A scholar and man of honour, humility, and devotion: a tribute to Professor Dr. Jamil Farooqui

The article is a homage to the late Professor Dr. Jamil Farooqui, a respected former colleague at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, IIUM. Prof. Jamil was known for his expertise in Sociological Perspectives, Research Methodology, and Islamic Sociology, and had a significant impact on teaching and research at IIUM. The piece includes a list of Prof. Jamil’s publications and discusses his efforts to integrate Islamic perspectives into sociology. Colleagues share their memories, highlighting Prof. Jamil’s humility, kindness, and role as a mentor and friend

The impact of Islamic thought in contemporary Malaysian society with special reference to sociology

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the status, roles and influence of Islam in what is today’s known as the contemporary Malaysian society. The paper is based on reference to some prevailing works which are consolidated to meet the need of the Conference’s theme namely “Sociology in Islamic Geographies”. The main question to answer is, to what extend Islam has been influential in the Malaysia’s educational affairs particularly in the field of sociology. Due to various limitations, the paper only touches on some major themes and portrays significant manifestations for each theme with the final reference to the current practice of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at one of Malaysia’s Islamic higher learning institutions. To set a relevant historical context prior to the discussion, the paper firstly provides a brief historical recital of the coming of Islam to the Malay Archipelago and its consequences upon the nation’s various institutions and traditions - religious, literary, educational and others. It then presents an overview of its status and influence in the multi-racial and multi- religious society particularly after Malaysia regained its independence from the British in 1957. This part is crucial because the legal provisions regarding Islam in the Federation Constitution particularly Part I Article 3 declares that “the Religion of the Federation” and this has set as the main starting point for any effort at explaining Islam in the aftermath of independence. Equally important in this context is what is known as the Rukunegara or Pillars of the Nation which makes ‘belief in God’ as its first pillar. It is within these historical, constitutional and national ideological contexts and frameworks that various discourses on issues regarding ethnicity, economics, religion, education, politics and others found their expressions in contemporary Malaysia. Due to the limitations of space, the paper only focuses on issues within educational domain with particular reference to the practice of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) as an illustration. The study is qualitative and descriptive in nature with library research being used in soliciting and utilizing information from the prevailing works and literature. The paper concludes that the interplay between the desire or goal of realizing Islamic religious ideals and the complex socio-cultural realities of the Malaysian society has informed us of the varying degrees and modes of adaptation that allows this ‘religion of the Federation’ to prevail throughout history and find its way in offering Islamic religious values and input peacefully to the Malaysian people. The prevailing social stability among its multi-ethnic and multi-religious population has allowed both the constant and dynamic forces within Islamic teachings to be incorporated also in its educational affairs as demonstrated for instance by the establishment and operation of the IIUM’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology. This, in one way or the other, might have been reflective of the frequent reference to the need for securing public interest under the broad guise of maqasid al-shari’ah or the lofty goals of religion which currently also becomes one of the Government’s catchwords

Subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia: a qualitative study

Quality of life (QOL) has two main dimensions: objective and subjective. Both dimensions are equally important in determining the overall quality of life of a person (Mahadzirah et al., 2008). Hence, a comprehensive measure of people’s life satisfaction should ideally take into account these two dimensions. Empirical data for the measure of quality of life in Malaysia however has largely employed objective indicators (MQLI, 2004) and were used mainly in quantitative research. This situation has left research on subjective life satisfaction or well-being largely unexplored or limited. In light of the above, one may ask: if the MQLI has shown high score on the objective indicators, how far does this score reflect upon the people’s subjective life satisfaction. This study thus focuses on exploring subjective life satisfaction among urban Malay civil servants in Malaysia. Being qualitative in nature, the research is concerned mainly with the emic than the etic views and perspectives (Merriam, 2009). Framed withing a modified Allardt’s model of welfare and MQLI, the study explores the subjective meaning of life satisfaction among the staff members of a Malaysian public university namely Universiti Teknologi MARA or UiTM. Sixteen respondents from four different categories of the University’s administrative staff working at its main campus in Shah Alam, Selangor were engaged in the research. Data collected via in-depth interviews were later verified through written feedback validation (WFV) form. Preliminary findings have shown that the responses centered around two main themes namely satisfying non-living needs and satisfying the living needs with the former being the main priority of the respondents. These findings have significant bearing upon development policy in Malaysia

Development and modernization of OIC member countries: A study based on selected indicators

