Exploring International Trade between Malaysia and GCC Countries: Empirical Analysis on Trends, Developments and Challenges

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is the largest economic group in the Middle Eastern region and rank seventeenth in the global economy. The establishment of a GCC custom union in 2003 that led to a flat rate of imports tax between 0 and 5 percent has encouraged a number of economic groups such as the European Union (EU) as well as other individual countries to have closed trade relations with the GCC economic bloc. Malaysia is also interested in expanding its trade relations with the Arab Gulf economies. As Muslim countries and members of the Organisation of Islamic Conferences (OIC), trade between Malaysia and the GCC countries is increasing and has lead to Malaysia’s proposal to expand this relation. Given this background, one of the main aims of this research is to explore in detail bilateral trade relations between Malaysia and the GCC countries and their determinants. In fulfilling this aim, this thesis examines Malaysia’s trade performances with the Arab Gulf region by analysing the trade intensity index and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index. These analyses reveal favourable countries for Malaysia to trade within the GCC, and also niche products for Malaysian exports. The competitiveness of Malaysian main products that are exported to the GCC countries is also compared to its rivals. To provide further evidence, surveys with Malaysian traders and authorities were conducted. The survey with Malaysian traders was purposely to measure their perceptions of the GCC economic bloc. The surveys also identify traders’ motivation for doing business in this market as well as challenges and obstacles in expanding Malaysian exports to these economies. In collecting this evidence, the combination of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect the primary data; and the data were analysed through interpretative and textual analysis along with statistical analysis including factor analysis. Based on the findings, it can be said that trade relations with the GCC countries is still insignificant in comparison to that with Malaysia’s major trading partners. Nevertheless, due to Malaysia’s niche products, expansion strategy of services sectors in both Malaysia and the GCC countries and the existence of favourable countries to trade in the GCC, these may create huge potential for expansion. The findings also reveal that, cultural differences and lack of capital have been the major problems for Malaysian businessmen in doing business with the GCC region. The findings also indicate that there is a growing interest in establishing a Malaysia–GCC free trade agreement as shown by Malaysian traders. Key findings from the aforementioned analyses are then constructed by employing a SWOT analysis based on the current trade relation between Malaysia and the Gulf countries in constructing viable recommendation for future relation between Malaysia and the GCC member within the aspirations of OIC

Hubungan iklim sekolah dan stres guru sekolah menengah di Daerah Kuala Nerus, Terengganu

Iklim sekolah dan stres guru dalam kalangan guru amat penting dalam memastikan kelancaran perjalanan organisasi di sekolah. Namun begitu iklim sekolah yang berada pada kedudukan yang membimbangkan yang seterusnya akan mempengaruhi stres guru.Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti min tahap iklim sekolah dan stres guru dalam kalangan guru di sekolah.Secara khususnya kajian ini adalah untuk mengenal pasti tahap iklim sekolah, tahap stres guru di samping meneliti perbezaan min stres guru berdasarkan faktor demografi iaitu jantina.Kaedah penyelidikan yang digunakan ialah kaedah kuantitatif dengan menggunakan soal selidik untuk mendapatkan maklumat.Dalam kajian ini, iklim sekolah diukur dengan menggunakan instrumen yang telah dibentuk oleh Pashiardis (2000) yang mengandungi empat (4) dimensi, iaitu komunikasi (9 item), kerjasama (7 item), pentadbiran & organisasi (8 item) serta murid (6 item) dengan menggunakan skala Likert 5 point dengan skor skala 1 untuk sangat tidak setuju hingga skor 5 untuk sangat setuju.Manakala konsep stres diukur dengan menggunakan instrumen yang telah dibentuk oleh Conley (2000) yang mengandungi 5 item dengan menggunakan 5 skala Likert dengan skor 1 untuk tidak pernah hingga 5 untuk selalu.Seramai 105 ( L= 17, P = 88) sampel yang terdiri dari guru-guru sekolah menengah di daerah Kuala Nerus terlibat dalam kajian ini. Data dianalisis dengan statistik min, Ujian-t bebas dan kolerasi Pearson.Dapatan kajian menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan min stres guru berdasarkan faktor jantina guru.Bagaimanapun dapatan menunjukkan terdapat hubungan negatif di antara iklim sekolah dan stres guru berdasarkan iklim sekolah.Kesimpulannya kajian ini menghasilkan satu kerangka teori yang signifikan bagi menunjukkan bahawa iklim sekolah mempengaruhi stres guru sekolah menengah

Macroeconomic variables and Malaysian Islamic stock market: a time series analysis

