"Identity Monarchy": Interrogating Heritage for a Divided Malaysia

Malaysia, it has been observed, is currently experiencing a "revival" of "Malay kingship" with the growing importance of "proactive and participating constitutional rulers." In fact, modern Malaysia has since independence been characterized by monarchy--by a multiplicity of Rulers and elaborate royal ceremony and hierarchy --as well as by its "plural society." But the modern monarchs--though they have never become quite "constitutional Rulers"--cannot be seen as merely "traditional," because the institution of monarchy was transformed in a fundamental way during the British colonial period. Monarchy continues to be an underexamined feature of the Malaysian polity, and when it is discussed there is a tendency to focus on issues of power and to neglect its sociocultural role. One pre-colonial dimension of monarchy that continues to be significant today--though in a manner less psychologically profound than before--is its identity-giving role. The principal concern of this article is to determine-- through a process of hermeneutic retrieval--if this role is merely relevant to the Malay community, or does it possess more inclusive possibilities? Are the Rulers of Malaysia essentially "Malay Rulers" or has the institution a nation-building potential that has so far not been fully utilized? The question is important for a country that many see as becoming increasingly divided

Our place in the Asian century: Southeast Asia as ‘The Third Way’

The report, for Asialink at the University of Melbourne, reports the findings of the Asialink Commission, which examined Australia\u27s relations with Southeast Asia. It argues that, at a time of shifting power relations in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia take a more multilateral approach by orienting its foreign and trade policies towards Southeast Asia. By committing more attention to the Southeast Asia region, Australia will enhance its relationships with the region\u27s two principal powers, the United States and China

Business Culture Issues in Vietnam: Case Studies

What practical issues can arise when doing business in Vietnam? How is Vietnam adapting to the demands of the market economy? In particular, how does a knowledge of Vietnamese business culture, and history, help to clear up misunderstandings – especially involving relations between foreign business people and representatives from Vietnamese business and government? Does the Vietnamese experience have a broader value in the Asian region, where numerous different societies have been seeking a way to engage vigorously in international commerce – yet without losing touch with their own ethical foundations? ... ¶ This volume presents case study material relating to business in Vietnam. It outlines real issues and problems that have arisen – and then seeks to provide a cultural and historical context in which to understand them, and perhaps even solve them

Occupational class differences in suicide: evidence of changes over time and during the global financial crisis in Australia

BACKGROUND: Previous research showed an increase in Australian suicide rates during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). There has been no research investigating whether suicide rates by occupational class changed during the GFC. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the GFC-associated increase in suicide rates in employed Australians may have masked changes by occupational class. METHODS: Negative binomial regression models were used to investigate Rate Ratios (RRs) in suicide by occupational class. Years of the GFC (2007, 2008, 2009) were compared to the baseline years 2001-2006. RESULTS: There were widening disparities between a number of the lower class occupations and the highest class occupations during the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 for males, but less evidence of differences for females. CONCLUSIONS: Occupational disparities in suicide rates widened over the GFC period. There is a need for programs to be responsive to economic downturns, and to prioritise the occupational groups most affected

Sickness absence and psychosocial job quality: an analysis from a longitudinal survey of working Australians, 2005-2012

Sickness absence is associated with adverse health, organizational, and societal outcomes. Using data from a longitudinal cohort study of working Australians (the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey), we examined the relationship between changes in individuals' overall psychosocial job quality and variation in sickness absence. The outcome variables were paid sickness absence (yes/no) and number of days of paid sickness absence in the past year (2005-2012). The main exposure variable was psychosocial job quality, measured using a psychosocial job quality index (levels of job control, demands and complexity, insecurity, and perceptions of unfair pay). Analysis was conducted using longitudinal fixed-effects logistic regression models and negative binomial regression models. There was a dose-response relationship between the number of psychosocial job stressors reported by an individual and the odds of paid sickness absence (1 adversity: odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.45 (P = 0.002); 2 adversities: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.51 (P = 0.002); â‰13 adversities: OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.94 (P < 0.001)). The negative binomial regression models also indicated that respondents reported a greater number of days of sickness absence in response to worsening psychosocial job quality. These results suggest that workplace interventions aiming to improve the quality of work could help reduce sickness absence

‘I’d be proud to spend the sacred foreign aid budget on our poor pensioners’: Representations of macro aid resourcing in the Irish, UK and US print-media during the economic crisis, 2008–2011

The news-media has been identified as an influence on donor nations’ overseas aid allocations, acting as a site where decisions are justified to ‘domestic constituencies’ and through which resistance is mobilised. Mediated pressures on aid allocations amplified between 2008 and 2011 in three donor countries experiencing domestic economic difficulties: Ireland, the UK and the US. This study suggests that each country’s print-media positioned the macro resourcing of aid primarily as an inward concern, neglected recipient country needs, and made weak connections to international policy frameworks to benchmark, contextualise and rationalise aid allocations. The research suggests that the explanatory limitations of the countries’ news-models in communicating the processes and rationales underpinning macro aid resourcing may be a factor in sustaining a knowledge and legitimacy deficit among domestic publics for international aid agreements

Repositioning Indonesia: thoughts on the Indo-Pacific

Before considering how best to reposition Indonesia in the world - and I will be looking, in particular, at Indonesia's current Indo-Pacific initiative - we need to ask how the world itself has been repositioned. The terms of reference for this conference go straight to this second question. They immediately highlight the theme of globalization, noting how it has promoted "growing connectivity among states" and "revolutionized human interaction". How then has this region been reconfigured over the last decades? Until the mid-20th-century the entire Asian region was either under European colonial rule or strong Western imperial influence. That is how the region was structured - with the great centres of power in London, Paris, The Hague and Washington. After the extraordinary conquests by Japan, which effectively ended the Western imperial project, Asia was quickly drawn into the Cold War. Countries lined up as Communist or Anti-Communist, and some tried to sustain a degree of neutrality or equi-distance. At the end of the Cold War, in the last decade or so of the 20th-century, as is often commented, there was a unipolar moment - an America-dominated world with a sense of globalization not merely being economic, but also a globalization of ideas. One commentator wrote of the ‘end of history' - the US had won, he said, with its liberal democratic ideology. Communism had been annihilated, and Western liberalism had the "wind in its hair". This said, there were still objections. Dr Mahathir in Malaysia and a number of bright Foreign Ministry intellectuals in Singapore spoke of "Asian values". They said you had to understand Asian values to explain the great economic transformation taking place in Asian countries - and there was also a need to respect Asian values in the political arena, and not just insist that all societies must develop in the same way. The democracy, human rights, and other supposed responsibilities of government which Westerners have tended to advocate, it was argued, are not necessarily universal norms