Transforming Malaysia Milner, Anthony; Embong, Abdul Rahman; Yean, Tham Siew
02/2014
eBook
In the wake of Malaysia’s 13th General Election some commentators speak of a sharpening of ethnic politics — with Prime Minister Najib blaming a “Chinese tsunami” for his government’s polling ...setbacks; others are optimistic about the arrival of a new “non-racialized form of politics” and the emergence of “transethnic solidarity”. This book, which engages with both the race paradigm and its opponents, warns that change is likely to come slowly — but is not impossible. Malaysia’s race paradigm is a man-made ideological construct — one that has been contested in the past, and could realistically be contested in the future. In confronting the continuing challenge of globalization, Malaysians should not neglect the history of ideas — and ideology — as they search for new options.
In this study we describe the mobility and fractionation of REEs in two deep (up to 30m) tropical weathering profiles developed on two granites from the Kuala Lumpur pluton, Malaysia, sampled at ...Cheras and Rawang. On the basis of Na2O and K2O both are S-type granites, but Rawang has higher CaO, MgO and FeO than Cheras and lower SiO2. With respect to Al-saturation Rawang is I-type and Cheras is S-type. We compared the two profiles in terms of total REEs, magnitude and changes in Ce and Eu anomalies, REE mobility and LREE/HREE fractionation. Rawang profiles have higher REE contents, display lower mobility for most except the heaviest REEs and show higher LREE/HREE fractionation than those from Cheras. These differences can be linked to differences in primary mineralogy and degree of weathering, the latter controlling the type and volume of secondary minerals. Specifically, bowl-shaped parent-rock-normalised patterns in the Cheras saprolites appear to be a result of apatite dissolution. Moreover, moderate weathering evident in lower Mineralogical Indices of Alteration (MIA) at Cheras has conserved parent rock REE patterns and fractionation factors in the saprolites. By contrast, more intense weathering observed in Rawang profiles has produced abundant kaolinite group minerals that have preferentially retained LREE, which consequently display high LREE/HREE fractionation. This study provides important insights into the factors controlling REE mobility during tropical weathering, and its potential as an indicator of weathering intensity.
•We study the mobility and fractionation of lanthanides in weathered profiles.•Lanthanides (including Y) behave as a coherent group in nature.•We use lanthanides to (a) compare the mobility of the elements.•We use lanthanides to (b) assess fractionation during weathering.•REE fractionation is potentially a good indicator of the degree of weathering.
On 16 September 1963 Malaysia came into being with the accession of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to the existing Federation of Malaya. This book marks the 50th anniversary of this notable event in ...South East Asias history. The focus of the book will be mainly on the experience of Sabah and Sarawak as subjects of the federation. It looks at the experience of federalism from a number of different perspectives, keeping in mind not just the effects of federalism on Sabah and Sarawak but also the effects on the federation as a whole. Has the bargain of 1963 been adhered to? Has Malaysian federalism been a successful example of this form of government in Asia, or has the bargain been undermined in ways contrary to the original deal in the Malaysia Agreement of 1963? What have been the practical effects on East Malaysia during 50 years?.
The people of Myanmar were struck by three major human rights
disasters during the country's period of democratization from 2003
to 2012: the 2007 Saffron Revolution, the aftermath of Cyclone
Nargis ...in 2008, and the 2012 Rakhine riots, which would evolve into
the ongoing Rohingya crisis. These events saw Myanmar's government
categorically labeled as an offender of human rights, and three
powerful Southeast Asian member states-Indonesia, Thailand, and
Malaysia-responded to the violations in very different ways. In
each case, their responses to the crises were explicitly shaped by
norm conflict, which may be understood as a tension between
international and domestic norms. Their reactions were compelled by
a need to address conflicting domestic and international
expectations for norm compliance regarding human rights protection
and non-interference in internal affairs.