This research will focus on the relationship between the development of Islamic stock market and macroeconomic variables in Malaysia. Generally, the purpose of this research is to observe this relationship in Malaysian context. In order to achieve the objective, an estimation of Vector Auto Regression (VAR) method was appli ed on the created research model. The variables involved in this research are Kuala Lumpur Syariah Index (KLSI), Industrial Production Index (IPI), Consumer Production Index (CPI), Aggregate Money Supply (M3), Islamic Inter Bank Rate (IIR) and Exchange Rat e of Malaysian Ringgit - United States Dollar. This research used monthly data from April 1999 to October 2007 taken from authorized sources. The findings showed that Islamic stock prices are co - integrated with the selected macroeconomic variables in which the stock price is related positively and significantly with IPI and CPI variables but related negatively and significantly with M3 and MYR variables. Meanwhile, its relation with IIR variables is found negative but insignificant. From the aspect of Gran ger causal relationship it is found that variables of CPI, M3 and MYR are the Granger cause for KLSI and the KLSI is the Granger cause for IPI, CPI and MYR

Literasi Kewangan Islam: Sorotan Kajian Lepas Dan kaedah pengukuran

Di dalam Islam elemen patuh kepada shariah adalah keutamaan bagi setiap muslim di dalam setiap aktiviti di dalam kehidupan mereka. Panduan shariah meliputi aspek ekonomi, ibadat, perundangan, kemasyarakatan dan hubungan antarabangsa. Perbezan jelas diantara kefahaman kewangan konvensional dan Islam yang di ukur mengunakan pendekatan literasi kewangan adalah dari aspek pematuhan shariah. Berdasarkan perbezaan ini, kajian yang dilakukan oleh para sarjana berkaitan Literasi Kewangan (LK) adalah dalam bentuk kajian kes dan kajian literatur adalah sangat meluas. Namun begitu, kajian berkenaan Literasi Kewangan Islam (LKI) mula mendapat tumpuan sejak 2010. Oleh itu kajian ini cuba menganalisis kajian lepas berkaitan literasi kewangan Islam memandangkan LKI merupakan bidang kajian yang agak baru dalam dunia penyelidikan berbading literasi kewangan yang telah mantap dari aspek teori dan dapatan kajian. Berdasarkan kepada kajian lepas dan dapatan kajian oleh para sarjana, kajian ini cuba menyelidik beberapa konsep yang sesuai untuk mengukur literasi kewangan Islam selari dengan kehendak shariah. Perkara asas di dalam Islam seperti rukun iman, Islam dan hukum hakam asas dalam setiap aktiviti muslim cuba di ketengahkan. Selain itu beberapa konsep penting di dalam muamalat dan ekonomi Islam seperti konsep perlindungan di dalam Islam, Konsep tabungan di dalam islam, pinjaman dari persepktif Islam, Konsep jaminan dalam Islam, Konsep perwakilan (wakalah) dalam Islam dan pembersihan kekayaan di dalam Islam cuba di ketengahkan sebagai satu kaedah pengukuran literasi kewangan Islam. Berdasarkan daripada perbincangan konsep-konsep penting dalam muamalat Islam ini boleh dijadikan panduan untuk membangunkan konstruk yang sesuai untuk mengukur literasi kewangan Islam individu dan usahawan Muslim seterusnya boleh menjadi sumbangan bermakna kepada para sarjana untuk kajian kajian akan datang

Hubungan modal sosial dan pendapatan projek ekonomi peserta Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) Wilayah Kedah dan Kelantan

Social capital has long been discussed by social scientists as well as in the economic sphere i.e. Narayan and Cassidy (2001), Putnam et al.(1993) and Coleman (1988). Lately, however, its discussion has become more interesting because of its importance in economic development, especially relating to micro financing and its relationship to poverty. The microfinance scheme approach which nourishes the existing social capital amongst the schemes participants is said to be capable of raising the performance of their economic activities.This study also attempts to use the structural equation model (SEM) which is rarely used in economic analysis in examining the effects of four variables, namely social capital, human capital, financial capital and physical capital on the participants‟ income from economic projects. The data set for this study was obtained from' Kajian Penyelidikan Impak 6 Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia‟ (AIM).A total of 489 respondents were interviewed using the face-to-face interview method.The respondents were selected using the stratified random sampling based on branches in both Kedah and Kelantan. The findings show that social capital, as well as the factors of human capital, financial capital, and physical capital, has a significant effect in increasing the income of AIM project participants. Analyses by regions and by length of time as an AIM member also show significant effect on the project income of members.The findings illustrate that investment for the improvements of social capital is also crucial to achieve socio-economic development objectives

Towards understanding the coping strategy among student-athletes

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the coping strategies of student-athletes at different level of participation at university level.A sample of 307 (female-213; male-94) university students-athletes in one of the public university in Malaysia were randomly selected for this study. The age of the student-athletes (M=22.09, sd=1.35 Out of the number, 210 represented college dormitory, 51 represented university at National level, and 46 represented state at national level, and representing Nation at International level.. The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory – 28 was used to measure the psychological coping skills for athletes.The instrument consisted of a 28-item scale measuring seven classes of sport-specific psychological coping skills including freedom from worry, coping with adversity, goal setting, coachability, concentration, peaking under pressure, confidence, and goal setting.Result shows that all of the seven coping strategies were significantly different with the four level of participations. However, the freedom from worry and coachability among college representative seem to be very low and needed distinct attention from the coaches.Results were further discussed and recommendations for future research also suggested in this paper

The type of culture at a high performance schools and low performance school in the state of Kedah

