Shakila Yacob

University of Malaya | UM · Department of History

Despite vigorous anti-corruption initiatives, the corruption scourge has reached epidemic proportions in Malaysia. This paper seeks to comprehend the public opinion of different stakeholders on the various manifestations of corruption in Malaysia.

The success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme to achieve herd immunity depends on the proportion of the population inoculated. COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy is a barrier to reaching a sufficient number of people to achieve herd immunity. This study aims to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and to identify the reasons contr...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global health emergency and lock-down measures to curb the uncontrolled transmission chain. Vaccination is an effective measure against COVID-19 infections. In Malaysia amidst the national immunisation programme (NIP) which started in February 2021, there were rising concerns regarding the prevalen...

Few weeks after the signing ceremony of the Treaty forming the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Lagos, Nigeria on 28 May 1975, the ECOWAS formation treaty was ratified by threshold of member states in June 1975. The charter envisages the immediate formation of the Executive Secretariat to guide the implementation of regional po...

The International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA) initiated this public policy casebook series based on the premise that every citizen should participate not only in the political process but also policymaking. Citizen engagement and public policy advocacy is key to effective governance. We hope this casebook will create much-nee...

Abstrak Kajian mengenai keluasan kawasan berhutan di Semenanjung Malaysia merujuk kepada data yang dikeluarkan oleh Jabatan Perhutanan yang mengambil kira keluasan kawasan berhutan berdasarkan status tanah. Kawasan yang diusahahasil untuk tujuan pertanian, perladangan, perlombongan dan kuari dikira sebagai kawasan berhutan. Ini bertentangan dengan...

Malaysia-Indonesia Konfrontasi

Artikel ini membincangkan peranan surat khabar Amerika Syarikat (AS) khususnya New York Times dan Washington Post dalam sejarah hubungan perdagangan Malaysia-AS berkaitan isu kempen antiminyak sawit. Kempen antiminyak sawit yang dijalankan oleh American Soybean Association (ASA), American Heart Association (AHA), Center for Science in the Public In...

This study analyses how domestic companies in Bangladesh emerged as major conglomerates, despite little help from a weak state that could hardly nurture its enterprises. Using a business history approach, this study traces the development of Bangladesh’s leading business groups. The history indicates that the entrepreneurial capacity and the creati...

ABSTRAK Peristiwa penahanan dan pendakwaan Anwar Ibrahim telah menarik minat media antarabangsa sehingga menjadikan isu ini hangat dibincangkan di Parlimen Malaysia sebagai respon ke atas laporan yang didakwa bersifat provokasi. Perkara ini telah menimbulkan kebimbangan kerajaan Malaysia kerana laporan yang diterbitkan oleh media antarabangsa dikat...

Peristiwa penahanan dan pendakwaan Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim memberi kesan terhadap hubungan Malaysia-Amerika Syarikat (AS) bermula dari tahun 1998 sehingga tahun 2004. Oleh itu, makalah ini akan menumpukan perbincangan terhadap sikap kedua-dua buah negara dalam berhadapan dengan kes Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim yang didakwa terlibat dengan rasuah, sala...

The importance of Malaya’s iron ore has been downgraded from both an economic and geo-strategic perspective. Under colonial administration, iron-ore mines owned and operated by Japanese enterprises and individuals, and the resultant exports to Japan, were central to economic development in the east-coast states of the peninsula. But this also made...

Sekitar bulan Oktober 2003, Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir telah menyampaikan ucapan pembukaan sempena Persidangan OIC yang diadakan di Kuala Lumpur. Ucapan Tun Dr Mahathir menjadi kontroversi selepas media membuat liputan dan mendakwa ucapan tersebut sebagai anti-Semitik. Ucapan itu menyebabkan wujud dua kelompok dalam kalangan kebanyakan pemimpi...

Although it is generally recognised that West Asia is an important focus of Malaysia’s foreign policy, there is a lack of critical scholarship on Malaysia’s relations with the region. As such Malaysia’s relations with the region are simply assumed to be driven by economic interests and religious affinity. In reality, Malaysia’s relationship with We...

On 8 July 1987, the first team of Malaysian volunteers under the Malaysian Medical Volunteers left for war torn Beirut to volunteer in emergency medical service in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. It was the most intense and dangerous phase of the bloody 15-year long Lebanese civil war. The Malaysian Medical Volunteers (MMV) is the earlies...

n the beauty industry, local companies lose and the foreign companies win in nearly all places around the world. However, it is believed that in Islamic and traditional cultures, local companies have a competitive edge over foreign multinational companies, an edge that impacts consumer choices. What contributes to this edge combines the concepts of...

The new silk roads or OBOR launched by the Chinese government promises future strategic alliances with Islamic countries, mainly but not exclusively, Southeast Asia. Malaysia and Indonesia (the largest Muslim nation) saw a rapid rise of Chinese FDI in recent decades. The bulk of these FDIs was infrastructure FDI and also real estate, technology and...

This article examines how a German firm in the Malay Peninsula—Behn, Meyer & Co.—capitalized on its knowledge management to overcome political risks during the period from 1840 until 1959. During the two world wars, all assets and properties of the Behn Meyer firm were systematically expropriated because of the introduction of the Alien Enemies (Wi...

This paper reviews how information was utilised by the disputing parties made up of producers and consumer interests in seeking and opposing the imposition of tariff and non-tariff barriers relating to the entry of palm oil into the US market. Information was used in a variety of ways to mould public opinion and influence official US trade policy....

