 39B DDA does not guarantee that death penalty would
be imposed on the accused
c. The practice of corruption
 Creates a breeding ground for drug trafficking as drug traffickers could buy their
way into the demand market.
 Low integrity level among some of the government officialsdrug traffickers will
become bolder in their approach.
d. Demand for drugs creates a continuous need for the supply of drugs.
 Night-life entertainments at pubs or discos creates a demand for party drugs that
are purported to be able help the party-goers to unwind.
 Peer influence and the adventurous nature of the young people easy target to drug
abuse.
B. Drug Addiction
1. Statistics: number of drugs addicts from January 2010 till February 2016
Total: 131,841
Gender
Male Female
127,797 4044
Age
19 years old and below 20-39 years old 40 years old and above
8732 93, 044 29,355
Updated May 2019

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2. National disaster and main threat to national security

a. The close geographical propinquity to Myanmar, Laos and Thailand (Golden Triangle)
and other Southeast Asian countries that produces illicit drugs
b. On February 19, 1983, the government declared drug as national disaster and is a main
threat to national security due to the following reasons:
o Drug addiction could reach epidemic proportions
o 65% of the addicts were young men between the ages of 20 to 29 (represented the
backbone and the hope of the nation’s future).
3. Steps taken to wage a war against drugs abuse

a. Cracking down on illegal immigrants in the country's struggle
 In need of more coordination among the Immigration Department, police, National
Registration Department, People's Volunteer Corps and the Civil Defense Department.
 The government will continue to launch operations to nab illegal immigrants to weed
out problems such as drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
b. Setting up a special task force focusing on anti-drug trafficking at Malaysia-Thailand

border
 Malaysia’s border with Thailand  opens to two-way smuggling activities.
 Need to tighten up the country’s border security with competent policing and efficient
border patrolling.
c. The federal police launched its Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (STING)
in year 2014.
 Through STING, the police have increased enforcement, and their intelligence network
is more efficient and collaboration with their foreign counterparts is better
 Sting’s primary focus — drug-processing syndicates and drug kingpins.
d. The government and non-governmental organisations have set up prevention and

rehabilitation centres for drug addicts.
 The facilities in Cure and Care Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) and 1 Malaysian Cure
and Care Clinics (C & C) are more advanced than in some countries.
 Provide educational training to drug addicts empower them to turn over a new leaf
once they are released from the centres.
e. Still using the punishment as a deterrent for drug trafficking

 Despite calls from human rights activists for Malaysia to abolish the death penalty for
the crime of drug trafficking
 Sending out the message that drug trafficking is a crime not tolerated in the country.
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4. Should drug use be decriminalized?

a. The approach taken:
 Using and carrying drugs (up to certain limits) were legal
 Selling and making drugs remained illegal.
 Providing clean and free/affordable drugs at proper doses.
b. A case in Portugal
 1980s  had one of the highest drug users in the world
 Tough law enforcement had not been effective
 Therefore, Portugal chose a radical approach: they decriminalize all drug use, the first
country to do so, in 2001.
 Results in 2011 (10 years later):
Lower the drug use by youths aged 15-24 years old (this age group is considered most
susceptible to drug use initiation and prolonged drug use)
Drug-related deaths fell sharply by about 75
c. Decriminalization of drug use in other countries and Malaysia

Increasingly more countries today are changing their approach to handle the drug problem:
 Australia, Denmark, Canada, and Switzerland provide safe havens or drug clinics
where addicts can receive clean drugs for free and be intoxicated under supervised
conditions.
 Netherlands has also legalized the sale of cannabis at sanctioned coffee shops. The
number of hard addicts in Netherlands has stabilized and the average age of addicts has
risen to 38 years, an indication that their drug policy is working.
 Uruguay has recently legalized the growing and sale of marijuana. Even the US has
softened their fight against drugs.
 Malaysia too is beginning to treat drug addicts more as medical patients and less as
criminals.
d. Advantages of decriminalizing drug use
i) Direct focus on the treating drug users, instead of punishing them

 Remove the social stigma of drug users, causing addicts to voluntarily seek treatment.
 Drug users are asked to reflect on why they might want to use drugs and the possible
repercussions from their decision.
ii) The drugs provided by these clinics are purer, unadulterated, and clean from contaminants
 Drug clinics cause deaths by drug overdose and HIV infections to cease completely.
 Drugs provided by the drug cartels without quality control likely to lead to drug
overdose because the users do not know what they are taking.
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iii) Reduce drug-related crimes and HIV infection

 Drugs sold at the streets are higher due to interest in profit making  encourages drug
users to commit crimes to help pay for their addiction.
 Clean and free drugs through drugs clinic  lead to fewer drug-related crimes, like
vehicle thefts, muggings and burglaries committed by drug addicts as well as HIV
infection due to drug use
iv) Addicts under this drug prescription treatment could function as normal
 Remove the social stigma of drug users  addicts under this drug prescription treatment
can remain lucid
 Given drug substitution under proper supervision  better control of their lives, most
being able to secure permanent jobs
 Most of the addicts under this would carry on with their addiction for no more than 3
years, with only 15% of them continuing for longer periods.
5. The Concern of Drug Relapse:
Definition of drug relapse usage, intake or misuse of psychoactive substances after one
had received drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation, physically and psychologically.
a. Factors Contributing to Relapse among Drug Addicts in Malaysia
i) Encounter additional crisis

 Problems, stress, failed forecast
 Coupled with pessimistic thinking and anxiety that all issues cannot be resolved  lead
to immature actions.
ii) Suffering from low self-efficacy
 Self-efficacy the degree to which an individual feels confident and capable of
performing a certain behavior in a specific situational context.
 Low self-efficacy  lack of inner strength  relapsed addiction after their release from
getting treatment and rehabilitation.
iii) Less support from family members and the community by large towards former addicts
 Weak communication patterns and less effective interactions amongst former addicts’
family
 “Don’t care attitude” towards the former addicts  causes the former addicts to relapse.
iv) Peer pressure, especially from the former friends who still use drugs
 Influence from 50% of old friends to pick up the habit again
 Even assisting rehabilitated individuals to get the needed supply of drugs.
Updated May 2019
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v) Unemployment issues among former drug addicts

 Inability to get jobs amongst former addicts who were discharged from rehabilitation
centres coupled with lack of financial support
 Being offered low salaries without taking into consideration their qualifications and
experiencecausing dissatisfactions amongst the former addicts  quit their jobs.
b. The Ways to Prevent Drug Relapse
i) Training of self-help character for the former drug addicts

 Trained to have strong determination as well as strong internal resilience to stay away
from drugshelp them to face difficulties and to be independent after they re-enter the
community.
 To build highly defensive spirits to want improvements in their lives.
ii) Integrated effort among family, employers and community
 To be ready to work hand in hand to take over the role played by drug counselors after
the addicts are released.
 More sincere help to repentant former addicts giving them undivided support and
encouragement so that they can be more self-assured to continue with their lives –
healthy and free from drugs.
Updated May 2019

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CHAPTER 2: SOCIAL ISSUES -- RISING CRIME AND CORRUPTION

A. RISING CRIME
1. Crime Statistics
 The national crime index ratio in 2017 saw a drop to 309.7 cases per 100,000 population
compared to 355.2 cases the previous year, says the Statistics Department.
 Despite the overall reduction, six states registered crime rates above the national average
in 2016, with the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur topping the list.
 The Federal Territories recorded a crime index ratio of 716.9, which was double than that
of the national figure. The other five states which had crime rates above the national
average were Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Penang and Kedah. However, despite
being above the average, the states’ crime index ratio nevertheless showed a decrease from
the previous year. After Kuala Lumpur, Selangor had the highest crime index ratio at
408.6, followed by Negri Sembilan (356.6); Melaka (339.2), Penang (318.3) and Kedah
(315.3).
 Two ways to measure crime:

a) Official crime statistics (recorded crime) – which are based on the aggregate records of
offender and offences processed by the police, courts and prison agencies.
b) Unofficial crime statistics (dark figure) – which are produced from surveys outside the
criminal justice system. Not every crime is reported by the public and recorded by the
police. PEMANDU gathered that about 25% of the crimes experienced by the public
were not reported to the police known as the “dark figure”.
2. The public’s perception on crimes

The Crime Index may have gone down but the recent spate of vicious crimes had left some
Malaysians to doubt the report. Malaysians are alarmed with the numerous news report on crime
daily -- armed robberies, snatch theft, shooting crimes – in the daily newspapers as well as in
Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
Police are stepping up efforts to tackle street crime to reverse public perception that crime is still
high.
Factors on why the public has increased fear of crimes in recent years:
a. Street crime stories can be traumatic.
 The victim talks about the crime the message spreads and scares people.
 Online sharing of the crime stories can become viral and create fear in the readers.
 Example: March 2015 the video clip showing an old lady being dragged on the
ground by the snatch thieves riding on a motorcycle after she held on to her handbag
went viral in the social media and created fear among the people.
b. Lack of building trust between the public and the police personnel.
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 Cases of corruption and the breach of ethics involving the police personnel
 The public lacks of assurance doubt that the police will come to their rescue in the
event that something untoward happens to them.
c. Street crimes like snatch thefts and break-ins threaten the daily life of the ordinary people.
 Police said street crime, which includes snatch thefts, smash-and-grab incidents, bump-
and-rob cases involving vehicles and wayside robberies, was more visible to the public
and added to the feeling of insecurity
 Crimes take place on the street or in the residential areas the people feel the threat of
crime being very close to their daily living.
Effects of this increased fear of crimes among the public:

a. People become emotionally uncomfortable.
 Feel vulnerable and isolated even in their own environment.
 Outside of the house feel anxious and afraid.
b. People begin to invest time and money in defensive measures.
 Some buy extra locks for their house grilles; some, especially ladies, register in self-
defence classes.
 Self-employ a security guard to patrol at their neighbourhood.
c. Lash back at the authorities.
 Their sense of insecurity  under the impression that the police authorities and the
local council have not been doing their part to create a safe living environment for
them.
 Cause them to lose faith in the local council, even the state government.
3. Gangsterism
 Most secondary school students linked to secret societies have yet to become initiated gang
members, investigations revealed.
 However, not amused by triads’ recruitment of teenagers, the federal police are calling for all
stakeholders to play their role to prevent gangsterism from corrupting Malaysian youths.
 Federal police Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said
secret societies set their eyes on students to prepare the youngsters as their future cadres:
“What these triad gangs were doing was recruiting new members to fill the low ranks, who
would serve as their runners and who they can order around. They target teenagers as these
youths are vulnerable and can be easily influenced to join their groups.”
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Causes of Gangsterism among Youths

a. Influenced by peer group
 Peer group plays an important role in moulding one’s character, either prompting them to
do good things or to do bad things.
 When a peer group challenges a youth to act in a delinquent manner, ie to commit acts of
gangsterism, the youth may feel challenged to prove his merits before his peers and loses
sight of moral discernment.
 Usually the young people tend to share their problems with their peers rather than
discussing it with their family. For them, only their peers will understand their feelings
better. Therefore, they may just follow the delinquent acts of their peers even though deep
down, they realize it is wrong to do so.
b. Lack of parental love
 Parents may be too busy to earn a living to support the family that they do not realize that
they have neglected their children’s emotional needs for good spiritual and moral guidance.
 Due to their busyness, such parents also do not spend enough quality time with their
children, causing the children to feel lonely and in greater need of companionship from
their peers.
c. Surrounding environment
 Home environmentlacks of peace and harmony  youths may likely be drawn to take
part in acts of gangsterism to release stress and frustration.
 Neighbourhood  growing up in a neighbourhood marred by criminal activities  higher
tendency to be influenced to take part in gangsterism as a way of self-protection as well.
d. Influence from mass media
 Some films or dramas, even cartoons portray elements of gangsterism.
 May influence some young minds to see violence as a way to solve problems.
4. Snatch thefts
Purse snatching is the most frequently reported crime against expatriates and Malaysian citizens.
The usual modus operandi (MO) is one or two males on a motorbike approaching the target from
the rear and snatching a purse, handbag, or cell phone.
Reasons why snatch theft is the most frequent street crime:

a. Easy targets
 The most common targets women (especially old ladies) walking alone with their
handbags or purses
 Youngsters with smartphones youngsters tend to be too engrossed with their
smartphones, checking things out in the smartphones, to be aware of their surroundings.
b. The convenience of the attack
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These types of robberies occur at all hours, in front of witnesses, and even in upscale
neighborhoods
 Snatch thieves normally ride on the motorcyclecan easily speed off after snatching the
desired items from the victims.
c. Lack of CCTV (close circuit television)
 Most streets in Malaysia have not been installed with CCTV  unlike certain developed
countries like South Korea.
 This lack emboldens the snatch thieves to strike on their victimshave the confidence that
they will be able to escape after the crime is committed.
Measures to Curb Snatch Thefts:
a. Enforcement of the law:

The attackers were not only criminals but were most inhumandeserve the full force of the
law to be brought to bear upon them.
More stringent punishment must be meted out to those convicted of snatch thefts
commensurate with the seriousness of the offence.
b. Street patrols:
 More street patrols by the uniformed and plain clothes personnel are needed for in hot
spots areasshould operate 24 hours a day in crime hotspots.
 More frequent vehicle patrols in small lanes along major city roads which have been used
by snatch thieves as getaway routes
c. Tackle the problem of drug addicts:
 Most snatch thieves are drug addicts who need to support their habit.
 As long as this problem is not resolved, many drug-related crimes will continue to occur.
 Drug addicts were the main perpetrators of street crimeat least 40% of the crimes since
2010.
d. Local authorities:
 Should introduce initiatives and implement the guidelines under the safe city concept to
provide safety features such as constructing barriers to separate pedestrian walkways and
roads.
 The police have been working with KL City Hall on a “safer city” programme.
 Having more lighting in back alleys and secluded areas, as well as making pedestrian
walkways inaccessible to motorcycles
e. Enhanced vigilance of the pedestrians:
 Pedestrians must put into practice the guidelines provided by the MCPF and the police
 To be more watchful of their surroundings when they are walking on the streets or in the
car park; to avoid walking alone in lonely streets etc.
f. Educational workshops:
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Police should conduct more workshops to teach the public how to avoid being victims of
street crimes.
 These programmes are also to get people to be acquainted with their local police officers.
g. Civic consciousness:
 Malaysians need to practise civic consciousness in rendering help to victims, especially if
the victims have been injured due to the snatch theft.
 Where possiblenab the snatch thieves and hand them over to the authorities.
To sum up, there is an urgent need for all parties -- law enforcement agencies, including local
authorities and NGOs -- to work with one mind and commitment to fight the snatch-thief
scourge which is a bane in our society.
5. Shooting Crime
a. Statistics
 Malaysia has strict firearms laws built around the Arms Act 1960 and the Firearms
(Increased Penalties) Act 1971. Using a gun for crimes is punishable by death while anyone
caught in possession of firearms without a license can be jailed up to 14 years and get six
strokes of the cane, yet Malaysia is still facing street shootings issue.
 In 2008, the annual deaths resulting from firearms related crimes is 82 deaths while in
2013, the Home Ministry, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed that a total of 74
people across the country were shot dead in crimes committed within the first eight months
of the year. Then in 2016, there have been 14 reported cases of shooting nationwide, with
eight people killed.
 The number of firearm-related crimes is decreasing but still spark fears among Malaysians.
b. Recent cases
 Three men were injured after they were shot by a male suspect armed with a shotgun at a
restaurant at Kuching City Mall Commercial Centre on 28 January 2018. The incident
occurred just after midnight when a male suspect fired a shot into the restaurant, wounding
three men, before fleeing in a silver Proton Waja car.
 On 5 October 2017, two men have been shot and killed in broad daylight while they were
having some drinks at a coffee shop at Pelawan Road, Sibu. The assailant, who was
wearing a helmet and clad in a red jacket, approached the three, whipped a gun and fired
several shots at the victims from a distance of about five meters. The man, who then fled
on a motorcycle parked nearby.
 A woman was shot dead by an unknown gunman while driving her car in Penang, 21
February 2017. The 49-year-old victim died from six gunshot wounds in the chest.
c. The spate of shooting in recent years has sparked a national debate on how to combat violent
crime, how to get ahead of the criminals and how to curb the easy access to guns.
 Criminals these days are becoming more brazen and brutal  not afraid of the law
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 Spreading fear among the public.

 Who are the victims? more varied and involved people of influence such as
businessman, politicians and government official.
 Motive for shooting crime: may be revenge-related or rivalry between two parties.
d. In response to growing concern of the public, the Ops Cantas Khas was mounted by the Royal
Malaysian Police (PDRM) since mid-August 2013 as a serious effort of hunting down
criminals to curb crime.
6. The Crime of Spreading Fake News
a. The Anti-Fake News Act 2018 makes it a crime for someone to maliciously create fake news.
b. The law defines fake news as "any news, information, data and reports, which is or are wholly
or partly false, whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or in any other form
capable of suggesting words or ideas".
c. The Act was gazetted after receiving consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan
Muhammad V. The legislation, which carries stiff punishments of up to six years in prison
and a maximum fine of RM500,000. The power to determine what constitutes fake news lies
in the courts, not in the government or the minister.
d. Objectives:
i) To combat the problem of fake news amid the development of modern technology that
enabled speedy communications.
ii) As a means for victims of fake news to seek justice.
iii) To complement existing laws like the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984
- Due to the modern concept that anyone could become an online journalist and this had
become a trend with the advancement of information technology and the internet.
- This poses danger to the fabric and safety of society as such reporters do not have formal
training and could just write and spread news based on perception and personal
understanding without seeking verification
- Although there are existing legal provisions, the problems to curb the dissemination of fake
news cannot be controlled effectively and comprehensively, following the current
development in the information technology which was more rapid and complex
e. Numerous protests from opposition lawmakers and civil society groupsconcern that the new
Act would be:-
 Used to restrict freedom in news reporting.
 Misused to muffle dissent ahead of a general election expected within weeks.Activists fear
the fake news bill could be used against critics of gerrymandering or other elements of the
electoral process
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f. Malaysia is not alone in finding such a law necessary as countries like Singapore, the
Philippines and Germany are considering or have introduced similar legislation.
B. CORRUPTION
1. Statistics
a. Transparency International's (TI) Corruption Perception Index
 Malaysia has moved up to 61st spot among the 180 countries in the latest Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2018, one notch higher from the previous year.
 Among ASEAN countries, Malaysia is among the top three after Singapore and Brunei.
 It uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
2. National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023
 One of the government's initiatives in realizing the government's manifesto towards a

nation with integrity and free from corruption.
 Themed 'Breaking the Corruption Chain', the NACP is a developed plan specifically for
implementation within five years.
 The implementation of this plan was developed by the Governance, Integrity and Anti-
Corruption Center (GIACC), the Prime Minister's Department in collaboration with other
government agencies.
 This specific plan was developed to set a practical goal based on initiatives to be taken by
every government and private agency to address corruption, integrity and governance
issues for the next five years.
 Contextualising the NACP within the international arena, it speaks volume of Malaysia’s
commitment toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon
internationally to be undertaken by 2030. One of the goals, Goal 16: Peace, Justice and
Strong Institutions, emphasises the importance of addressing corruption in order to achieve
the SDGs. Goal 16 espouses the commitment to fight against corruption, increase
transparency, tackle illicit financial flows and improve access to information. There exists
a clear consensus among the UN member countries on the fact that should there be no
action to reduce corruption, there will be serious impediment to achieving the other SDG’s
goals.
 Based on the corruption trend in Malaysia over the last five years (2013- 2018), the public
sector has been the most vulnerable to corruption. Compared to the vulnerability rate of
17.06% in the private sector, the public sector showed a more alarming rate of 63.30%. It
was discovered that such a high vulnerability to corruption in the public sector stemmed
from the weak governance in its procurement practices, legal enforcement agencies and
administration.
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 MACC found that between 2015 and 2018, a total of 30 top civil servants had been arrested
for corruption charges.
Effects:
ii) Losses in the public funds
iii) Affects the public sector’s integrity in ensuring the country’s security and
prosperity
Malaysia has come under the spotlight for being coined a kleptocratic country
thanks to the greed of several individuals involved in mega scandals namely 1MDB,
FELDA, MARA, SRC International, Sabah Water Department and Tabung Haji.
These scandals have seen billions, even trillions, of ringgit being syphoned off from
the country.
3. Key Issues faced by Malaysia in the Battle against Corruption as identified in NACP2019-
2023:
a) Interference of Politicians in Government Administration and Finance

 Politicians have mostly interfered in administrative (and financial) matters whereby they
see as potentially crucial in serving their own interests at the expense of the rules and
regulationshappen in decision-making processes especially those involving
procurement, job appointment and legal system.
 According to the MACC, from 2012 until 2014, the majority of such recorded cases is from
the construction sector’s procurement e.g., negotiations with the middlemen.
b) Lack of Leadership and Political Will

 This lack in the implementation of anti-corruption controls have affected the sustainability
and the effectiveness of the anti-corruption initiatives undertaken thus far. Most, if not all,
corruption-deterrent initiatives are either late, slow or unpopular to be implemented.
 Several outstanding initiatives (announced during the last administration) that are still
pending for implementation are as follows: (i) Transparency in asset declarations and gift
management policy by Members of the Administration (including Prime Minister and
Deputy Prime Minister); (ii) The introduction of Misconduct of Public Office provision;
(iii) The setting up of an independent agency in managing seized and forfeited assets; (iv)
The initiation of proper guidelines on lobbyists; and (v) Demarcation of power between
Ministers and Secretary Generals.
c) Independence of Legislation and Enforcement Bodies

 Legislative institution and enforcement agencies need to be strengthened and eventually
transformed into independent entities with full power to execute their functions. The
MACC, for instance, must be allowed to execute its functions independently and
effectively without any political interference.
 Political interference in the 1MDB and FELDA scandals had been among the biggest
obstacle to the MACC’s and AGC’s executing their functions between 2015 and 2016. It
had also created administrative chaos which then led to high-profile reshuffling of the
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MACC’s top management. The issue was captured by the Bertelsmenn Foundation in its
Bertelsmenn Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI) for 2018 as well as by the CPI for 2017.
d) Light Punishment to Corruption Offenders
 The general penalty for any corruption-related offence in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission Act 2009 (Act 694) is imprisonment for a term not exceeding 20 years
whereas the previous Anti-Corruption Act 1997 (Act 575) provides for imprisonment for
a term of not less than 14 days and not more than 20 years.
 As such, of the two, the MACC Act 2009 (Act 694) does not set a minimum number of
days for imprisonment. This can be interpreted as such that offenders do not have to serve
minimum jail time. Consequently, this makes the Act 694 insensible hence is outdated and
needs to be amended.
d) Lack of Monitoring and Enforcement

 Malaysia has adequate legislation but unfortunately, its enforcement is far below
expectation. The fact is monitoring and enforcement are essential to ensure that all
processes and procedures comply with the existing legal framework.
 Government agencies, in general, often lack the capacity to inspect, audit and review the
implementation of its activities. Among the reasons why monitoring and enforcement
efforts fail can be attributed to the lack of resources namely manpower, skills, technology,
methods and financial resources.
e) Limited Adoption of Technology in Fighting Corruption

 In fighting against corruption, technology changes must be taken into consideration by the
Government in order to ensure the role of technology is strategically embedded within the
efforts to increase Government’s integrity, accountability and transparency.
 This is especially true in the areas of enforcement, procurement, licensing and services.
Technology adoption will bring a positive image to the Government agencies in delivering
its services. The digital integration inter- and intra-agencies is currently limited. Therefore,
the application of modern technology to curb corruption.
f) Lack of Public Support and Confidence

 Public trust is heavily dependent upon transparency and accountability in the
Government’s operations. Corruption diminishes public support, hence hamper the
Government’s ability to fulfill its duty in ensuring conducive services and development for
the people.
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CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL ISSUES -- RACIAL UNITY AND EDUCATION
A. RACIAL UNITY
1. Unity amidst Diversity

a. The Department of National Unity defines national unity as "a situation in which all
citizens from the various ethnic groups, religions, and states live in peace as one united
nationality, giving full commitment to national identity based upon the Federal
Constitution and the Rukunegara."
b. Malaysia is one of the most plural and heterogeneous countries in the world, with three
major ethnic groups — Malay, Chinese, and Indian — plus several other indigenous tribes.
This ethnic and cultural diversity is reflected in the wide variety of languages spoken and
religions practiced in Malaysia; even within the same ethnic group, various traditions
prevail.
c. The importance of promoting unity amidst diversity in Malaysia
i) Promote the development of the country
- Each race, with their sets of dominant cultural beliefs and practices, has their inborn
and nurtured characteristics that can be of contributive value to the growth of the
nation.
- Racial unitythe strength of each race is brought together and produces a huge
positive impact on the development of the country.
iv) Attracting foreign tourists and investors
- Diversity among races a point of attraction to tourists as they can sample the
various cultural heritage of different races – promoting the tourism industry in the
country.
- Diversity in the country provides attractive opportunities for foreign investors to
market their goods and services.
- If we allow our diversity to tear our social fabric apart economic loss to our
country no one would be interested to visit or invest in a country that is marred
by instability.
v) Promote the acceptance and appreciation of diversity
- Unity amidst diversity an indicator that Malaysians adopt the attitude of being
broad in their acceptance of values of others.
- The acceptance of differing views and valuesMalaysians are able to appreciate
the contribution of other races in the country.
vi) Maintaining national and regional peace and harmony
- Racial tensions and conflicts are common in multiracial countries. When Malaysia
becomes a role model in maintaining unity amidst diversity, it brings forth a
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positive influence to the neighbouring countries, especially in countries like

