The role of FELDA and KESEDAR in the development of land in the district of Gua Musang: A comparison the socio-economic level of the settlers

The South Kelantan Development Authority (KESEDAR) and the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) are the two main agencies that develop land schemes in the district of Gua Musang, Kelantan. The nine land schemes developed by FELDA are Kemahang 3, Chiku 1, Chiku 2, Chiku 3, Chiku 5, Chiku 6, Chiku 7, Perasu, and Aring 1.KESEDAR also developed eleven land schemes namely Paloh 1, Paloh 2, Paloh 3, Chalil, Lebir, Meranto, Sungai Terah, Renok Baru, Jeram Tekoh, Limau Kasturi, and Sungai Asap. A large part of the schemes under the FELDA was planted with oil palm (84.7%) while the rest was planted with rubber trees.On the other hand, most of the land schemes under KESEDAR were planted with rubber (67%), while the remainder were planted with oil palm.The question that arises is to what extent is the role of both the agencies in advancing the standard of living of the settlers? What are the problems faced by the settlers and their implications regarding their socio-economic level? This paper will discuss the role played by KESEDAR and FELDA in advancing the standard of living of the settlers as well as identifying the problems faced by the settlers under the two agencies.The study found that many settlers earned between RM600 - RM1200 per month despite the efforts undertaken by FELDA and KESEDAR to improve the living standards of the settlers.The main problems faced by the settlers are: palm oil prices are volatile; oil palm trees are old, the old age of the settlers, and the settlers’ chidren migrating to the city

An investigation on trade openness, fiscal policy and economic growth in Malaysia: Using an ARDL bounds testing approach

This study examines the impacts of trade openness and fiscal policy on economic growth in Malaysia between 1970 and 2003 using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and bounds test as proposed by Pesaran et al. (2001). Based on a structure consistent with the endogenous growth theory, the ARDL results show that, overall, trade openness and fiscal policy have strong positive impacts on economic growth in Malaysia over this period. This paper also develops a system instrumental variable method to estimate the structural speed of adjustment coefficient in an error correction model

Effects Of Government Expenditure, Fiscal Policy And Institutions On The Economic Growth Of Asian Economies

This study determines the long run relationship between government expenditure, fiscal policy and economic growth, the role of institutions on economic growth, and whether institutions require complimentary factors to influence economic growth through an interaction term effects between government expenditure and institutions, and fiscal policy and institutions on economic growth of thirteen Asian economies. It is particularly important because economic growth has declined and become stagnant significantly and government expenditure does not inhibit the full exploitation of the growth potential of Asian economies. There is also a broad consensus that the developments in fiscal policies contribute to the relatively weak growth performance. Weak fiscal positions have left little room for further fiscal expansion in most Asian economies when faced by economic slowdown. Generally efficiency of the role of institutions is sadly lacking, and there are numerous deficiencies in the functioning of role of institutions in Asian countries. We formulated a simple growth model which is based on the augmented version of the Solow model in a sample of thirteen Asian countries as case studies using recently developed panel cointegration methods; FMOLS introduced by Pedroni (1996, 2000 and 2001) and GMM estimators developed for dynamic models of panel data, introduced by Arellano and Bond (1991) and Blundell and Bond (1998). The findings indicate that there is a positive and negative coefficient and significant long run relationship between government expenditure, fiscal policy and economic growth. The results of institutions and interaction term indicate that there is a role of institutions and the institutions require complimentary factors to influence economic growth through an interaction term effects. The findings also indicate that initial real per capita GDP, saving in physical capital (investment) and population growth rate are in line with Solow model which is the negative coefficient on initial GDP as in most published growth regressions is interpreted as conditional convergence while investment and population growth are positive and negative, respectively. Several important conclusions can be drawn from the study. Government policies and institutions seem to play an important role and attract investment are correlated with higher growth. It is also possible to account for plausible interactions drawing upon research from various disciplines in social sciences. It can be hoped that models built using an interdisciplinary approach can better account for observed variation in the data

Introducing municipal bond markets in Malaysia: An assessment of present market characteristics

In developed countries, urban growth has multiplied the demand for investment in basic infrastructure services such as water supply, waste removal, roads and mass transportation. At the same time, decentralization strategies have shifted the responsibility for much of these investments to the local governments. This decentralized investment requires the development of decentralized capital financing. No longer can a central government pay for local investment by raising national taxes or borrowings on international markets and using the funds simply to construct projects at the local level. The introduction of municipal bonds is one of the alternative source of funds to finance the escalating costs of financing local governments. This paper discusses the conditions underlying the development of municipal credit markets, which Malaysia can use to provide a vehicle to narrow the local government's resource gap through debt funding

Effects of fiscal policy and institutions on the economic growth of Asian economies: Evidence from dynamic panel data analysis

