Imam, Syed Sohail

Masuan, Khairol Anuar

English

Intellectual Discourse (Journal)

BOOK REVIEWS 121Qaida recruiters lurking in mosques” but  later he points out that“potential mujahedin have a hard time joining the Jihad if they donot know how to link up with the movement.”The real value of this book, and the reason why Muslims andresponsible scholarship should pay attention to, is that it portraysthe attitude of the West towards Islam and is symptomatic of currentproblems associated with Western analysis of terrorism, both ingovernment and in the popular and academic sectors. Most ofSageman’s recommendations have been implemented by the Bushadministration.Contemporary Issues in Malaysian Psychology. Edited by ZafarA. Ansari, Noraini M. Noor and Amber Haque. Singapore: Thomson,2005, pp. 333, ISBN 981-254-819-X.Reviewers: Dr. Syed Sohail Imam and Khairol Anuar Masuan,Department of Psychology, International Islamic University Malaysia.Though the history of formal psychology in Malaysia is quite recent,informal psychology has been part and parcel of the lives of Malays.The book under review raises psychological issues within the contextof the Malaysian society. It presents the historical development ofpsychology in Malaysia and documents some current useful localstudies in different areas of psychology. The eleven chapters in thevolume cover both basic and applied areas. In the final chapter theeditors explore the future directions of Malaysian psychology.Noticeably, all the chapters, with the exception of one on counselingin Malaysia, were contributed by members of the Department ofPsychology at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Theissues covered are not exhaustive; they reflect mainly the interest ofthe contributors.Wan Rafaei’s chapter on the historical developments of psychologyin Malaysia includes both formal and informal psychology. Whilethe former started with the establishment of psychology departmentsat the local universities, with the earliest being Universiti KebangsaanMalaysia in 1979, the latter provides a wealth of information-122           INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE, VOL 14, NO 1, 2006regarding how informal psychology has been used in the Malaysociety in documenting social behaviour. In the next chapter, AmberHaque points out that mental health awareness in Malaysia is stillwanting, notably due to the lack of knowledge of what mental healthis and the adherence to traditional cultural beliefs and practices. Heexamines the concepts of mental illness and mental health from theperspectives of the three ethnic groups, Malays, Chinese and Indiansand traces the development of the mental health services within thecountry. In the next chapter, Hariyati Shahrima identifies a numberof psychological factors associated with health and illness behaviourin Malaysian coronary heart patients. She points out the specificpsychological needs of Malaysians, especially in cardiacrehabilitation programs, which may be different from the West.Shamsul Haque examines the effect of culture on autobiographicalmemory and concludes that such factors as identity, power, andacculturation processes may lead to cultural differences inautobiographical memory. Noraini M. Noor and Nordiana MohdMahudin illustrate the influence of culture on how women’s workand family roles are perceived and practiced. They suggest thatculture defines the appropriate roles of men and women and discussthis gendered ideology within the context of the Malays and Chinesewith respect to work and family. Shukran Abdul Rahman highlightsworkplace applications of psychology and traces the developmentof this applied field in Malaysia. In the next chapter, MuhammadAbdul Rashid and Shukran Abdul Rahman examine drug abuse asa major social problem in Malaysia. Following this chapter, AshiqAli Shah looks into the incidence of child abuse in the three mainethnic groups in Malaysia i.e., Malays, Chinese and Indians. SuradiSalim and Rafidah Aga Mohd Jaladin report on the development ofcounseling services in Malaysia and highlight the prevailing issueswithin the field of counseling psychology, which is the mostdeveloped applied branch of psychology in Malaysia and is growingfast as a profession in its own right. The chapter on testing byJusmawati Fauzaman, Zafar A. Ansari and Rahmatullah Khan is areview of the major trends in psychological testing in Malaysia andhighlights the issue of professionalism in testing. In the last chapter,the editors consider the past and present scenarios of psychology inMalaysia and suggest some future directions for the field. Theyrecognize that psychology in Malaysia is culture dependent andBOOK REVIEWS 123within this context they recommend that psychology be positionedbetter by opening more departments, developing more programmesfor the masses, strengthening its professional bodies, providing betterprofessional services to a wider variety of people, etc.There are several appendices, which provide readers withinformation about public universities with psychology andcounseling departments, organizations in the public sector offeringpsychological and counseling services, and NGOs offering similarservices (taken from the National Council of Welfare and SocialDevelopment of Malaysia, 2004).Although the issues covered in this book are selective and somecontributors have provided only minimal information of therespective fields in Malaysia, this is the first book written in Englishon important psychological issues prevailing in contemporaryMalaysia. Another plus point is the effort made to apply andassimilate, modify or indigenize the principles and theories ofWestern psychology in the Malaysian context, which reflect diversecultural and religious background. This book is likely to be the firstuseful reference to psychology in Malaysia and as such should be arequired reading for psychology students. The book is  also of generalinterest, and will enable the readers to understand some of thepsychological phenomena in the Malaysian context.

Contemporary Issues in Malaysian Psychology. Edited by Zafar A. Ansari, Noraini M. Noor and Amber Haque.

https://journals.iium.edu.my/intdiscourse/index.php/id/article/download/94/85

Contemporary Issues in Malaysian Psychology. Edited by Zafar A. Ansari, Noraini M. Noor and Amber Haque.

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