Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 111 in total

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  1. Fulltext The political economy of health financing reform in Malaysia
    Croke K, Mohd Yusoff MB, Abdullah Z, Mohd Hanafiah AN, Mokhtaruddin K, Ramli ES, et al.
    Health Policy Plan, 2019 Dec 01;34(10):732-739.
    PMID: 31563946 DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czz089
    There is growing evidence that political economy factors are central to whether or not proposed health financing reforms are adopted, but there is little consensus about which political and institutional factors determine the fate of reform proposals. One set of scholars see the relative strength of interest groups in favour of and opposed to reform as the determining factor. An alternative literature identifies aspects of a country's political institutions-specifically the number and strength of formal 'veto gates' in the political decision-making process-as a key predictor of reform's prospects. A third group of scholars highlight path dependence and 'policy feedback' effects, stressing that the sequence in which health policies are implemented determines the set of feasible reform paths, since successive policy regimes bring into existence patterns of public opinion and interest group mobilization which can lock in the status quo. We examine these theories in the context of Malaysia, a successful health system which has experienced several instances of proposed, but ultimately blocked, health financing reforms. We argue that policy feedback effects on public opinion were the most important factor inhibiting changes to Malaysia's health financing system. Interest group opposition was a closely related factor; this opposition was particularly powerful because political leaders perceived that it had strong public support. Institutional veto gates, by contrast, played a minimal role in preventing health financing reform in Malaysia. Malaysia's dramatic early success at achieving near-universal access to public sector healthcare at low cost created public opinion resistant to any change which could threaten the status quo. We conclude by analysing the implications of these dynamics for future attempts at health financing reform in Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics*
  2. Fulltext An examination of the factorial and convergent validity of four measures of conspiracist ideation, with recommendations for researchers
    Swami V, Barron D, Weis L, Voracek M, Stieger S, Furnham A
    PLoS One, 2017;12(2):e0172617.
    PMID: 28231266 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172617
    A number scales have been developed to measure conspiracist ideation, but little attention has been paid to the factorial validity of these scales. We reassessed the psychometric properties of four widely-used scales, namely the Belief in Conspiracy Theories Inventory (BCTI), the Conspiracy Mentality Questionnaire (CMQ), the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs Scale (GCBS), and the One-Item Conspiracy Measure (OICM). Eight-hundred-and-three U.S. adults completed all measures, along with measures of endorsement of 9/11 and anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. Through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, we found that only the BCTI had acceptable factorial validity. We failed to confirm the factor structures of the CMQ and the GBCS, suggesting these measures had poor factorial validity. Indices of convergent validity were acceptable for the BCTI, but weaker for the other measures. Based on these findings, we provide suggestions for the future refinement in the measurement of conspiracist ideation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics*
  3. Science in Malaysia: Challenge for the world s oldest prime minister
    Meo SA
    J Pak Med Assoc, 2018 Oct;68(10):1427-1428.
    PMID: 30317335
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics*
  4. Fulltext Letter from Malaysia
    Loh LC
    Respirology, 2018 12;23(12):1198-1199.
    PMID: 30084515 DOI: 10.1111/resp.13382
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics*
  5. Fulltext Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence
    Stroebe W, vanDellen MR, Abakoumkin G, Lemay EP, Schiavone WM, Agostini M, et al.
    PLoS One, 2021;16(10):e0256740.
    PMID: 34669724 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256740
    During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors determine motivation to follow recommendations. Accordingly, we predicted that-as a result of politicization of the pandemic-politically conservative Americans would be less likely to enact recommended health-protective behaviors. In two longitudinal studies of U.S. residents, political conservatism was inversely associated with perceived health risk and adoption of health-protective behaviors over time. The effects of political orientation on health-protective behaviors were mediated by perceived risk of infection, perceived severity of infection, and perceived effectiveness of the health-protective behaviors. In a global cross-national analysis, effects were stronger in the U.S. (N = 10,923) than in an international sample (total N = 51,986), highlighting the increased and overt politicization of health behaviors in the U.S.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics*
  6. Cross-cultural comparison of political leaders' operational codes
    Dirilen-Gumus O
    Int J Psychol, 2017 Dec;52 Suppl 1:35-44.
