FENG SHUI SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEF: DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUNG GENERATIONS IN HOUSING PURCHASE INTENTION?

Superstition is an indispensable part of every ethnic culture in Malaysia. Each race has its own culture and its own superstitions. This is certainly true in the multicultural landscape of Malaysia. Since superstition is part of daily life, it can even have an impact on the housing property market. This article aims to examine the superstitious beliefs in Feng Shui of the young generation’s intention to buy a house. This study focuses on the young generation with the prime working-aged between 25 and 40 years old in the Klang Valley. This study uses quantitative methods. A total of 2,600 questionnaires were distributed, however, only 97% or 2523 questionnaires are valid to proceed for data analysis. In summary, there is a significant correlation between the influences of superstition beliefs on the willingness of a young one to buy a house. Superstition is affecting the decision- making process of the Chinese community. Keywords: superstition, belief, housing property, Feng Shu

NeoLiberalism and the Challenges of Managing Labour Migration in Urban Malaysia

Labour migration into Malaysia has increased rapidly in recent decades and this has affected Malaysia’s government policy in managing migrants’ movement. Interestingly, Malaysia has attracted a high degree of unskilled labour, accompanied by unabated rise of undocumented migrant workers. Mitigating undocumented migration is the main aim of Malaysia’s labour migration policy and therefore the focus of Malaysian government. This has impacted on how enforcement agencies work out strategies. These agencies are the forefront of Malaysia’s labour migration policy but they faced a number of challenges, such as documentation, finance and manpower capability, and political intervention, which impede their ability to optimize their capabilities in enforcing the Malaysian government labour migration policy. Resolving these challenges and moving towards a long-term labour migration policy will benefit the Malaysian state, its citizens and the labour migrants

INDIGENOUS PARENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FORMAL EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

Background and Purpose: Parents play a crucial role in children's educational attainment. Their perception influences their action in giving better formal education to their children. However, the scenario is different for the Indigenous community in Malaysia where formal education is deemed least important and there is a huge gap for Indigenous education attainment compared to the stream population. This paper aims to elucidate the parent perception of formal education effectiveness among the Indigenous community or Orang Asli (in the Malay language) in Terengganu, Malaysia.   Methodology: The research using qualitative methods involved three Indigenous villages in the state of Terengganu. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions and observation. The informants consisted of Indigenous parents, teachers and the officers of the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA).   Findings: Results showed that parents' perceptions are generally stereotyped and unable to stimulate students’ interest. The common problem in teaching and learning is related to parents’ educational background, socioeconomic background, expectations, marital age, surrounding condition and awareness.   Contributions: This study has given the real picture of Indigenous parents' perceptions toward formal education. The implications of Indigenous parents’ education problems are significantly associated with degrading interest among students in education, issues of attendance and students' academic performance.   Keywords: Orang Asli, formal education, academic attainment, parent’s perception, Terengganu.   Cite as: Mohd Noor, M. I., Abdullah, M. F., Tedong, P. A., Ahmad Zaini, A., Abd Kadir, N. A., & Abdullah, M. T. (2023). Indigenous parents’ perception of the effectiveness of formal education in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(1), 384-405. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss1pp384-40

Guarding the neighbourhoods: The new landscape of control in Malaysia / Peter Aning Tedong

enclosures emerged as a topic of scholarly interest in the 1990s, international studies have proliferated. While some may argue that securitised enclosures are a global phenomenon, case studies of particular regions reveal enclosures take different forms in different nations as housing producers respond to local values, beliefs, and practices. In Malaysia, this study identified two types of enclosures being produced in sub/urban residential areas. In new development projects private developers are building gated communities surrounded by walls containing attractive shared amenities. In older areas, residents’ associations organise to create guarded neighbourhoods by erecting physical barriers across public roads, hiring security guards and impose makeshift boundaries to limit outsiders’ access. Therefore, through a political-economy approach based on neoliberalism, this study aimed to investigate the proliferation of guarded neighbourhoods in the Selangor state, Malaysia. In particular, this study examined the factors producing them, the role of governance and multiple key actors and the social spatial implications of this kind of community. This study developed these insights from a qualitative research that included in-depth interviews with multiple key actors in the government and communities, reviews of documentation and statistics, and direct-observations assessing guarded neighbourhoods in Selangor state, Malaysia. In-depth interviews revealed that safety and security – that is, fear of crime/other has motivated sub/urban residents to live in guarded neighbourhood. As the middle class has grown, the desire for private and exclusive living and to enhance property values also drives the creation of guarded neighbourhoods. In the context role of the state, research findings revealed that the Malaysian government, corporations, and citizen group’s work within a complex governance system to (re)produce guarded neighbourhoods and creating conditions that support enclosure and securitisation of space. A neoliberal government practices provide a regulatory context within which residents organise associations, levy fees, erect barricades, and hire guards to control formerly public streets and spaces. This study also revealed that guarded neighbourhood simultaneously reflect social exclusion—of non-residents and foreigners—and cohesive social action of the politically powerful to produce neighbourhood identity and community coherence. Citizen action to create guarded neighbourhoods reveals emerging class boundaries and reinforces social segregation and urban fragmentation in urban Malaysia. In sum, this study showed that neoliberal market principles fuse with ethnic politics, cultural predilections, and economic imperatives to generate a socially and spatially fragmented urban landscape where security concerns dominate and where citizens culturally, physically, and symbolically segregate themselves from others. As the power of urban practitioners working with the Malaysian government proved limited, this study also recommended some improvements on the existing roles and rules in governing and reproducing guarded neighbourhoods in Malaysia