Myanmar which is in still in the midst of religious clashes.
- Therefore, the unity in Malaysia can become a stabilizing factor to the peace and
harmony in the region.
2. Challenges Encountered in Attaining Racial Unity in Malaysia

Modern Malaysia is increasingly forced to confront the tensions arising from this fount of
diversity, and the politics of race and religion. Malaysia has been free of ethnic bloodshed,
but as Malaysians enter into a new era of globalization, there have been some new
challenges that test the unity foundation of the country.
a. The rise of political and religious extremism

 Extremism or radicalism could never bring together the masses of different race,
culture and belief system into one common end.
 Extremism contradicts to a peaceful coexistence among racesan extremist group will
look down upon another group of different believers and perceived as enemies.
b. Irresponsible use of the social media

 Some parties posted inflammatory and derogatory statements about other races
 Such hate messages are could be incited by certain incidences that involve parties of
different ethnicity and religious backgrounds – eg: car accident – or could be fanned
by certain extremist view of certain parties about another ethnic or religion.
c. Repeated debates on the establishment of vernacular schools

 Vernacular schools are already enshrined in the Constitution and the law, even
included in the National (Education) Blueprint but their establishment has been a
contentious issue among politicians and even academicians.
 New debates vernacular schools are hotbeds for racism and anti-establishment
sentiments and therefore certain parties proposed that vernacular schools be abolished.
Dissatisfactions among the supporters of vernacular schools seen as an infringement
of their right to learn their mother tongue.
d. Heavy politicking in recent years

 Since the General Election 2013 many Malaysians are becoming more politically
aware of their civic right to vote for a better government.
 Political parties have been aggressively putting forth their rationales on various issues
to win the heart and mind of the people, particularly the race that they are representing,
in preparation of gaining their vote of confidence for the next election no united
solution to the issue further dividing the people.
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3. Several Initiatives Taken by the Government

TN 50 Dialogue • TN50 dialogue was an initiative by Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Najib Tun Razak to gather the aspirations of some 1.5 million
youth in the country for Malaysia’s 2050 National
Transformation roadmap.
• During the dialogue which was held at Tunku Abdul Rahman
University College on 17 April 2017, youngsters wanted to be
seen as Malaysians first. Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said that
“We (the Government and the youth) share core values such
as respect, unity and harmony.”
Vision 2020 Targeting developed status for Malaysia by the year 2020
National unity is named as a key component of a developed
country
“Bangsa Malaysia” Emphasises that the people are able to:
(Malaysian Nation)  identify themselves with the country
policy  speak Bahasa Malaysia (the Malay language)
 accept the Constitution.
National Service Aims to address racial polarisation and encourage national unity
programme By bringing youths from a variety of backgrounds together in one
setting.
1Malaysia Emphasises ethnic harmony and national unity
Values of perseverance, a culture of excellence, acceptance,
loyalty, education, humility, integrity, and meritocracy.
B. EDUCATION
1. The issue of vernacular schools – to remain or to abolish?
There are about 1,200 Chinese primary schools and about 523 Tamil schools in Malaysia.
Over 650,000 children attend vernacular schools and these constitute about 95% of Chinese
children and about 55% of Indian children.
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Reasons why vernacular ought to remain:
a) Vernacular schools play an important role in ensuring cultural heritage is preserved

through the generations.
 The Chinese and Tamil languages in these schools don’t just function as a medium
of instruction.
 They also provide a link to the community’s cultural heritage. Hence, they are
instrumental in embodying a multi-cultural 1Malaysia.
b) It is also advantageous for the country to cultivate talent with multilingual abilities and
who are from multicultural backgrounds.
 These talents will allow our country to compete internationally
 Generate economic benefits for the nation.
Recommendations to improve the quality and the function of vernacular schools in the
Malaysian context:
a) Enhancing Bahasa Melayu:

 More than 30% of the students from vernacular schools fail to obtain a minimum
level of proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia after six years of primary education.
 A need for comprehensive review of policy and implementation especially the
teaching methods to ensure that students from vernacular schools are provided with
the opportunities to acquire good command of Bahasa Melayu, both in oral and
written forms.
b) More autonomy for vernacular schools in running the schools including in the hiring
and firing of teachers.
 Appointment of school heads  to be professionally done, not politically done.
 A decentralised educational system is recommended by giving more power to
school heads.
2. Unemployment among fresh graduates
Statistics:
 According to Economic Outlook 2019, many vacancies in the market are in low and semi-
skilled jobs which are less preferred and not suitable for fresh graduates,
 Moreover, job experience is an important indicator of employability. According to the
report, a survey conducted by the World Bank and Talent Corporation in 2014 found that
90% of companies believe that university graduates should have more industrial training
by the time they graduate.
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 This study also indicates that “less than 10% of companies had experience in developing
curricula or programmes with universities”.
 The issue seems to stem from both sides, and the government has implemented several
measures to encourage companies to assist graduates. Currently, more than 500 companies
including the Maybank group, CIMB, Axiata, Celcom, Huawei and Intel are working
closely with the Education Ministry to improve graduate employability.
 Suggested measures by the government:
i) identifying skills needed for the industries
ii) main streaming technical and vocational education and training
iii) reducing dependency on foreign workers
iv) cultivating an entrepreneurship culture in Malaysia.
Reasons why Malaysian fresh graduates are unemployed:
i. Unrealistic salary and remuneration expectation

 According to a survey by Jobstreet, certain fresh graduates are demanding as high
as RM6500 as their starting salary.
 However, in reality, in order to earn more than RM5000 in Malaysia, one need to meet
several job requirements where past working experience is an essential factor.
ii. Clueless
 One of the most common interview questions is “Where do you see yourself in 5
years?” The reason why this is often asked is to gauge if the candidate understands the
advertised position and whether s/he has a future plan and knows what career path is in
place for the position.
 Employers enter each recruitment initiative in search of “the right person for the right
job” expectation. They care for your career goals of the job candidates to ensure that
they hire those who are always motivated, empowered and are likely to stay in the
company.
 When candidates are unable to clearly define what their future plan is, the outlook is
that they are not serious with their application and this might translate into an
unsuccessful job application.
iii. Lack of critical thinking skills
 Our education system has been built in such way where the importance has been given
to be able to provide exact answers rather than allowing room for critical thinking skills.
 Being relatively new to the workforce, one glaring short-fall in our workforce is the
ability to think not only analytically, but also critically.
 Candidates who are able to portray these during interviews are more likely to be
successful.
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 These are the kind of candidates that would be regarded as “talents” in an organization,
people with high potentials would be an asset to the organization if given the right
guidance and grooming.
iv. Communication skills
 One of the most sought after requirement for an employee, especially for a large
organization is communication skills.
 Some high potential candidates with excellent grades flop at interviews due to failure
to display the ability to communicate and articulate ideas clearly.
 Communication skills here is not singularly pointed at the ability to converse fluently
but also includes body language, and the ability to convey information effectively and
efficiently.
v. Poor character and self esteem
 If the job candidate is late for interviews, dressed inappropriately, and poorly groomed,
it not would be sending the best of first impressions to the panel of interviewers and
effectively narrowing his / her chances of securing a job placement.
3. Digital Education
Fourth industrial revolution

 The fourth industrial revolution is upon us. With the rise of the digital economy in
Malaysia and worldwide, robots or intelligent computer systems could displace
traditional jobs and is expected to replace not just unskilled, but also semi-skilled and
skilled labour in the near future. With plans to embrace digital economy, the
government has to look at the cost to employment that may come with digitisation and
how it affects the economy and social economic system. Without concrete initiatives
taken, the country will be sitting on social economic timebomb that can explode when
people are out of work.
 Our education system is not fit for purpose of a digital economy. Therefore, the
government needs to take measures to educate the young and adults about the needs of
this economy.
Revamping the Education System in Malaysia

 In line with advancing the Internet Economy, MDEC recently launched
#mydigitalmaker movement, an initiative to create a nation of digital makers. This
movement in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the support of
private sectors and academia, will expose Malaysian youth to the creative and
innovative aspects of digital technology through the integration of Computational
Thinking and Computer Science into formal school curriculum; as well as getting
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industry and universities to help nurture and groom talented young digital makers
through extra co-curriculum activities.
 There are great plans to revamp the education system in Malaysia, as seen in
the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, prepared by the Ministry of Education
Malaysia. The blueprint aims to equip our students holistically to get them ready for
a challenging future of Industry 4.0 and digitalization, and it serves as a guide to the
way:
a. students learn
b. educators are trained
c. the ministry lays out a process for that transformation to happen.
 According to The Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Study, while most education
leaders (87%) are aware of the urgent need to transform digitally, the actual
transformation journey with full digital strategy in place for most educational
institutions in Asia is still at its infancy.
Digital Education in Schools

The Ministry of Education Malaysia will continue promoting digital education in various
ways:
a. 1BestariNet
 Under 1BestariNet, schools are given access to the cloud-based learning platform
– the Frog Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) –with high-speed 4G Internet
connectivity.
b. Digital textbook
 In 2014, The Education Ministry introduced digital textbook, with flippable pages
of text and graphic, that can be accessed online as an alternative to the printed
version in a bid to take the national education system to greater heights. The
emphasis is on self-education where pupils and students can refer to the textbook
at any time and place based on their respective levels.
 The digitalisation of school textbook is being done in three phases as stipulated in
the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025:
First phase the ministry had uploaded 313 textbooks that could be accessed free
(2013-2015) of charge through the 1BestariNet portal using the ID provided to all
teachers and students.
Second the ministry is planning to produce interactive textbook for selected
phase subjects, which will contain elements of text, graphic, audio-visual
(2016-2020) and animation, to help students understand the subject better.
Third phase the publication of digital textbook for all subjects, including for
(2021-2025) students with special needs
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 When the time comes, schoolchildren would be allowed to bring their own
electronic devices, such as tablet and iPad, to access the digital textbook at school
to replace the printed version.
 If the system works, it will solve the problem of heavy school bags, which has been
raised repeatedly by parents. It is believed that digital textbooks will help students
become more active in class, as opposed to traditional textbooks.
c. Digital Education Transformation
Partnering with Telekom Malaysia Bhd ™ to embark on a Digital Education
Transformation initiative to empower the Malaysian education system through
innovation and digitalisation. The long-term partnership would enable the ministry to
boost and accelerate its digital transformation journey through high-speed broadband
connectivity, interactive smartboard, smart devices, as well as teaching and learning
the 21st century way. The transformation will also digitise the students' tracking and
attendance system for their own safety, as parents and teachers will have real-time
visibility of the students' attendance.
Challenges in Digital Education in Schools

 The extra burden shouldered by the educators under the system.
The system is said to be frequently jammed. The system needs to be fixed and
upgraded to that the data keyed in the system will not get lost.
 Incorporating the acquisition of problem-solving abilities in education

Malaysia should encourage cognitive learning that involves the acquisition of
problem-solving abilities.
 Equal access for all

 The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) has reminded the education ministry
to ensure that all students have equal access if the ministry intends to implement the
digital textbook system. Good internet coverage is needed to access the digital
textbooks from wherever they are. Otherwise, some children will benefit while others
will not because of the logistics and any related internet infrastructure problem in their
area.
 There is also the possible shortage of devices made available at every school. While
every student is given one physical textbook, that does not mean that each student will
then get one device. Some would probably have to share.
 Durability of digital textbooks.
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 In the past, electronic gadgets, such as netbooks and e-books were distributed before,
but most of these devices broke down after a year. The problem is with the maintenance
of these gadgets. Books can be recycled but gadgets cannot be recycled.
 It is not just about issuing devices but also maintaining them as well. These devices
cannot be replaced every year as then it would become expensive.
Digital Education in Public Universities

 In 2015, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) today announced the launch of 60
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered by 20 public universities in Malaysia.
All the courses are available for free, and are open for enrolment by students at these
universities and members of the public.
 The courses encompass a wide selection of topics ranging from Business, Engineering,
Entrepreneurship, Finance, Healthcare, Languages, Technology and many more. All
courses are available for free on OpenLearning,com, which is the official MOOC
platform for all public institutions of higher education in Malaysia. Courses are
delivered primarily in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Arabic, depending on the topic or
subject matter.
 The launch is a major milestone in the Government’s commitment in leveraging
technologies like MOOCs and innovations such as blended learning to ensure that
students have a transformative learning experience.
 A blended learning approach combines online and in-class activities, moving away
from passive lectures to more active learning, which results in better learning outcomes.
Shift 9 of the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025 speaks of ‘Globalised
Online Learning’ as a key focus for the Ministry in building and exporting Malaysia’s
global education brand.
 Malaysia is the first country in the world to implement a nationwide strategy that
integrates MOOCs with on-campus university classes. Public universities will develop
MOOCs on core modules and students from the 20 public universities will participate
in those courses through OpenLearning’s social learning platform. The OpenLearning
platform promotes student autonomy and helps to foster a community of students who
engage and motivate each other throughout the course.
Malaysia Higher Education Forum (MyHEF) 2017 (Nov 23 – 24, 2017)

During the forum, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Alibaba Business
School and Universiti Utara Malaysia. The MoU was for the nurturing and training of IT, e-
commerce, and big data, in public universities nationwide.
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Some of the highlighted matters are as follows:

1. The need to redesign education for Industry 4.0.
 Higher education cannot be too academicmust look at the kind of experiences university
students need so that they can be trained in multi-disciplinary fields.
 While the difference between us and robots are narrowing, critical thinking and strong
communication skills are our advantage. Although these are skills were in demand 10 years
ago, they are still what bosses want today. These skills will still be important moving
forward. Extra-curricular activities should be made an integral part of learning so that
students can become a well-rounded individual with strong skillsets.
 Core skills like being a team player, and being analytical, are important, because the
challenge doesn’t end at Industry 4.0. The future will see many more industrial revolutions.
 A decade from now, 65% of current jobs will disappear but there will always be a need for
the “human touch”. Unity and patience will ensure that we rise above the challenges ahead.
 The Internet will create many new opportunities but we must be self-critical, and embrace
life-long experiential learning. Varsities are here to serve the economy, teaching students
the skill to learn, unlearn, and relearn.
 To face global competition, Malaysia must produce holistic, entrepreneurial, innovative
and balanced graduates. The recent Higher Education Forum 2017 looks at how we can
create a sustainable, dynamic, and innovative, higher education ecosystem.
2. Education that focuses on creating jobs

 In the new economy, it’s no longer about finding the right job - it’s about creating it. For
example, in China, 30 million jobs are created through the Alibaba platform, giving many
opportunities for the youth. The Alibaba Business Schoolwas launched globally to share
Alibaba’s experiences.
 Industry 4.0 needs individuals who are Internet-savvy and e-commerce enabled, can write
code, and design apps.Education is critical because it’s the graduates who will push this
initiative of digital economy forward.
3. Collaboration of various stakeholders

 The private sector, academic institutions, parents, and policy makers, have crucial roles to
play in the education ecosystem. Policy makers must guard our tech generation by
championing an open system, being bold in making unpopular decisions, and putting
education above politics. Academic institutions must serve as incubators of tomorrow’s
technopreneurs, while the private sector become enablers by investing in research and
development.
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 The private sector is encouraged to help finance the universities. Collaboration between
the industry and academia  CEOs can be engaged to help shape the curricular in higher
education so that higher education provides what is needed by the industry.
 When industry works with universities, future talents who are ready for the ‘real world’,
get created. Individuals who are proactive team players, with integrity, curiosity and a
progressive mindset are needed in the future job market. Besides parentstoo have to play
their part to inspire the tech generation.
4. On-demand learning through MOOCs

 There’s a need to rethink our education model and how to educate for the future. Lauding
the German system, the nation is renowned for its industrial training where skilled workers
are just as respected as professionals.A plumber can sit with a lawyer or engineer and
there’s mutual respect around the table because knowledge is not synonymous with having
a degree.
 Hailing cloud-based learning as an affordable, and content-rich platform with much
potential for learning, the open system allows fast access and adoption of the best courses
from anywhere in the world for anyone with a laptop or smartphone. Learning becomes
easy, with adaptability being the most important skill to have.
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CHAPTER 4: SOCIAL ISSUES: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND HUMAN

TRAFFICKING
A. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
1. Definition
a. Illegal migrationa regular migration, undocumented migration or clandestine
migration.
b. Illegal immigrant a foreigner who either has illegally crossed an international
political border, or a foreigner who has entered a country legally but then
overstays his or her visa.
c. Illegal immigration immigration across national borders in a way that violates
the immigration law of the destination country.
d. The Immigration Act describes undocumented migrants consist of a person who
is unlawfully enter or remain in Malaysia.
i. Refugees and asylum seekers are equally subject to the Immigration Act
as other undocumented migrants.
ii. However, refugees and asylum seekers who are registered under the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will
permissible to stay in Malaysia.
iii. Malaysian immigration law does not provide special protection or
procedures for asylum seekers refuges or trafficked persons nor does it
make special provisions for children or women, including pregnant
women.
iv. He or she is liable to being imprisoned, whipped, detained and removed.
2. Statistics of Illegal Immigrants

a. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) in
Malaysia there were 104,070 refugees and asylum seekers registered with them
as at the end May 2013.
b. The number of foreign workers registered nationwide was 2.2 million while 2.5
million were not registered as of 2014
c. Sabah has the highest population of immigrants, including illegal immigrants, as
compared to other states in Malaysia.
3. Factors of Illegal Immigration
Push Factors:
a. Political struggle in the source country
 Authoritarian regimes in the source countries are considered as the primary
reason for illegal immigration.
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 Political struggles within ethnic movements, or other violent removals from

power--combined with interstate conflict in many large parts of the world
gives a significant motivation to illegal immigration.
b. The deterioration of stability and security generates a massive displacement of
population
 A large proportion try somewhat to get in the neighbouring countries
illegally
 Not deterred by reform and enforcement of the immigration policies in most
destination countries which have developed selective immigration and set
new rules for any kind of stay.
Pull Factors:
a. Prosperity, stability and population decline in the destination countries.
 Before 21st century, Filipino and Indonesian (Kalimantan) had entered
Sabah because the stability in the state
 The number of local people was not high.
b. Demand for low skill workers
 Many occupations (agricultural and construction) do not require high
skilled workers
 Employers in host countries continue to hire them at wages highly superior
to wages in the source countries.
4. Impact from the illegal immigrants

a. Economy
 Positive impact: illegal immigrants are willing take up the jobs in agriculture and
construction sector that are refused by legal residents help to develop the country
 Negative impact: caused financial burden to the country to manage foreign
prisoners in prisons
a. Social destabilization
 Confusion of identity because of the similarity of the faces among the illegal
immigrant and local people – eg General Election 2013, where a few Malaysian
Indians were mistaken to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
 The emergence illegal squatter’s settlement a negative image of Malaysia.
b. National security
 Illegal immigrants have been involved and convicted for crimes ranging from
petty theft to rape and high profile robberies and murders.
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 Malaysian security forces have also regularly uncovered supplies of weapons

in illegal immigrant squatters distributed throughout peninsular and East
Malaysia.
 Conflicts from the source country may spill over to Malaysia, like in the case
of the clashes of the Myanmar immigrants
c. Contagious diseases
 Close to half of foreign workers who underwent medical tests in 2014 are
infected with the contagious airborne disease tuberculosis (TB), the Malaysian
Medical Association (MMA) has said.
 Those who know they are ill and cannot come in through the legal channel will
choose to come in illegally.
5. Refugees in Malaysia
a. Statistics
 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines refugees
as those who have “fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an
international border to find safety in another country”.
 As of end April 2019, there are about 170,460 refugees and asylum-seekers
registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, with the following breakdown:
Myanmar – 147,590
Pakistan – 6150
Yemenis – 3350
Somalis – 3090
Syrians – 3065
Afghans – 1970
Sri Lanka – 1720
Iraqis – 1450
b. 1951 Refugee Convention

 The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as “someone who is unable or
unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group, or political opinion”.
 Like many countries around the world, Malaysia has been opening its doors to
refugees. Nevertheless, the socio-economic well-being of refugees here has come
under spotlight.
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 Should a country’s attitude towards refugees be judged by how many of them it welcomes
into their borders, or how much it strives to integrate them into its society? The answer
should be the latter.
 The interesting case of Malaysia is that as much as it opens its doors to refugees, it is
actually not a party to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention, nor its 1967 protocol.
 This means that Malaysia lacks the legal infrastructure to manage refugees. It is not
obliged to provide for them in areas such as employment and education.
 In terms of documentation, refugees are issued a UNHCR card merely to signify that
they are under the protection of that programme  not an official document, meaning
it in no way reduces the risk of deportation. The psychological effects of such
documentation on refugees due to the resultant uncertainty is (and should be) enough
to galvanise support for providing these refugees with basic legal rights.
 In fact, in their manifesto leading to the 2018 general election, the newly-elected Pakatan
Harapan government specifically vowed to “ratify the 1951 International Convention on
Refugees so that refugees who escape from war-torn countries and arrive in Malaysia are
given proper assistance”. However, Malaysia has yet to ratify the convention. Not ratifying
it in effect means that refugees in Malaysia are technically not seen as “refugees”. With
just a UNHCR card, they are stuck in legal purgatory.
 On February 15 2018, Klang MP Charles Santiago gave a reason for why refugees should
have access to basic healthcare, employment and education. If the refugees cannot return
to their home countries in the long term, they become the country’s our humanitarian
responsibility. Since refugees have no legal status in Malaysia, not being able to officially
work, they often work in low-paying menial jobs where they are easily exploited.
6. Measures to prevent and control illegal immigrants

a. The Measures taken by the Government
i. Formation of Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESCOM)

 To enhance the security of Eastern part of Sabah such as Lahad Datu,
Kunak and Semporna
 To prevent foreigners like the Filipinos from entering Sabah easily
through the road sea.
ii. Implementation of 6P Program, which is referred to as
 Pendaftaran (Registration)
 Pemutihan (Neutralise)
 Pengampunan (Amnesty)
 Pemantauan (Monitoring)
 Penguatkuasaan (Authorization)
 Pengusiran (Expulsion)
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 Focuses on the settling the issue of illegal immigrants and foreign

workers.
 Aims to help government to identify the number of illegal immigrants
in Malaysia for further action.
iii. Launching operation from time to time

 “Ops Tegas” involved officer enforcement such as Immigration
Department, police and RELA (Malaysian People Volunteer Corps) was
launched in March 2005 to suppress illegal immigrants.
 “Ops Nyah” is launched to return the legal immigrants voluntarily back
to their own countries.
iv. Arresting the illegal immigrants
 About 30,000 illegals had been arrested from January to October in 2014
year nationwide.
 In addition, more than 50,000 illegals had voluntarily surrendered under the
amnesty programme from July until October 2014.
v. Heavier penalty
 On 10 November 2014, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
had called for heavier penalties to be imposed on those who brought in
illegal immigrants, including whipping.
b. The role of the society

 Common people should help the authorities to solve this issue
 For example, by making a report to the authorities if they know of any
company that hires illegal migrants as workers.
7. The effectiveness of the ways to reduce illegal immigrants

It has not been an easy job to solve the issue of the illegal immigrants and the United
States itself is facing similar predicaments.
a. 6P Program
 Effective: the government has managed to call the illegal immigrants to
get their permit in the right manner.
 Ineffective: the dishonesty of the appointed 6P agents some had cheated
dozens of Bangladeshi workers. This happened due to the lack of
monitoring of the agents.
b. Ops Tegas and Ops Nyah