    PMID: 26939908 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12264
    This study aims at comparing operational codes (namely, philosophical and instrumental beliefs about the political universe) of political leaders from different cultures. According to Schwartz (2004), cultures can be categorised into 3 dimensions: autonomy-embeddedness, egalitarianism-hierarchy and mastery-harmony. This study draws upon the 1st dimension (akin to the most popular cultural dimension of Hofstede: individualism-collectivism) and focuses on comparing the leaders of autonomous and embedded cultures based on how cooperative/conflictual they are. The main research hypothesis is as follows: the leaders of embedded cultures would be more cooperative than the leaders of autonomous cultures. For this purpose, 3 autonomous cultures (the UK, Canada and Australia) and embedded cultures (Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia) cultures were chosen randomly and the cooperativeness of the correspondent countries' leaders were compared after being profiled by Profiler Plus. The results indicated that the leaders of embedded cultures were significantly more cooperative than autonomous cultures after holding the control variables constant. The findings were discussed in the light of relevant literature.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  7. Fulltext An Efficient Soft Set-Based Approach for Conflict Analysis
    Sutoyo E, Mungad M, Hamid S, Herawan T
    PLoS One, 2016;11(2):e0148837.
    PMID: 26928627 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148837
    Conflict analysis has been used as an important tool in economic, business, governmental and political dispute, games, management negotiations, military operations and etc. There are many mathematical formal models have been proposed to handle conflict situations and one of the most popular is rough set theory. With the ability to handle vagueness from the conflict data set, rough set theory has been successfully used. However, computational time is still an issue when determining the certainty, coverage, and strength of conflict situations. In this paper, we present an alternative approach to handle conflict situations, based on some ideas using soft set theory. The novelty of the proposed approach is that, unlike in rough set theory that uses decision rules, it is based on the concept of co-occurrence of parameters in soft set theory. We illustrate the proposed approach by means of a tutorial example of voting analysis in conflict situations. Furthermore, we elaborate the proposed approach on real world dataset of political conflict in Indonesian Parliament. We show that, the proposed approach achieves lower computational time as compared to rough set theory of up to 3.9%.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  8. The Kra Isthmus Canal: A New Strategic Solution for China's Energy Consumption Scenario?
    Lau CY, Lee JW
    Environ Manage, 2016 Jan;57(1):1-20.
    PMID: 26280310 DOI: 10.1007/s00267-015-0591-0
    This paper is a conceptual study that examines the viability of the construction of the Kra Isthmus within the context of the five dimensions of megaproject success of Sovacool and Cooper (The governance of energy megaprojects: politics, hubris, and energy security, 2013)-social (governance), technological (systems), democratic (politics), externalities (economics, ecology), and risks assessments (accountability), and its possible impact on China's strategic energy supply chain. One of the objectives of this study is also to discuss the current impacts, perceived benefits, and risks of China's dependence on its multinational and transnational pipelines. China could see the construction of Kra Canal as an alternative option for its strategic sourcing activities especially crude oil and gas at much lower costs. The megaproject would become a passageway that connects the Indian Ocean, Andaman Sea, and the Gulf of Siam at the choke point of Isthmus region in Thailand. However, this megaproject could also trigger the internal conflicts of Thailand, and affect the ASEAN countries' political and economic relationships.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  9. Intergovernmental relations for environmental governance: Cases of solid waste management and climate change in two Malaysian States
    Puppim de Oliveira JA
    J Environ Manage, 2019 Mar 01;233:481-488.
