PIP: Malaysian infant mortality differentials are a worthwhile subject for study, because socioeconomic development has very clearly had a differential impact by ethnic group. The Chinese rates of infant mortality are significantly lower than the Malay or Indian rates. Instead of examining the obvious access to care issues, this study considered factors related to the culture of infant care. Practices include the Chinese confinement of the mother in the first month after childbirth ("pe'i yue") and Pillsbury's 12 normative rules for Malaysian Chinese care. Malay practices vary widely by region and history. Indian mothers are restricted by diet. Data-recording flaws do not permit analysis of Sarawak or Sabah. The general assumption that Western medicine favors better health for mothers and infants is substantiated among peninsular communities, however, there are also negative impacts which affect infant mortality. The complex interaction of factors impacting on infant mortality reported in seven previous studies is discussed. A review of these studies reveals that immediate causes are infections, injuries, and dehydration. Indirect causes are birth weight or social and behavioral factors such as household income or maternal education. Indirect factors, which are amenable to planned change and influence the biological proximate determinants of infant mortality, are identified as birth weight, maternal age at birth, short pregnancy intervals or prior reproductive loss, sex of the child, birth order, duration of breast feeding and conditions of supplementation, types of household water and sanitation, year of child's birth, maternal education, household income and composition, institution of birth, ethnicity, and rural residence. Nine factors are identified empirically as not significant: maternal hours of work in the child's first year, maternal occupation, distance from home to workplace, presence of other children or servants, incidence of epidemics in the child's first year of life, community types of sanitation, prices and availability of infant foods, and access to various types of medical care. Future empirical study should consider factors such as class differences, place of residence, or extent of illiteracy as underlying or related to ethnicity. Policy-makers should be aware that future decline in infant mortality rates may depend on the blending of traditional with modern practices.
PIP: Morality in Peninsular Malaysia has reached a level that is quite similar to that prevailing in the low mortality countries. This article systematically documents changes in mortality levels and differentials in Malaysia over time and relates these to changes in development indicators and health-related policies. Remedial measures undertaken by the authorities including the expansion of hospital and health services into the estates, together with a comprehensive malaria-eradication program, improvements in sanitation laws, and increased provision of public utilities and education, resulted in beriberi being eliminated and the incidence of malaria, typhus, and smallpox being greatly reduced by the time of World War II. The gain in life expectancy over the period of 1957-1979 was greatest for the Malay, the most significant period being 1957-1967, which saw the introduction of rural health programs. The infant mortality rate and the neonatal and post-neonatal rates declined substantially for all ethnic groups in Peninsular Malaysia for the same time period. Although the lower infant mortality of the Chinese can be explained by their advantageous socioeconomic position the same reason cannot explain the lower decline in infant mortality levels of the Indians. Much still needs to be done to narrow, if not to eliminate, the existing mortality differentials of different groups in the country. Overall, the quality of life of the general population can be further enhanced by reducing the high mortality level of disadvantaged groups.
"This paper assesses the level and composition of contemporary Asian immigration to Australia and explores its processes and impacts. The final reversal of the White Australia Policy in the 1970s opened the door to substantial increases in Asian immigration, particularly from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, India and Hong Kong." Aspects considered include migrant categories, age, sex, and social and economic adaptation to Australia.
"The past 20 years have seen extensive elaboration, refinement, and application of the original Brass method for estimating infant and child mortality from child survivorship data. This experience has confirmed the overall usefulness of the methods beyond question, but it has also shown that...estimates must be analyzed in relation to other relevant information before useful conclusions about the level and trend of mortality can be drawn.... This article aims to illustrate the importance of data analysis through a series of examples, including data for the Eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak, Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia. Specific maneuvers include plotting completed parity distributions and 'time-plotting' mean numbers of children ever born from successive censuses. A substantive conclusion of general interest is that data for older women are not so widely defective as generally supposed."
"This paper examines how and to what extent the three demographic components of urban change, urban reclassification, natural increase and net migration, operated in Malaysia between 1980 and 1991.... Since there is a spatial dimension to urban demographic changes, another emphasis of the paper is to differentiate the areal patterns of such changes. The analysis is conducted at both the national level and sub-national levels." Data are from the Malaysian Department of Statistics. The author finds that "the important role of natural increase in urban population change is remarkable considering that a rapid fertility transition had been unfolding in Malaysia up to the mid-1970s."
