Development as Eradication: The Pillage of the Jakun ‘People’s Bank’ of Tasik Chini, Pahang, Malaysia

The political rhetoric of social and economic development in Malaysia is used as a dominant and largely unquestioned discourse to justify the industrialised exploitation of the traditional territories of the indigeneous people of West Malaysia. This paper explores social policy drivers in respect of findings from a condensed ethnography of the Jakun Orang Asli people of Tasik Chini in the State of Pahang. Tasik Chini provides an important example of a wider problem affecting many Orang Asli communities in Malaysia relating to industrial exploitation, but is a case of special interest in respect of its significance as a site of rich and unique biodiversity as well as being the home of one of only two freshwater lakes in West Malaysia. Notably, Tasik Chini is also a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, of which there are only two in Malaysia, and where the lake and surrounding forests have provided the Jakun villagers with abundant natural resources for subsistence, but now the area is badly eroded and polluted by the ravages of big business. This presents a serious dilemma for the Jakun concerning resisting the destruction of their traditional way of life or to comply with State agendas and collude with their loss of self-sufficiency and autonomy and in so doing raises important questions regarding national social policy drivers and the position and welfare of indigenous people in Malaysia

Communications management for upgrading public housing projects in Singapore

10.1108/02630801211226619Structural Survey3016-2

Investor protection and market reaction to unusual market activity replies

Purpose–This study uses the unique setting of unusual market activity (UMA) replies to examine the market reaction and the effects of disclosure and investor protection amid information uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach–A total of 1527 hand-collected UMA replies from the interlinked stock exchanges of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore for the period of 2015–2017 were analysed using event study and Heckman two-step methods with market and matched control firm benchmarks. Findings–The overall results support the uncertain information hypothesis. The UMA replies with new information were also found to reduce information uncertainty, but not information asymmetry, and they are complementary to investor protection in enhancing abnormal returns. The overall finding suggests that the UMA public query system can be an effective market intervention mechanism in improving information certainty and efficiency. Research limitations/implications–This study provides insight on the effects of news replies and investor protection on abnormal returns, and support for the uncertain information hypothesis. The finding is useful to policymakers and stock exchanges as they seek to understand how to alleviate investors ’anxiety and to create an informationally efficient market. Nevertheless, this study is limited by the extensiveness of the hand-collected UMA replies and also the potential issue of simultaneity-induced endogeneity. Originality/value–This study uses UMA replies and cross-country data taking into account the effects of market surroundings such as information uncertainty and the level of investor protection on market reaction

Women directors and performance: evidence from Malaysia

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between women on board and the financial performance of Malaysian listed companies. Design/methodology/approach – Panel generalised method of moments (GMM) analysis was used over 928 public-listed companies listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2016. GMM overcomes the problem of endogeneity and simultaneity bias. The dependent variable was firm performance, measured by Tobin’s Q. The explanatory variable was gender diversity, proxied by the percentage of women on board, the presence of women and gender heterogeneity indices, Blau and Shannon indices. Findings – More gender diversification leads to declining firm performance possibly due to issues of tokenism and gender stereotypes. Research limitations/implications – Further studies should look into the impact of various types of ownership structures on firm value and also by sectors. Practical implications – As women represent half the population in Malaysia, more positive affirmative policies must be introduced to enhance their contributions to society. Social implications – As women progress in society, their contributions towards nation building will be significant. Women not only play a nurturing role, but also can shape the destiny of a country. Originality/value – Studies on the relationship between board gender diversity and financial performance have been conducted in the context of a few developed economies. This study contributes to the literature by examining such an issue in a developing economy that has a different environment from that of developed economie

Comparison of clinical profiles between rs12084215 genotypes among FH patients.

<p>Data are presented in mean ± SD.</p><p>p-values were obtained by comparing the phenotypes among the genotypes using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).</p

Comparison of clinical profiles between rs57825321 genotypes among FH patients.

<p>Data are presented in mean ± SD.</p><p>p-values were obtained by comparing the phenotypes among the genotypes using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).</p

Genetic Polymorphisms in <i>LDLR</i>, <i>APOB</i>, <i>PCSK9</i> and Other Lipid Related Genes Associated with Familial Hypercholesterolemia in Malaysia

<div><p>Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by elevations in total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc). Development of FH can result in the increase of risk for premature cardiovascular diseases (CVD). FH is primarily caused by genetic variations in <i>Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor</i> (<i>LDLR</i>), <i>Apolipoprotein B</i> (<i>APOB</i>) or <i>Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type 9</i> (<i>PCSK9</i>) genes. Although FH has been extensively studied in the Caucasian population, there are limited reports of FH mutations in the Asian population. We investigated the association of previously reported genetic variants that are involved in lipid regulation in our study cohort. A total of 1536 polymorphisms previously implicated in FH were evaluated in 141 consecutive patients with clinical FH (defined by the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network criteria) and 111 unrelated control subjects without FH using high throughput microarray genotyping platform. Fourteen Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) were found to be significantly associated with FH, eleven with increased FH risk and three with decreased FH risk. Of the eleven SNPs associated with an increased risk of FH, only one SNP was found in the <i>LDLR</i> gene, seven in the <i>APOB</i> gene and three in the <i>PCSK9</i> gene. SNP rs12720762 in <i>APOB</i> gene is associated with the highest risk of FH (odds ratio 14.78, p<0.001). Amongst the FH cases, 108 out of 141 (76.60%) have had at least one significant risk-associated SNP. Our study adds new information and knowledge on the genetic polymorphisms amongst Asians with FH, which may serve as potential markers in risk prediction and disease management.</p> </div

Comparison of clinical profiles between rs12084215 genotypes among Control subjects.

<p>Data are presented in mean ± SD.</p><p>p-values were obtained by comparing the phenotypes among the genotypes using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).</p

Comparison of clinical profiles between rs13306194 genotypes among FH patients.

<p>Data are presented in mean ± SD.</p><p>p-values were obtained by comparing the phenotypes among the genotypes using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).</p

FH associated SNPs, (p<0.05).

<p>rs number, NCBI Reference SNP (rs) Number, an identification tag assigned by NCBI to SNPs <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0060729#pone.0060729-Sherry1" target="_blank">[30]</a>.</p><p>CI, Confidence interval.</p><p>Odds ratio (OR) between groups was determined by logistic regression.</p