In Norms in Conflict: Southeast Asia's Response to
Human Rights Violations in Myanmar, Anchalee Rüland makes
sense of state action that occurs when a governing body is faced
with a circumstance that is at once in line with and contrary to
its own governing policies. She defines five different types of
response strategies to situations of norm conflict and examines the
enabling factors that lead to each strategy. Domestic norms are
known to evolve as a country's values change over time yet Rüland
argues that the old and new norms may also coexist; knowledge of
the underlying political context is crucial for those seeking a
solid understanding of state behavior. Norms in Conflict
challenges the conventional understanding of the logic of
consequences in determining state behavior, advancing
constructivist theory and establishing a provocative new
conversation in international relations discourse.
Malaysia pulled itself back from the brink on 9 May 2018. That day the majority of its voting population decided to topple the Barisan Nasional government that had been in power for over 60 years and ...that had come to be seen as corrupt beyond redemption, and incompetent to boot. Lined up against the unpopular administration of Najib Razak was a coalition led by former strongman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who at the age of 92 had decided to return to Malaysian politics to stop the rot which many believed had begun during his earlier period in power, in 1981-2003. As the oldest prime minister in world history, he is now setting about creating structure that he believes will lead to a Malaysia that will achieve the Vision 2020 that he first propounded in 1991. This vision dovetails with the ideals of the highly influential Reformasi Movement which was ignited by the sacking of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998. This compilation of insightful analyses is Ooi Kee Beng's seventh, and discusses key events from the last five years leading up to 9 May 2018 and beyond. These seven books together cover the strange period we may come to know as the Inter-Mahathir Era, and the present volume discusses some of the challenges facing the new government, and the Malaysian population in general, now that the Barisan Nasional has imploded.
This book examines how Chinese family and business networks, focused around activities such as revenue farming, including opium, the rice trade, and pawnbroking, and related legal and labour ...organization activities, were highly influential in the process of state formation in Malaya. It shows how Chinese family and business networks were flexible and dynamic, and were closely interlocked with economic and social structures, around which government, and states, developed. It considers the crucial role of wealth and power in the process of state formation, and challenges accepted views of Chinese ethnicity and migration.
'The richness of both the thematic approaches as well as the breadth of the source materials used will surely make this book compelling reading. Readers interested in colonial history, state formation, social change, family business networks, and legal institutional development will all find challenging views and interesting description. Moreover, Wu Xiao An has shown us convincingly that these diverse issues not only can be analysed in an integrated fashion, but that they should be.' - Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
'The book is a major contribution to studies of nineteenth and twentieth century Malaysian history, studies of the overseas Chinese and studies of colonialism and it should be seen as an important complement to other works which show the role played by Penang in its neighbouring territories.' - Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
1. Introduction 2. Settings 3. Networking Regional Interactions 1882-1889 4. Family and State 1889-1895 5. Old Framework and New Development 1895-1905 6. Transition 1905-1909 7. Confrontation and Accommodation 1909-1918 8. Another Round of Adjustment 1918-1928 9. A New Profile of Community and Business 1928-1941 10. Conclusion
Wu Xiao An received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam. He held a lectureship at Xiamen University (1991-93) and was awarded fellowships at the University of Amsterdam (1993-99), The National University of Singapore (2000-1) and Kyoto University (2002). His research interests include the modern history of Southeast Asia and the Chinese overseas.
How do class, ethnicity, gender, and politics interact? In what ways do they constitute everyday life among ethnic minorities? In"Getting By,"Donald M. Nonini draws on three decades of research in ...the region of Penang state in northern West Malaysia, mainly in the city of Bukit Mertajam, to provide an ethnographic and historical account of the cultural politics of class conflict and state formation among Malaysians of Chinese descent.
Countering triumphalist accounts of the capitalist Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Nonini shows that the Chinese of Penang (as elsewhere) are riven by deep class divisions and that class issues and identities are omnipresent in everyday life. Nor are the common features of "Chinese culture" in Malaysia manifestations of some unchanging cultural essence. Rather, his long immersion in the city shows, they are the results of an interaction between Chinese-Malaysian practices in daily life and the processes of state formation-in particular, the ways in which Kuala Lumpur has defined different categories of citizens. Nonini's ethnography is based on semistructured interviews; participant observation of events, informal gatherings, and meetings; a commercial census; intensive reading of Chinese-language and English-language newspapers; the study of local Chinese-language sources; contemporary government archives; and numerous exchanges with residents.