This article surveys the arrivals of Muslim refugees from countries in Southeast Asia who have not only come to Malaysia for political refuge, but who have also stayed on, in many instances integrating into the local Muslim community. The author concludes that Burmese, Thai, and Filipino Muslim refugee-cum-migrants, and the estimated 500,000 illegal Indonesian migrant workers in East and Peninsular Malaysia make the presence of economic migrants in Malaysia's towns and rural sectors a far more pressing concern to Malaysians than that posed by the arrival of genuine political refugees. Only the Indonesians present in Malaysia are consistently termed by all parties as illegal migrants and some of them have been subjected to well-publicized deportation by the Malaysian immigration authorities. Sympathy for fellow-Muslims in distress explains Malaysia's open-door policy to Muslim refugees. The Koran specifically enjoins Muslims to assist Muslim refugees who have been persecuted by others. However, the necessity to maintain regional political and military alliances, principally as a bulwark against Communism, and the Malay--Non-Malay, Muslim--Non-Muslim dichotomy in Malaysia which almost evenly divides Malaysia's 16 million population into mutually antagonistic halves, results in any overt public policy in favor of Malays and Muslims to be immediately denounced by the other half of the population as a move against the Non-Malays and Non-Muslims. Without political and media attention, the refugees live wherever they can find work, as do hundreds of thousands of mainly Indonesian illegal migrant workers. They surreptitiously get their children admitted to public schools, and through bribery, can even get Malaysian identification papers. Malaysia is a relatively tranquil haven for Malaysia's Muslim refugees compared to their homelands, but their continued stay remains dependent on the ever-present struggle for more equitable sharing of political and economic power between the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. At present, it is deemed inopportune to discuss publicly the issue of Muslim refugees in Malaysia. To do so would be to invite strong emotional responses from Malaysian Muslim groups objecting to refugee repatriation to what they see as continued persecution in Southeast Asia's non-Muslim countries, and from non-Muslim Malaysians who see in their continued presence a possible long-term demographic threat. Furthermore, the presence of Muslim evacuees granted refugee status brings painful memories as to why non-Muslim refugees principally from Indochina were denied such a similar privilege.
PIP: A deworming/family planning project funded by JOICFP was successfully initiated in Kerling Estate, Kuala Kubu Bahru, Malaysia. Rapport between estate management, workers, and the National Family Planning Board helped establish the project. A recent Gotong-Royong or community self-help project had encouraged enthusiasm among workers to clean up the estate. Mothers were exhorted to plan their families and devote attention to the health and welfare of the children. The need for parents to understand the causes of infestation and educate their children to wear slippers or shoes and develop good toilet habits was emphasized by Dr. Nor Laily Aziz. Continuing National Family Planning Board and Government support was pledged.
PIP: The benefits of various-sized families in Malaysia were discussed by several women and supplemented with official statements on family planning (FP). The Director of the National Population and Family Development, Dr. Raj Karim, advised that maternal health is jeopardized when women have more than five children. About 30% of reproductive age women in Malaysia have five or more children. A Federation of FP Associations spokesperson agreed that women should be advised of the dangers of bearing over five children, of the importance of spacing births two to four years apart, and of the ideal age of childbearing (21-39 years). The government lacks an official policy on family size. The government position is, however, compatible with Islamic teachings on spacing in order to protect the health of the mother and child. Islamic law does not permit sterilization or abortion. The "fatwas" of Islamic teaching may have been misconstrued by those not using any form of contraception. Dr. Karim, who has five children, reported that having a large family can be difficult for a woman with a job, a career, and a husband or when both parents work. Most Malays desire large families. The average Malay family size was 4.1 children in 1990; Malaysian Chinese have fertility of 2.3 children and Malaysian Indians have 2.6 children. People say that the benefits outweigh the hardships of a large family.
PIP: Many countries have a wealth of population data already available for utilization. In launching family planning population programs on a national scale every country must establish a long range of integrated programs of evaluation and data collection which will measure the past, current, and future trends in fertility, mortality, and migration patterns. These demographic features and poupulation profiles will assist in charting the strategies, objectives, targets, and survey components to be implemented for the successful launching of a country-wide program. In Malaysia the 10-year period population census, vital registration systems, sample houshold surveys, immigration, emigration, industrialization records, and KAP surveys serve as a source for obtaining population data and for charting population programs. Attention is directed to the census and to essential features of a census as well as to vital registration systems. The population census is a "total process of collecting, compiling and publishing demographic, economic and social data pertaining at a specific time or times to all persons in a country or delimited territory." A census is conducted on a national scale and enumeration is done individually. In Malaysia a De Jure and a De Facto Census are normally conducted. Enumeration is carried out by means of direct interviews or canvasser methods. Malaysia's last census was conducted between May and June 1980. The organization aspects of administering a nationwide census is a long process which may take a couple of years in the planning period. While the census provides a picture on the population at 1 point in time, the vital registration system monitors the continuous process of vital events and performs dual functions: to register vital events and obtain vital records which are legal documents; and to collect statistics about vital events. In Malaysia the registration of births and deaths and marriages is compulsory. Vital statistics may also be obtained from household surveys.
"The links between Indonesia and Johor, Malaysia, across the narrow straits have been strong for centuries. Many Johoreans trace their origins to various islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In recent years the presence of large numbers of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia has become the focus of media and political debate; it is seen not only as undermining working conditions but as aggravating fragile ethnic relations within Malaysia. The aim of this article is to examine the presence and employment of Indonesians in the southern area of Johor, and the responses of government and the public to this phenomenon."