This paper attempts to analyze the performance of 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)based on selected indicators of some sectors namely demography, economics, education and technology and innovation. Specifically, it aims at firstly portraying an overview of OIC performance based on six selected indicators followed by analyzing the relationship between selected development variables with literacy and exploring the state of OIC performance as indicated by their achievement based on selected indicators. The study was undertaken vis-à-vis the prevailing theories on modernization and development as well as the widely asserted underdevelopment of the contemporary Muslim ummah as claimed by numerous contemporary Muslim scholars. The data were solicited among others from the World Bank Database, Statistical, Economic, and Social Research and Training, Centre of Islamic Countries (SESRIC) of OIC and some previous studies. They were then analyzed using SPSS with the results being generated mainly through the use of descriptive statistics. Among others, study found that there is a positive correlation between Muslim countries’ urban population growth and literacy rate, there is a steady decline in the number of OIC countries as they are categorized from lower to higher income category placement and the percentage of the scientific publications of all 57 OIC countries is far below that of any one single developed nation. Artikel ini bertujuan menganalisis prestasi 57 negara anggota Pertubuhan Kerjasama Islam (OIC) berdasarkan kepada beberapa petunjuk atau indikator dari beberapa sektor terpilih iaitu demografi, ekonomi, pendidikan dan teknologi dan inovasi. Secara khusus, ia bertujuan pertamanya untuk memberi gambaran menyeluruh tentang prestasi OIC berdasarkan kepada enam indikator terpilih diikuti dengan analisis hubungan antara beberapa pembolehubah berkaitan pembangunan dengan kadar celik huruf dan seterusnys meneroka prestasi OIC berdasarkan kepada pencapaian petunjuk-petunjuk yang dipilih itu. Kajian ini dilakukan di tengah-tengah perbicaraan mengenai teori-teori tentang pemodenan dan pembangunan serta perbahasan tentang kemunduran umat Islam masa kini seperti disentuh oleh ramai sarjana Islam kontemporari. Data-data yang digunakan diperoleh daripada sumber-sumber seperti Pangkalan Data Bank Dunia, Pusat Statistik, Ekonomi, Penyelidikan dan Latihan Negara Islam (SESRIC) dan beberapa kajian terdahulu. Data-data ini dianalisis dengan menggunakan SPSS terutamanya melalui penggunaan statistik deskriptif. Antara lain, kajian mendapati terdapat korelasi positif antara pertumbuhan populasi penduduk dan kadar celik huruf penduduk negara-negara Islam, penurunan bilangan negara OIC dari kategori berpendapatan rendah ke peringkat lebih tinggi dan peratusan penerbitan saintifik negara OIC secara kolektif yang jauh terkebawah berbanding mana-mana satu negara maju

Sexual identity: effeminacy among university students

The study focuses on the effeminate male students of the university. The phenomenon of effeminate male students on some university campusses has become a matter of concern. It is presumably the first study of such students at an institution of higher learning. It started before this issue became a subject of debate in newspapers. The study consists of an introduction; three chapters on empirical findings pertaining to students' perceptions of effeminate male students, the psychological profile of effeminates in comparison to normal male and female students, and qualitative interviews with both the effeminates and their friends; a conclusion and seven appendices. The experts attributed sexual identity disorder to the influence of nature and nurture. They distinguished between the genetically effeminate males and those who deliberately become effeminates. It is latter that should be guided in order to eliminate their sexual identity confusion and protect the society

Tourism in Malaysia: an empirical study on socio-economic and environmental impacts

As a pluralistic nation, Malaysia consists of diverse ethnic groups of people with various cultures that integrate harmonious and peaceful living in a politically stable and wonderfully rich environmental setting. Due to such unique features, people from abroad become largely attracted to this land and thus frequently arrive here as visitors and tourists. There are tremendous amounts of attractions for the visitors and tourists, and people from various backgrounds arrive to stay here temporarily, generating around RM65 billion in foreign earnings, adding to its national coffer every year. Nevertheless, tourism also causes a major negative effect in which the local culture may be assimilated into the alien norms and behaviors through the continuous process of acculturation. Due to day-to-day interactions with the tourists and visitors, many sociocultural impacts have affected local values, which contextually require to be redefined. This book analyzes critically the sociocultural and environmental impacts of tourism in Malaysia, having collected both qualitative and quantitative data at the empirical level of investigation

Prospects of tourism in Malaysia: A situational study focusing on socio-cultural and environmental aspects

Malaysia is perhaps one of the most unique countries of the world, being strategically situated on the gate-way location of global routes with a wonderful eco-environmental setting. Being a pluralistic society, it inherits its own traditional culture with harmonious integration of the diverse ethnic groups living in a very peaceful and politically stable situation. With all its economic potentials, Malaysia has recently emerged as a newly-developed nation with a huge infrastructural growth in its industrial and manufacturing sectors. Due to these developments and other eloquent features, people from abroad become largely attracted to this land and thus, they frequently arrive here as visitors and tourists. As recently as in the year 2005, it is reported that at least 16.7 million international tourists from outside visited Malaysia bringing about 30 billion ringgit in terms of foreign currency in this country (see Badruddin et.al. 2007). At present, tourism may be regarded as the largest service-oriented industry in Malaysia contributing a great economic share in the national GDP and provides employment to a bulk of the population in the country. It brings civic pride and social prestige for Malaysia by making a kind of international linkages in global context. It takes Malaysian culture abroad and people from outside can get the touch of the unique Muslim heritage in Malaysian context. Based on this positive assumption, this proposed research will generate information in regard to knowing about the present situation of tourism in Malaysian context. Side by side, it is also recognized that tourism often damages eco-environments of a particular region of the country, which are over-used by the tourists. The natural habitats are dislocated, and also there occurs enormous social impacts on local values and community culture. From that perspective the paper is designed to deal with the issue of tourism in Malaysia from both positive and negative perspectives; and thus it will generate a discourse to conceptualize a rational framework for Malaysian tourism

Efeminasi sebagai pendahuluan kepada pembentukan seorang mak nyah (Effeminacy as a Prelude to being a transsexual)

The paper first divides the stages of being a transsexual into three namely: the pre-transsexual, the transsexual and post-transsexual periods (the last stage is applicable only to a transsexual who has abandoned his transsexual status). The paper focuses on the first stage i.e. the stage before someone develops into a full-blown transsexual. The discussion was based on the belief that one possible situation that is associated with being transsexual is one’s effeminate behavior prior to becoming a transsexual. An effeminate is a male behaving like a woman. The paper discusses the main factors of effeminacy as perceived by the non-transsexuals from among the normal male population as well as the effeminates’ friends. It than highlights the way the effeminates look at themselves including the factors that led to their effeminate behavior and others. Other aspects discussed include the characteristics of transsexuals, their activities and also their views on various issues. A comparison between the emic and the outsiders’ views is made for establishing the gap between the two. The paper ends with some suggestions which may be considered in addressing the issue of transsexuals including development of module as aimed by the organizer