 Effective: many illegal immigrants were arrested and sent back to their
country has reduced the number of illegal immigrants in some ways.
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 Ineffective: some authorities received bribery money from the illegal

immigrants who wanted to avoid being arrested.
c. Liaison with other countries

 Effective: diplomatic relation sometimes could help the government to
solve the issue of illegal immigrant.
 Ineffective: the countries with huge population and high level of
povertynot easy to control the illegal immigration.
8. Corruption and illegal immigrants
a. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has revealed that

corruption and other wrongdoings by enforcement officers, including
Immigration officers, at the entry points were among the reasons for foreigners
being able to enter this country illegally.
b. According to the MACC 2010 Report, there were Immigration officers who
lived a luxurious life on ill-gotten moneyfor facilitating the entry and exit of
illegals, as uncovered at the PulauKetam passenger jetty.
c. The bribes were for allowing the illegals to enter the country although their
passports had false stamping or they were without any valid travel document.
B. Human Trafficking
1. Definition of Trafficking by the United Nation (UN)

a. Trafficking refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of
persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other form of coercion, of abduction,
of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the
giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having
over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes
prostitution, forced labour, slavery, or other forms of servitude.
2. Where does human trafficking take place?

a. Human trafficking exists across national borders, involving both developing and
developed countries.
b. It has become an organized, trans-national crime and an increasing booming global
business.
c. It could take place within the same state or country, taking victims from one part to
another against their will.
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3. Methods of control by traffickers for prostitution

a. Taking away personal documents and travel documents
b. Demanding or taking a disproportionately large part of the proceeds of prostitution
c. Selling-or threatening to do so-the victim to another pimp
d. Withholding food
e. Isolation of the victim from friends, family and colleagues
f. Instilling fear of police and the justice system
g. Blackmail
h. Debt bondage
i. Mistreatment, beating, rape, intimidation, violence
j. Threat of violence against victim’s family
4. Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

a. It was launched in 2013 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)to
conduct global assessment of the scope of human trafficking and what is being done
to fight it. It includes: an overview of trafficking patterns; legal steps taken in response;
and country-specific information on reported cases of trafficking in persons, victims,
and prosecutions.
b. According to the report, human trafficking falls into three main categories:
i. The most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation.
Main victims of sexual exploitationwomen and girls.
ii. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%).
Forced labour is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual
exploitation.
iii. Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children.
However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the
majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa).
5. The United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons

a. The protocol, the foremost international agreement in this trafficking, entered into
force in 2003. In the past few years the number of Member States seriously
implementing the Protocol has more than doubled (from 54 to 125 out of the 155
States covered).
b. However, there are still many countries that lack the necessary legal instruments or
political will.
6. Trafficking in Malaysia
a. The overwhelming majority of trafficking victims are among the two million
documented and 1.9 million undocumented foreign workers in Malaysia from
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various countries including Indonesia, Nepal, India, Thailand, China, the

Philippines, Burma, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam.
b. In terms of geographical location, Malaysia has become an ideal transit point for
trafficking activities, especially to Australia, America and Japan.
c. Child trafficking - trafficked from neighbouring countries for sale to childless
couples in Malaysia. Malaysian children formed the majority of victims rescued
when police smashed 37 baby-trafficking syndicates in the country between 2009
and 2012.
d. Woman trafficking - trafficked for the prostitution purpose. A significant number
of young foreign women are recruited for work in Malaysian restaurants and hotels,
some of whom migrate through the use of “Guest Relations Officer” visas, but
subsequently are coerced into Malaysia’s commercial sex trade.
e. Trafficking of domestic workers
Local NGOs estimate that for every domestic servant legally employed in Malaysia
there is one working in the country illegally and many may be trafficked.
f. Internal trafficking: Statelessness

i. Factors of statelessness
 Citizenship is derived from one's parents; however, many children are
stateless because the government refuses to register their birth due to
inadequate proof of their parents' marriage.
 Interfaith marriages are also not recognized by the government which
sometimes results in undocumented, de facto stateless children.
ii. Effects of being stateless:
 Without birth certificates, government officials deny stateless persons’
access to education, health care, and the right to own property.
 At risk of seeking unofficial employment opportunities
 Further causes them to be at risk of trafficking.
g. Laws and regulations which protect women and children from being trafficked
are:
i) Article 6 of Federal Constitution
- Stipulates that all forms of forced labour are prohibited.
ii) Section 371 of the Panel Code
- Provides much avenue for the prosecution of traffickers as well as
perpetrators. Running of prostitution is punishable.
- The intention to place someone, irrespective of their age in prostitution in
another country should also be stamped as trafficking.
- Repeat offences carry a liability of whipping of not more than 10 strokes
and not less than 6 but not more than 10 strokes.
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iii) The Child Act 2001 (Act 611)

- Set out harder penalty for gaining a child for purpose of prostitution or the
purpose of sexual intercourse with any other person either within or outside
Malaysia.
- The penalty under the Act is RM50,000 or imprisonment for a term not
exceeding 15 years or both.
h. Protection for Trafficked Victims in Malaysia
Victim protection efforts remain inadequate in Malaysia because of the following reasons:
-
i. Forcible detention in “shelters
 Victims identified by Malaysian authorities are adjudicated under a “protective
order” that triggers their forcible detention in “shelters”
 Some are isolated, unable to work or earn income, and have little or no access to
legal or psychological assistance provided by the government or NGOs.
ii. Treated as illegal aliens
 Furthermore, the government treats victims of trafficking as illegal aliens and
turns them over to immigration authorities for deportation after they provide
evidence to prosecutors
 The government does not make available any alternatives to repatriation for
victims who may face harm or retribution upon return to their home country.
iii. No incentives for victim cooperation
 In fact, during trial proceedings, authorities often do not make adequate efforts
to separate victims from their traffickers
 Results in threats to the victims and their families if they cooperate with police
and prosecutors.
i. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report for Malaysia and Future Direction
 Malaysia has slipped to Tier 2-Watch List in the 2018 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report
by the US State Department, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. The Home Minister said
previously in the 2017 TIP report Malaysia had been upgraded to Tier 2 from Tier 2 Watch
List.
 Between 2006 and 2018, Malaysia was classified as Tier 2 Watch List nine times. The
report stated that Malaysia failed to fully meet minimum standards in curbing human
trafficking.
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 Countries in Tier 1: fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA)
minimum standards.
 Countries in Tier 2 : do not fully meet the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s
(TVPA) minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to meet them.
The Tier 2 Watch List is similar to Tier 2, but includes failure to provide evidence of
increasing efforts or increase in the number of victims.
 Countries in Tier 3: do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not
making significant efforts to do so.
 Future efforts in the planning:

i) More preventive efforts, including better cooperation with NGOs and industry players
and increasing enforcement operations.
ii) Make labour law improvements, including foreign workers’ levy on employers starting
from January (this year) and to the Private Employment Agency Act, enabling penalty
raises on agencies which fail to adhere to labour laws
iii) Consider amending the Anti-Human Trafficking Act and Anti-Smuggling Act 2007,
which will focus on protecting human trafficking victims by increasing sentences for
offenders.
 Implementation of regulations allowing victims of human trafficking to roam free and
work.
 Monitoring foreign worker management holistically to ensure the welfare and rights of
the workers
7. Factors for Human Trafficking
Pull Factors
a. Globalization
 Free markets, free trade, greater economic competition, and a decline in state
intervention in the economy.
 Trafficking in human beings has become the third important source of revenue for
criminal syndicates after narcotics and arms.
b. Higher wages
 This is one of the factors that attract people to be trafficked. Syndicates usually lure
people by promising jobs with high wages, and instead they end up as victims in an
illegal business in host countries such as in Malaysia or Thailand.
 This is also influenced by the fact that the Malaysian Ringgit or Thai Baht currency
are worth more when converted into Indonesian Rupiah or Myanmar Kyat.
c. Job opportunities
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 Lack of job opportunities in the source countries, many trafficking victims look
forward to destination countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, where
there are many jobs available.
 Unfortunately, when they arrive they are not allowed to obtain legitimate jobs.
d. Better quality of life
 Destination countries are usually more developed than the source countries
 Destination countries provide not only job opportunities but also promise other
benefits of higher quality of life.
e. Geography and culture
 Geographical locationthe Indonesians preferred Malaysia because it is easy to
access through the sea road and low-cost.
 Similarity of culture Malaysia has been swamped with Indonesian immigrants due
to the two countries having similar cultures and religions.
Push Factors
a. Poverty
 Food insecurity has been defined as the major cause of human trafficking.
 Being poor, with insufficient food, make the victims exposed to the traffickers, and
makes engagement in criminal activities such as trafficking particularly tempting.
b. Lack of education
 Traffickers often recruit hill tribe people, especially from mountainous areas of
Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, China and Vietnam, who have little formal education or
exposure to the modern world, especially on matters about legitimate job
opportunities.
 Without knowledge and qualifications for legitimate jobs, they become easy prey
to traffickers who deceive them with false promises of jobs in other countries.
c. Economic law of supply and demand for trafficking

 In Southeast Asia, transnational organized crime, such as Chinese Triads, has been
identified as being mainly responsible for the trafficking business.
 Nevertheless, there are also other smaller local syndicates involved, and the
region’s overall rapid development has led to increasing demand to supply more
labour in the destination countries.
.
d. Easy money
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 Young girls and women, with no specific training and skills, are easily attracted to
this illegal business because it produces 25 times more money than working in the
factory.
 The traffickers in turn can find it easy to lure female trafficking victims.
e. Insecure environment in the source countries

 In some countries, such as Myanmar, oppressive regimes have caused frustration
among the people in the country.
 Being trafficked is seen as the easiest way to get out of their country.
f. High price of a virgin girl

 Some families, especially in Vietnam, willingly allow their young daughters to be
trafficked to become prostitutes.
 This is because the price of a virgin prostitute is high and the money is used to
support the family.
8. How to prevent and control human trafficking
a. The role of embassies

 Give advice to their nationals to ensure that their employment agencies are registered
and that they are aware of their rights to engage only in occupation for which they have
mutually agreed to before leaving their home countries.
 Reason: international trafficking frequently masquerades as migrant work.
b. Quicker, proactive and stringent actions by the enforcement authorities

 Plays a key role in shutting down trafficking syndicate
 Traffickers must be prosecuted, convicted and punished.
c. The decriminalization of victims of trafficking

 Help in creating an environment that is less hostile and more transparent to those
victimized by the people trafficking industries.
 Victims of trafficking need to be identified and encouraged to come forward to report
traffickers and cooperate with enforcement agencies as available witnesses.
d. The role of tourism industry

 To be alert of situations where children and young women are trafficked for sexual
purpose.
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 Must respect the rights of women and children, bearing in mind that hospitality does
not call for sexual exploitation of women and children.
e. The role of NGOs and community empowerment

 Coordination between NGOs and support ought to be given to the NGOs that have
developed programs to assist in the repatriation and reintegration of the trafficked
people.
 Local community members should be empowered to recognize their personal
responsibility to other community members and to value action over inaction, when
they witness any suspected trafficking cases in their community.
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CHAPTER 5: SOCIAL ISSUES -- NON COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
A. The differences between communicable and non-communicable diseases
Communicable diseases Non communicable diseases
Contagious disease Non Contagious disease
Spreads from one person to another Does not spread from one person to the other
Generally, involves the lower socio- involves generally affluent class

economic group
Vehicles of transmission and the vectors Dietary habits, environment and lifestyle play
play a major role in the spread of disease. a role in the causation of these diseases.
Treatment of the etiological agent is the

remedy. Changing the dietary habits, lifestyle and the
environment is the permanent remedy.
Acute diseases requiring active medical
care. Chronic diseases need long lasting chronic
treatment.
Treated conservatively
Treated conservatively and surgically.
B. INCOMMUNICABLE / NON COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
 Definition: Non communicable diseases (NCDs) are diseases which are not transmissible.
 Non communicable diseases a clear threat not only to human health, but also to development
and economic growth of the country.
 According to the Social Security Organisation of Malaysia in June 2013, there has been near
to 35% increase in NCD diseases from year 2000 till 2012, with diabetes reigning in the rate
of increase.
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1. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD: heart disease and stroke) -
 Definition: a group of diseases involving the heart, blood vessels, or the squeal of poor
blood supply due to a diseased vascular supply.
 Over the past decade, CVD has become the single largest cause of death worldwide,
representing nearly 30% of all deaths and about 50% of NCD deaths (WHO, 2011a).
 In Malaysia, the number 1 killer in terms of diseases and health-related problems is
coronary heart disease. Heart disease is different from stroke which is the second top killer
in Malaysia. Coronary heart disease is often referred in short as CHD where it happens
when plaque is built up within the coronary arteries. Plaque is a waxy substance which will
then restrict the flow of blood to the heart muscle.
 The arteries that are blocked by the plague are those that are supposed to supply the oxygen-
rich blood to the heart muscle which is the most important substance needed for the heart
to continue beating. Once there is restriction on these arteries, the heart fails to function as
efficiently as it is supposed to in order to keep the person alive.
 In worst case scenarios, the plaque builds up and it becomes atherosclerosis where this
substance grew after many years that will eventually cause damaging effects which will
lead to death. As mentioned, it is the single largest killer among Malaysians where the main
cause is due to the food intake. A lot of Malaysian food is cooked with too much oil and
cholesterol which are directly linked with blood pressure and coronary heart diseases.
 The best way to overcome this problem is to ensure a lot of fiber intake which are richly
found in vegetables and fruits while minimizing food which are high in cholesterol like
meat and manufactured foods like burgers and fried chicken. This needs to be constantly
practiced as plaque is known to accumulate and stays in the body system for years.
 Coronary heart disease can be reduced through a proper diet programme. In worst case
scenarios, it would lead to heart attack that can happen suddenly and silently. In Malaysia,
a lot of people die in their sleep due to heart attacks as they are not aware of the problems
with their heart. In other cases, heart attacks can happen when the person is exercising
which is when the heart needs more blood to be channeled in but is restricted by the
presence of plaque.
 Risk factors of CVD:
Modifiable risk factors
Physical The increasing urbanization and mechanization of the world has reduced our
inactivity levels of physical activity. The World Health Organization believes that more
than 60% of the global population is not sufficiently active.
Being active is beneficial for your blood pressure, blood lipid levels, blood
glucose levels, blood clotting factors, the health of your blood vessels and
inflammation, which is powerful promoter of cardiovascular disease.
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Studies show that doing more than 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of
moderate physical activity every week or an hour of vigorous physical activity
every day will reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by about 30%.
Smoking Many people still do not link smoking to heart disease. For example, only 4%
of Chinese know that smoking causes heart disease. In the USA, the majority
of smokers do not believe they have a greater risk of heart disease than non
smokers.
Smoking promotes cardiovascular disease through a number of mechanisms. It
damages the endothelium (the lining of the blood vessels), increases fatty
deposits in the arteries, increases clotting, raises low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol, reduces high-density lipoprotein and promotes coronary artery
spasm. Nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, accelerates the heart rate
and raises blood pressure.
Diet The role of diet is crucial in the development and prevention of cardiovascular
disease. Diet is one of the key things you can change that will impact all other
cardiovascular risk factors.
A diet high in saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. It is
estimated to cause about 31% of coronary heart disease and 11% of stroke
worldwide.
Comparisons between a diet low in saturated fats, with plenty of fresh fruit and
vegetables, and the typical diet of someone living in the high-income
countries show that in the former there is a 73% reduction in the risk of new
major cardiac events.
Hypertension Hypertension is the level of high or raised blood pressure for which
investigation and treatment has been shown to do more good than
harm. Generally hypertension is defined a systolic blood pressure level of 140
and above. This is a risk factor for coronary heart disease and the single most
important risk factor for stroke. It causes about 50% of ischaemic strokes and
increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
Hypertension stresses your body’s blood vessels, causing them to clog or
weaken. Hypertension can lead to atherosclerosis and narrowing of the blood
vessels making them more likely to block from blood clots or bits of fatty
material breaking off from the lining of the blood vessel wall. Damage to the
arteries can also create weak places that rupture easily or thin spots that balloon
out the artery wall resulting in an aneuvrism.
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Raised blood pressure in someone less than 50 years old is associated with an
increased cardiovascular risk. As you get older, your systolic blood pressure
becomes a more important predictor of the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Dietary salt is a significant factor in raising blood pressure in people with
hypertension and in some people with normal blood pressure. If you are
already overweight then a high intake of salt increases your risk of
cardiovascular disease.
Non Modifiable Risk Factors

Family history If a first-degree male relative (e.g. father, brother) has suffered a heart attack
before the age of 55, or if a first-degree female relative has suffered one before
the age of 65, you are at greater risk of developing heart disease.
If both parents have suffered from heart disease before the age of 55, your risk
of developing heart disease can rise to 50% compared to the general population.
Other risks Age: Simply getting old is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease; risk of stroke
doubles every decade after age 55.
Gender: Your gender is significant: as a man you are at greater risk of heart
disease than a pre-menopausal woman. But once past the menopause, a
woman’s risk is similar to a man’s. Risk of stroke is similar for men and
women.
Ethnicity: Your ethnic origin plays a role. People with African or Asian
ancestry are at higher risks of developing cardiovascular disease than other
racial groups.
Socioeconomic status: Being poor, no matter where in the globe, increases
your risk of heart disease and stroke. A chronically stressful life, social
isolation, anxiety and depression also increase the risk.
 The silent danger of high cholesterol:

i) While death by heart attack has become something common in Malaysia, many Malaysians
remain ignorant to the threat of high cholesterol in our bodies that could lead to the fatal
disease. Some, even believe that only a certain group of individuals can be affected.
ii) A survey by the Ministry of Health in 2015 has revealed that one in two Malaysians suffer
from high cholesterol, which contributes to heart disease – making it one of the major
contributors to deaths amongst Malaysians. According to National Heart Institute (IJN),
two out of five Malaysians did not know they had high cholesterol, which makes out 38.6
per cent or an estimated 7.8 million Malaysians. High cholesterol and its associated
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coronary disease are a silent killer, which do not have any warning signs or symptoms until
an adverse event happens.
 The silent danger of hypertension:

i) Hypertension remains (high blood pressure) the most important cardiovascular risk
factor and it is the main cause for stroke.
ii) According to DrAzani Mohammed Daud, who is the president of the Malaysian Society
of Hypertension, “for every person diagnosed with hypertension, there are six who are
not.”
iii) Most patients with hypertension don’t know that they have it. Most people are unaware
that they have hypertension due to the absence of symptoms. Some people, however,
have persistent headaches and a check with their doctor usually reveals that they have
high blood pressure readings.
2. Cancer
 Definition: the rapid growth and division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. These
cells outlive normal cells and have the ability to metastasize, or invade parts of the body
and spread to other organs.
 Cancer is the second largest cause of death worldwide. In Malaysia, cancer is the second
killer after heart disease among the Malaysians.
 Risk factors include genetic causes, behavioural causes (such as tobacco or alcohol use,
physical inactivity and dietary factors), infections, environmental and occupational
carcinogens and radiation.
 Different risk factors contribute to the development of cancers in different sites. Smokeless
tobacco is largely responsible for oral cancers, whereas bacteria play a role in the
development of stomach cancer.
 An estimated 60 percent of cancer cases in the country are detected at late stages, either
Stage III or IV, said Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
 He said among the main factors for the late detection were lack of awareness on the
importance of screening and early detection among Malaysians.
 “We need to dispel myths, false information and misunderstanding among Malaysians who
are reluctant to undergo screening or those who choose to delay early treatment, but believe
in treatment which has yet to be proven effective.”
 According to him, the three most common cancers among men in Malaysia are colorectal
(16.4 percent), lung (15.8 percent), and nasopharynx (8.1 percent), while the most common
cancers among women are breast (32.1 percent), colorectal (10.7 percent) and cervix 7.7
percent).
 The number of cases is expected to increase in the near future, he said, and attributed it to
the high prevalence of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors and the ageing
population.
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a) Cancer treatment
i) The prescribed course of treatment by oncologists - chemotherapy, surgery and radiation
therapy.
Some people with cancer will have only one treatment. But most people have a combination of
treatments, such as surgery with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.
Types of cancer Methods Risks and side effects
treatment
Surgery When used to treat cancer, surgery is a Surgeons are highly trained and
procedure in which a surgeon removes will do everything they can to
cancer from your body. prevent problems during
Depending on your type of cancer and surgery. Even so, sometimes
how advanced it is, surgery can be problems do occur. Common
used to: problems are:
 Remove the entire tumor
 Pain
Surgery removes cancer that is
After surgery, most people
contained in one area.
will have pain in the part of
 Debulk a tumor
the body that was operated
Surgery removes some, but not
on. How much pain you feel
all, of a cancer tumor. Debulking
will depend on the extent of
is used when removing an entire
the surgery, the part of your
tumor might damage an organ or
body where you had
the body. Removing part of a
surgery, and how you feel
tumor can help other treatments
pain.
work better.
 Ease cancer symptoms
 Infection
Surgery is used to remove tumors
that are causing pain or pressure. Infection is another problem
that can happen after
surgery. To help prevent
infection, follow your
nurse’s instructions about
caring for the area where
you had surgery. If you do
develop an infection, your
doctor can prescribe a
medicine (called an
antibiotic) to treat it.
Other risks of surgery
include bleeding, damage to
nearby tissues, and reactions
to the anesthesia.
Radiation therapy Radiation therapy (also called Radiation not only kills or slows
radiotherapy) is a cancer treatment that the growth of cancer cells, it can
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uses high doses of radiation to kill also affect nearby healthy cells.
cancer cells and shrink tumors. At low Damage to healthy cells can
doses, radiation is used in x-rays to see cause side effects.
inside your body, as with x-rays of Many people who get radiation
your teeth or broken bones. therapy have fatigue. Fatigue is
At high doses, radiation therapy kills feeling exhausted and worn out.
cancer cells or slows their growth by It can happen all at once or come
damaging their DNA. Cancer cells on slowly. People feel fatigue in
whose DNA is damaged beyond repair different ways and you may feel
stop dividing or die. When the more or less fatigue than
damaged cells die, they are broken someone else who is getting the
down and removed by the body. same amount of radiation
Radiation therapy does not kill cancer therapy to the same part of the
cells right away. It takes days or body.
weeks of treatment before DNA is
damaged enough for cancer cells to
die. Then, cancer cells keep dying for
weeks or months after radiation
therapy ends.
Chemotherapy Chemotherapy (also called chemo) is a Chemotherapy not only kills

type of cancer treatment that uses fast-growing cancer cells, but
drugs to kill cancer cells. also kills or slows the growth of
healthy cells that grow and
Chemotherapy works by stopping or divide quickly. Examples are
slowing the growth of cancer cells, cells that line your mouth
which grow and divide quickly. and intestines and those that
Chemotherapy is used to:
cause your hair to grow.
 Treat cancer
Chemotherapy can be used to cure Damage to healthy cells may
cancer, lessen the chance it will cause side effects, such as mouth
return, or stop or slow its growth. sores, nausea, and hair loss. Side
 Ease cancer symptoms effects often get better or go
Chemotherapy can be used to away after you have finished
shrink tumors that are causing chemotherapy.
pain and other problems.
The most common side effect is
fatigue, which is feeling
exhausted and worn out.
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ii) Complementary and alternative treatment

