Contract law in Malaysia: Reflections on its ideologies and concepts

In tracing the development of law of contract in Malaysia, the article examines and discusses the ideologies and concepts that have been responsible in shaping and molding the law of contract in Malaysia and in its legal system. To achieve these objectives, the social, philosophical, economic and political thoughts and values that have influenced the law have been analyzed.A brief discussion on the current trend of the law is also included

The British Enlightenment and Ideas of Empire in India 1756-1773

PhDThis dissertation examines the relationship between Enlightenment political thought and the conduct of imperial affairs on the Indian subcontinent between 1756 and 1773. It is concerned with the ways in which Enlightenment ideas affected the response of politicians, thinkers, merchants and East India Company officials, to the Company's actions and conduct in Bengal. It seeks therefore to uncover the underlying political principles that informed debates regarding the future of Britain's connection with the acquired territories. At first, controversy raged between the Company and the British state over the question of property rights: in 1767 the British government tried to assert its right to the territorial revenues of Bengal that had been acquired by the Company in 1765. The government was not successful and the issue of ownership would remain unresolved in this period and beyond. However, as the Company began to appear incapable of managing and reforming its own affairs, the British government was forced to confront the question of what the best way of conducting policy in the east might be. This thesis makes use of an array of under-utilised printed sources - pamphlets, books and tracts - as well as analysing contemporary parliamentary debate, to recover the ways in which empire was both rationalised and theorised. The first part of the dissertation lays out the narrative of events, gives a brief sketch of ideologies of empire in Britain after 1690, and reviews the historiography on the East India Company's rise to power. It then proceeds, in part two, to set out the ways in which Enlightenment conceptions of a science of politics underpinned both the condemnation of the Company's government of Bengal and plans for its reform. In the third part of the thesis, particular attention is given to the thought of Sir James Steuart who was specifically approached by the Company to provide a solution to their monetary problems in Bengal. This was a brief that he fulfilled comprehensively, making use of the concept of self-interest, and revealing the rationale that he believed should inform the Company's commercial policy towards a British dependency. Throughout this work, the political ideas examined are situated in the broader context of debate regarding sociability, international trade, the nature and obligation of governments in general, and of the British constitution in particular

A linguistic study of Islamic religious discourse: conceptual metaphors in the prophetic tradition

PhDThis study examines the emergence of metaphorical language in the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and tradition. It principally argues that the selection of metaphors in the Prophetic discourse is chiefly governed by the rhetorical aim of persuasion. Additionally, the Prophetic metaphors are discursively used to express a distinctive Islamic doctrine and ideology that embody the laws, principles, and beliefs of Islam. The study is anchored by the theoretical framework provided by the cognitive theory of metaphor developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson and corpus-assisted and critical metaphor analysis approaches introduced by Jonathan Charteris-Black. The critical analysis of the Prophetic metaphors acknowledges the impact of the most frequent and significant metaphoric source domains appearing in a corpus compiled from the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and tradition. These metaphors are introduced to an audience on the basis of Islamic religious beliefs in addition to the socio-cultural experiences and knowledge of pre-Islamic Arabs and early Muslims of the time. This study demonstrates the Prophet Muhammad’s reliance on metaphorical language in introducing unfamiliar Islamic notions such as Islam and faith, rulership and Islamic laws, and rituals and unlawful practices among many other notions. The abstract nature of these concepts necessitates the use of conventional metaphors which provide epistemic and ontological information about the topics in hand. In addition, the study argues that behind his didactic discourse, the Prophet Muhammad’s selection of metaphors reflects a distinctive ideological perspective by which Muslims and non-Muslims are distinguished within the realm of spiritual life. Finally, the study establishes the persuasive impact of the Prophetic metaphors with reference to the three Aristotelian propositions: the ethical, emotional, and logical. The study provides the first effort to analyse conceptual metaphors used in the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and tradition on the basis of modern cognitive and critical approaches to metaphor analysis. Furthermore, this study builds upon the findings of previous studies on critical metaphor analysis of metaphors employed in other religious discourses, such as the Bible and the Qur’an; so, it draws attention to the need for more study of metaphors in Islamic religious discours

Leader Behavior, Organizational Effectiveness and Job Satisfaction of Vocational Teachers in Malaysia.

The purposes of this study were to identify the relationships of the perceptions of both leader behavior and organizational effectiveness to the job satisfaction of vocational teachers in vocational schools in Malaysia. Nine social and demographic characteristics of respondents were also investigated. The study was also aimed at determining the relative influence of the selected factors on the job satisfaction of respondents. A simple random sample of 250 teachers was selected, of whom 225 responded. The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) - long form was used to measure job satisfaction, while the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire and the Index of Perceived Organizational Effectiveness were utilized to determine leader behavior of school principals and organizational effectiveness of schools, respectively. Data were collected by mailed questionnaires. Four mailings were made, each about two weeks apart

A March towards Reform: The Metaphorical Conceptualisation of ‘Reform’ in King Abdullah II’s Language

Reform has recently become an imperative topic in Jordanian politics. After waiting long for tangible political and economic programs to be initiated by political parties, King Abdullah II of Jordan introduced his vision of reform. Reform is a priority, and this is plainly reflected in King Abdullah II’s “reformist” discourse. This paper adopts a critical linguistic approach to metaphor analysis to study King Abdullah II’s employment of metaphorical language to accentuate his authority, dominance, and ideologies in the implementation of a vision of reform. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of a corpus of King Abdullah II’s discourse demonstrates extensive use of metaphors from the conceptual domains of path, war (and conflicts) to conceptualise reform. It is found that the choice of such metaphors reflects King Abdullah II’s belief in implementing reform while maintaining a stable political and social system. This vision adopts a pragmatic and realistic position that is not deluding Jordanians or making them expect instantaneous positive outcomes from the reform process.&nbsp