This research aims to identify the type of culture at a High Performance School (HPS) and Low Performance School (LPS) in the state of Kedah. The research instrument used to measure the type of organizational culture was adapted from Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (Cameron & Quinn, 2006) based on Competing Values Framework Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) Model.Two HPSs and two LPSs representing 129 teachers were chosen as research samples.Research findings showed that the current dominant culture in both HPS and LPS is Hierarchy (M=36.76, M=30.63 & SD = 8.23, SD=7.83) consecutively. Both types of schools practice Market culture and the average scores for both types of schools are the same whereby HPS (M=25.7,SD=8.56) and LPS (M=25.94, SD=8.32). However, HPS practices less Clan culture (M=21.15, SD=8.74) compared to LPS (M=24.18, SD=6.97). The Clan culture is more prominent in LPS compared to HPS. Both types of schools practice Adhocracy less which are (M=17.75, SD=6.94) in HPS and (M=19.81, SD=6.78) in LPS respectively. The findings showed that teachers in both types of schools would like to have the Clan culture practiced in their schools with the same average scores, M=34.89, SD=8.22. HPS prefers the Market culture (M=26.01, SD=6.32) compared to LPS Market culture (M=23.01, SD=.22). However they accepted Adhocracy less in HPS (M=20.02, SD=8.31) and LPS (M=21.58, SD=7.89). Nevertheless, Hierarchy culture in HPS (M=19.32, SD=6.45) and in LPS (M=21.05, SD=6.68) are widely practiced. From the comparisons made, it can be concluded that both types of schools widely practice the Hierarchy and Market cultures in schools.The recommendations for further studies were also suggested

Pembayaran Nafkah Anak Melalui Potongan Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja: Suatu Alternatif

Nafkah anak merupakan suatu kefarduan yang wajib ditunaikan secara berterusan oleh bapa atau penjaga menurut hukum syarak dan undang-undang. Namun begitu, tidak dinafikan bahawa wujudnya pengabaian nafkah daripada pihak bapa kepada anak-anak disebabkan pelbagai faktor. Pengabaian nafkah ini menyebabkan kehidupan anak-anak terjejas dan tidak mendapat hak yang sepatutnya. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis potongan Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) sebagai suatu alternatif untuk pembayaran nafkah anak di Mahkamah Syariah sekaligus mencadangkan potongan simpanan KWSP bapa sebagai salah satu mekanisma pembayaran nafkah. Data utama dalam kajian ini diperolehi melalui kajian perpustakaan dan juga kajian lapangan yang melibatkan temubual dengan Peguam Syarie bagi mendapatkan pandangan mereka berkenaan kaedah-kaedah pembayaran nafkah yang sedia ada serta keperluan pelaksanaan potongan KWSP sebagai kaedah alternatif. Metodologi yang digunakan ini boleh menyoroti potongan wang KWSP bagi tujuan nafkah dibuat melalui undang-undang seterusnya boleh mengesahkan kepentingan potongan wang KWSP bagi membela hak anak-anak untuk mendapatkan nafkah. Kajian ini penting khususnya kepada pihak kerajaan dan pembuat dasar di KWSP bagi meminda dasar yang sedia ada untuk membantu memelihara hak anak-anak daripada sikap culas bapa yang mencarum di KWSP

Design of Stacked Wafers AMC at 920 MHz for Metallic Object Detection in RFID Application

Artificial Magnetic Conductor, AMC is introduced into RFID application to overcome the problem of metal object detection. The AMC act as the Perfect Magnetic Conductor, PMC exhibits a reflectivity of +1 (in-phase reflection). In this paper, the stacked wafers AMC structure is designed to operate at 920 MHz frequency. The proposed stacked wafers AMC is an evolution from the basic square patch AMC. By introducing different size of slots into the square patch will help to reduce the frequency hence increase the bandwidth of the reflection phase. Another method to increase the bandwidth is by increasing the thickness of the structure. For the single cell of stacked wafers AMC proposed in this paper, the simulated bandwidth is 3.5% with reduced size of 45.56% than the square AMC. An optimized structure of 3x2 stacked wafers AMC give better return loss = - 21.8 dB and gain = 3.04 dB with total efficiency of 82.3%

Effectiveness of 2-D resistivity survey to identify lineament (fault) from photolineament interpretation – case study at Kampung Dato’ Mufti, Ampang, Selangor

Lineaments play an important role in the stability of structures such as slopes, foundations, dams and buildings. Identification of the presence of lineament is important especially at planning and construction stage to enable mitigation measures/controls can selected earlier. The combined techniques of satellite image downloaded from Google Earth interpretation and electrical resistivity survey can assist in the identification and verification process of lineament structures. In this study, interpretation of lineament was done using satellite images Google Earth in the laboratory. Orientation and position of every lineament was determined accurately in the field. Electrical resistivity survey was conducted using Wanner configuration that cross the lineament in the field. The electrical resistivity results showed the presence of lineament structural in the pseudo section and prove the effectiveness of combination of both techniques to detect and confirm the presence of structural lineament