 Complementary and alternative are terms used to describe many kinds of products,
practices, and systems that are not part of mainstream medicine  refer to methods to
help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life during cancer treatment.
Complementary treatment  used along with your medical treatment.
Alternative treatment  used instead of proven medical treatments.
 These treatments are normally not mentioned by doctors or the cancer team, but others
may talk about things like traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, hypnosis, or
machines that are supposed to find or cure cancer. Some people may recommend “body
cleansing” with enemas or detoxification diets with special foods and preparation
methods.
 Some of these methods must be done by a person with formal education and training,
such as art or music therapy, and may be offered along with regular cancer treatment.
Others are given by people with informal or traditional training. They can involve
everything from colon therapy to entirely different systems that don’t use any of the
medical treatments your doctor uses. Still other types of treatment may be
recommended by the person who is selling a product in a store or TV infomercial, such
as herbal products or juice from exotic fruits or vegetables.
 People with cancer might think about using alternative or complementary methods for
a number of reasons:
 They’d like to relieve the side effects of mainstream cancer treatment without
having to take more medicine
 They are seeking a less unpleasant treatment approach that might have fewer side
effects
 They want to take an active role in improving their own health and wellness
 They prefer alternative theories of health and disease, as well as alternative
treatments
 Complementary and alternative methods are often appealing because they use your own
body, your own mind, or things found in nature. Some even promise wellness using a
way that sounds simple, wholesome, and without side effects of conventional cancer
treatment in hospitals.
 The decision to use alternative or complementary methods is an important one, and it
is the decision to be made by the cancer patients themselves.
3. Diabetes
 Definition: a metabolic disorder in which the body is unable to appropriately regulate the level
of sugar, specifically glucose, in the blood, either by poor sensitivity to the protein insulin, or
due to inadequate production of insulin by the pancreas.
 Two types of diabetes could be found in Malaysia:
i) Type 1 diabetes insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM, for short).
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ii) Type 2 diabetes non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, for short). Type
2 diabetes accounts for 90-95% of all diabetes cases.
 Effects of diabetes:
i) A major risk factor for other causes of death, like cardiovascular disease, kidney disease
ii) Diabetes has a high attributable burden of disability, ie diabetes can cause blindness.
 Diabetes in Malaysia
a. Problems
 The number of diabetic patients between the age of 18 and 35 has increased by 300%
from 15 years ago, said Health Minister Datuk Seri DrDzulkefly Ahmad.
 “Cases of children and teenagers with diabetes are increasing at a faster rate and what
is more worrying is that the number of patients between the age of 18 and 35 has
increased by 300% in the last 15 years,” he said.
 The minister also said diabetes has become one of the prevalent diseases in the country,
affecting about 11% of Malaysians.
 “At present, about 3.6 million Malaysians are suffering from the disease, which is the
highest rate of incidence in Asia and one of the highest in the world.
 “Given the seriousness of the situation, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has established
the National Strategic Plan for NCDs (NSP-NCD) 2016-2025 to provide a framework
for strengthening the prevention and control in the country,” he said.
 The government intends to reduce NCDs in the country by reinforcing the NSP-NCD
2016-2025.
 The strategic plan is a continuation of the previous NSP-NCD 2010-2014, which
focused on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, with an aim to reduce the
burden of NCD treatment costs in Malaysia.
 Dr. Dzulkefly said the number of diabetic patients is estimated to increase to seven
million or 31.3% of the national population by 2025.
 “It is estimated that by the year 2025, our diabetes prevalence will be about 31.3% for
adults aged 18 and above, or an estimated population of seven million adults with
diabetes, both diagnosed and undiagnosed,” he said.
 Diabetes in Malaysia is expected to continue to climb at an increased rate due to our
unhealthy lifestyle. The unhealthy lifestyle of Malaysians is linked to high diabetes
prevalence in the following way:
High Our per capita consumption of meat is 48 kilograms compared to
consumption 35 kilograms in Japan and Korea and only 24 kilograms in Thailand.
of meat According to researchers from Harvard School of Public Health
(HSPH) a daily serving of red meat no larger than a deck of cards
increased the risk of adult-onset diabetes by 19 per cent. Processed
red meat proved much worse: a daily serving half that size — one
hot dog or two slices of bacon, for example—was associated with a
51 per cent increase in risk.
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High We consume 26 teaspoons of sugar daily, making us the eighth

consumption highest sugar users in the world. The World Health Organisation
of sugar (WHO) in its campaign against obesity had recommended a sugar
consumption limit of 5 teaspoonful daily.
Results of a large epidemiological study suggest that sugar may

also have a direct link to diabetes. Researchers examined data on
sugar availability and diabetes rates from 175 countries over the
past decade. They found that increased sugar in a population’s
food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates, independent of
obesity rates.
Insufficient Malaysians are not getting enough sleep for good health. According
sleep to a regional survey Malaysians get only 6.4 hours of sleep on
average. This leads to a sleep gap of 1.6 hours short of the
recommended 8 hours of sleep. Mobile devices and spending time
online is one of the leading causes of this sleep deprivation.
According to Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Centre in
Hennepin County the body’s reaction to sleep loss can resemble
insulin resistance which is a precursor to diabetes.
We are also addicted to Internet which is a new threat to healthy

living. According to a survey, 81per cent of the respondents
surveyed say that online activities are preventing them from getting
enough sleep and physical activities.
There is evidence that physical activity is an important part of the

daily maintenance of glucose levels. Even in the short term,
reducing daily activity and ceasing regular exercise causes acute
changes in the body associated with diabetes that can occur before
weight gain and the development of obesity.
b. Challenges:
Every year on this date the Ministry of Health launches a campaign to create awareness on
the effect of diabetes. In spite of this, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Malaysia,
especially that of Type 2, has increased to epidemic proportions and continue to grow.
The alarming increase in Malaysia’s prevalence of diabetes needs strong measures by the
Government to stem this epidemic.
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c. Recommendation by the Consumers Association of Penang urges the Ministry of Health

to:
o Educate Malaysians on the dangers of obesity and diabetes
o Unhealthy foods that is high in fats, sugar, salt and additives should be discouraged by
the introduction of taxes on such foods
o Provide adequate recreational amenities in all residential areas.
o Stop issuing 24 hours licences to eating outlets
o Stop night shifts in factories
o Ban vending machines in schools, hospitals and other public places
o Mandate clear labeling like traffic light system on sugar and fat content of all foods,
including fast foods
o Run education campaigns for parents and children on the dangers of obesity and
diabetes
o Stop entertainment outlets from operating after midnight
4. Mental health disorder
 Definition: a set of medical conditions that affect a person’s thinking, feeling, mood,
ability to relate to others and daily functioning. The patients normally suffer from
depression, Alzheimer, schizophrenia and alcohol or drug abuse disorders. Sometimes, it
refers to as mental disorders, mental health conditions or neuropsychiatric disorders, these
conditions affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
 Four out of every 10 Malaysians will fall victim to some form of mental health issue in the
course of their lives and psychologists believe that the numbers will continue to rise.
International Medical University, consultant psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist,
Dr Philip George said that numbers are often downplayed due to the stigma that surrounds
the condition. He added that the seriousness and the prevalence of issues like depression,
bipolar disorder and other mental health issues should be accepted and acknowledged first
in order to be treated.
 Mental health issue is not something that only attacks the poor, weak and lonely. It happens
to anyone and the World Bank had predicted that 340mil people will suffer from depression
by 2020. It is believed that at least 40% of Malaysians suffer from mental health issues.
 Unlike Caucasians, Asians do not have the words for emotions and that is a huge barrier
and many people who walk among us are at least facing mild depression. They consider
having an emotional problem to be a weakness, so instead they attribute it to a physical
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problem and highlight things like their inability to sleep, back pain, headache and constant
fatigue.
 The National Institute of Health had found that depression to be a most disabling disease
as it is not tangible and people find it hard to emphatise. It is not something one can snap
out of, just like how people cannot snap out of diabetes or a stroke. However, with enough
help and support, almost 90% of the patients can be restored to normal. Yes, they may have
a relapse as their emotions are more sensitive, but they can be cured with the right help.
 By 2030, depression is expected to be the most disabling disease as it will have the highest
number of days lost due to a disability. A study done in the United States found that 30
to 40% of absenteeism at work is due to unexplained somatic complaints like body ache,
lack of sleep, and lethargy. No studies have been done in Malaysia but a primary care study
in Thailand about five years ago showed up to 30% were psychosomatic complaints.
 While suicide is criminalised in Malaysia, depression is stigmatised, preventing many

sufferers from seeking professional help. Unlike a broken leg or a bleeding wound, it is
difficult to identify depression because people are unable to “see” it and help those
afflicted. For an individual battling chronic depression, simple tasks such as eating,
driving or even dressing up can seem impossible.
 Challenges encountered by people with serious mental illness:

i) Struggle with the symptoms and disabilities that result from the disease.
ii) On the other, they are challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that result from
misconceptions about mental illness.
iii) Robbed of the opportunities that define a quality life: good jobs, safe housing,
satisfactory health care, and affiliation with a diverse group of people.
 Public perception on mental illness
i) fear and exclusion: persons with severe mental illness should be feared and, therefore,
be kept out of most communities;
ii) authoritarianism: persons with severe mental illness are irresponsible, so life
decisions should be made by others;
iii) benevolence: persons with severe mental illness are childlike and need to be cared
for.
 Factors that contribute to the late treatment of mental health disorder:
i. Lack of public awareness
 Records with the National Mental Health Registry (NMHR) have shown that
public awareness about mental health issues is far from satisfactory.
 One average it takes up to 28 months for an individual with mental health
problems to seek treatment possibly already too late the individual's
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thinking or decision making capacities might have been impaired beyond the
scope of treatment.
ii. Public prejudice towards mental health disorder
 Forces many persons to shy away from undergoing proper treatment or getting
their illness diagnosed.
 Many people are still unable to understand the difference between an all-
encompassing mental health term and a more specific mental problem term.
iii. Fear of being labelled
 Persons with mental health issues also hesitate to seek psychiatric help out of a
fear that they might be labelled as a "mental patient."
 This deep rooted misconception has led to a rise in social prejudice against
people suffering from mental ailments.
 Many who are in fact depressed are unwilling and embarrassed to come forward
for treatment.
 The role of the families:

Apart from society, a person's immediate family also plays an important role in helping
them maintain good mental health by getting their mental problems treated.
i. Monitor behavioural changes in family members
 The most common sign of a mental health problema sudden change in the
behaviour of a person -- a jovial person might turn into an introvert, become
short-tempered, start keeping or speaking to oneself, have a disrupted sleep
pattern, lose their appetite, is unable to carry out daily activities or starts
displaying suicidal tendencies.
 In need of a proper diagnosis by an expert and the right therapy are a must.
ii. Monitoring the treatment process of patient

 Families are the ones who will ensure that the person undergoing treatment
completes their course of the prescribed medication.
 It is also common that halfway through the treatment families start taking for
granted that the patient has recovered without realising that the patient can
relapse under duress.
1. Preventing and Controlling NCDs
Malaysia established National Strategic Plan for Non-Communicable Diseases (NSP-NCD

2011-2015) in 2010 the framework for strengthening NCDs prevention and control
program in Malaysia.
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Aim  to achieve population-wide NCD risk factor screening to detect risk factors at their
earliest stage, and uses obesity as the main entry point for NCD risk factor intervention.
a. Planning and implementation

 NCDP-1M is a nation-wide programme.
 Each state has to determine the extent of their participation and submit formal
funding applications to support their selected projects.
 To increase accountability, District Officers of Health were made responsible for
all projects within the respective state.
b. Community participation and engagement
 The participation of the community has been crucial to the success of NCDP-1M.
 In need of the support of the community for communicable disease prevention
efforts.
 The willingness of the rural community, in particular, to work with clinic health
staff.
c. Monitoring and evaluation of NCDP-1M
 Collecting data from each district through online templates.
 Online processenables up-to-date monitoring of the various projects.
 Example: community-based weight loss programmes provide data on key
performance indicators like percentage of clients with weight loss after 6-month
follow-up.
2. Impacts of NCDs:
a. Affecting the patient’s quality of life
 Discomfort / pain, like in the case of cancer patients.

 Immobility, as in the case of some stroke patients
 Confinement, if the person is bedridden
 Disability, if certain parts of the body is affected by NCDs. For example, a diabetic
patient may have one of his leg amputated or become blind at the advanced stage
of the illness
 Abstinence from favourite food, like fried chicken, soda drinks etc
b. Shorter life-span for those inflicted with NCDs

 Suffer from a shorter life-span if they were afflicted at a younger age.
 They do not get to live life to its ripe old age.
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c. Socio-development of the country

 When NCDs become more prevalent in a country, the diseases will rob the nation
of its socio-development.
 In the terminal stage of their illness, the NCDs patient will not be able to contribute
as much as desired to the social welfare of the country.
d. Economic impact
Positive impact
The increase in NCDs among Malaysians has boost up:
i) The health care industry, with the need for more hospitals and the healthcare
practitioners. Alternative health centers – Ayurvedic health centers or Traditional
Chinese Medical Centre – have also experienced an increase in their economic gain.
ii) The pharmaceutical industry, with the need for the consumption of medicine and
the creation of new drugs to combat the illness
iii) The multi-level marketing industry that focuses on health supplements
iv) The organic farming industry – farming and selling organic vegetables / fruits
v) The insurance industry, as more and more people seek to be insured against the
critical illnesses due to high cost of treatment for NCDs.
Negative impact
The increase in NCDs among Malaysians have affected the economic standing of the
patient and the family. NCDs treatment can be very costly. In Malaysia, it is not rare to
see the patient or the family appealing for donations through the mass media when the cost
of the treatment surpasses their financial ability.
e. Increased awareness of a healthy lifestyle
o Increase in NCDsmore people, especially those living in the urban areas, begin to
give heed to the practice a healthier lifestyle.
o Health-related seminars are often conducted by health practitioners to equip the public
with the necessary knowledge about preventive measures and treatment options for
NCDs.
o Health related information is also disseminated through the mass media.
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CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL ISSUES -- INFECTIOUS / COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
C. Infectious Diseases
 Definition: the word pandemic is derived from the Greek word, which is pan (all) and
demos (people). A global pandemic is an epidemic of some infectious disease that can and
is spreading at a rapid rate throughout the world, including Malaysia. Viruses, germs,
parasites, and other virulent disease agents can and do move much more easily than at any
time in recorded history.
 In the past 100 years ago, influenza, typhoid, and cholera were major killers. In recent
years, other infectious diseases have made front page news: HIV, Ebola virus, SARS, and
most recently, avian or bird flu.
 In Malaysia there are five main infectious diseases that refer to dengue fever, tuberculosis,
food poisoning, hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD), and HIV/AIDS.
1. Dengue fever
a. Definition: dengue is one of the vector borne diseases and among this kind of
diseases; dengue is the highest percentage for it. Dengue fever is passed by
infected female AedesAegypti mosquitoes. It gets under the skin and into the blood.
Dengue is caused by flavi viruses.
b. From January 1 to March 7 2019, 28,580 cases of the viral disease were reported
nationwide, compared to 11,146 cases in the same period last year – an increase of
156.4 per cent.In the same period, 49 people died from dengue, compared to 26
fatalities in the same period in 2018 – an increase of 88.5 per cent.
c. Factors on the alarming increase of dengue cases recently:

i) The El Nino phenomenon / global warming
 The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a history of worsening
infectious diseases including influenza epidemics, plague and hantavirus, in
addition to mosquito borne infectious diseases.
 According to Ministry of Health, El Nino is expected to cause dengue cases
to increase by 50 per cent.
ii) Dengue virus may have changed in some ways

 In addition to the increased number of cases, doctors are seeing different
/types of symptoms, which raises the alarming possibility that the virus is
becoming even more deadly and difficult to control.
 Dr. Jeyaindran Sinnadurai, the deputy director general of health at the
Ministry of Health, Malaysia, said that we are seeing people present with
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liver failure and meningitis; things that have not been seen before with
dengue.
iii) There is no treatment for dengue

 Aside from saline drip to boost patients’ platelet count, there is no treatment
for dengue.
 To make thing worse, there are four types of dengue virus; meaning, people
can get the disease more than once and this explain why symptoms are
becoming more severe and deads are rising with repeated infections.
iv) Increased air travel

 The ease and increased air travel brings the virus to areas that were
previously dengue-free when a mosquito bites and infected traveler and then
spreads it to others.
 Aedesaegypti have the potential to spread dengue in the tropics and
subtropics countries including in the Southern and Southeastern United
States.
v) Rapid population growth

 Population growth in developing nations is pushing more people into
substandard housing in mosquito-infested areas.
 Inadequate basic urban infrastructure eg. unreliable water supply leading
householders to store water in containers close to homes and increase in
volume of solid waste, such as discarded plastic containers and other
abandoned items provide larval habitats in urban areas.
d. Ways to control this disease

i) Penalty
 Heavy penalty imposed for creating breeding grounds for Aedes
mosquitoes, RM500 compound fine for the first offence
 Facing a fine of up to RM10,000 in court for a repeated offence
ii) Chemical Control of Dengue Mosquitoes

 Chemical control can be effective in controlling mosquito populations.
 For instance, insecticides can be used to kill mosquito larvae or adult
mosquitoes.
iii) Biological Control of Dengue Mosquitoes

 Biological approaches are also being considered as alternatives to control
mosquito populations.
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 For example, predatory crustaceans called copepods and many varieties of

fish, including fish and goldfish, eat mosquito larvae.
iv) Personal Actions

 Reduce the risk of mosquitoes entering their homes
using window and door screens
keeping their doors and windows closed and using air conditioning to
keep their homes cool.
 Aedesaegypti typically bite people during the day, so wearing long pants
and long-sleeved shirts can reduce mosquito bites when spending time
outdoors.
2. Tuberculosis (TB)
a. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Malaysia as an intermediate TB-
burdened country.
b. It is one of five main infectious diseases in Malaysia.
c. The number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Malaysia declined 1.3 per cent in 2018, recording
a total of 25,837 cases, compared to 26,168 cases in the previous year.
d. “The death rate due to TB in 2018 is 6.6 per 100,000 people, an increase from 6.5 per
100,000 people in 2017. Sabah recorded the highest number of deaths in 2018 with 376
cases, followed by Selangor (375).
e. The symptoms of TB are:
 Prolonged cough (more than two weeks)
 Loss of weight and loss of appetite
 Night sweats
 Coughing out blood (though not a common symptom)
f. The factors of increasing TB cases:

i) The influx of illegal migrant workers.
 The statistics over the past few years show that only about 10 to 15 % of the
total TB infection in Malaysia is due to immigrants.
 Besides, the increase in the number of AIDS patients also contributed to this
case. It is because when the body's immune system is low, TB could creep in
easily.
ii) Easy spread of disease through air
 TB is an airborne disease and it spreads via the air infected by the bacilli, just
like a common flu virus.
 For this reason, TB has to be diagnosed early and treated effectively.
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 If the patient is not treated with TB drugs, the worse the lung damage and the
continuous coughing may spread the germs to others in his or her house or
workplace.
iii) Poor knowledge among public regarding this infection.
 Do not take prolonged cough seriously as they do not know that it could be a
symptom of TB.
 Therefore  late treatment  meanwhile, before getting treated, they have
already spread the illness to others.
g. Several ways had been taken by Malaysian government in dealing with TB:
i) Health screening for migrant labours before entering Malaysia.

 Making it compulsory for them to declare their status of health before they are
allowed work in Malaysia.
 For the illegal immigrantsthe government deport them back to their own
countries.
ii) Giving beneficial information to the public
 The distribution of pamphlet and posted posters with health related information
about TB-- normally undertaken by the hospital.
 Visitors at the hospital – patients and their family members or friends – become
the recipients of this awareness.
iii) The government also encourages NGOs to conduct activities and programs to
educate the public on TB disease.
 Those who employ migrant workers have to be educated regarding the
symptom always on the alert about the health condition of their workers as
their workers may have contact with the illegal ones infected by the disease.
 Periodical health screening is necessary for migrant workers to treat any early
onset of TB infection among them to halt the spread of the disease.
3. Food Poisoning
 What causes foodborne diseases (FBD)?

The ingestion of contaminated foods and food products and include a broad group of illnesses
caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites and chemical agents and toxins, which contaminate food
at different points along the farm to table continuum.
 Foods that are commonly contaminated include poultry, eggs, milk, seafood and dairy
products. Involve many victims at once although this does not mean an individual or two do
not get food poisoning. The food in question is prepared by someone else or somewhere else,
always outside their homes.
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 Factors of food poisoning:

(i) Food operators
 The biggest culprits are food operators who pay no heed to the cleanliness of the food
prepared at their premises and whose main focus is to generate higher profits for
themselves. Food handlers and mass caterers who do not follow food hygiene practices
allow food to be contaminated and when consumed by their customers results in food
poisoning.
Example:
The food operator uses tap water from a nearby public toilet for making flavoured drinks
which he serves to his customers.
The foot outlet is located beside a drain and rats are scurrying around the foul-smelling
drain.
 The foods are also prepared commercially and in large quantities, causing negligence in
food handling.
(ii) Convenience
 The mistake most Malaysians make is their tendency to take the easy way out when it
comes to food matters. Cleanliness is the last thing on their mind when they stop at a food
outlet to satisfy their hunger pangs or when they are given free food to eat.
 The ones who take the “easy way out” are usually working people who are so busy with
their work that they stop to eat at any place deemed convenient to them.
 Proactive measures to control food poisoning:
(i) Customers or the public
 should exercise more care when choosing a food outlet. Observe its level of cleanliness
and check if it has a business license. Observe the handling of the food and drinks by the
operator. Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad advised the public to “practise
safety by choosing to buy food from premises that are clean, and practise the concept of
‘see, smell and taste’ to avoid eating food that has gone bad.”
 should also report to the Health Ministry or Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) if they
come across premises that fail to meet the required specifications or don’t possess a valid
business license  can channel’s one complaint to the authorities by visiting their website
to post your complaint there. The Health Ministry’s website is http://moh.spab.gov.my,
while DBKL’s is http://ispaaadbkl.dbkl.gov.my.
 the best possible way to avoid food poisoning is eating home-cooked food  prepare
your meals at home and take some packed food with you when you go to the office or go
out somewhere  prepared in a clean environment, always safe to eat.
(ii) Operators of food premises
 Check with their moral conscience: are they out to serve the needs of their customers or
they merely want to reap quick profits at the expense of their customers’ health?
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 If they don’t possess a valid business license, then they should get one as soon as
possible to make themselves more accountable to the public and the authorities.
 should carry out routine checks to ensure that their premises are clean and the food is
prepared and cooked in a hygienic manner. It is also compulsory for both the operator and
his workers to practise a high standard of personal hygiene.
(iii) Enforcement agencies
 should carry out more frequent and structured checks on food premises, especially
those located at bazaars and marketplaces.
 The authorities could also team up with the Health Ministry and the relevant non-
governmental organisations to conduct courses on hygiene management for food operators.
 The Health Ministry should strictly enforce the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations
1985, as well as the Food Safety Regulations 2009.
a. Milk Contamination
Cases that have taken place:
 Students suffering from food poisoning after drinking milk supplied under the free milk
scheme in the school.
 Milk powder has been recalled due to contamination.
b. Nasi Lemak Poisoning

 School pupils suffered food poisoning after having 'nasilemak' under the Supplementary Food
Programme (SFP) at their school canteen.
 Suffered from bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting
4. AIDS / HIV
a. Statistics:
 HIV in Malaysia was first recorded in 1986.

