Risk of construction corruption factors in construction project life cycle from contractors’ perspectives

Oftentimes, construction industry is well known to be one the most easily corruptible industry in this world. This is due to the nature of the complexities of the industry itself, as there exists many loopholes that makes it easy for dishonest people looking to take advantage to gain for themselves. The practice of corruption in Malaysia have been severe as seen in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which ranked the country, 58th out of 180 countries in 2019. This makes it important to study the corrupt practices construction industry moreover it contributed to more than RM60 billion towards the Malaysian GDP. Corrupt practices not only affect the economic side of the nation but it also affects the government’s image as well as the nation’s reputation. Hence this study intended to identify the factors contributing to corruption throughout the construction project life cycle phases as it reveals the riskiest phases which are prone to corrupt practices. From literature review, it was found that there were around 200 corruption factors relating to the corruption in construction industry. After similarity checking, it was found that only 31 corruption factors were relevant which would then be placed under the construction project life cycle (CPLC) phases to categorize it. The pilot study involved 13 construction experts and the study found that all the construction corruption factor (CCF) to be relevant and the questionnaire reliable which is all Cronbach Alpha value above 0.600. The actual questionnaire survey was conducted among contractors from Grade 1 to 7 of the southern region of peninsular Malaysia. From 150 questionnaires distributed, the study managed to get back 135 sets which means 90% response rate. Data was then established from these 135 valid sets of questionnaires and was analysed using statistical tools and risk matrix chart. It was found that the collected data were reliable as the Cronbach alpha values shows it to be reliable. The data was further used to analyse the ranking of occurrence and severity for each factor in construction project life cycle (CPLC) phases. Based on the occurrence and severity values, the risk level of each factor was identified and plotted using risk matrix chart to show the riskiest factor in the CPLC. Finally, for the high risk factors, this study has proposed mitigation plan that will help to counter the corrupt practices. The findings from this study will assist the construction community in Malaysia to take appropriate actions in resolving the corruption issues with the suggested mitigation strategies for their organisations. For the relevant authorities, these findings can help to formulate rules and regulations to prevent corrupt practices and ensuring the construction activities can be carried out with a clean, high quality and in sustainable manner

Analysis of Road Traffic Crashes Data of Perak State in Malaysia

Road traffic accidents are one of Malaysia's top five major causes of death and is one of the most critical public health concerns in 2023. As a result, this article offers research based on data from different Malaysian government organisations and analysing the changes in the pattern of Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) in Perak, Malaysia. From 2011 to 2018, data was analysed based on road traffic collisions and categories of casualties concerning gender, age, types of roads and vehicles, and road users. The mortality and injury rates per 100,000 people were used to calculate performance for road safety. It was found that with a 0.59% increase in Perak's population and an increase in the number of cars, there are 30,669 total crashes and 491 road deaths in 2020. Furthermore, this study discovered that motorcycles were the most common vehicle involved in road traffic deaths from 2011 to 2018, which should raise concerns since motorbikes have become an essential mode of transportation. In Perak, most road deaths were males between the ages of 16 and 20. Finally, this study discovered that the death and injury rates per 100,000 people in Perak are 19.56 and 75.82, respectively, indicating that the fatality rate is dropping, but the injury rate increased dramatically in 2020 compared to 2019. The Perak state administration must investigate why the situation has worsen after a decade. Somehow or rather, the state must address this issue, and it is advised that further research be conducted to identify mechanisms to enhance the current scenario to lower the number of RTCs, notably deaths, in the state

Teacher beliefs and practices in communicative language competence towards the development of an autonomous learning model

There is great impetus for English courses in institutions of higher learning (II-IL) at present due to its functional importance as a tool for individual and national development, graduate employability and life-long learning. However, it remains a common complaint among employers that Malaysian fresh graduates lack English proficiency and critical thinking skills. Thus, this qualitative study sets out to examine the focus and emphasis on English language proficiency, critical thinking skills and study skills of five (5) English courses offered by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysta (UTHM) through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and document analysis. The interviews conducted with five teachers and ten students were transcribed using Transana software before being coded for analysis. A grounded theory approach which emphasises on several stages of data collection and constant comparison of data was employed to interpret the data. The main findings revealed that teachers in general \· think that language proficiency, critical thinking and study skills are important for tertiary level English classrooms. However, actual teaching practices were found to differ from the teachers' beliefs towards critical thinking and study skills due to challenges which can be categorised as teacher factors, student factors and institutional factors. Finally, several important criteria were identified from the findings to form an autonomous learning model for English language communicative competence called the SITE Model. The findings of this study especially the current beliefs and teaching practices of teachers as well as the proposed SITE Model may serve as a reference point for researchers, educators and policy makers to develop effective English language curriculums for enhancing communicative competence among learners

Assessing Road Accident Black Spots and Countermeasures in the State of Perak, Malaysia

To develop a successful strategy for improving road safety, the initial step involves is to identify the black spots that are more susceptible to high-risk traffic accidents. However, due to the high cost of implementing safety measures in these locations, only a limited number of spots/sites can be thoroughly examined with the available funding. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize the high-risk sites and their corresponding safety measures in order to make the most efficient use of the available finances. Hence, this paper presents black spots ranking and low-cost countermeasures based on the Perak Federal trunk road traffic crash (RTC) data for three years from 2018 to 2020 recorded by the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP). The weightage point method was used for each black spot  ranking exercise where as, the selection for countermeasures were based on RTC situations which are norms practiced by the Public Works Department (PWD). In total 22 black spots were ranked and it was found that the highest rank of the 2020 black spots in Perak was along route FT005 in Kinta district which had 18 RTCs and with a total weightage points (TWP) of 118.2. In balancing between limited financial allocation and improving road safety, the countermeasures were priorotized for implementation in 2021 based on the black spots ranking results. However, only six black spots were treated in 2021 with the entire cost was RM 1,834,027.19.  Where for route FT005 in Kinta district, the countermeasure was done at Section 684 with a total cost of RM350,000 under the 2022 black spots countermeasure program which is an annual program funded by the Ministry of Works Malaysia. It is recommended that Perak State PWD form a Road Safety Unit to reduce the black spots along the state roads which is the second highest road fatalities recorded in Perak

The Severity of Corruption Factors in Project Life Cycle from Construction Experts' Perspectives

A study was conducted to identify whether corruption factors extracted from the literature review are relevant to the local construction industry. This study involves 13 construction experts that have been selected based on their experiences and prominent position in their respective organizations. All of the experts have a minimum of 10 years of working experiences, and their jobs are ranging from engineer to project manager. The experts were given a questionnaire and required to score the degree of severity to each of the 31 corruption factors in 4 stages of Construction Project Life Cycle (CPLC). Data collected from this study were analyzed descriptively using Average Index Score approach. The result of the study indicated that all the factors were getting scores ranging from 2.54 to 3.77, which indicates that the factors range from moderately relevant to extremely relevant from the viewpoints of the experts. Three highest scored factors are "High of competitions amongst contractor"; "Political influence in the design and tendering stage"; "Abuse of power from the client". Findings from this study can be further explored and applied to respective construction parties in decision making