It is widely known that many MNCs/LSIs are developing supplier networks of competitive SMI/Es to complement their core activities. However, it is also a known fact that many of the local SMI/Es remain de-linked from the MNCs/LSIs, and thus are at disadvantage in terms of technological spillovers, access to markets, information technology as well as … Read more
This chapter attempts to shed some light on the impact of privatisation in the Malaysian water sector by employing a quantitative based empirical analysis. Malaysia is useful country case study on the impact of privatisation in the water sector. There is a variety of forms of institutions in its water sector – full privatisation, partial … Read more
We examine the market’s reaction around a series of events on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) where the Malaysian government removed short selling restrictions on selected stocks and then subsequently reimposed these restrictions. These events provide a unique opportunity to analyse the effects of short selling restrictions on the price formation process in an … Read more
The dilemma common to Southeast Asia’s societies today stems from a bias towards nation-state thinking, kept alive by the fact that political discourses are western in nature, and Southeast Asian leaders and intellectuals are largely trained in the west to favour Westphalian ideas. Publication: Opinion Asia, 28 Feb 2008. Author: Ooi, Kee Beng. Download
In fact, for a country without an ideology, the depth to which daily life in Malaysia has been politicised is dumbfounding – until one remembers that the issue of Malay rights, accompanied by a steady process of Islamisation, could not but have over the decades configured all major decision-making processes. It is therefore all the … Read more
British colonial policies set the stage for the subsequent balance between state and civil society in Malaysia, including the persistent racial stratification of the public sphere, cross-racial differences in modes of state–society engagement and the focus on development of citizenship skills for some groups and autonomous self-regulation for others. This article explores the vestiges and … Read more
A comparison of the GDP growth rates between Penang and its competitors indicates that Penang shares the same growth trend as that of Singapore. Economic growth in both locations peaked in 1994. As in the case of Singapore, Penang’s growth tapered off and dipped further in 1998, when it experienced a contraction of 8.5% in … Read more
Malaysia is a net importer of migrant workers. It exports highly-skilled labour on a long-term or permanent basis and imports low to medium-skilled contract migrant workers. The latter form an overwhelming majority of cross-border labour flows and the incidence of irregular migration is high among the less-educated and less-skilled migrants. Hence, the policy focus on … Read more
The IDR could become the Achilles heel of a relationship often wrecked on the shores of irreconcilable national economic interests. Much could go wrong if the political players fail manage differences that have come with a baggage of historical irritations in Malaysia-Singapore relations. Publication: Opinion Asia, 01 Jun 2007. Author: Saravanamuttu, Johan. Download
The politics of fear – where UMNO warned non-Malays that violence was imminent if the Malays purportedly represented by that party lost power, and where non-Malay parties in the ruling coalition cautioned that the non-Malays would be unrepresented in the government and Islamism would take over if they voted for the opposition – was shown … Read more