December 2013 = 101,672 HIV cases.
 In 2013, heterosexual HIV transmission accounted for half of the 3,393 new infections in
Malaysia, far ahead of other modes of transmission such as homo/bisexual contacts and unsafe
drug injections, both at 22 per cent respectively.
b. The public perception towards AIDS/HIV
i. The stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS

 Some cannot look past what causes HIV/AIDS to be transmitted: unprotected sex and “dirty
needles”  gives rise to the ugly spectre of stigma and discrimination that further marginalises
those in the high-risk groups including drug users and sex workers.
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 Shelters / foundations who are currently running programmes for people living with HIV
encounter challenges in raising sufficient funds to keep the programmes the public tends to
be judgmental, thinking that those infected with HIV/AIDS do not deserve their help.
ii. Better understanding among the younger generation of healthcare professionals
 Nowadays, the younger generation has a better understanding of HIV/AIDSled to a crop of
healthcare professionals who have no aversion to treating patients.
 There is still the issue of some providers being reluctant to treat people living with HIV/AIDS,
but this number has lessened.
c. The basics treatment for HIV/AIDS

 Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the use of HIV medicines to treat HIV infection. People on
ART take a combination of HIV medicines (called an HIV regimen) every day.
 ART is recommended for everyone who has HIV. People with HIV should start ART as soon
as possible.
 ART can’t cure HIV, but HIV medicines help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives.
ART also reduces the risk of HIV transmission.
What are the risks of taking HIV medicines?
 According to US Department of Health and Human Services (2018), potential risks of ART
include side effects from HIV medicines and drug interactions between HIV medicines or
between HIV medicines and other medicines a person is taking.
 Poor adherence—not taking HIV medicines every day and exactly as prescribed will increase
the risk of drug resistance and treatment failure.
Side effects
 Side effects from HIV medicines can vary depending on the medicine and the person taking
the medicine.
 People taking the same HIV medicine can have very different side effects. Some side effects,
like headaches or occasional dizziness, may not be serious.
 Other side effects, such as swelling of the throat and tongue or liver damage, can be life-
threatening.
Drug interactions
 HIV medicines can interact with other HIV medicines in an HIV regimen. They can also
interact with other medicines, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products.
 A drug interaction can reduce or increase a medicine's effect on the body. Drug interactions
can also cause unwanted side effects.
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Drug resistance
 When HIV multiplies in the body, the virus sometimes mutates (changes form) and makes
variations of itself.
 Variations of HIV that develop while a person is taking HIV medicines can lead to drug-
resistant strains of HIV.
 HIV medicines that previously controlled a person’s HIV are not effective against the new,
drug-resistant HIV. In other words, the person’s HIV continues to multiply.
 Poor adherence to an HIV regimen increases the risk of drug resistance and treatment failure.
d. Alternative therapies for HIV
 Many people living with HIV choose to explore non-conventional therapies to ease the
symptoms of HIV and side effects of the medications. Some alternative treatments can
complement a person's standard medical care, but others are not safe.
 While alternative treatments do not cure HIV, they may relieve symptoms and can improve a
person's quality of life. However, not all alternative medicines are safe. Some alternative
treatments may have side effects or interact with medications. HIV patients should always talk
to a doctor or healthcare provider before trying alternative medicine.
 Alternative treatments are not disease-specific. This means that an alternative therapy treats
the whole person, not just the illness. For example, meditation may help a person with HIV
relax and reduce stress. This can have a positive impact on the person's overall health, but it
does not specifically target HIV.
Alternative treatments include:
Relaxation techniques
Meditation is a relaxation technique that can help to reduce a person's anxiety. Many people living
with HIV have higher anxiety and stress levels compared with the general population. Meditation
can help alleviate some of the anxiety associated with HIV.
Physical therapies
 Physical therapies can help a person to relax, de-stress, and improve movement. According to
one source, people living with HIV have higher rates of mental health issues, such as anxiety
and depression, than the general population. This can significantly affect a person's quality of
life. Physical therapies can help boost people's mental and physical health.
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 Physical therapies include:

 sports or medical massage  may promote relaxation, which can help alleviate anxiety
and stress often associated with HIV
 yoga  might help to reduce depression and improve CD4 counts in people with HIV
who were also receiving antiretroviral therapy
 Acupuncture  involves inserting very thin needles into specific points on the body.
Practitioners believe that these needles release pressure points, which may help a person's
body produce chemicals to reduce pain.
Herbal medication and supplements
 Herbal medications and supplements are available to buy over the counter. However, people
living with HIV should exercise caution before purchasing herbal supplements and
medications as they can be dangerous. This may be because of a person's preexisting health
complications or because they interact with HIV medications.
 A study by Muhammad Musharraf Hussain (2018) reveals that the consumption of honey with
black seed oil shows promising health results for HIV patients. Recent scientific research
shows that this combination of honey and black seed oil can effectively cure AIDS within six
months without causing any harmful side effects:
 Overall, black seed appears to be a very safe herb with no side effects or known toxicity if
taken at the right dosage.
 Since it is an herbal therapy, the effects may not be seen until after one month or so, but it
will have no adverse effects if one continues the therapy.
 It is inexpensive and free from side effects, and there is no harm in using it; and patient has
nothing to lose.
6. Impact of Infectious Diseases

a. Impact on employment
 Reduced attendance of workers due to infection, fear of infection, or absenteeism
of workers caring for their families.
 Broader economic problems caused by reduced workforces may then initiate
economic downturn and further unemployment.
b. Impact on economy and global trade
 Disease outbreaks among livestock are a major risk for the farming sector.
 Sudden and drastic cuts in consumption of the affected products and reductions in
its price.
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 Reduced animal value due to control measures such as compulsory emergency

vaccination, and business interruption costs.
c. Impact on transport, travel, tourism and social gathering.
 Travellers / vacationers may perceive a threat cancel trips or immediately leave
the affected country.
 Social gatherings such as symposia or conventions may be cancelled for public
health reasons.
d. Impact on delivery health care
 In cases of serious epidemic  health care providers have to deal with
unprecedented numbers of patients in emergency rooms and hospitals, while coping
with severe supply constraints.
 The same workers must also bear the mental burden of the risk they may pose in
spreading the disease to their families.
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CHAPTER 7: POLITICAL ISSUES
A. Introduction
Malaya became independent from colonization in 1957. In 1963, Malaysia was formed and Tunku
Abdul Rahman became the first Prime Minister of the country. Before and after independence,
political parties had played a vital role in reclaiming the sovereignty of the country and in
developing Malaysia to its height of success today.
B. The Political Scenario’s from 1957-2008

1. Formation of Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1973
 The natural evolution from Perikatan, United Malays National Organisation, Malaysia
Chinese Association, and Malaysia Indian Congress (UMNO, MCA and MIC)
 Expanded to include the People's Progressive Party (PPP), Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party
(PAS) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat (Gerakan) which until that point were opposition but
joined the broader Barisan Nasional after the May 13th 1969 events in the name of national
interest.
2. The political response to outbreak of violence in May 13th 1969 was:
a. Broaden governing coalition to form the bigger BN allies.
b. Adopt a far more assertively pro-Bumiputera economic policy under the banner of the New
Economic Policy (NEP).
 A two-prong objective:
(i) Restructure the Malaysian economy to remove the identification of a
race based on their economic activities
(ii) Increase the Bumiputera share of ownership in the economy to 30
percent.
 The NEP programme has ensured that ethnicity has been the defining principle of
economic policy. As a result, it has also remained the key axis of political identity and
representation in Malaysia.
3. The leadership and goverance under Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

- He was the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia (May 1981 till October 2003)
His achievements:
 The principal architect of Malaysia's transformation to become a developed nation.
 Malaysia experienced rapid modernisation and economic growth, and his government
initiated a series of bold infrastructure projects.
 Managed to elevate Malaysia’s position as the 17th biggest trading nation in the world.
 Turn Malaysia into the next Asian tiger as an industrialized economy.
 Transformed Malaysia from an agricultural nation to an industrialised nation.
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4. The dismissal of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim

 In 1998, the former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked by Tun
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and then arrested on September 20, 1998.
 Six years of imprisonment for sexual misconduct charges.
 Reaction of the public: - shocked and sympathy
 Many considered that his dismissal had been carried out in an undemocratic manner.
5. The release of Anwar Ibrahim from prison

 The Reformasi movement seeking to build the political/institutional foundations of an
alternative form of governance based on the principles of good governance and liberal
democratic norms.
 The emergence of a group of younger citizens that was attuned to the concept and birth of
a democratic and open society
6. The formation of Barisan Alternatif in 1998 (BA, Alternative Front in Malay) a coalition of
Malaysian opposition parties, formed as a counterweight to the ruling BN. BA was formed by
the four largest opposition parties
a. the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS)
b. the Democratic Action Party (DAP)
c. the National Justice Party (Keadilan)
d. the Malaysian People's Party - announced an electoral alliance and issued a joint
manifesto.
Disbanded after the 2004 general elections, all 4 former component parties of BA (then 3, after
a merger of 2 of the parties) have since formed a new coalition, Pakatan Rakyat (PR), following
the 2008 general elections.
7. PAS as the former BN coalition and Democratic Action Party (DAP) as the opposition play a
vital role in shaping Malaysian politic and country as a whole.
a. PAS is an Islamic political organization registered with the Malaysia’s
Organization Registration Society, established in Butterworth, Penang on 24th
November 1951.
 A strong support from northern rural and conservative area such as Kelantan and
Terengganu.
 Kelantan has been ruled by the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) since 1990, with
re-elections in 1995, 1999 and 2004, 2008 and 2013.
8. The DAP was founded on 18th March 1966 and had contested in 11 general elections from
1969 to 2013.
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 DAP is one of the three main opposition parties in Malaysia, along with the PKR
and PAS, that are seen as electable alternatives to the Barisan Nasional coalition of
parties.
 DAP secured over 70% of the total number of parliamentary seats it contested in
the 13th general election, winning 38 of the 51 seats.
9. BN coalition from 1957 to 2004:

 1957-2004: the BN coalition has won every election with 2/3 majority in Parliament.
 10th Malaysian General Election in November 1999 BN gained 56%, but still
maintained its two-third majority in parliament.
 11th Malaysian general election in March 2004BN under Prime Minister Dato' Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, bounced back with an increased majority, gaining 63.9% of the
votes. BN won 198 parliamentary seats and this is the largest majority and the best ever
performance that BN had won since the 1978 elections.
C. GE 12, 2008
1. The stronger influence of politics

 Since 2008, politics has been creeping into almost every fiber of Malaysian society.
 The politicizing of every single issue religion, race, economics, advertisement,
transportation, academic, school, mainstream media and etc.
 Purpose: gaining political support
 Effect: possible divisive consequences among ethnic.
2. Political tsunami ~ huge change in political landscape
 The 12th General Election in March 8, 2008 (GE 12, 2008) has been characterised as a
“political tsunami”.
 The ruling Barisan Nasional coalition unprecedented losses
 The primary peninsular opposition – PKR, DAP and PAS remarkable gains.
 Four additional state governments also fell to the opposition (Selangor, Penang, Kedah and
Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur)
3. Factors attributed to the decline in BN dominance are:
a. The educated middle class

 The rise of the educated middle class plays an essential role in the new political
mosaic with the seeding of young political figures and strong Non-Governmental
Organisation (NGO’s) to balance the democratic government authority.
 The government now has to brace itself against a big challenge coming from the
Opposition, which was called by the academic community as 3 vs. 1 (The
Opposition + NGO’s + social media vs. BN)
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b. The non-Malay voters

 Thomas Pepinsky, (2008) identifies one of the main causes of the ruling regime’s
poor showing as “non-Malay voters’ rejecting the incumbent coalition in favour of
secular opposition parties.” There certainly appears to have been a shift in the level
of support for the ruling BN coalition among the Chinese and Indian voters.
 In the 12 GE, the emergence of the opposition alliance (PKR-DAP-PAS)has
provided voters a political alternative at the polls.
c. The new media

 Shaping the emerging democratic space (political uprising) in Malaysia.
 The social media especially the internet is providing Malaysians with avenues for
airing their views on political, economic and social matters.
d. Street protests
The major events happened in terms of contentious politics at the mass society level
were two major street protests that took place in November 2007, less than five
months prior to the 12 GE.
i. BERSIH rally
 On November 10 2007, an estimated 40,000 individuals, consisting of a coalition

of seventy civil society groups, joined by members of opposition political parties
and individuals, took to the streets of the nation’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.
 Organized under the Coalition of Clean and Fair Elections (BERSIH, which is the
Malay word for “clean”), this protest was to petition the king for reforms to the
electoral system.
 The subsequent rally, BERSIH 2.0 rally (also called The Walk for Democracy) was
a demonstration held on 9 July 2011 in Kuala Lumpur as a follow-up to the 2007
BERSIH rally.
The 2011 rally's immediate demands were:
 Clean the electoral roll
 Reform postal voting
 Use of indelible ink during election
 A minimum campaign period of 21 days
 Free and fair access to mainstream media
 Strengthen public institutions
 Stop corruption
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 The BERSIH 3.0 rally (also called Sit In rally or DudukBantah in Malay) was a
demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia held on 28 April 2012. Following the
rally in 2011, the government of Malaysia organised a Public Select Committee
(PSC) to look into electoral reforms in Malaysia, which released their proposals in
April 2012.
In addition to the eight previous demands, it called for:
 The Election Commission must resign, as it has failed in its responsibility and
has lost the confidence of the public.
 The electoral process must be cleaned before the 13th General Elections.
 Invite international observers to observe the 13th General Elections.
ii. Hindraf
 An estimated 30,000 ethnic Indians organized as the Hindu Rights Action Force
(HINDRAF), an Indian nongovernmental organization, marched peacefully on the
streets of Kuala Lumpur in November 25th 2007 to protest the ruling BN coalition’s
neglect of the Tamil-speaking Hindu working class.
D. Measures taken by Barisan Nasional to remain relevant after GE12, 2008
The leadership and governance of Datuk Seri Najib

1. 1 Malaysia, People First, performance Now Aim
Aim: to take this young nation of 27 million people to a new and greater height of progress;
to forge a new level of nationhood out of the various races in Malaysia
Endeavour to provide to the needs among lower and middle class Malaysians through the
following initiatives:
 Health care service such as Klinik 1 Malaysia
 Affordable and quality housing project like Perumahan Rakyat 1Malaysia (PR1MA),
Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) and RumahMesra Rakyat 1Malaysia (RMR1M).
 Ease the impact of inflation – Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BRIM), Kedai Rakyat I
Malaysia, Menu Rakyat 1 Malaysia, Baucer Buku 1 Malaysia (BB1M) and etc.
2. Government Transformation Programme (GTP)
 Endeavour to make Malaysian a developed nation, that is a high-income nation, by
2020.
 To fundamentally transform the Government into an efficient and people-centred
institution.
3. The Economic Transformation Programme (ETP)
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 Aims to develop Malaysia into a high-income country by 2020 via increased

investment.
 To build a resilient, dynamic and innovative economy.
 To bring in investments  further infrastructure development, such as the expansion
of the North-South Expressway and a proposed Pan-Borneo Highway
E. GE 13, 2013
1. The results of GE13 showed BN winning with a majority seat in the national parliament.
With a record 84.5 per cent voter turnout, the final results gave the BN 133 and the
opposition PR coalition 89 out of 222 parliamentary seats, while at the state level, the BN
coalition won 275, and the opposition garnered 230 out of 505 seats. The BN retained
majority in the national parliament, and retook the state of Kedah from PAS. In the rest of
the states, the status quo was maintained.
2. The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition under the leadership of the Prime Minister
Najib Razak, formed the government with a majority of seats and 47.38% of the popular
vote while the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition led by Anwar Ibrahim formed the bulk of the
opposition in Parliament after winning 50.87% of the popular vote.
3. The Aftermath of GE 13 - Street Protests:
 Bersih 4.0 took place when a series of rallies in 2013 were carried out, in the aftermath of
the general elections in Malaysia in 2013 to protesting the results of the elections, whereby
the opposition garnered a plurality of the votes but still lost the election due to the
government gaining the most seats in the Westminster system of elections.
Bersih has set forth the following main objectives for their rallies
 Free and Fair Elections (Pilihan Raya yang Bebas dan Adil)
 A Clean Government (Kerajaan yang Telus)
 The Right to Dissent (Hak untuk Membantah)
 Strengthening the Parliamentary Democracy (Memperkukuhkan Demokrasi
Berparlimen)
 Saving the Economy of Malaysia (Menyelamatkan Ekonomi Malaysia)
 Resignation of the Prime Minister, Najib Razak (Peletakan Jawatan Perdana Menteri,
Najib Razak)
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 BERSIH 5.0
It took place on 19 November 2016. The rally was held calling for a new and cleaner
electoral system in Malaysia. A Bersih convoy was also launched and targeted all parts of
Malaysia to raise awareness of the current democratic problems nationwide
The goals of Bersih 5.0:
 For a New Malaysia
 Free and Fair Elections
 A Clean Government
 The Right to Dissent
 Strengthening the Parliamentary Democracy
 Empowering Sabah and Sarawak
 Resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak
F. Pakatan Harapan
1. The Pakatan Harapan,(PH) is a political coalition bringing together centre-left political

movements, organisations, parties and independent individuals in Malaysia.
2. The coalition was formed on 22 September 2015, consisting the Democratic Action
Party, People's Justice Party, National Trust Party and after 14 March, Malaysian United
Indigenous Party.
3. The movement has aimed to form a broad alliance of centre-left parties for the general
election due to be held before 24 August 2018.
G. Malaysia’s Politics towards General Election 2018
1. Malaysia is expected to be a developed nation in the near future. Malaysia is a very

complex society due to the existence of a diverse population – Malay and other
Bumiputera, Chinese and Indians – making Malaysia a plural society composed of different
ethnics, cultures, customs, and languages.
2. Ethnic-politics, religious-politics, Malay and non-Malay politics, racism-politics appear to
be lingering around in arena of Malaysian politics today.
3. Since the12th general election, Malaysia's political landscape has been changing. In fact,
political and social changes have already been taking place in the past decades in the age
of social media and amidst the instant-information society.
4. Ethnic politics in Malaysia is moving toward a new plateau where cross-ethnic line voting
may be a more common trend. The young generation is expected to play a bigger role in
the Malaysian politics landscape for the coming 14th GE.
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5. ‘Alternative’ forms of media are also expected take centre-stage in the dissemination of
political information. Blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as well as a host of other
independent news portals are becoming increasingly popular.
H. GE 14, 2018
The 14th Malaysian general election will elect members of the 14th Parliament of Malaysia on 9
May 2018. The 13th Parliament of Malaysia was dissolved on 7 April 2018.
Manifesto:
1. BN manisfesto:
 The manifesto, titled "Bersama BN, Hebatkan Negaraku" (Make the country great with
BN) contains 364 promises, which includes more cash handouts, especially to BR1M
recipients and Felda settlers.
Salient points of BN manifesto:
Cost of living
 Minimum wage to be increased to RM1,500 over five years.
 Unlimited transportation pass (RM50-RM150) for students, working youths, senior
citizens and disabled persons.
 Tiered dividend by investment units in PNB, Tabung Haji, LTAT, etc. (except EPF).
 Maximum interest rate and late payment charges for credit cards to be reduced.
Welfare
 Behaviour-based BR1M disbursement (e.g., attending skills training, or refusing to
immunise your child can affect cash handout).
 One-off RM1,500 aid for children of BR1M recipients entering university.
 Up to RM1,000 matching grant for contribution into SSPN education fund.
 RM500 grant for newborn babies under ADAM50 to be increased.
 Seven-day annual leave for moms to take care of their sick children.
FELDA
 RM5,000 incentive for Felda settlers.
 Felda settlers' loan to buy FGV shares will be forgiven.
 RM300mil fund to address 'extreme' loans held by Felda settlers.
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Taxes
 Two-year tax incentive for women returning to the workforce.
 Tax exemption for income derived from residential rental.
 Income and corporate tax rate to be reviewed.
Education
 Discount cards for students.
 Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) qualification to be considered for university entry
on condition of a credit in Bahasa Malaysia and a pass in history for SPM.
 Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (Aswara) to be upgraded to Universiti P.
Ramlee.
 Setting up of Universiti Al-Quran.
Security
 New 1,000-person capacity prison with an integrated electronic security system for
detainees, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015 and Prevention of Crime Act 1959.
 Increase in haj quota for armed forces and police personnel.
 Construction of the country's first Veterans' Hospital in Ipoh.
 45,000 affordable homes for families of armed forces personnel by 2030.
 RM600 aid for armed forces veterans who do not get pension and BR1M.
Nation
 Malaysian Agreement 1963 will be fulfilled based on consensus.
 'Lain-lain' under race category will be dropped from government online forms.
 Setting up a committee to facilitate between syariah and civil courts in the interest of
harmony.
 Setting up a committee to empower the syariah courts.
 Non-bumiputera participation in civil service and public universities to be increased.
 Abolishment of separate price labels for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
 Empowerment of Dayak and Kadazandusun communities.
 Completion of MRT3, LRT3, KL-Singapore HSR, double tracking projects, etc.
Good governance
 Introduction of a Political Financing Act.
 Introduction of a public petition which will require the government to reply if there are
more than 30,000 signatories online.
 Creation of an ombudsman to investigate alleged unfair treatment by government agencies.
 Local council meetings to be televised live, with annual audit reports being made public.
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 iKepoh app for residents to lodge complaints to local councils on top of regular townhall
meetings.
 Setting up a parliamentary select committee to give feedback on public interest issues.
2. Pakatan Rakyat’s political manifesto:

- comes with five main thrusts, is the manifesto of a "government-in-waiting".
The manifesto's five main thrusts are:
 To ease the burden of the public

 To reform the nation's administrative institutions and politics
 To shape the nation's economy in a fair and just manner
 To reinstate the rights and status in Sabah and Sarawak as enshrined in the Malaysia
Declaration 1963
 To build an inclusive, moderate and bright Malaysia in the international arena.
Under the five main thrusts, the manifesto also has five commitments which are to:
 modernise Felda and return it to its former glory;
 to ensure equitable rights, fairness and harmony for the Indian community;
 to take care of the welfare, health and rights of women;
 to develop the talents of youths and create opportunities for them
 to acknowledge the contributions and sacrifices of senior citizens.
 The manifesto also pledges 10 reforms in five years after the general election if Pakatan
Harapan forms the government.
 Among the proposed reforms are limiting the tenures of the Prime Minister and Chief
Ministers to two terms only.
 Besides limiting the prime minister's tenure, the manifesto also promises to restructure the
Prime Minister's Department as well as the Cabinet.
 The prime minister will also not be allowed to helm other portfolios especially the Finance
Ministry.
 The Pakatan’s manifesto will also reduce the number of ministers in the Prime Minister's
Department from the current ten to three.
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Here are 10 things listed in Pakatan Harapan’s 100-day agenda:
1 To abolish Goods and Services Tax (GST) - On top of abolishing GST, PH has pledged
to reduce the cost of living with various "peduli rakyat" initiatives to ensure that the
people's well-being is taken care of
2 To reintroduce fuel subsidies - PH has pledged to stabilise oil prices and reintroduce fuel
subsidies to targeted groups. The Buku Harapan manifesto has revealed that there will be
fuel subsidies for motorcycles with an engine of under 125cc and cars with an engine
of under 1,300cc.
3 To eliminate unnecessary debts that were forced on FELDA settlers
4 To introduce the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) scheme for housewives
5 To standardise the monthly minimum wages of employees across the whole country - PH
has also promised to not just standardise the rates, but also increase the rate of minimum
wages. In 2016, the minimum wage in Peninsular Malaysia was increased to RM1,000.
Meanwhile, the minium wage was increased to RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan
that same year.
6 To ease the burden of National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan
borrowers - It plans to allow borrowers to defer repayment if the borrower earns less than
RM4,000 a month. PH is also proposing to remove PTPTN's blacklisting policy, in which
defaulters will not be allowed to renew their passports and they are barred from leaving
the country.
7 To set up a Royal Commissions of Inquiry into scandal-ridden institutions - PH said that
this independent task force will be established to probe 1Malaysia Development
Berhad (1MDB), the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), Majlis Amanah
Rakyat (MARA), and Tabung Haji, and to reorganise their leadership structure
8 To restore Sabah and Sarawak's autonomous rights, as enshrined in the Malaysia
Agreement 1963 (MA63)
9 To introduce 'Skim Peduli Sihat' - Through this scheme, RM500 worth of monetary
assistance will be granted to the B40 class (Malaysian households earning RM3,900 a
month or less) for them to have access to healthcare services at registered private medical
institutions
10 To review all mega projects - PH has pledged to launch detailed studies on mega projects
that have been awarded to foreign countries.
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Issues arising towards GE 14:
1. Redelineation exercise
 The Dewan Rakyat passed the redelineation motion, the first such exercise by the Election
Commission (EC) in the last 15 years, which showed electoral changes in 98 out of 165
parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia.The new electoral boundaries were used for the
coming 14th General Election (GE14).
2. #UndiRosak Campaign
 There is a campaign calling for voters to boycott elections or deliberately spoil their votes
during the 14th General Election (GE14) called #UndiRosak. The hashtag #UndiRosak
emerged on social media and even trended on Twitter in January 2018, as supporters of the
campaign are voicing out their opinion on how boycotting or deliberately making their votes
spoilt is a sign of protest and discontent.
 For many, this sentiment seems to stem from the notion that that both ruling coalition Barisan
Nasional (BN) and opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) deserve their votes as they do
not believe that any of these coalitions could bring systemic changes.These people are mostly
saying that they refuse to choose either one of the parties and would rather turn up and spoil
their votes on polling day
GE14 Results
 General Election 14 was held on 9 May 2018 to elect members of the 14th Parliament
of Malaysia. Pakatan Harapan the main opposition coalition in the Malaysian Parliament, won
113 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia's lower house of parliament–just enough for a
majority. The Sabah Heritage Party, which won another 8 seats, informally aligned itself with
Pakatan Harapan, giving the opposition alliance a total of 121 seats in the new Parliament,
enough to form a government.
 This marked a historic defeat for the ruling Barisan Nasional, which had been the governing
party of Malaysia and its predecessor state Malaya, since the country’s independence in 1957.
Mahathir Mohamad then becomes the 7th Prime Minister of the country. At 92 years old, he
became the oldest head of government in the world, although he has indicated he would give
way within a few years to Anwar Ibrahim.
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Issues after GE14

1. “Political manifesto is not a Bible”
 According to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in July 2018, the pre-election
manifesto is not a Bible that has to be followed and abided by religiously. He said, "Please
remember manifesto is not a Bible. It's a guide. Sometimes we can do things, sometimes we
find that we cannot. So we need to be practical-minded. “
 In February 2019, a Johor DAP committee member has openly called for Prime Minister Tun
Dr Mahathir Mohamad to resign for belittling Pakatan Harapan's manifesto and promises.
2. PH lost in by-elections
January 2019: in Cameron Highlands
March 2019: in Semenyih
Some of the factors for their loss could be:
 PH being defensive when confronted with issues pertaining to unfulfilled manifesto, such as
the increase in prices of goods, as well as the collection of toll. BN's victory was a clear sign
that the public has gotten tired of PH’s difficulty in delivering their GE14 election manifesto.
They (voters) do not want the blame game on Datuk Seri Najib Razak and BN to continue, but
rather concrete plans and action on how to address these issues such as cost of living
 The combination of UMNO and PAS in pushing for Malay-Muslim interests, which gained
traction in the previous Cameron Highlands by-election, has been subsequently affirmed in the
Malay-majority Semenyih state constituency that comprises 68 per cent Malay voters.
3. Issues pertaining to race and religion

a) The ratification of ICERD, November 2018
 Malaysia reversed a pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, following
backlash from groups who fear it could dilute privileges for majority ethnic Malays.
 According to the office of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the government will not ratify
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICERD). "The government will continue to uphold the federal constitution, which enshrines
the social contract agreed by representatives of all races," it said in the statement.
b) Ratification of Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), April 2019
 Malaysia withdrew from ratifying an international treaty that covers serious crimes and crimes
against humanity. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Cabinet has decided
not to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which would
prosecute perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of
aggression.
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 “There seems to be a lot of confusion about the Rome Statute, so we will not accede,” Dr
Mahathir told a press conference. “This is not because we are against it, but because of the
political confusion about what it entails.
 The earlier decision to ratify the Rome Statute received mixed reactions from the ground, with
many expressing concerns on ICC’s impact on rulers’ power and Malay privileges.
c) Matriculation intake quota, May 2019