    PMID: 30594113 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.097
    Institutions for environmental governance evolve differently across sectors. They also vary in the same sector when governments at two levels (national and subnational) have different political alignments. As the policy environment becomes more complex, with global problems like climate change, and politics more dividing, better coordination among various levels of government is a tough governance challenge. Scholars and practitioners need to realize how best to build institutions to bridge the various levels of government in different political environments and environmental sectors. This research analyzes the influence of intergovernmental relations in two environmental sectors in two localities with contrasting political alignments between two levels of government. It draws lessons from solid waste management and climate policy in two Malaysian states (Johor and Penang). In an evolving State and new policy arenas, when formal institutions for intergovernmental relations may not be effectively in place, politics play an even larger role through the discretionary power of federal and subnational authorities. An open political process can help with the engagement of different political groups and civil society to bring legitimacy, resources and efficiency to environmental management, if it is done with robust intergovernmental institutions; otherwise, intergovernmental relations can also become a tool for zero-sum games, cronyism and patrimonialism, which can undermine policies, and result in inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in environmental management.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  10. Fulltext Social psychological origins of conspiracy theories: the case of the jewish conspiracy theory in malaysia
    Swami V
    Front Psychol, 2012;3:280.
    PMID: 22888323 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00280
    Two studies examined correlates of belief in a Jewish conspiracy theory among Malays in Malaysia, a culture in which state-directed conspiracism as a means of dealing with perceived external and internal threats is widespread. In Study 1, 368 participants from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, completed a novel measure of belief in a Jewish conspiracy theory, along with measures of general conspiracist ideation, and anomie. Initial analysis showed that the novel scale factorially reduced to a single dimension. Further analysis showed that belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory was only significantly associated with general conspiracist ideation, but the strength of the association was weak. In Study 2, 314 participants completed the measure of belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory, along with measures of general conspiracist ideation, and ideological attitudes. Results showed that belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory was associated with anti-Israeli attitudes, modern racism directed at the Chinese, right-wing authoritarianism, and social dominance orientation. General conspiracist ideation did not emerge as a significant predictor once other variables had been accounted for. These results suggest that there may be specific cultural and social psychological forces that drive belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory within the Malaysian context. Specifically, belief in the Jewish conspiracy theory among Malaysian Malays appears to serve ideological needs and as a mask for anti-Chinese sentiment, which may in turn reaffirm their perceived ability to shape socio-political processes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  11. Choosing health, constrained choices
    Chee Khoon Chan
    Glob Health Promot, 2009 Dec;16(4):54-7.
    PMID: 20028669 DOI: 10.1177/1757975909348131
    In parallel with the neo-liberal retrenchment of the welfarist state, an increasing emphasis on the responsibility of individuals in managing their own affairs and their well-being has been evident. In the health arena for instance, this was a major theme permeating the UK government's White Paper Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier (2004), which appealed to an ethos of autonomy and self-actualization through activity and consumption which merited esteem. As a counterpoint to this growing trend of informed responsibilization, constrained choices (constrained agency) provides a useful framework for a judicious balance and sense of proportion between an individual behavioural focus and a focus on societal, systemic, and structural determinants of health and well-being. Constrained choices is also a conceptual bridge between responsibilization and population health which could be further developed within an integrative biosocial perspective one might refer to as the social ecology of health and disease.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  12. The Singapore years and subsequently
    Mahathir M
    Ann Acad Med Singap, 2005 Jul;34(6):42C-44C.
    PMID: 16010378
    Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a medical student at the King Edward VII College of Medicine from 1947 to 1953. He described his student days with fondness; he made many friends while he was at the College. He recounted his early days as a doctor before he entered politics in 1964. He became the fourth and longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. He concluded "The contribution of my Medical College days in Singapore to the racial harmony, peace and prosperity of Malaysia is tangible but unquantifiable."
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  13. Vaccination in the Third World. Contemporary issues
    Pang T
    C. R. Acad. Sci. III, Sci. Vie, 1999 Nov;322(11):995-7.
    PMID: 10646096
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  14. IFSO (International Federation for Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders) Consensus Conference Statement on One-Anastomosis Gastric Bypass (OAGB-MGB): Results of a Modified Delphi Study
    Ramos AC, Chevallier JM, Mahawar K, Brown W, Kow L, White KP, et al.
