In the wake of Malaysia’s 13th General Election some commentators speak of a sharpening of ethnic politics — with Prime Minister Najib blaming a “Chinese tsunami” for his government’s polling setbacks; others are optimistic about the arrival of a new “non-racialized form of politics” and the emergence of “transethnic solidarity”. This book, which engages with both the race paradigm and its opponents, warns that change is likely to come slowly — but is not impossible. Malaysia’s race paradigm is a man-made ideological construct — one that has been contested in the past, and could realistically be contested in the future. In confronting the continuing challenge of globalization, Malaysians should not neglect the history of ideas — and ideology — as they search for new options.

This book attempts to understand Najibnomics-economic policies advocated by the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, since he helmed office on April 3, 2009. Najibnomics refers to a new approach to Malaysia’s economic development which is typified by three main characteristics: knowledge, innovation and freedom. It is a set of strategies, programmes and measures meant to transform Malaysia into a high-income and developed nation by the year 2020. This book analyses Najibnomics in action, or rather attempts to problematise Najibnomics at the level of its implementation. Through Najibnomics, the Malaysian government strives to keep the momentum of a sustainable growth trajectory, to enhance the well-being of the rakyat (people) and ensure the country gets out of the “middle-income trap” to become a high-income and developed economy by the year 2020.

Since 1957, Malaysia’s economic development has been an account of growth, transformation, and of structural change. More than 75 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) comes from the manufacturing and services sectors. However, Malaysia is stuck in a middle-income trap and is facing challenges on the economic and political front. In June 2010, Prime Minister Najib Razak unveiled the 10th Malaysian Plan (2011-15) to chart the development of Malaysia from a middle- to high-income nation. This publication represents a policy-oriented stocktake and evaluation by academics, policy-makers, and business people on Malaysia’s achievements, present work-in-progress endeavours, and some of the future challenges facing the nation in its pursuit to achieve a developed high-income country status.

The monograph ‘Sustaining APEX: Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Mission to Transform Higher Education’ seeks to expand on and elaborate themes found in the previous two monographs in our Intellectual Discourse Series. In this monograph, we also take a deeper look at the problems of values and national development as well as issues of legitimacy and the efficacy of change and transformation in conditions of complex globalization. This monograph seeks to engage the difficult issues around science and technology and values, the social legitimacy of reform, and addresses the issues of newness, reputation, ranking and the problems of leadership. In doing this, we hope to tease out more of the implications of USM’s reform agenda and locate discussions of it within a broader discourse of globalization and its vicissitudes. The essential argument made in this monograph is that USM’s transformation agenda is a direct challenge to contemporary neo-liberal project for higher education. USM’s agenda entails a fuller idea and engagement with the educational and ethical mission of the university. Ecological sustainability, scientific and technological advancement as well as the sustainability of Malaysian culture, values, and sense of social justice is central to the mission of USM. Seeking to advance these in the current conditions of globalization and ensuring continued legitimacy for this project within such an environment is the challenge ahead. Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia

The past two and a half decades have seen major transformations in public sector management and governance across the globe. This book examines the ways public sector management and governance in Malaysia has changed and is changing under contemporary reform models. Chapters are written by well-established scholars and academics with intimate knowledge in their respective fields, and provide a thorough and insightful analysis of the reform trends and developments on a range of topics. These include performance management, compensation reforms, public budgeting, accounting and reporting, privatisation and public-private partnership, e-government, managing ethics and accountability, local government and inter-governmental relations. While the book surveys the topics that are central to public sector management and governance, it also focuses on the nature of reforms and changes that were introduced, as well as the forces that have shaped their design and implementation process, and the initial impacts and results. Overall, the book provides students and scholars of Politics and Southeast Asian Studies with a greater appreciation and deeper understanding of the recent developments and current trends of public sector management.

This book addresses key topics related to organization design and knowledge management in the digital economy with organizational context, particularly in Asia. Asian nations are moving fast toward the digital economy, within which the role of organization design and knowledge management is crucial to support innovative and creative ideas for meeting huge market opportunities where customers are ready for digitalization. The book conceptualizes organization design into three dimensions, people, information, and technology, and offers readers a unique valued insight, bringing new perspectives to understanding emerging business opportunities and challenges in Asia. It presents a valuable collection of 14 chapters with empirical studies from leading researchers. The book addresses digital transformation in companies and organizations in Asia, analysing how disruptive technologies can help them have more efficient organization processes, create innovative products and services, be more resilient and achieve sustainable goals in the post-pandemic time. It fills a gap in the market offering a valuable collection of chapters that combines strategic topics for companies, organizations and nations today, such as digital economy, disruptive technologies, big data and knowledge management, with a specific focus on the Asian region, providing rich examples and studies focused in countries and regions within Asia. Written for scholars, researchers and other specialists in digitalization, this book offers a unique collection of insights into the current and future situation in Asia.

Focuses on Malaysia's four Prime Ministers as nation-builders, observing that each one of them when he became Prime Minister was transformed from being the head of the Malay party, UMNO, to that of the leader of a multi-ethnic nation. Each began his political career as an exclusivist Malay nationalist but became an inclusivist.

Mahathir Mohamad turned Malaysia into one of the developing world's most successful economies. He adopted pragmatic economic policies alongside repressive political measures and showed that Islam was compatible with representative government and modernization. He emerged as a Third World champion and Islamic spokesman by standing up to the West.

DIVA collection of essays on the uses of new media in the formation of East Asian and Pacific queer identities./div