 The cabinet has agreed to increase student intake into the pre-university matriculation
programme to 40,000 from the present 25,000. However, the quota system which allocates 90
per cent of seats to Bumiputeras and the remainder to non-Bumiputeras will stay.
 Education Minister Maszlee Malik said this was in line with the original vision of the
matriculation programme, which was to encourage more Bumiputera involvement in the
sciences.
 “This effort is being done to ensure that students who excelled in their studies were given the
best possible chance to further their studies,” he said in a statement. Maszlee said the Pakatan
Harapan government saw that there was a need to add the number of students in the field of
science and decide to maximise the capacity of the matriculation programme.
 The decision to retain the matriculation intake quota while increasing the number of intake has
stirred up debates among members of the public:
 STPM at a disadvantage? An average of 45,000 places in public universities were offered
for undergraduate study in the past two years, even as the matriculation programme’s
intake has just been raised to 40,000 students. This raises questions as to whether the
expansion of the matriculation programme by 60 per cent from an earlier 25,000 student
intake will inadvertently disadvantage STPM graduates if public universities did not
significantly raise total admission rates in their undergraduate programmes.
 The reason to defend the quota has come under criticism. According to Education Minister
Maszlee Malik, the quota system will still be maintained until Bumiputeras is given a fair
chance in the job market, saying that there is discrimination against non-Mandarin speakers
and those who don the hijab. According to Centre for a Better Tomorrow (Cenbet), the
Education Minister should not link issues surrounding the matriculation intake quota with
language requirements for jobs as these two are distinct.: the first issue was if the 9:1 quota
system was merited, and the second was about an individual's skill set. Language is a job
skill. It is market forces that determine if a person is employable.
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CHAPTER 8: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES - CLIMATE CHANGE, DEFORESTATION

AND ENDANGERED SPECIES
A. Environmental Problems
 Our environment is constantly changing. There is no denying that. However, as our
environment changes, so does the need to become increasingly aware of the problems that
surround it. With a massive influx of natural disasters, warming and cooling periods, different
types of weather patterns and much more, people need to be aware of what types of
environmental problems our planet is facing.
 Global warming has become an undisputed fact about our current livelihoods; our planet is
warming up and we are definitely part of the problem. However, this isn’t the only
environmental problem that we should be concerned about. All across the world, people are
facing a wealth of new and challenging environmental problems every day. Some of them are
small and only affect a few ecosystems, but others are drastically changing the landscape of
what we already know.
 Our planet is poised at the brink of a severe environmental crisis. Current environmental
problems make us vulnerable to disasters and tragedies, now and in the future. We are in a
state of planetary emergency, with environmental problems piling up high around us. Unless
we address the various issues prudently and seriously we are surely doomed for disaster.
Current environmental problems require urgent attention.
B. Major Current Environmental Problems

1. Pollution
 Pollution of air, water and soil require millions of years to recoup. Industry and motor vehicle
exhaust are the number one pollutants.
 Heavy metals, nitrates and plastic are toxins responsible for pollution. While water pollution
is caused by oil spill, acid rain, urban runoff; air pollution is caused by various gases and toxins
released by industries and factories and combustion of fossil fuels; soil pollution is majorly
caused by industrial waste that deprives soil from essential nutrients.
2. Global Warming
 Climate changes like global warming is the result of human practices like emission of
Greenhouse gases.
 Global warming leads to rising temperatures of the oceans and the earth’ surface causing
melting of polar ice caps, rise in sea levels and also unnatural patterns of precipitation such as
flash floods, excessive snow or desertification.
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3. Overpopulation
 The population of the planet is reaching unsustainable levels as it faces shortage of resources
like water, fuel and food.
 Population explosion in less developed and developing countries is straining the already scarce
resources.
 Intensive agriculture practiced to produce food damages the environment through use of
chemical fertilizer, pesticides and insecticides. Overpopulation is one of the crucial current
environmental problem.
4. Natural Resource Depletion

 Natural resource depletion is another crucial current environmental problem. Fossil fuel
consumption results in emission of Greenhouse gases, which is responsible for global warming
and climate change.
 Globally, people are taking efforts to shift to renewable sources of energy like solar, wind,
biogas and geothermal energy. The cost of installing the infrastructure and maintaining these
sources has plummeted in the recent years.
5. Waste Disposal
 The over consumption of resources and creation of plastics are creating a global crisis of waste
disposal. Developed countries are notorious for producing an excessive amount of waste or
garbage and dumping their waste in the oceans and, less developed countries.
 Nuclear waste disposal has tremendous health hazards associated with it. Plastic, fast food,
packaging and cheap electronic wastes threaten the well beings of humans. Waste disposal is
one of urgent current environmental problem.
6. Climate Change
 Climate change is yet another environmental problem that has surfaced in last couple of
decades. It occurs due to rise in global warming which occurs due to increase in temperature
of atmosphere by burning of fossil fuels and release of harmful gases by industries.
 Climate change has various harmful effects but not limited to melting of polar ice, change in
seasons, occurrence of new diseases, frequent occurrence of floods and change in overall
weather scenario.
7. Loss of Biodiversity
 Human activity is leading to the extinction of species and habitats and loss of bio-diversity.
Eco systems, which took millions of years to perfect, are in danger when any species
population is decimating.
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 Balance of natural processes like pollination is crucial to the survival of the eco-system and
human activity threatens the same. Another example is the destruction of coral reefs in the
various oceans, which support the rich marine life.
8. Deforestation
 Our forests are natural sinks of carbon dioxide and produce fresh oxygen as well as helps in
regulating temperature and rainfall. At present forests cover 30% of the land but every year
tree cover is lost amounting to the country of Panama due to growing population demand for
more food, shelter and cloth.
 Deforestation simply means clearing of green cover and make that land available for
residential, industrial or commercial purpose.
9. Ocean Acidification
 It is a direct impact of excessive production of CO2. 25% of CO2 produced by humans.
 The ocean acidity has increased by the last 250 years but by 2100, it may shoot up by 150%.
The main impact is on shellfish and plankton in the same way as human osteoporosis.
10. Ozone Layer Depletion

 The ozone layer is an invisible layer of protection around the planet that protects us from the
sun’s harmful rays. Depletion of the crucial Ozone layer of the atmosphere is attributed to
pollution caused by Chlorine and Bromide found in Chloro-floro carbons (CFC’s).
 Once these toxic gases reach the upper atmosphere, they cause a hole in the ozone layer, the
biggest of which is above the Antarctic.
 The CFC’s are banned in many industries and consumer products. Ozone layer is valuable
because it prevents harmful UV radiation from reaching the earth. This is one of the most
important current environmental problem.
11. Acid Rain

 Acid rain occurs due to the presence of certain pollutants in the atmosphere. Acid rain can be
caused due to combustion of fossil fuels or erupting volcanoes or rotting vegetation which
release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere.
 Acid rain is a known environmental problem that can have serious effect on human health,
wildlife and aquatic species.
12. Water Pollution

 Clean drinking water is becoming a rare commodity. Water is becoming an economic and
political issue as the human population fights for this resource.
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 One of the options suggested is using the process of desalinization. Industrial development is
filling our rivers seas and oceans with toxic pollutants which are a major threat to human
health.
13. Urban Sprawl

 Urban sprawl refers to migration of population from high density urban areas to low density
rural areas which results in spreading of city over more and more rural land.
 Urban sprawl results in land degradation, increased traffic, environmental issues and health
issues. The ever growing demand of land displaces natural environment consisting of flora and
fauna instead of being replaced.
14: Public Health Issues

 The current environmental problems pose a lot of risk to health of humans, and animals. Dirty
water is the biggest health risk of the world and poses threat to the quality of life and public
health.
 Run-off to rivers carries along toxins, chemicals and disease carrying organisms. Pollutants
cause respiratory diseases like asthma and cardiac-vascular problems. High temperatures
encourage the spread of infectious diseases like dengue.
15. Genetic Engineering

 Genetic modification of food using biotechnology is called genetic engineering. Genetic
modification of food results in increased toxins and diseases as genes from an allergic plant
can transfer to target plant.
 Genetically modified crops can cause serious environmental problems as an engineered gene
may prove toxic to wildlife. Another drawback is that increased use of toxins to make insect
resistant plant can cause resultant organisms to become resistant to antibiotics.
The need for change in our daily lives and the movements of our government is growing. Because
so many different factors come into play - voting, governmental issues, the desire to stick to
routine - many people don’t consider that what they do will affect future generations. If humans
continue moving forward in such a harmful way towards the future, then there will be no future to
consider. Although it’s true that we cannot physically stop our ozone layer from thinning (and
scientists are still having trouble figuring out what is causing it exactly,) there are still so many
things we can do to try and put a dent in what we already know. By raising awareness in our local
community and within our families about these issues, we can help contribute to a more
environmentally conscious and friendly place for all to live.
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C. Climate change
1. Factors of Climate Change
a. Natural Causes
 Due to changes in volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation.
 Volcanic eruptions  episodic and have relatively short-term effects on climate.
 Changes in solar irradiance  have contributed to climate trends over the past century
b. Human Causes
Climate change can also be caused by human activities spurred by the Industrial
Revolution, such as:
 The burning of fossil fuels
 Human’s endless hunger for energy  ongoing burning of unlimited quantities of fossil
fuels.
 When fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas - are burnt they release CO2 (carbon
dioxide) into the atmosphere.
 Results in the layer of greenhouse gas gets thicker, which is in turn making the Earth
warmer.
 The conversion of land for forestry and agriculture
 These activities change the land surface
 Results in:
 influence both the amount of incoming energy and the amount of outgoing energy
 causing both warming and cooling effects on the climate.
 The increased consumption of meat
 A worldwide trend for American-style diets  leading to a large increase in meat and
dairy consumption
 More meat consumption  more arable cultivation is turned over to producing
feedstock for animals that provide meat for humans.
 The losses at each stage are large, and as humans globally eat more and more meat,
conversion from plants to food becomes less and less efficient, driving agricultural
expansion and releasing more greenhouse gases.
 Energy wastage
 Cheap and abundant fossil fuels have cemented bad energy habits, especially in rich
countries.
 Example: electrical appliances are left on a standby mode.
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 The energy waste could easily be reduced if we use our energy more efficiently.
2. Effects of Climate Change in Malaysia

a. Agriculture production
 Changes in climate factors could decrease yields of rice, the main staple food in
Malaysia, from 13% to 80% and decrease the production of industrial crops,
particularly oil palm, rubber and cocoa from 10-30%
 On the contrary, population of the country is expected to increase in the next few
decades  increased domestic demand of food.
 As a result  food crises and consequently threaten food security in the country
b. Water supply
 According to National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (Nahrim)  there would

be water supply issues in the future, especially in areas with higher risk or vulnerability,
such as in the Muda watershed in Kedah and small basins like Linggi.
 The unusually long spell of dry weather in February-March 2014 :-
 water shortage in Negeri Sembilan was declared to be in a state of crisis
water rationing measures in Selangor.
c. Flood
 According to National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia’s (Nahrim)  there

will be an increase in rainfall magnitude and intensity in the future.
 Global warming will affect peak flow, causing more extreme floods at river basins in
the country.
 Recent cases: severe flood in Malaysia, especially in Kelantan, Pahang, Perak and
Terengganu from 15 December 2014–3 January 2015, affecting more than 200,000
people. This flood has been described as the worst flood in decades.
d. Heat wave
 In 2016, the Malaysian Meteorological Department declared a heatwave in the northern

part of the peninsula after five straight days of above normal temperatures. It also
announced that the recent hot spell is caused by the Equinox phenomenon.
 States that were hit the worst were Kedah, Perlis and Penang, with Chuping, Perlis,
recording 38 degrees Celsius yesterday, the highest in Malaysia.
 Temperatures in Malaysia soared above 37 celcius, prompting more than 250 schools
to close in order to protect the health of around 100,000 pupils.
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 Recent cases: heatwave conditions can result in physiological strain, which could even
result in death. A male trainee policeman at the Segamat Police Training Centre
(Pulapol) became the first victim to die of heatstroke in 2016.
e. Socio-political stability
 Long dry spell  water rationing exercise  causing many to be dissatisfied with the
local authorities due to the inconvenience and the stress.
 Severe flood  many towns and villages in Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu and Perak
to be submerged in flood water  high tensions due to loss of lives, the damage of
properties and goods and the temporary loss of the source of their livelihood
 The extreme climate change  led to political debates  affected the socio-political
fabric of the Malaysian society.
3. What we can do to counter climate change?

Some of the measures include:
a. Reduce energy use
 Adopt energy-saving habits. Make it a habit to turn off the lights as you leave a
room.
 Replace standard light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
 Turn off your computer and unplug electronics when they are not in use.
b. High efficiency appliances
 When replacing appliances, look for high efficiency units.

 Appliances with ENERGY STAR ratings, an international standard for energy-
efficient consumer products, typically utilize a minimum of 20 % less energy.
c. Recycle and repurpose
 Recycling: make recycling part of your daily routine  recycle all packaging and
consumer goods that you can.
 Repurpose: give used items, eg clothing and household goods, a chance at a second
life by donating them to charity or selling them at a garage sale.
d. Limiting the consumption of meat
 In the industrialized world, consumers eat as much as 90 kilograms of meat per year
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 According to the study, however, reducing global meat consumption to just 90 grams
a day could help cut the methane and nitrous oxide emissions released from cows 
will slow the rate of climate change.
D. Deforestation
1. Definition of Deforestation
 Clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees
 The land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use.
 Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban
use.
2. Effects of Deforestation
a. Affects land sustainability
 Trees provide habitats for many species in this world.
 When the habitat for plants and animals is cut down or burned  species that may not
be present anywhere else on Earth disappear.
 Without them, much of our lands would be barren or lack diversity, which is not good
for the land sustainability.
b. Release of carbon dioxide
 Every tree that is cut down releases its stored carbon dioxide that it accumulates over
its years of growth.
 Older trees  the more carbon dioxide released  damaging to the atmosphere.
 Deforestation is responsible for approximately 20 percent of all greenhouse gas
emissions.
c. Global warming
 Trees also provide an escape from the urban heat island effect
 Urban heat island effect: the temperature of cities and buildings are hotter than the
surrounding forestry and natural splendor.
3. Rampant Deforestation in Malaysia

a. Report by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researchers
 The first three months of 2013: a 115% increase in deforestation in Malaysia
 Malaysia's figure was the highest among five countries where deforestation was
detected.
b. Study by the Netherlands-based Wetlands International

 Malaysia is uprooting an average 2 percent of the rain forest a year on Sarawak, or
nearly 10 percent over the last five years.
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 Most of it is being converted to palm oil plantations.
c. Expansion of palm oil plantations

 Malaysia and Indonesia produce about 85 percent of the world's palm oil
 Uses of palm oil  cooking oil, cosmetics, soaps, bread, chocolate, industrial lubricant,
even was once considered an ideal biofuel alternative to fossil fuel
 Under heavy criticism  due to widespread rainforest destruction for the expansion of
the plantations.
4. The Importance of Forests
a. Preserve biological diversity

 Forests cover 30% of the Earth's surface
 Contain much of the biological diversity found on land
 Harbour over two-thirds of known terrestrial species, many of which are threatened.
b. Ensuring our continued existence.
 Forests provide critical environmental services
 Regulating water flow into our streams/ rivers and moderating climatic change.
c. Supply us with many essential items
 Timber for all kinds of uses
 Non-timber forest products such as rattan and bamboo, wild fruits such as the petai
(Parkia spp.), durian (Durio spp.) and medicinal plants.
d. Many of the animals found in forests are of great importance to us.
 Example: bats help to pollinate fruit plants and keep the number of insect pests down
 Without bats  have to depend on insecticides, most of which are harmful to the
environment.
e. The importance of tropical rainforests
 Tropical rainforests  as one of the most productive type of forests in the world.
 There are only three areas in the world where tropical rainforests are found – tropical
South America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia.
 The rainforests of Southeast Asia are believed to be the oldest and among the most
biologically diverse in the world.
E. Endangered Species
 In Malaysia, just like elsewhere the modern world, many species of wildlife are
disappearing fast, and conservation measures are needed to prevent animals and plants
from vanishing for good.
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 The World Conservation Union has stated that 14% of mammals in Malaysia are facing
extinction unless something is done fast to halt their decline in numbers.
 Three large mammal species that fall within this category are the Sumatran Rhinoceros
(Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) and the Malayan
Tapir(Tapirus indicus)..
1. Why Do Animals Become Endangered?

Humans are largely responsible when animals become extinct, endangered or threatened. Here
are some reasons why animals become endangered:
a. Destruction of Habitat due to Man’s Self interest
 Humans destroy precious habitat--the natural environment of a living thing--when they
fill swamps and marshes, dam rivers and cut down trees to build homes, roads and other
developments.
 For many people  conservation takes second place to the welfare of human beings
 do not realise that all animal and plants species have vital roles to play in the
ecosystem.
b. Pollution
 Oil spills, acid rain and water pollution have been devastating for many species of fish
and birds.
 Chemical pollutants may interfere with metabolic functions, causing functional
impairment or death of organisms.
 Reduction in the number of any species within a given food chain  affects other
members of the ecosystem.
c. Illegal and over-hunting

 Many animals are over-hunted because their meat, fur and other parts are very valuable.
 One of the saddest and sickest reasons that animals are hunted is because of the crazy
supernatural belief that parts of their bodies, such as rhino horn, have magic properties.
 Some have resorted to online illegal wildlife trade  the entire trade is mostly carried
out via their mobile phone.
d. Exotic or Alien Species

 When animals or plants arrive into a new habitat from a foreign place they sometimes
introduce diseases that the native species can't fight.
 These "exotic" species can also prey on the native species.
 The introduction of these alien species to a new environment can have major
dissociative effects to an entire ecosystem and be a key driver in species extinctions.
2. Measures that have been taken in Wildlife Conservation:

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a. Operasi Taring:
 Recently this operation was carried out by the Department of Wildlife and National
Parks (Perhilitan) to combat online illegal wildlife trade.
 As of March 2015  managed to arrest several “important players” in the illegal
wildlife trade syndicate and to seize several protected wildlife species..
b. Educational awareness on the practice of responsible environmental stewardship

The public have to be taught that all living things have important roles to play in the
natural world.
Education on environmental conservation has been included in the syllabus taught in
schools and higher institutions of learning.
NGOs like the Malaysian Nature Society pioneer conservation through habitat
conservation and environmental education.
c. Wildlife conservation projects:

 Many individuals and organisations have been stepping forward with ideas and
projects to help conserve the environment and the flora and fauna that depend on
it.
 Example  awareness on the conservation of Malayan Tigers the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) staged a public event in Kuala Lumpur in which protesters
pretended to drop dead, and in so doing, called attention to the threat to the tigers.
d. Collaborative efforts:
 The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has collaborated with the Johor State
government on a project which aims to increase the population of Malaysian Tigers
by as much as 50% over the course of the next decade.
 March 2015: in the ASEAN Regional Forum’s workshop, Malaysia began to set
the groundwork for an Asean push against wildlife trafficking.
e. Promoting eco-tourism:
 The mountains, jungles and beaches of Malaysia have made this area of the world
the most popular destination for tourists in Southern Asia.
 On a financial level  important for Malaysia to look after its natural habitats or
the eco-tourists will have no reason to want to go there.
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CHAPTER 9: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES – POLLUTION, NATURAL DISASTERS

AND SUSTAINABILITY
A. Pollution
 Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause
adverse change.
 Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light.
Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or
naturally occurring contaminants.
 Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution.
1. Factors of Land pollution

a. Large scale farming
 Has caused thousands of acres of forest land to be ploughed up and the habitat of thousands,
maybe even millions of wildlife has been destroyed.
 Many wildlife flees or migrate to escape the dangers and activities of man.
 Cause an imbalance in their ecosystem, making some areas too densely populated with
predators and not enough food to go around.
b. Pesticides used in agriculture
 Many of these pesticides contain non biological ingredients and can cause abnormal
changes / mutation in any wildlife that comes across it.
 Affecting insects to which the pesticides are aimed as well as the animals or human who
feed on the plants.
 Pesticides pollute the earth, making it useless as well as poisonous after all the nutrients
have been sapped out from it.
c. Dumping site
 Malaysia  a dumping site to the millions of tons of rubbish thrown every week due to the
sharp increase in the population.
 Rapid development, population increase and changes in consumption pattern directly (and
indirectly) resulted in the generation of enormous amount of waste, ranging from
biodegradable to synthetic waste.
 This situation has been and will be reducing our environmental capacity to sustain life.
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2. Factors of Air Pollution:

a. Industrial Activities
Many industrial zones have been set up in mostly forestland and uninhabited areas.
Effects:
i. trees have been cut down to accommodate towards the building of large industrial
factories.
ii. oxygen supply is decreased
iii. the factories are spewing out poisonous gases in the course of its production.
b. Increasing vehicles on the road
 Personal ownership of cars  due to the competitive prices of locally made cars and
their affordable financing scheme.
 Effect: an increasing amount of cars on the road, especially in the city areas congested
with human population  excess poisonous gases and heat are emitted daily.
c. Indiscriminate open air burning to get rid of excess rubbish
 Although open air burning is banned by law, the ban has not been heeded by the people
of Malaysia.
 Smoke and heat is released.
 Example: open air burning in plantations in Indonesia has caused haze in its
neighbouring countries, including Malaysia since 2005
3. Factors of Water Pollution:
a. Industrial activities
 Malaysia is fast becoming an industrial country  many of her rivers have become
polluted due to the many wastes that have been poured out into her rivers.
 Example: the paper making industry  requires chemicals, often poisonous in its
production.
 The rivers are used as an outlet for the chemicals to drain away, in turn harming the
waters and the lives that revolve around them.
b. Tourism near the river sites

 Has prompted the construction of hotels and resorts around the area  the forests
surrounding the river areas have been chopped down
 The surrounding soil has no roots to hold on to and soon erode when the rains come.
 The soil runs into the rivers and soon the rivers become murky and shut out all the
sunlight from reaching the aquatic life in the rivers and streams.
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4. Bauxite Mining Issue

The case:
 Malaysia has imposed a three-month ban on bauxite mining beginning 15 January
2016 due to worries over its environmental impact.
 Flimsy regulation and a lack of environmental safeguards on bauxite mining 
environmentalists and residents blamed waste from the extraction process of
bauxite for polluting the waters off eastern Malaysia, in the state of Pahang.
5. The side effects of bauxite mining

a. Air Pollution and Acid Rain
 Dust is a primarily environmental problem caused by Bauxite mining.
 The “red” dust covers very large surrounding areas that affect the habitats,
including residential and agricultural neighborhoods of the Bauxite exploitation site
 very harmful to the growth of the agricultural products and reduces the
productivity of these trees.
b. Water Pollution
 It requires an estimated area equivalent to the bauxite site to dump the red sludge.
 When the toxic red sludge is dumped on the ground:
i) The toxic chemicals will be percolated to the underground water table along with
rainwater
ii) Contaminate the main water source of the area.
c. Fishery Pollution
 The fishing industry will also be damaged due to the poisonous chemicals from the
red sludge
 The red sludge can cause the genetic distortion of fish in the ocean  affecting the
health and lives of the people consuming the fish.
d. Toxicity Affecting Human Lives

 The red sludge puts health and human lives at risk of being lost or harmed due to
air, water and fish pollution.
 The medical statistics prove that prolonged toxicity may cause encephalopathy,
osteoporosis, anemia, and possibly Parkinson diseases.
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B. Natural Disaster
1. Definition:
 A major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth
 Examples include floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other geologic
processes.
2. Effects:
 Loss of life
 Property damage  economic damage
3. Examples of natural disasters in Malaysia:
b. Landslides in Malaysia are regular natural disasters in Malaysia which happen at
the hillsides.
c. Flash flood is a rapid flooding of geomorphic low-lying areas. It may be caused by
heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane or tropical storm
followed by poor drainage systems.
c. Earthquake in Sabah (2015)
 Struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia with a moment magnitude of 6.0 on 5 June
2015, which lasted for 30 seconds. The earthquake was the strongest to affect
Malaysia since 1976.
 18 people died on Mount Kinabalu
4. The effects of severe floods:
a. Financial loss incurred to individuals and businesses

 Household items, furniture, vehicles and other properties are damaged by the flood
water.
 Businesses are affected, therefore bringing in financial loss to businesses
b. Lessons in classes are disrupted in some badly affected flood areas

 Educational materials, tables and chairs are damaged after being soaked in flood
water
 Students would not be able to catch up on their studies according to schedule
if schools have to be closed for a certain period.
c. Victims are easily exposed to various diseases

 Floods has the potential to increase the transmission of diseases, particularly water-
borne illnesses like typhoid fever, cholera, and hepatitis A and the increase of
mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.
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 The most common reason humans and animals get sick during floods is because if
they are stranded, they can quickly lose access to clean drinking water.
d. Vicious cycle of poverty
 Depending on the severity of the flood, some victims suffer heavy damage and
loss of property and items and would need to loan money from friends, relatives
or even the bank to recover from their loss.
 The debts will bring them in the vicious cycle of poverty as on top of financial
loss suffered, flood victims have to be burdened with the payment of debts.
C. Sustainability
 Malaysia’s position is unique in the global map of sustainable development. We

always find ourselves at the centre of attention on sustainability because of the
country’s rich natural endowments which is located in the tropical belt.
 Malaysia hosts a portion of the important tropical rainforest belt. It has a uniquely rich
diversity of flora and fauna with more than 25,000 plant species. Malaysia’s rainforests
are a source of timber and other products — such as rattan and medicinal plants — that
support the livelihoods of numerous communities. They are a reservoir of biodiversity
and they increasingly attract tourists.
 Exceptional species diversity and richness  Malaysia is recognised as one of the
world’s 12 mega-diverse countries where special attention is needed to arrest habitat
loss.
1. Challenges encountered in the Malaysia in the implementation of sustainable

development:
a. Malaysia continues to be bedeviled by the problem of federalism.

