EXPENDITURE PATTERN AMONG INDONESIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS: CASE STUDY IN PULAU PINANG

This study is conducted to provide an understanding of the pattern of expenditure among Indonesian female manufacturing worker’s remittances in Malaysia. A total of 100 Indonesian women workers were randomly selected. The location of the study is two manufacturing companies in Penang. Structured interview questions are used to analyze descriptive data. In this study, most of the respondents earn monthly income of RM1000-RM1999 with 44 % and monthly living cost is between RM1-RM499. There are four main variables that determine the respondents' expenditure pattern; remittance, debt, entertainment, and food expenditure. The result found that 84 % of respondents always send money to Indonesia every month. Furthermore, 42 % of respondents have debt. There are 81 % of respondents who always spend their money for entertainment purposes and 53 % of respondents choose to buy a ready food.

The impact of world crude oil price on the liberalisation of Malaysia’s paddy industry

Malaysia has adopted an open economy policy to boost its economic growth and per capita income. As a small and open economy, the country is susceptible to external shocks such as the 2008 financial crisis. Moreover, the increase in the international food price and the shortage of food in early 2008 imposed a new challenge to the national paddy sector. Besides, the increase in average world crude oil prices from USD 69.08 per barrel in 2007 to USD 101.56 per barrel in 2009 saw accompanied escalation in world food commodity prices, resulting in increases in input costs and hence the cost for food production. This paper examines the impact of the world crude oil price on the liberalisation of Malaysia’s paddy industry using system dynamics analysis. The two types of inputs impacted by crude oil price are fuel and fertiliser price. The results showed that 120 litre per hectare of diesel and petrol is the rate of fuel used in paddy production. The fertiliser consumption is 388.53 kilogram per hectare. The removal of fuel subsidies accompanied by the increase in the world crude oil prices significantly impacts farmers’ income and productivity levels as it triggers higher production expenses. The simulation results of the policy suggest that the subsidy rationalisation programme will free up more funds for product development such as precision farming technology as well as increased farm practices by farmers

Water management in the paddy area in MADA

Water management is an important element in the paddy production. Water management can increase the productivity level, thereby increase the income of farmers. Water management system in MADA is divided into irrigation and drainage. The water storage under irrigation system covers three dams, namely Pedu, Ahning and Muda reservoir. This study examined the weaknesses of irrigation and drainage system in the MADA area. Among the problems are infrastructure density, very tiny road and the distance from the irrigation to the drains. Besides, water control in these areas is insufficient due to high and low paddy field areas. Therefore, several measures were identified to increase the efficiency of water management. Among them are implementation of reticulation system for irrigation and drainage, utilisation of booster and mobile pumps, construction of bunds and good farm practices. Apart from the modernised machines, good water management should be practised by paddy farmers to ensure the efficient use of water

Lycopene Rich Drink: Consumers Acceptance and Purchase Intention in Malaysia

This study had been carried out to assess the level of acceptance and purchase intention towards new functional beverages developed by the Malaysia Agricultural Research Development Institute (MARDI). The Lycopene Rich Drink (LRD) had been assessed towards 400 respondents in 4 Zone in Malaysia which is Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern using stratified sampling. The results revealed that the consumers had well accepted the LRD based on the highest mean score acceptance (mean=4.16) compared to the commercial (mean=3.15) beverages in the market. Taste and color are the most preferred attributes that influenced the purchase intention. The logistic regression analysis had predicted almost 95% of the respondents' intent to purchase. Marital status and number of households are the sociodemographic factors that show a significant relationship based on the Chi-Square analysis. The findings of this study are beneficial for the beverages industry players towards exploiting the opportunity of health additional benefit offered.Â

MCO in Malaysia: consumer confidence and households’ responses

This research attempts to analyze households' responses to Movement Control Orders (MCO) and assess the impact of MCO on consumer confidence based on the potential disproportionate impact on various income groups in Malaysia. Households' responses and consumer confidence are measured through an online survey to collect the targeted groups' financial situation and household information and expectations during MCO. A total of 660 respondents from all over Malaysia were involved in this study. Analysis of the MCO responses showed that households were able to comply with MCO rules with the highest positive response of 99.7%. In comparison, the households' responses to the implementation of MCO showed the highest negative response of 18.4%, with the majority represented by the B40 income category (65.2%). The consumer confidence present index is operating at six times higher than the expectation index, which indicates that the implementation of MCO in the short-run has a moderate impact on households' economic status than in the long-run involving the COVID-19 pandemic effect on the overall economy. According to the people's confidence to the government in the long-run, current political developments are essential to influence the people's confidence in the economy. The consumer confidence index gives an overview of two policies that need to be emphasized by the government. Based on the short-run status of food consumption, this study strongly recommends that the policymakers consider establishing a National Food Stockpile in light of the nation's food security and moving on to food-based agriculture that considers the targeted groups in the long-run