Abstrak Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mendedahkan kepada tenaga pengajar tentang pendigitalan sejarah dan aplikasi disiplin baru ini dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran sejarah Malaysia. Kajian ini merujuk kepada perkembangan di negara Barat di mana aplikasi digital dan pendekatan pelbagai disiplin telah digunakan untuk memperkasakan bidang sejarah. Kom...

Malaysia. A matter of risk: Insurance in Malaysia, 1826–1990 By Lee Kam HingSingapore: NUS Press, 2012. Pp. 647. Maps, Plates, Notes, Bibliography, Index. - Volume 46 Issue 1 - Shakila Yacob

This paper traces American trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia the last five decades, since the latter’s independence in 1957, which has shifted its focus from mainly in the natural resources, particularly tin and rubber to manufacturing as the main catalyst of economic growth. The major determinants which prompted increased U.S...

Current education system requires innovative approach in enhancing students’ understanding in any subjects. One of the innovative approaches that can be implemented in teaching and learning is webbased geographic information system (web-based GIS). Not only it is easy to use, it is also freely available online. Therefore this study explores the too...

Digital history, is “an approach to examining and representing the past that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as databases, hypertextualization, and networks, to create and share historical knowledge.” This definition comes from the Roy Rosenzw...

Over the past decade notions of beauty have been undergoing significant transformation in Malaysia. Through interviews with managers and owners in three emerging beauty companies as well as a consumer survey, this study reveals three important factors inherent in a new approach in the ongoing commercialization of beauty: that indigenous knowledge o...

In a 'dawn raid' on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country’s post-colonial eco...

This paper seeks to study when and why dredging technology was introduced and in what way was it able to transform the Malayan tin mining industry. What were the advantages and limitations of dredging technology as compared to other mining methods? Emphasis would be placed upon the role played by Yukon Gold Company (henceforth YGC), the sole Americ...

Built on a unique partnership principally among three families spanning more than 160 years and four generations, Behn Meyer provides fascinating insights for the study of corporate governance and managerial succession. The company was founded in Singapore in 1840 by two young men from Hamburg, a city renowned for its tradition of merchant houses a...

This study explores the interplay between state policies and business strategies of foreign firms in Malaysia during and in the aftermath of decolonisation. Drawing from newly released British and US sources, this study demonstrates that distrust of state enterprises as well as antagonism towards Chinese speculators were significant factors in shap...

This paper argues that Malaysia–Indonesia relations have become increasingly problematic and complex to manage in a post-Mahathir/Suharto era. The unequal pace of the democratization pattern in both countries has largely contributed to this state of affairs. The four key ‘transnational’ variables or determinants such as migrant labor, mass media, n...

This paper articulates the business strategy of a German firm in the Malay Peninsula in the management of political risks from the middle of the 19th century until post-Second World War with reference to a case study on Behn, Meyer & Co. The introduction of the Alien Enemies Act 1914 by the British colonial administration in the Malay Peninsula upo...

In a ‘dawn raid’ on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country’s post-colonial eco...

JacksonJoe. The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. xxi + 414 pp. ISBN 978-0-14-311461-1, $16.00 (paper). - Volume 11 Issue 2 - Shakila Yacob

The corporate history of Ford in Malaya from 1926 to 1957 reveals Ford Canada’s global strategy to tap new British colonial markets. A combination of factors motivated Ford Canada to set up a subsidiary in Malaya, whose subsequent domestic sales and marketing success depended on maintaining mutually beneficial relations with the local merchant firm...

In a 'dawn raid' on the London Stock Exchange on 7 September 1981, the premiere British rubber and oil palm conglomerate in Malaysia, the Guthrie Corporation Limited, was taken into local control in less than four hours. This was the most dramatic Malaysian acquisition of a foreign company during the restructuring of the country's post-colonial eco...

The corporate history of Ford in Malaya from 1926 to 1957 reveals Ford Canada's global strategy to tap new British colonial markets. A combination of factors motivated Ford Canada to set up a subsidiary in Malaya, whose subsequent domestic sales and marketing success depended on maintaining mutually beneficial relations with the local merchant firm...

Business history plays a crucial role in the understanding of the history and socioeconomic development of Malaysia. This paper analyses that role through an assessment of the most relevant colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary literature. Malaysian business history adopts a multidisciplinary approach, which has the potential to propel the disc...

This paper traces American trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia the last five decades, since the latter's independence in 1957, which has shifted its focus from mainly in the natural resources, particularly tin and rubber to manufacturing as the main catalyst of economic growth. The major determinants which prompted increased U.S...

International joint ventures are usually instigated as a means to provide opportunities for each partner to gain access to, acquire and adapt existing knowledge and develop new knowledge. In Malaysia, the creation of international joint ventures is an important vehicle for expansion in its developing economy. Little research has addressed factors a...

This book explores the relationship between the United States and the Malaysian economy, concentrating on the period 1870 to 1957, with particular focus on trade flows and foreign direct investment. This is the first book to examine, in depth, US economic involvement in colonial Malaya. Exploring the relationship between the United States and the M...

Welfare capitalism, the management ethos adopted by American business leaders in the early twentieth century, emphasizes the role of business rather than trade unions or government in taking care of its workers. This article focuses on the reasons why the United States Rubber Company (USRC), one of the four largest U.S. rubber manufacturers, promot...

Welfare capitalism, the management ethos adopted by American business leaders in the early twentieth century, emphasizes the role of business rather than trade unions or government in taking care of its workers. This article focuses on the reasons why the United States Rubber Company (USRC), one of the four largest U.S. rubber manufacturers, promot...