 Environmental policy is mainly a federal jurisdiction, but land encompassing
agriculture, forestry, mining and water is a state jurisdiction.
 The power of the states over land has constrained national policy-making.
b. The general apathy among our public about the environment and sustainability. Malaysians
generally lack understanding of the underlying causes of environmental problems.
 In a survey of 6,090 Malaysians, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia (2009: 83–4)
found that only 43 per cent of respondents were aware of the causes of annual events
such as flash flooding and haze.
 The survey also found that awareness of environmental problems did not necessarily
translate directly into positive environmental behavior.
 Continuous environmental education is necessary and should be targeting the schools
in more concrete ways.
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c. The fragmentation in the delivery system of the public service.

 Example: the power over planning permission lies with the local authority as provided
by the Town and Country Planning Act 1976.
 There have been instances where some of the decisions made by local authorities were
not in sync with federal policies.
2. Measures Taken to Achieve Sustainability by the Government
a. Formulation of a national policy statement on green technology.

 The central role of green technology was emphasised by the release of a National
Green Technology Policy
 Overseeing greening in four sectors — energy, buildings, water and waste
management and transportation.
b. Registration of a green building association.

 Malaysia Green Building Confederation (MGBC) was established in 2009 to
support the government’s objective of promoting sustainably built environments.
 The Green Building Index (GBI) had also been launched to enable green grading
and certification of Malaysian buildings.
c. Initiation of a green financing scheme.

 In 2010, a soft loan incentive, the Green Technology Financing Scheme (GTFS),
was launched to create a policy environment that will attract innovators and users
of green technology.
 Granting soft loan to companies (both technology developers and technology users)
in which the government would subsidise 2 per cent of the interest rate.
d. Launching of the Green Townships Framework.

 Outline comprehensive guidelines for new and existing townships in the country to
‘go green’ by incorporating environmentally friendly technologies.
 Putrajaya and Cyberjaya have been chosen to spearhead the project and to become
models of green townships in the country.
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3. The National Policy on Biological Diversity 2015-2025

The National Policy on Biological Diversity seeks to conserve Malaysia's biological diversity and
to ensure that its components are utilised in a sustainable manner for the continued progress and
socio-economic development of the nation.
Goal 1: to empower and harness the  The Federal and State governments will play theleading
commitment of all stakeholders to role, at the same time engaging all other agencies,
join hands including the academia, will also be engaged in this
to conserve our biodiversity mission.
 Civil society is expected to play an even greater role in
biodiversity conservation in the future.
Goal 2: To significantly reduce  Future national and state development policies and
pressure on biodiversity programmes to have biodiversity conservation embedded
in them.
 The need to embrace sustainable consumption and
production.
Goal 3: To safeguard our key  Threatened plant and animal species, especially those
ecosystems, species and genetic that are in immediate danger of extinction, require
diversity species management plans as the basis for their
conservation.
 To conserve viable, representative examples of all of its
natural habitats.
Goal 4: To ensure that benefits  The goal is to work towards institutionalising a national
arising from the regulatory framework.
utilisation of biological diversity  To work with relevant stakeholders to protect the
are shared in a fair and knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous
equitable manner peoples and local communities.
Goal 5: To improve the capacity,  Biodiversity is our shared heritage - it is also our shared
knowledge and skills of all responsibility.
stakeholders to conserve  All stakeholders should have the appropriate level of
biodiversity knowledge about biodiversity so that everyone can better
understand the threats, as well as being able to better
plan and design environmental interventions.
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CHAPTER 10: ECONOMIC ISSUES -- INCOME INEQUALITY

A. Introduction
 Income inequality metrics or income distribution metrics are used by social scientists to
measure the distribution of income, and economic inequality among the participants in a
particular economy, such as that of a specific country or of the world in general.
 Income distribution has always been a central concern of economic theory and economic
policy. Modern economists have also addressed this issue, but have been more concerned
with the distribution of income across individuals and households.
 The Gini coefficient (also known as the Gini index or Gini ratio) is a measure of statistical
dispersion intended to represent the income distribution of a nation's residents. Gini
coefficient is commonly used as a measure of inequality of income or wealth. The range of
the Gini index is between 0 and 1 (0% and 100%), where 0 indicates perfect equality and
1 (100%) indicates maximum inequality.
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B. The Positive
Effects of
Income
Inequality
1. Growing opportunity
 The lower income earner group would be more driven to advance themselves, to
improve their standard of living, through education or other types of skills learning.
 Income inequality provides growing opportunities to entrepreneurs as it encourages
them to take risks and set up new business.
 Without the prospect of substantial rewards  little incentive to take risks and invest
in new business opportunities
2. Improved standard of living in less developed areas

 When the productivity level of businesses or any other industries is higher due to
positively driven workers, businesses or any other industries will grow.
 To accommodate the growth of the business, some companies may set up new branches
in less developed areas and thereby provide job opportunities to the people there.
 When there is increased economic activities in the less developed areas, this in turn will
encourage the growth of other small-medium enterprises (SME), eg grocery shops,
book stores etc.
3. Rewarding the deserving ones
 Someone works harder or has better skills or talents  receives a higher wage.
 The promise of a higher wage is essential to encourage extra effort or exemplary
performance at work so that the rewarded ones are continually motivated to pursue
excellence in service and productivity.
 Rewarding hard work and excellent performance  a driving factor to other workers
to avoid passivity or poor work ethics at work.
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4. Trickle Down Effect to Others

 If an entrepreneur successfully sets up a business  create jobs and provide incomes
for other workers.
 Income inequality promotes professionalism, innovation and creativity at work.
 There will then be a boost to productivity leading to a higher national output – so in the
end, everyone can benefit.
C. The Negative Effects of Income Inequality
1. Economic growth
 There is evidence from a broad panel of recent academic studies shows that there is a
nonlinear relation between income inequality and the rate of growth and investment.
 Very high inequality slows growth
 Moderate inequality encourages growth.
2. Education
 Greater income inequality and greater poverty inhibit access to schooling and
investment in human capital.
 High income inequality  the poor would live in a vicious cycle of poverty as the
poverty stricken parents would be too hard pressed financially to invest in the education
of their children.
 Moreover, some parents may have to use up the time meant for study revision, by
asking their children to help out in adult job tasks (eg helping to man the stall, plantation
work etc). Therefore, the children may end up neglecting their studies.
3. Health and life-span

 Richer, better-educated people live longer than poorer, less-educated people  more
able to understand and use health information and have better access to healthier food
and better healthcare system.
 The poorer, less-educated people suffer from malnutrition, poorer living conditions that
expose them to more diseases.
4. Political Instability
 High inequality threatens a country’s political stability because more people are
dissatisfied with their economic status
 Harder to reach political consensus among population groups with higher and lower
incomes. Effects of political instability:
i. increases the risks of investing in a country and so significantly undermines its
development potential.
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ii. failure to build national consensus

iii. may result in violent conflicts
5. Social Ills
 Example: mental illness, violence, imprisonment, lack of trust, teenage births, obesity,
drug abuse, and poor educational performance of schoolchildren
 High inequality reverberates through societies on multiple levels, correlating with, if
not causing, more crime, less happiness, poorer mental and physical health, less racial
harmony, and less civic and political participation.
6. Sustainable Development
 High inequality limits the use of important market instruments such as changes in prices
and fines.
 Example: higher rates for electricity and hot water might promote energy efficiency,but
in the face of serious inequality, governments introducing even slightly higher rates
risk causing extreme deprivation among the poorest citizens
7. Ethnic Relations
 High income inequality can lead to ethnic tensions that may lead to larger issues of
racial conflicts and eruption of riots between/among ethnics in the country.
 Strained ethnic relations that eventually led to a national crisis have taken place in
Germany, Indonesia and Malaysia.
D. Income Inequality in Malaysia
1. 1957-1970
a. After independence in 1957, the ruling Alliance government continued the laissez-faire
economy policy of the colonial government. The laissez-faire approach resulted in rapid
economic growth.
b. From 1957 to 1970, income inequality became worse among the people. The rich appeared
to benefit the most from the rapid economic growth at the expense of the poor (middle and
lower-income groups):
 About half the population was living under poverty; The poor amongst the Indian
population fared the worst
 Active government intervention in the economy to help the Malay was not
implemented  the majority of Malay still in poverty.
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 Significant imbalance in terms of wealth (equity) ownership between the Malays and
the Chinese. By 1970 the Malays owned only about 2.4% of the ownership of share
capital, while the Chinese owned 27.2%.
 Inter-ethnic inequality in terms of employment and occupation, which reflected the
differences in skills, education and experiences of each ethnic group.
i. By 1970, about 2/3 of those employed in primary sector were Malays. Three-
quarter of the Malays were agricultural workers mostly involved in small,
subsistence farming and fishing activities.
ii. The non-Malays on the other hand, were largely employed in the secondary and
tertiary sectors. On the other hand, the non-Malays were associated with mining,
manufacturing and construction, a high productivity sector. The professional,
technical, sales and managerial jobs were predominantly held by Chinese.
2. In the 1970 till 1990’s
a. The overall inequality rose between 1970 and 1976 and then fell at the end of the NEP
period.
b. Before the 1990s, the inequality improved tremendously due to commendable government
policies that include the promotion of export-oriented industrialisation, education, and
training, and the restructuring of equity ownership and assistance in asset accumulation.
c. However, post-1990s, there is little change in inequality due to the difference in the growth
rates of incomes of the rural and urban areas, inflows of migrant workers, and impediments
to the process of internal migration.
3. Entering the new millennium
Median Monthly Household

a. The median monthly household income for Malaysians in 2016 increased by 6.6 per cent
annually to RM5,228 from RM4,585 in 2014. For the mean monthly household income for
Malaysians, it increased 6.2 per cent per annum to RM6,958 in 2016 from RM6,141 in
2014, it said. (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019)
b. Median monthly household income in the urban area increased 6.4 per cent per annum
from RM5,156 in 2014 to RM5,860 in 2016. Simultaneously, the median monthly
household income in rural area also increased at 5.3 per cent per annum from RM3,123
(2014) to RM3,471 (2016).
c. Furthermore, the report from Department of Statistics Malaysia: Report of Household
Income and Basic Amenities Survey 2016 also stated that Malaysia’s Gini Coefficient (an
index that measures the degree of inequality in income distribution) decreased from 0.401
in 2014 to 0.399 in 2016. Despite the improvement, Malaysia's Gini index has remained
stagnant since the late 1980s.
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Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) under Pakatan Harapan:Priority areas
and Strategies to reduce income inequality
The Purpose: to raise the income and purchasing power of B40 households as well as reduce
overall income inequalities.
 income generating programmes as well as the provision of basic needs will continue to be
given to the poor and low-income households.
 Efforts also will be intensified to enhance the capacity and capability of B40 households
for better employability and productivity as well as to promote entrepreneurship.
 The key initiatives include:
 enhancing access to quality education and skills training at all levels,
 providing comprehensive and integrated entrepreneurial development programmes
 promoting the adoption of modern technology and best practices.
 Key measures include:

 enhancing the employability of the bumiputra in high-paying jobs,
 raising bumiputra effective control and sustainable corporate ownership,
 developing resilient SMEs (small and medium enterprises) that are capable of
penetrating the global market.
 Meanwhile, special programmes will be implemented for the Orang Asli, Anak Negeri
Sabah and Bumiputra Sarawak in the rural and remote areas as well as selected groups of
the Indian and Chinese communities to develop their economic potential and eradicate
poverty.
 The wellbeing of the community will be improved by addressing the needs of specific
target groups, namely children, youth, women, elderly, persons with disabilities (PWDs)
and family. Greater focus will be given to uphold the needs and interest as well as nurture
the potential of children.
 Accessibility to leadership and skills training, as well as employment and entrepreneurship

opportunities for the youth will also be enhanced.
 The provision of integrated support systems and development of a conducive environment

will be improved in increasing participation of women, elderly and PWDs (People with
disabilities in economic and community activities as well as ensuring the wellbeing and
resilience of the family.
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 Efforts will be focused to increase purchasing power, provide quality and affordable
housing, enhance the healthcare delivery system, make the nation safer and secure as well
as promote noble values and an active lifestyle.
 Enforcement to curb supply and price manipulations will be intensified, while more
avenues offering goods and services at affordable prices will be provided.
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CHAPTER 11: ECONOMIC ISSUES -- POVERTY ERADICATION
A. Introduction
The Poverty Line Income (PLI) measures the capacity of households to meet the minimum
requirement for food and non-food consumption.
Poverty alleviation has always been a concern in Malaysia's development strategies. Malaysia has
been applauded by international organizations for its success stories in poverty eradication. The
incident of poverty had decreased from 1950 till 2012:
 1970 = 49.3 percent
 2012 = 1.7 percent
The unique socio cultural of Malaysia has led to the dimensions of poverty being investigated
based on ethnic groups and strata.
Bumiputeras, were the group with the highest poverty incidence, with 64.8 percent in 1970 but
down to 2.2 percent in 2012 (EPU, 2013). The other two major ethnic groups, the Chinese and
Indians had a low and moderate poverty incidence with 26 and 39.2 percent in 1970 to 0.3 and 1.8
percent in 2012 (EPU, 2013).
Poverty incidence was also higher in the rural area as compared to the urban area with 58.7 and
21.3 percent in 1970 to 3.4 and 1.0 percent in 2012. Despite the remarkable dropped in poverty
incidence there were still some pockets of poverty and many of them were elderly.
B. Challenges for Poverty Reduction in Malaysia
The following are important issues which need attention as the country faces a new category of
new poor:
1. Migrants Workers’ Issues
 Contraction in employment opportunities drastically affects the urban poor, the near poor,
migrant workers.
 A high prevalence of unemployment and retrenchment are also acknowledged by relevant
authorities.
 Huge demand for knowledgeable and skilled human resources in capital intensive and high
value added activities.
2. Ethnic Issues
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 The educational achievements of Bumiputera and rural students in disciplines which are
very much fundamental to the economy was considerably lower than the urban and non
Bumiputera students.
 If the policy makers do not create promising arrangements  lead to fragmentations,
factions  worsen the turmoil between ethnic groups.
 Therefore, the National Economic Plan 2010 (NEP) poverty eradication mainly focussed
on Malay rural population, and the policies and initiatives turned ethnically motivated.
3. Rural and Urban Poor
 Poverty has constantly been identified as a problem confined to rural.

 Rural and urban migration  leads to a vast proportion of new poor family units settling
in urban settings
 Innovative policies and strategies should be implemented with strong commitment in
programs planning and inner city development
4. Poverty Line Income Issues
 Poverty Line Income Issues are constantly discussed by absolute and relative terms
 Views on relative poverty have been changing over time.
 An ambiguity in the redefinition of relative poverty  makes comparisons difficult
between different periods of time.
C. Urban Poverty
Although urban poverty in Malaysia is not a serious phenomenon, it is far harsher and extreme
than rural poverty.
What could be the factors causing urban poverty?
1. Low levels of education or skills
 The migration of low-income groups who are less educated and lacking in skills from rural
into urban areas to seek for greener pasture.
 Higher wages  but higher cost of living in urban areas  causing their purchasing power
to decrease.
 A monthly salary of RM1,200 to RM1,500, which is about average for this category of
workers, is not sufficient, given that house rentals alone cost about half of these amounts
in the cities
2. Lack of employment opportunities

 For jobs that require low skills such as in the service, manufacturing or construction
industries, employers prefer to hire foreign workers due to lower wages.
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 Therefore, some migrated rural people may end up with without any fixed job or fixed
income if they struggle to make ends meet by doing odd jobs.
3. Low wages but large family size

 Those that migrated from rural areas may not have been educated about proper family
planning  the family to have quite a number of children.
 Most of the time, the father is the sole breadwinner as the mother needs to be at home to
take care of the children, especially when the children are still young.
 Therefore, the family become more hard-pressed financially due to the increased needs in
the family, yet there is only one source of income.
4. The neglected elderly

 Without labor income after retirement, the elderly ones are more susceptible to living in
poverty compared to the non-elderly.
 Some of the elderly ones do not have any family support during their golden years.
 Elderly ones with children  some are neglected because their children may be too
preoccupied with their own materialistic needs.
D. Children Living In Poverty
 A new study released on 26 February 2018 by UNICEF reveals higher levels of poverty and
malnutrition among children living in low-cost housing in Kuala Lumpur, compared to the
national average.
 The reports, Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost
flats in Kuala Lumpur highlights how poverty impairs the opportunities of children living in
low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur to early education and makes them more vulnerable to
malnourishment, with potentially damaging impact on their cognitive development.
 While the national poverty rate is less than 1 per cent , and almost eradicated in Kuala
Lumpur, the report indicates a 100 per cent rate of relative poverty amongst children living
in low-cost flats in the nation’s capital.
Some of the main findings of this study include:
 Almost all children (99.7 per cent) in low-cost flats live in relative poverty and 7 per cent in
absolute poverty.
 About 15 per cent of children below the age of five are underweight, almost two times higher
compared to the KL average (8 per cent).
 About 22 per cent of the children are stunted, two times higher than the KL average.
 About 23 per cent of the children are either overweight or obese, six times higher compared
to the KL average (4%).
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 While almost all of the children aged 7 to 17 are in school, only 50% of 5 to 6 year olds attend
pre-school compared to 92% of national enrolment in 2015.
 About 1 in 3 households surveyed has no reading materials, for children aged below 18.
 About 4 in 10 households have no toys for the children aged below 5.
“Children in low-cost flats live in Kuala Lumpur, within easy proximity to amenities; yet, have
less access to nutritious food, don’t go to pre-school, live in perceived unsafe areas and have less
opportunity to learn and play than most other children in Malaysia. The reality is: poor children
are among us but they often remain unseen. It’s clearly a data blind spot,” added Marianne Clark-
Hattingh, UNICEF representative in Malaysia.
 The study is the result of a survey of almost 1,000 households who have children below 18
years of age in their care and are residing in Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) low-cost
housing.
 The study sheds light on the living conditions of over 2,000 children residing in low-cost
housing in the capital and the impact on their well-being.
To accelerate efforts to address child poverty in urban areas, the report recommends:
1) Revisiting poverty indicators, namely the Poverty Line Income (PLI) and using
multidimensional indicators that include the nutritional status of children and relativeincome
poverty
2) Providing universal child care grants.
3) Promoting exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months
4) Implementing policies that facilitate access to nutritious food, such as taxes on sugar-
sweetened beverages (SSB), regulation of food sold in and around schools;
 These recommendations support and contributed to Malaysia’s aspiration to become a top

20 nation as expressed under the 2050 National Transformation (TN50) and Agenda 2030,
which is the roadmap for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
in Malaysia.
 In line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that Malaysia ratified in 1995,
the implementation of these measures will also help Malaysia uphold its commitment to the
protection and welfare of all children.
The purpose: to ensure that every child in Malaysia has an equal start in life is by providing a
comprehensive social protection floor, so that no child will be left behind.
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E. Measures taken by the Government to eradicate poverty
Since 1971 the government has implemented various policies to eradicate poverty and restructure
society.
Focus 
 Affirmative actions based on ethnicity
 Assessment of the efficiency of government on rural development
 Education and employment.
For rural development, the government's measures encompass two components:
 Integrated agricultural development programmes (IADPs)
 Regional development encompassing new land development and land consolidation and
rehabilitation.
1. Economic Policies
Two main economic policies initiated by the government are:
a) New Economic Policy (NEP)

 It is the government initiated project to alleviate poverty among the various ethnic groups
through numerous strategies and programmes.
 The period of British rule left behind some remnant effects on our society and economy.
The economic system and the geographical location of where we lived and worked were
divided along racial lines.
The Malays  in the traditional agricultural sector where per capita income was the lowest
and poverty was the highest.
The Chinese  in mining, manufacturing and construction where per capita income was
recorded as much higher.
The Indians  labourers in estates and mining.
 The rationale of introducing NEP in June 1970
 Racial riots in 1969  due to socioeconomical imbalance.
 Problem of poverty and the economic differences along racial lines were detrimental
to social stability and national unity and had to be addressed immediately.
 The NEP was formulated as a concerted effort to reduce poverty and restructure the
economy.
 The NEP was introduced to attain national unity via the dual aims of:
 Eradicating poverty among all Malaysians
 Restructuring Malaysian society so that the identification of race with economic
functions and geographical location is reduced and eventually eliminated.
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b) (LIH) NKRA (2010-2015)
 The Raising Living Standards of Low-Income Households National Key Results Area (LIH
NKRA) has been a core part of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) since 2010.
The LIH NKRA initiatives in GTP 1.0 (2010-2012)
 Focus: implementing initiatives that drove straight into the heart of poverty. One of the key
programmes that led to this achievement was the 1Azam.
 The implementation of 1 Azam:
Objective: Strike a balance between providing direct aid and economic opportunities to
its participants to ensure that they become financially self-sustaining
Strategies: Provide economic activity programmes to guide the poor and extreme poor
on ways to increase their income and break away from the vicious cycle of poverty.
Four areas of assistance:
 Job placements (Azam Kerja)
 Creating small business enterprises (Azam Niaga)
 Creating small service providers (Azam Khidmat)
 Creating opportunities in agriculture (Azam Tani)
 Achievement: Extreme poverty has reduced to 1.7 per cent in 2012. Pockets of extreme poor
that continue to exist are made up of indigenous communities and specific target groups.
The LIH NKRA initiatives in GTP 2.0 (2013-2015)
Target group: The LIH NKRA initiatives in GTP 2.0 (2013-2015) are designed to reach out to
these groups (indigenous communities and specific target groups), in particular those who have
yet to receive assistance from the government.
Objective: economic empowerment of individuals and communities through basic facilities
and the right environment.
Strategies: greater cooperation from NGOs and corporations to leverage on the expertise of
these groups in delivering services and aid. Corporations who intend to give back to society
can do so through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.
1. The rural development strategies

Among some of the strategies are as follow:
a) Agriculture development:
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 Implemented as IADP's (Integrated Agricultural Development Programmes) to

improve productivity and incomes of farmers.
 Involves a package of physical and economic infrastructures, social amenities,
technology, imputs and agricultural support services.
b) Regional and Land Development
 Land scale regional and land development projects involving resettlement of
landless or marginal farmers into land schemes.
 Involves a package of physical, economic and social infrastructures and amenities.
c) Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation
 Involves consolidation and rehabilitation of uneconomic holdings in existing
agricultural and rural areas.
 Aim: to improve the productivity and income of farmers.
d) Agricultural Support Services and Subsidies
 The provision of institutional and agricultural support services such as extension,
training, input and price subsidies, research, marketing, etc.
 Aim: to reduce real costs of production and increase efficiency in production.
e) Rural Industrialisation
 Involves the expansion of agricultural resources-based industries as well as rural
handicrafts.
 Aim: to create employment and supplement rural incomes.
2. Establishment of Government Agencies to assist rural farmers and planters.
i) RISDA (Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority)