Marriage migration: Lived experience of foreign spouses married to Malaysian citizens

Marriage migration has led to marriage migrants as a significant aspect of migration. While much of the literature on migration in the Malaysian context discusses labour migration, very little is documented on marriage migration in Malaysia, especially concerning foreign spouses’ viewpoint on their international marriage. Therefore, this paper sought to investigate and document the foreign spouses’ lived experience in several aspects of life from acquiring the spouse visa to employment to family and relationship with friends in Malaysia. Results obtained from data collected through in-depth interviews give the overview that foreign spouses experience difficulties due to their status as a ‘foreigner’. Foreign spouses’ experience of living in Malaysia is related to the idea that a ‘foreigner’ is considered socially excluded in the country, leading to difficulties. Overall, foreign spouses face many challenges living in Malaysia

Community transformation through community infrastructure planning: A case study of Song District, Sarawak

The development of community infrastructure is fundamental to the socio-economic growth of a region and its community. Nevertheless, the development of rural community infrastructure still remains a challenge in some rural areas which affects the standard of living in the communities. In Malaysia, community infrastructure planning remains a key component of Malaysia’s rural development policies and strategies that needs to be amplified in ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas. This paper examines the role of community infrastructure planning in transforming rural communities’ quality of life which includes the impacts of community infrastructure planning to community’s livelihood transformation and challenges that comes with it. This study adopts the qualitative approach involving semi-structured in-depth interviews with relevant government agencies involved in the rural community infrastructure planning process. Based on a study carried out in Song District, Sarawak, the findings finds that while the respondents agreed that development of community infrastructure in the district have created transformational effects to the communities’ livelihoods, there were various challenges to the delivery of community infrastructure projects to certain areas within the district in addition to satisfying the needs to the community. The discussion suggests that in terms of governance, integration of institutional roles of stakeholders, involving government agencies and community needs to be emphasize in the rural community infrastructure planning process to deal with the many challenges in order to fulfill the rural communities’ needs

Governing Enclosure: The Role of Governance in Producing Gated Communities and Guarded Neighborhoods in Malaysia

Enclosed residential areas are proliferating in Malaysian cities, in common with many other parts of the world. The production of gated communities and guarded neighborhoods in Malaysia reveals the active role of the state in creating conditions that support enclosure and securitization of space. This article examines the role of governance in producing residential enclaves that reinforce segregation and fragment urban landscapes. Based on a study of gated communities in Malaysia, we argue that governments, corporations and citizen groups collaborate within a complex governance system that (re)produces enclosure. Neoliberal market principles fuse with ethnic politics, cultural predilections and economic imperatives to generate a socially and spatially fragmented urban landscape where security concerns dominate and where citizens culturally, physically and symbolically segregate themselves from others

NeoLiberalism and the Challenges of Managing Labour Migration in Urban Malaysia

Labour migration into Malaysia has increased rapidly in recent decades and this has affected Malaysia's government policy in managing migrants’ movement. Interestingly, Malaysia has attracted a high degree of unskilled labour, accompanied by unabated rise of undocumented migrant workers. Mitigating undocumented migration is the main aim of Malaysia's labour migration policy and therefore the focus of Malaysian government. This has impacted on how enforcement agencies work out strategies. These agencies are the forefront of Malaysia's labour migration policy but they faced a number of challenges, such as documentation, finance and manpower capability, and political intervention, which impede their ability to optimize their capabilities in enforcing the Malaysian government labour migration policy. Resolving these challenges and moving towards a long-term labour migration policy will benefit the Malaysian state, its citizens and the labour migrants

The privatization of public streets and urban spaces in Malaysia

In the last two decades, Malaysia has embedded good neighborhood principles in its planning plans that promote diversity and accessibility in urban residential areas. However, the emerging trends of the privatization of public streets and open spaces in urban residential areas in Malaysia offer the opportunity to study complex urban governance processes in a democratic and developing country. Using empirical evidence, this article recounts the fascinating saga of how various actors - urban planners, resident associations, residents of open neighborhoods and residents of guarded neighborhoods - responded to the privatization of public streets and open spaces in Malaysia. While planners described Greater Klang Valley as a diverse city in Malaysia, they sometimes tolerated the privatization of public streets and open spaces through neoliberal policies

Planning implications of guarded neighborhoods in Malaysia

The increased prevalence of enclosed communities began to draw attention from researchers and commentators worldwide as early as the 1970s. Although much of the early discussion concerned communities in the United States, gated communities were well documented on most continents and in diverse contexts by the 2000s. In Malaysia, in response to perceived market demand for residential enclaves due to globalization and modernization, a number of private developers have created bespoke gated communities. However, less research has been conducted on the retrofitting of existing residential neighborhoods (guarded neighborhoods) with security measures or the `ad hoc' privatization of such neighborhoods. Therefore, drawing on case studies of older, access-controlled residential communities, this article investigates urban planners' perceptions of talks about the planning implications of guarded neighborhoods in the Malaysian state of Selangor. As individual local community groups mobilize to levy what amounts to an additional local tax to finance dedicated guards and gates at the street level, urban planners regularly encounter a conflict between `good-neighborhood' principles and the importance of social-spatial integration. Malaysia's government authorities encourage citizens to enclose local spaces despite the legal prohibition on enclosure and the adverse effects of such interventions on physical and social integration in existing urban residential neighborhoods