How do class, ethnicity, gender, and politics interact? In what ways do they constitute everyday life among ethnic minorities? In"Getting By,"Donald M. Nonini draws on three decades of research in the region of Penang state in northern West Malaysia, mainly in the city of Bukit Mertajam, to provide an ethnographic and historical account of the cultural politics of class conflict and state formation among Malaysians of Chinese descent. Countering triumphalist accounts of the capitalist Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Nonini shows that the Chinese of Penang (as elsewhere) are riven by deep class divisions and that class issues and identities are omnipresent in everyday life. Nor are the common features of "Chinese culture" in Malaysia manifestations of some unchanging cultural essence. Rather, his long immersion in the city shows, they are the results of an interaction between Chinese-Malaysian practices in daily life and the processes of state formation-in particular, the ways in which Kuala Lumpur has defined different categories of citizens. Nonini's ethnography is based on semistructured interviews; participant observation of events, informal gatherings, and meetings; a commercial census; intensive reading of Chinese-language and English-language newspapers; the study of local Chinese-language sources; contemporary government archives; and numerous exchanges with residents.
Malaysia has grown and changed a great deal since it was formed on 16 September 1963. It was then seen as an unlikely nation hastily put together as a federation of British controlled territories in ...the region. Brunei's refusal to join at the eleventh hour and Singapore's secession before its second birthday only seemed to confirm such doubts.Yet, it has not only survived, but even thrived, often cited as a developing country worthy of emulation. Ruled by the same ruling coalition since the mid-1950s, it has been tempting to emphasize continuities, and there certainly have been many.Looking back at its last half century, this volume first considers changes in development policy in response to national as well as international developments. The remaining three parts consider how public policy has been influenced by and has, in turn, influenced economic distribution, public finance and economic federalism.Besides the familiar focus on ethnic disparities, regional and other distribution issues are considered. The discussion of government taxation as well as spending also focuses on distribution implications. Although constitutionally a federation, Malaysia has been more centralized than most federal states.The way forward requires greater sensitivity to the complex political economy of Malaysia's unlikely, but nonetheless resilient federation and ruling coalition.This book is published and distributed worldwide by World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd except Malaysia.Contents: Development Stages:The Alliance Era (1957-1969)The First Decade of the New Economic Policy (1970-1980)Mahathir's Three RegimesMahathir Regime 1: New Roles for the State (1981-1985)Mahathir Regime 2: Inducing Private Investments (1986-1997)Mahathir Regime 3: Crisis Management (1997-2003)After 1997After MahathirPolicy LessonsDistribution:Income DistributionPopulation and LabourEmployment StatusEducation and EmploymentWealth Ownership DisparitiesGender DisparitiesRegional DisparitiesPublic Finance:TaxationDirect TaxesIndirect TaxesGovernment ExpenditurePrivatizationFederalism:Formation of MalaysiaFederal and State Government JurisdictionsFederal-State Financial RelationsPublic AccountsExternal TradeLessons?:Development StagesDistributional StrugglesPublic FinancesMalaysian FederalismConcluding RemarksReadership: Academics, researchers, professionals, policy makers interested in economic development of Malaysia.
In the early 1990s, the animist and Hindu traces in adat , or Malay custom, became contentious for resurgent Islam in Malaysia. Reclaiming Adat focuses on the filmmakers, intellectuals, and writers ...who reclaimed adat to counter the homogenizing aspects of both Islamic discourse and globalization in this period. They practised their project of recuperation with an emphasis on sexuality and a return to archaic forms such as magic and traditional healing. Using close textual readings of literature and film, Khoo Gaik Cheng reveals the tensions between gender, modernity, and nation. Khoo weaves a wealth of cultural theory into a rare analysis of Malay cinema and the work of new Malaysian anglophone writers. Reclaiming Adat makes an essential contribution to our knowledge of the complexities embedded in modern Malaysian culture, politics, and identity.
From colonialism to independent statehood, the extent of Malaysia's capitalist development has been dramatically limited by its position in the world economy. This book combines macro- and ...micro-theoretical approaches in analyzing the relationship between capitalist development in Malaysia within a comparative-historical and world-systemic context.