 To overcome problems and to eradicate poverty among rubber smallholders
 Aids rubber replanting, provides seedlings and fertilizer to the smallholders.
 A programme under RISDA is called as SEPENTAS (Skim Penggalak Tanam Semula) 
provided interest free loans to households with less than two hectares of rubber.
ii) FELDA
 To overcome the problem of landlessness and to reduce chronic rural poverty.
 FELDA also provides technical, processing, marketing and other forms of support.
 FELDA schemes were equipped with roads, water supply, irrigation and drainage works,
transportation, clinics, schools and other basic amenities.
iii) Padi and Rice Marketing Board (PRMB), National Rice Board (LPN), Federal Agriculture
Marketing Authority (FAMA) and Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA)
 To serve and assist rice farmers in the country.
 Among the assistance are to provide irrigation scheme, training, introduce new
technologies
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 Also provides guaranteed minimum price for the purchase price of the paddy, subsidy
scheme like fertilizer, seeds, credits, and pesticides.
3. Education and employment.
The objective of educational programmes are:
a. Develop appropriate education and training programmes to raise the supply of trained
manpower and direct incentives as well as administrative measures to boost their
participation in the modern sector.
b. Create more Bumiputera professionals.
c. Increase educated rural labor into higher income occupations in the urban industrial and
service sectors  by implementing university enrolment quotas, scholarships and other
educational subsidies.
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CHAPTER 12 : ECONOMIC ISSUES -- RISING COST OF LIVING AND RAISING THE

LIVING STANDARD
A. RISING COST OF LIVING
1980s and 1990s -- a steady growth rate of more than 7% on average in Malaysia, with a relatively
low inflation rate. Since 2011 -- inflation has been steadily rising year on year.
Malaysian households’ earning:
 60% of Malaysian households earn less than RM6000 monthly.
 80% of households earning an average income of RM2500.
Economists are predicting that 2015 will be a difficult year for Malaysians.
 Payment of GST (Goods & Service Tax) on goods and services purchased. GST is proposed
to replace the current consumption tax i.e. the sales tax and service tax (SST). The introduction
of GST is part of the Government's tax reform programmed to enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of the existing taxation system.
 However, due to the rising cost of living, the new government – Pakatan Harapan had scrapped
GST and re-introduced the Sales and Services Tax (SST) that came into effect since 1
September 2018.
 Governed by the Sales Tax Act 2018 and the Service Tax Act 2018, the Sales Tax was a federal
consumption tax imposed on a wide variety of goods while the Service Tax was levied on
customers who consumed certain taxable services. Special designated areas that include
Langkawi Island, Tioman Island and Labuan Island are exempted from the Service Tax.
1. Factors that have contributed to the rising cost of living:
a. Climate change, unpredictable weather conditions
 Droughts and floods: bad crops and shortage of essential produce such as wheat and sugar.
Example: countries like Russia, Canada, and Australia, major exporters of wheat, had less to
export, which drives up the global price of the commodity.
 Effect: When these exporting countries announce their lower production levels, and
consequently lower exports, it also causes panic buying in the market, forcing the prices up
further.
b. The volatility of fuel prices
 Since the last quarter of 2014, petrol price had been plunging down  causing the Malaysian
ringgit weakened in comparison to US Dollar.
Updated May 2019

114
 The Malaysian ringgit fell by the most among emerging Asian peers on fears that sliding oil
prices may hurt the country's current account surplus and widen the fiscal deficit as it is a net
oil exporter.
c. Subsidy rationalisation measures
 In its bid to reduce its debts, the previous Barisan Nasional government has taken aggressive
subsidy rationalisation measures, including the slashing of fuel and sugar subsidies.
 Effect: price hike across many household items as fuel and sugar are essential commodities
used in most household items.
 Due to huge debt left by previous BN government, Pakatan Harapan has scaled down subsidies
for petrol and electricity and made more targeted.
 In fact, it is planning to spend a total of RM22.27 billion on subsidies and social assistance in
2019, down 20.6% from RM28.13 billion this year. Standard Chartered Global Research
pointed out that this had been the lowest absolute amount of subsidies in almost a decade (see
chart).
d. Saddled by loans
 In recent years, the prices of houses have increased.

 With no public transport in many towns, 93% of households own cars mostly purchased
through easy credit schemes.
Updated May 2019

115
 Also saddled with loans for purchasing durable consumer goods, and paying utility bills and
internet bills.
e. GST and concerns of further price hike
 A major concern about the implementation of the GST is the resulting price effects on
consumers.
 The prices of other categories of goods and services in the CPI basket such as education, health,
recreation and culture, food and non-alcoholic beverages and food away from home are
expected to increase slightly between 0.67% to 2.21%.
 Most Malaysians believe that the goods and services tax (GST) correlates with the rise in the
cost of living, according to surveys conducted by think tank Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE).
 In a series of surveys called “Survey Malaysia 2017: Mood of the Nation,” a total of 4,468
respondents were asked if they agreed with this statement: “GST is the reason for the rise in
the cost of living.” Of the total, 82 percent of the respondents agreed while eight percent
disagreed.
f. The Price of Real Estate
 A rapid increase in property prices over the past four to five years with the excessive
speculation in the property market driving property prices to an artificially high level.
 Preponderance towards luxury properties like terrace houses, semi-detached homes and
bungalows. Housing developers from the private sector focus more on bigger and comfortable
homes, using better quality construction materials.
 Information from the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia showed that
the price of construction materials had increased with the implementation of the Goods and
Services Tax (GST). Also, the steel price increased by 60 per cent from RM1,700 per tonne
to RM2,800 per tonne after the introduction of a new levy.
g. Excessive Profiteering of Some Merchants
 Some merchants have chosen to put personal gains above the suffering of their own kinsmen
by committing the sin of opportunistic profiteering.
 Although there has an increase in the price of petrol and sugar due to the removal of subsidies
and although GST has been implemented since April 2015, the price hike has been above the
estimated percentage of increase due to some merchants resorting to excessive profiteering
(increasing prices of goods and services to gain extra profit).
h. Low wage
Updated May 2019

116
 According to Bank Negara Malaysia Annual Report 2017, Malaysia risks being trapped in
a low-wage, low-skill conundrum.
 Current wages in Malaysia may be too low to attract local workers especially in the 3D
jobs.
2. Weakening of Ringgit
 Malaysia’s ringgit has slid past 4.0 against US dollar in the worst currency crash seen for
the first time in 17 years.
 Heightened by worsening global outlook, devaluation of China’s yuan, political scandals
linked to the Prime Minister, plus the falling crude oil prices, the four horsemen of the
apocalypse have assembled for the ringgit’s troubled days ahead.
 The main culprit however, is the decreasing oil prices which destabilises the oil-exporting
economy. The continuous ringgit slide is alarmingly disquieting.
 How would the decrease of ringgit’s value affect you as a consumer? Are we the generation
bound to experience the comeback of ringgit meltdown during 1997-1998 Asian financial
crisis?
a. Negative effects of weakening Ringgit
1. Increased price of goods and services

 If you have mixed feelings about Goods and Service Tax (GST) imposed on the things you
love, a weak ringgit will worsen your buying mood.
 Prepare to tighten your belt as the increased cost of imported goods will be reflected on the
price tags.
 The cost of imported components utilised by domestic producers will also contribute to the
impact. This results in us expressing great disdain over the price hike of imported fresh goods
(vegetables, fruits, etc.)
2. Inflation
 When the ringgit experiences depreciation, the cost of imported goods will increase as
mentioned earlier.
 The use of raw materials from foreign markets will also contribute to inflation caused by
imported goods.
 As a result, domestic producers are forced to sell their goods on a higher price to sustain the
increased cost of operation.
Updated May 2019

117
 For instance, automobile companies which utilise imported components in their vehicles would
feel the impact of weak ringgit and market the finished vehicles on a higher price to the end
consumers.
3. Costly oversea travel

 The poor exchange rate for ringgit equates to a lesser value it carries when you convert it to
foreign currencies.
 You should revise your plans to study or travel abroad as the expenses in your budget is
expected to increase on a consequential proportion. Until the Malaysia’s ringgit has fully
recovered, join the Cuti-cuti Malaysia bandwagon for cheaper travel.
4. Reduced purchasing power

 When the price of goods and services increase, but your income is not, what do you have left?
Answer: A diminished purchasing power.
 You have likely felt the pinch after the implementation of GST. With the weakening of the
ringgit, the prices of goods and services are expected to increase further.
 The increased cost of goods does not permit you to spend freely like you used to. As a result,
there are lesser things you can buy with your money as your purchasing power is reduced.
5. Prolonged difficult times ahead

 The ringgit’s depreciation is mostly caused by external factors. Followed by the strengthening
of US dollar, ringgit is unlikely to fare well against greenback in the present.
 The falling crude oil prices are beyond the control of the Malaysian government as well. If the
plummeting value of ringgit persists and threaten the economy, we may expect the government
to impose capital controls to protect the economy.
 The 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis forced the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to
fix the ringgit at 3.80 to the dollar as a form of capital control to prevent the country’s economy
from going downhill.
b) Positive effects of weakening Ringgit
1. Exports growth
 A weak ringgit can act as a stimulus to the Malaysian businesses as it has now become more
affordable for foreign markets to purchase Malaysian-made goods.
 The increment of demand for the domestic products will likely generate more profits for the
certain businesses such as the manufacturing sector.
 Export-oriented businesses which market its goods to international markets will find the weak
ringgit beneficial as they enjoy higher sales volume.
 As a whole, the increment in exports for some economic sectors will be observed.
Updated May 2019

118
2. Tourism boost
 Foreign tourists will benefit from a weaker ringgit as it grants them a higher purchasing power
to splurge like a shopaholic.
 Singaporeans who enjoy a quick getaway to Malaysia would likely be the prime benefiters as
ringgit falls to an all-time new low trading around 2.90 to the Sing dollar. If you are a foreigner
reading this, there is no better time to visit Malaysia as the weak ringgit gives you more value
for your money.
3. Increased foreign investment
 The falling ringgit makes investment in Malaysia more welcoming. As such, investors will
take advantage of this and strike while the iron is hot.
 A weak ringgit will encourage foreigners to invest through foreign direct investment (FDI) and
foreign investment portfolio as it is cheaper to operate and buy stocks and bonds in Malaysia
respectively.
 While the effects of capital flow generated by foreign investment portfolio is not immediately
felt by the citizens, FDI can generate employment opportunities in the market as multinational
companies build new facilities to conduct businesses in the country.
The depreciation of ringgit is boon and bane for the country. Currency fluctuation is a naturally
occurring process of the economy. In a state of perpetual flux, the economy is not immune to
global trends triggered by a chain of events elsewhere in the world. Our country is not immune to
this phenomenon; however, this is a challenge we can overcome. While surely things will get better
in time, it may be wise to assess your current financial security.
B. RAISING THE LIVING STANDARD
1. 1 Malaysia People’s Aid (BRIM)

 The government has allocated RM6.8 billion for 2018 BRIM which will benefit 7.2 million
recipients.
 Single individuals with an income of less than RM 2000 are entitled to RM450 as welfare
support money. Households with an income of RM 3001 to RM 4000 are entitled to
RM 900 in financial aid.RM 1200 aid will be given to families with a household income
of less than RM 3000.
 The 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) programme, which was introduced during the Barisan
Nasional administration, is replaced by the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) in January 2019,
aimed at easing the burden of the Bottom 40 (B40) household income group.
 It is estimated that 4.1 million households will continue to receive financial assistance from
the government with an allocation of RM5 billion.
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119
 Based on the BSH tabled by Finance Minister, Mr Lim Guan Eng in Budget 2019,
households with monthly income of RM2,000 and below will receive a grant of RM1,000,
households with monthly income from RM2,001 to RM3,000 and below will receive a total
of RM750 while households with monthly income from RM3,001 to RM4,000 will receive
a total of RM500.
 The government also introduces an additional BSH of RM120 for each child aged 18 years
and below to be limited to four people, except those with disabilities or handicapped, are
not limited to their age.
 According to Mr Lim Guan Eng, the government can provide better assistance to the B40
group under BSH as opposed to the BR1M programme.
 For example, households with monthly income of RM2,000 and below and having four
kids aged 18 years and below could receive a total of RM1,480. This represents 23.33%
more than the latest BR1M programme, which paying RM1,200 for the same targeted
group.
 The Finance Ministry has also reinstated the cash aid for single, low-income individuals in
Malaysia and therefore, they can now be eligible for RM100 under the Cost of Living Aid
(BSH) scheme, as announced by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng on 19 February.
 This cash aid will be distributed to more than three million singles by the end of March
2019, provided they are registered in the BSH Database. In total, this aid will sum up to
RM300 million in public funds.
2. Government Aid for Eligible School Students and Students at Institutions Of Higher
Learning
 Beginning January 2019, the government will provide preliminary school aid of RM100
each to Year One to Form Five students from households with income of RM3,000 and
below.
 Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the financial aid was intended to help parents and
guardians with their new year expenses.
 This special allocation of RM328 million would be channelled to the Education Ministry
to be distributed to schools from January 2019,
 Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) also announced aid of RM100 each for
Malaysian students at institutions of higher learning (IPT).
 The aid, to be disbursed end of next month using existing mechanism, namely the Bank
Rakyat debit card, is expected to benefit 1.2 million students and involve an allocation of
RM120 million.
 The details on the implementation of Higher Education Student Aid (BPPT) 2019 and the
criteria on the eligibility of students to receive the aid would be announced by MOE soon.
Updated May 2019

120
3. 1Malaysia Clinics (K1M)

 Since 2010, Malaysians are able to enjoy medical treatments at just RM1 per visit. The
clinics, with over 50 outlets nationwide, are strategically located in various housing areas.
 This initiative provides immediate healthcare to all Malaysians who are in need of basic
medical services.
 With qualified nurses and medical assistants with at least five years of experience, the
clinics are able to carry out minor surgeries, stitching, wound cleaning and dressing as well
as treating illnesses like cough, flu, fever, diabetes and hypertension.
 Senior citizens are exempted from any payment.
 K1M, which operates from 10am to 10pm daily, including on public holidays and
weekends, with citizens charged RM1 for each visit and free for senior citizens, provides
convenience to the people, especially the less fortunate and those staying far from the city.
 However, the Health Ministry has decided to close 34 out of 347 1Malaysia Clinics (K1M)
after taking into account that it will have a minimal impact on the local communities
concerned
 On 15 December 2018, Minister of Health, Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that the
government was very concerned about the welfare of the lower income group (B40), and
therefore, K1Ms established at public housing projects (PPR) were not closed despite
having fewer than 40 patients a day.
 Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said said the average number of patients was among the
criteria used to decide on the closure of a K1M, as well as taking into account the presence
of other government health facilities within 5km of the said clinic.
 He added that although the ministry had set the criteria, each K1M selected for closure will
also be exclusively evaluated to ensure it is the right decision.
4. 1 Malaysia People’s Shop 2.0 (Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia 2.0)

 Malaysians can purchase their daily necessities at cheaper prices compared to market prices.
 Four essential household items – flour, rice, cooking oil and sugar that is also being offer
on store and it will be sold at a more competitive price at the KR1M 2.0
 In August 2018, according to Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk
Seri Saifuddin Nasution bin Ismail, 51 KR1M 2.0 are still operating nationwide.
5. Government implemented the Raising Living Standards of Low Income Households

NKRA (LIH NKRA), which aims to help the needy segment of Malaysian society.
 The goals of the LIH NKRA are twofold: first, to provide immediate help for those most
in need, and second, to ensure that the poor and extreme poor develop are given the right
support to become financially self-sufficient.
Updated May 2019

121
 The NKRA also looks to address specific ethnic groups, which are caught in the cycle of
poverty, thereby suffering from consequences such as malnutrition and inadequate
education.
 The flagship initiative of the GTP 1.0, the 1AZAM (Akhiri Zaman Miskin) programme,
has seen significant results, but also yielded important lessons on the delivery of aid that
will be incorporated in the GTP 2.0.
6. Minimum wage of RM1100 per month

 Though it may appear to be insignificant for now, the gradual hike will and benefit some
700,000 employees and translate into greater consumer spending
 Those who do not pay the basic salary amount to their employees as stipulated in the
Minimum Wages Order (Amendment) 2018 would be committing an offence and if found
guilty, could be fined not more than RM10,000 for each employee
Updated May 2019

122
CHAPTER 13 : ECONOMIC ISSUES -- BRAIN DRAIN
A. Définition
 It is also called as human capital flight.
 Brain drain denotes the departure of educated or professional people from one country,
economic sector, or field for another, usually for better pay or living conditions.
 More practically, brain drain simply refers to the migration of highly-skilled workers as
measured by their level of educational attainment, typically at the level of Bachelor’s
degree or higher.
B. Brain Drain in Malaysia.

1. Being one of the countries most affected by brain drain.
 Not only being incapable of delivering the required talent, but also in being unable to
retain the current local talent or attract foreign ones.
 Malaysia aims to escape the second-world chasm and join the league of high-income
nations by 2020, but the biggest deterrent is the lack of skilled human capital.
2. Estimated statistics
 Since it is extremely difficult to keep track of the current Malaysian diaspora which is
so widely spread out, the World Bank used previous data and took into account the
most recent trends, and from it estimated that at least 800,000 and up to 1.4 million
Malaysians were currently living overseas.
 Among the diaspora, more than a third of them are over 25 years of age.
3. Gloomy picture of the Malaysian brain drain situation
 Brain drain has grown rapidly but is likely to intensify  further eroding the country’s
already narrow skills base.
 The number of skilled Malaysians living abroad has tripled in the last two decades with
2 out of every 10 Malaysians with tertiary education opting to leave for either OECD
(Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries or Singapore.
4. Breakdown of the brain drain to destination countries are as follows:
• 54% to Singapore, resulting in Malaysian-born employees contributing to a quarter
of the island nation's population and 47% of its skilled foreign labor in 2010
• 15% to Australia
• 10% to the United States
• 5% to the United Kingdom.
5. Simply put, one in every ten skilled Malaysians born in Malaysia choose to leave the
country, which is twice the world average. While the numbers are similar to Singapore and
Hong Kong, they are actually incomparable to Malaysia because that is a typical situation
Updated May 2019

123
for small and open economies. Malaysia is suffering the loss of skilled brain drain,
especially for technology-based jobs.
C. The Main Factors of the Malaysian Brain Drain
The World Bank identified in their Monitor Report the factors of the Malaysian brain drain.
1. The main cause is attributed to the less attractive salary and benefits offered in the country.
 This difference is especially noticeable in the high-skill technology sector.
 In a survey conducted by JobStreet’s survey, among the top reasons for the brain drain
was the large gap between expected and offered salaries.
2. A sensitive, yet substantial cause of the Malaysian Brain Drain is the perceived social
injustice in the country.
 Some Malaysian emigrants in the brain-drain issue were dissatisfied with the extra
assistance determined by Article 153 of the Constitution.
 Foreign observers recognize this as a major cause of brain drain.
3. The limited access to high-quality education also remains to be a significant cause of brain
drain.
 Enrollment into affordable public tertiary education institutions is very limited and
based on racial quotas while private universities are costly and is not anywhere near
the standards of universities in developed countries.
 Primary and secondary education, although free, is of substandard quality 
uncommonly supported by long hours of outside tutoring for those who can afford it.
4. The close proximity of Singapore and its substantially more developed environment also
encourages the Malaysian diaspora to migrate there.
 The proximity allows them to keep in touch with family left behind in Malaysia
 The extensive network of Malaysians already living there make it easier for them to
make the move.
D. Effects of Brain Drain in Malaysia
1. May trap a country into an undesirable equilibrium

 The World Bank states that brain drain could cause a vicious circle that may trap a
country into an undesirable equilibrium with low levels of human capital and large
technology gap
 Could contribute to rich countries becoming richer and poor countries becoming
poorer. (World Bank, April 2011).
Updated May 2019
124
2. A large diaspora of skilled workers who have graduated from institutions of higher
education
 The economy has witnessed a large diaspora of skilled workers in comparison to the
overall population, and receives a sizeable number of immigrants from neighbouring
countries,
 Causes the erosion of an economy’s skill base and dampens innovation
3. Affecting firm productivity due to the tight labour-market for skills
 Could potentially affect economic growth in the long-run.
 According to the World Bank Report in 2011, Malaysia's growth fell to an average
4.6% in the past decade (2000-2010), from 7.2% the previous period.
4. Touches the core of Malaysia's aspiration to become a high-income nation.
 With human capital the bedrock of any high-income economy, Malaysia will need to
develop, attract and retain talent.
 Malaysia needs talent, but talent seems to be leaving.
5. Affecting SMEs (Small-Medium Enterprises) in attracting local talents to work in the
country
 Due to the budget constraints faced by SMEs.
 Some SMEs do not have the financial capabilities to host talent fairs themselves,
without any financial aid from the government.
E. Measures to Solve Brain-Drain
1. Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and Economic Transformation

Programme (ETP)
 The Malaysian government has identified productivity and inclusiveness as the key factors
to solve emigration and have established the Government Transformation Programme
(GTP) and Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) to tackle the issue from these
perspectives.
 Under the GTP, the government is hoping to address the issue of non-inclusiveness for
non-Bumiputeras.
 Through it, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has launched the 1Malaysia
campaign, which encourages Malaysians to no longer identify their culture by race but by
nationality.
2. Talent Corporation
 The government is also currently working with Talent Corporation to attract, nurture and
retain talent required for a high-income economy.
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125
 Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) was set up to strengthen public - private
sector collaboration in widening and deepening the talent pool in Malaysia
 It has introduced the Returning Expert Program (REP) to encourage Malaysians currently
working abroad to return home by providing incentives like a flat tax rate of 15%, tax
exemption for all personal effects brought home and permanent resident status for spouse
and children.
3. The Otak-Otak Program

 The Otak-Otak Program (Otak-Otak) was established by four young professionals who
returned from abroad to pursue a career in Malaysia
 Otak-Otak is an internship programme that focuses on bridging the gap between industry
professionals and students.
 Otak-Otak builds a community of students and established professionals working together
to give back to each other and to the nation, much like an alumni network.
4. Feedback from the current diaspora

 Essential in determining policies to reduce brain drain.
 Some of the most popular responses from the respondents were their wish that there would
be a paradigm shift away from raced-based towards need-based affirmative action and
evidence of fundamental and positive change in the government.
Updated May 2019

126

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Course Notes/MPU-3322

Updated May 2019

CHAPTER 1: SOCIAL ISSUES -- DRUG TRAFFICKING ANDDRUG ADDICTION

1. What is drug trafficking?

2. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Drug Trafficking in Malaysia

3. Statistics: Number of drug-related arrest

Updated May 2019

4. Mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking

Reasons to justify the death penalty:

Reasons to abolish the death penalty:

The death penalty should be abolished because it:

Updated May 2019

 Those arrested for drug trafficking relatively small amounts“low-ranking drug

5. Causes of Drug Trafficking

Updated May 2019

2. National disaster and main threat to national security

3. Steps taken to wage a war against drugs abuse

b. Setting up a special task force focusing on anti-drug trafficking at Malaysia-Thailand

d. The government and non-governmental organisations have set up prevention and

e. Still using the punishment as a deterrent for drug trafficking

Updated May 2019

4. Should drug use be decriminalized?

c. Decriminalization of drug use in other countries and Malaysia

d. Advantages of decriminalizing drug use

i) Direct focus on the treating drug users, instead of punishing them

iii) Reduce drug-related crimes and HIV infection

5. The Concern of Drug Relapse:

a. Factors Contributing to Relapse among Drug Addicts in Malaysia

i) Encounter additional crisis

v) Unemployment issues among former drug addicts

b. The Ways to Prevent Drug Relapse

i) Training of self-help character for the former drug addicts

Updated May 2019

CHAPTER 2: SOCIAL ISSUES -- RISING CRIME AND CORRUPTION

 Two ways to measure crime:

2. The public’s perception on crimes

Updated May 2019

Effects of this increased fear of crimes among the public:

Updated May 2019

Causes of Gangsterism among Youths

Reasons why snatch theft is the most frequent street crime:

Updated May 2019

Measures to Curb Snatch Thefts:

a. Enforcement of the law:

Updated May 2019

 Spreading fear among the public.

6. The Crime of Spreading Fake News

Updated May 2019

2. National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023

 One of the government's initiatives in realizing the government's manifesto towards a

Updated May 2019

a) Interference of Politicians in Government Administration and Finance

b) Lack of Leadership and Political Will

c) Independence of Legislation and Enforcement Bodies

Updated May 2019

d) Lack of Monitoring and Enforcement

e) Limited Adoption of Technology in Fighting Corruption

f) Lack of Public Support and Confidence

Updated May 2019

CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL ISSUES -- RACIAL UNITY AND EDUCATION

1. Unity amidst Diversity

Updated May 2019

positive influence to the neighbouring countries, especially in countries like