Consumer Acceptance and Willingness to Pay for Prebiotic Kuini Juice in Malaysia

Changing consumers' lifestyles and food consumption patterns provide an excellent opportunity to develop the prebiotics market in Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysia is trying to improve products based on local ingredients such as kuini juice developed by the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI). The high fibre content found in kuini makes it suitable to be used as one of the essential ingredients in prebiotic drinks.  This research attempted to analyse consumer acceptance and willingness to pay for prebiotic kuini juice.  A survey was conducted in Peninsular Malaysia, where 400 respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.  Exploratory factor analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity were utilised for objective analysis 1, while the Contingent Valuation Method was utilised for objective analysis 2.  The result showed that 73% of respondents had taken prebiotic juice in the past. The tendency to choose prebiotic kuini juice by MARDI was 52% compared to existing products in the market. Significant findings determined consumers' preference factors, including product marketing and promotion, which influenced the purchasing of prebiotic kuini juice. The willingness to pay by respondents was lower at RM4.10/300ml bottle than the actual price bid at RM5.70/300ml bottle. As consumer awareness of health increases, it was an opportunity for the health food industry to expand the functional food market. However, some improvements should be adjusted to ensure prebiotic kuini juice can compete with other similar products in the market. Government support is needed to encourage indigenous fruits cultivation and to produce value-added products

A legal study on the implementation of DNA profiling in Malaysia to pre-convicted and convicted persons / Aadilah Baharudin … [et al.]

DNA Identification Act 2009 has been tabled in Parliament but it is yet to be enforced. This Bill requires the storing and preservation of DNA profiles from samples taken from suspects, at crime scenes and from the missing person index. However, there is still no necessity at present for the Malaysian citizen to store their DNA profiles. Upon introduction to the Parliament, many proposed this Act as they believed that it will create numerous miscarriages of Justice. In our research, we will be introducing the DNA Identification Act 2009 tabled by the parliament and we will be explaining on the basis of the introduction of this Bill. We will also be discussing on the controversies lies in this particular Bill and we will also be comparing the Bill to other countries which have adopted DNA profiling in their countries

Prevalence and distributions of severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) according to age, gender and clinic location among patients in the Malaysian primary care

BackgroundAdults with severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) may have familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and are at high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The prevalence of elevated LDL-c in primary care clinics in Malaysia is not known. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and distributions of severely elevated LDL-c among adult patients attending public primary care clinics in Malaysia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at 11 public primary care clinics in the central states of Malaysia, among adults ≥18 years old with LDL-c recorded in the electronic medical record. Sociodemographic and LDL-c data from 2018 to 2020 were extracted. Severely elevated LDL-c was defined as ≥4 mmol/L, which were further classified into: 4.0–4.9, 5.0–5.9, 6.0–6.9 and ≥ 7 mmol/L.ResultsOut of 139,702 patients, 44,374 (31.8 %) had severely elevated LDL-c of ≥4 mmol/L of which the majority were females (56.7 %). The mean (±SD) age of patients with severely elevated LDL-c was younger at 56.3 (±13.2) years compared to those with LDL-c of <4.0 mmol/L at 59.3 (±14.5) years. In terms of LDL-c levels, 30,751 (69.3 %), 10,412 (23.5 %), 2,499 (5.6 %) and 712 (1.6 %) were in the 4.0–4.9, 5.0–5.9, 6.0–6.9 and ≥ 7 mmol/L categories, respectively.ConclusionThe prevalence of severely elevated LDL-c of ≥4.0 mmol/L among adult patients in public primary care clinics was high. These patients need to be further investigated for secondary and inherited causes such as FH. Therapeutic lifestyle modification and pharmacological management are pivotal to prevent ASCVD in these patients

Understanding energy efficiency using a socioeconomic framework: the case of paddy farming in Malaysia