This paper investigates the effects of fiscal policy and institutions on the economic growth of Asian economies through the application of the GMM-SYS approach to dynamic panel estimator as a preference analysis. It examines two different channels through which fiscal policy can affect long-run economic growth in Asia. The first channel is when aggregate government expenditure, aggregate of other fiscal variables, and institution affect the real per capita GDP, and the second channel is to determine the role of institutions on the real per capita GDP. The dynamic panel data result, especially GMM-SYS, established a longrun relationship between fiscal policy, institution, and economic growth. We found positive and statistically significant impact of aggregate of government expenditure and aggregate of other fiscal variables and institution on real per capita GDP. Furthermore, we found that there is a role of institutions on the real per capita GDP

LEADERSHIP: HOW TO BE AN EFFECTIVE MANAGER

The purpose of this paper is to examine effective managers Malaysian leadership. The objective was investigated on how mangers can have better understanding of leadership and to use it to their advantage. In addition, this paper also examined to what extant Malaysian leadership ‘managers reflect the level of their social interaction, preference for gathering data, preference for decision-making, and style of making decisions. Finally, it identified several ways on how effective managers could reduce the gap between the difference in their leader to capitalize the strength of their counterparts in order to enhance organization performance and at the same time grasp new ideas so that it could benefit both sides. This study attempted to find out the effect of functional and behavioral competences on the leadership effectiveness in relation to managers in the construction industry in the Penang and Butterworth states in Malaysia. The finding has shown that all managers surveyed basically agreed that IT knowledge and the business knowledge are the most crucial competences that should be acquired to become an effective manager in the construction industry. On the other hand intraprofessional knowledge of behavioural competences was found to be the most important for an effective manager..Leadership, An effective manager, Construction industry, Malaysia.

Kesan kebebasan ekonomi terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi negara: Kajian empirikal di ASEAN-5

Economic liberalization is quite a new issue but is one of the most important factors in enhancing the economic growth as well as making significant impact on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).This study is aimed at analyzing whether the variables do actually have any impact on the economic growth of ASEAN-5, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand by employing the variables associated to economic liberalization.This study also intends to identify the independent variables that have the most significant impact on the national economic growth. Root Test was used to trace the stationarity effect of panel data while co-integration test was conducted by adopting the Pedroni Test and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) Estimation. The results found that all variables associated with economic liberalization have significant relationship, both in total and among individual variables, hence showing direct relations hip with economic growth of ASEAN-5 member countries. The higher the status of economic liberalization in a country the higher the openness the country would be and this would eventually lead to positive effect on the national economic growth and GDP

Relationship between national product and Malaysian government development expenditure: Wagner’s law validity application

The objective of the study is to see how far Wagner’s law validity can be applied in the Malaysian government development expenditure. According to Wagner’s law, fundamental economic growth is a determinant to the public sector growth.The public sector is said to be able to grow at a very high rate when compared to the product growth (income).Accordingly, it can be said that government expenditure behaves elastic with the national product and the interpretation of Wagner’s law can provide important policy implications.Using a method known as the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) and the border test (bound test) introduced by Pesaran et al. (2001), this study found that four out of five version Wagner basic laws show an interrelationship between the national product and government development expenditure.The long-term analysis also showed that national product has a positive relationship and is significant in influencing government development expenditure. Therefore, it can be summarized that this Wagner’s law is still relevant to be applied in Malaysia

Malaysia’s Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Children: A Child Rights Perspective

This article has exhibited the child rights framework's relevance while assessing and analysing voiceless Malaysian refugee and asylum-seeking children's status. The secondary data has been segregated, themed and analysed under the child rights framework related to refugee and asylum-seeking children. The article argues that refugees and asylum-seeking children in Malaysia are treated as outsiders and threats to the social fabric; this rhetoric against refugees and asylum-seeking children has shaped Malaysia’s excluded legal and social treatment towards such children. It has also exacerbated the painful and excluded experiences of such children. The article also argues that only frameworks do not bring the desired results if the state constantly thrives on racialised politics. The analysis shows these children are subject to various social, economic, political, legal and normative issues, which have compelled them to live a quite stressful and challenging life. These children's difficult experiences show serious deficiencies and problems in the government structures and functions, which this article believes are the desired outcomes of Malaysia’s legal, political and social approach towards these children. The analysis also indicates that the UNCRC’s child protection systems and mechanisms (and the international community) are also unable to pursue the state to stop it making its independent choices in matters dealing with a vulnerable group of children and recognising them the rights holders rather as threats. The complexities and challenges in implementing such children’s rights also lie in the roles of the two separate mandate holders (i.e. UNHCR and UNICEF)

Fire Resistance Properties of Palm Oil Fuel Ash ‎Cement ‎Based Aerated Concrete

POFA cement based aerated concrete, an agro based lightweight concrete containing palm oil fuel ‎ash (POFA) as partial cement substitute; possess adequate strength suitable for non load-bearing ‎element application. This paper discusses fire resistance properties of this material in the aspect ‎of its combustibility, contribution towards fire and its tendency to spread flame over its surface ‎that has been investigated in accordance to BS 476 : Part 4, Part 6. and Part 7 respectively. The ‎findings indicate that the integration of POFA does not affect this agro based material to exhibit ‎good fire resistance.