The agriculture sector is one of the contributors to energy use either as production input or bioenergy output. The utilization of energy use is based on the Cobb-Douglas production theory. Nevertheless, several factors affecting energy use in paddy production include fuel for running machinery, electricity for irrigation, fertiliser for improving soil fertility, pesticides for pest control, and planting seeds. Albeit the relationship between energy use and agricultural productivity is well examined in the literature, the results are mixed. Some studies argue that higher energy use tends to higher agricultural productivity, while others found that energy use efficiency leads to higher productivity. This study investigates farmers’ socioeconomic status in paddy production based on the statistical analysis of paddy productivity, farmers’ income, and production cost in Malaysia’s MADA granary areas. Besides, it utilizes the Energy Analysis approach to analyze energy efficiency based on inputs use selected by farmers. The results show that the harvested area does not affect the farmers’ income, while productivity positively affects farmers’ income. Production costs are not influenced by socioeconomic variables such as ownership and harvested area as they depend on farmers’ willingness to pay for inputs. The energy efficiency in MADA is 6.35, which indicates that farmers can obtain at least six times larger paddy productivity compared to the inputs used in production activities

System dynamics analysis of the impact of paddy and energy subsidies withdrawal on paddy sector

Paddy is a staple food for Malaysians while paddy production has been the main economic activity for many farmers. Despite government intervention in the paddy production, low paddy productivity has been one of the main issues that affect farmer’s income. In addition, increasing world crude oil price will directly lead to an increase in domestic fuel price for paddy machine. Indirectly, it also affect the fertilizer price and paddy sector. Previous research has pointed out the rationales of subsidies withdrawal, such as; insufficient paddy production, market imperfection and profit loss from paddy sale. However, the analysis by most research did not integrate all factors and deemed as unable to provide comprehensive analysis of the problem. Moreover, the analysis did not address the issue of increasing energy prices and its effect on energy usage level in paddy production. Hence, this study focus on four main objectives; (i) to formulate the share of energy use by activity and sources in the paddy sector; (ii) to simulate a change in world crude oil price on the paddy productivity and expenditure; (iii) to simulate the impact of paddy and fuel subsidies removal on the expenditure and farmers’ income; and (iv) to simulate the impact of various policy scenarios on the paddy sector. Energy use is important in paddy production because it requires energy in all production activities, both in direct and indirect energy use. There are four main activities involved such as land preparation, planting, crop management and harvesting. The direct energy use is in the form of fuel and human labour, while the indirect energy is required in the application of fertilizers, pesticides and seed. Hence, this study is required to formulate the shares of energy use in the paddy sector using Energy Analysis (EA) methodology. Besides, this study calls for simulation of System Dynamics (SD) methodology on the (i) implication of change in world crude oil price; (ii) the impact of paddy and energy subsidies withdrawal; and iii) alternative policy to improve paddy sector. Energy analysis shows that higher energy use will increase paddy productivity. However, once the usage level reaches its maximum threshold, the productivity level will decline. Crop management activities show the highest energy use at 67%, followed by land preparation (21.7%), harvesting (10%) and planting (1.3%) activities. Fuel is the highest direct energy user,while fertilizer proves to be the highest consumer of indirect energy. Energy efficiency level for paddy production is 4.08. System dynamics model is used to identify the underlying problematic structure by modelling the land use, productivity, consumption, input, allocation input, farmer’s income, expenditure, farm cash, energy use, farm and technology practices sub-models. The simulation results have replicated the historical data, in which an increase in world crude oil price shows an increasing paddy expenditure by 3.8%. However, a 1% increase in fuel price will increase the fertilizer price by 3.4%. This shows that the actual cost of paddy production is more higher if the paddy price is not subsidised. Meanwhile, simulation result for removal of both paddy and fuel subsidies indicates a drop in paddy productivity by 10.3% compared to the decrease in income by 17.9%. The decline in productivity has inherently increased the import by 17.5%, hence reduces selfsufficiency level (SSL) by 10.3%. The main objectives of the paddy policy is to increase the SSL through increasing productivity and farmers’ income, while reducing the dependency on imported rice. With this, researcher has examined the effect of future policy scenarios which are examines the implications of the removal of paddy and fuel subsidies together with the implementation of policy scenario (PS); (i) PS1 (R&D in new paddy variety); (ii) PS2 (PS1 + R&D in organic farming); (iii) PS3 (PS1 + PS2 and improved farm practices); and (iv) PS4 (PS1 + PS2 + PS3 and adaption of technological practices). Based on the alternative policy scenarios, scenario PS4 gives the highest result compared to other policy scenarios with almost all variables increase up to 40% from the Base Run. Within the 15 years of simulation period, productivity is approximated to increase by 6.5 tonnes/ha and rice SSL is expected to increase by 79%