    Obes Surg, 2020 May;30(5):1625-1634.
    PMID: 32152841 DOI: 10.1007/s11695-020-04519-y
    BACKGROUND: One-anastomosis gastric bypass (OAGB-MGB) is currently the third performed primary bariatric surgical procedure worldwide. However, the procedure is hampered by numerous controversies and there is considerable variability in surgical technique, patient selection, and pre- and postoperative care among the surgeons performing this procedure. This paper reports the results of a modified Delphi consensus study organized by the International Federation for Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO).

    METHODS: Fifty-two internationally recognized bariatric experts from 28 countries convened for voting on 90 consensus statements over two rounds to identify those on which consensus could be reached. Inter-voter agreement of ≥ 70% was considered consensus, with voting participation ≥ 80% considered a robust vote.

    RESULTS: At least 70% consensus was achieved for 65 of the 90 questions (72.2% of the items), 61 during the first round of voting and an additional four in the second round. Where consensus was reached on a binary agree/disagree or yes/no item, there was agreement with the statement presented in 53 of 56 instances (94.6%). Where consensus was reached on a statement where options favorable versus unfavorable to OAGB-MGB were provided, including statements in which OAGB-MGB was compared to another procedure, the response option favorable to OAGB-MGB was selected in 13 of 23 instances (56.5%).

    CONCLUSION: Although there is general agreement that the OAGB-MGB is an effective and usually safe option for the management of patients with obesity or severe obesity, numerous areas of non-consensus remain in its use. Further empirical data are needed.

    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  15. Fulltext Mitigation measures during elections and it’s impacts on COVID-19 Pandemic: Sabah State (Malaysia), New Zealand and the United States
    Syaza Zainudin, Mohd Amiruddin Mohd Kassim, Nor Nadia Mohamad Ridza
    Borneo Epidemiology Journal, 2020;1(2):145-156.
    MyJurnal
    Background and Objective: Countries all over the world respect the election process as one of the fundamental steps in forming a government. However, the exponential spread of COVID-19 has been deeply alarming, with a high number of positive cases and total deaths, forcing World Health Organization to declare it as a pandemic on 11thMarch 2020. During these unprecedented events, governments have had a tough decision to balance between the constitutional obligation to hold an election and the safety of the people. As such, electoral commissions have implemented numerous approaches to allow election to proceed in a safe and controlled setting during the pandemic.
    Methods: The preventative measures and standard operating procedures in the Sabah state of Malaysia, NewZealand and the United States elections are discussed, as well as COVID-19 post-election situation in respective countries. Innovative approaches and election flexibilities shall be considered to allow voting in the safest way possible, following the new normal.
    Discussion:Nevertheless, countries need to evaluate its strength of public health response when deciding to hold elections due to potential devastating outbreaks following elections despite measures taken.
    Conclusion: The election is a fundamental process in a democracy. Countries are required to be flexible and innovative in their approach to hold a safe election. Nevertheless, it may be prudent for countries with fewer resources and poor pandemic control to postpone election as a rise in cases will be catastrophic, putting many lives at risk.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  16. Fulltext SENTIMENT ANALYSIS OF PEOPLE’S ACCEPTANCE TOWARDS THE NEW MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT USING NAÏVE BAYES METHOD
    R.U GOBITHAASAN, NUR FARHANA SYAHIRA CHE HAMID
    UMT Journal of Undergraduate Research, 2020;2(3):93-102.
    MyJurnal
    Sentiment analysis is a field of research that has a significant impact on today’s nations, politics and businesses. It is an algorithmic process to comprehend the opinions of a given subject based on the Natural Language Processing (NLP) methodologies. It has received much attention in recent years and is proven vital in various fields, e.g., online product reviews and social media analysis (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). This paper reports the outcome of sentiment analysis to investigate people’s acceptance of Pakatan Harapan, as the new Malaysian government, spearheaded by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Dr. Wan Azizah, with an influence of Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The objective is to classify tweets into three types of sentiments; positive, neutral and negative using Naïve Bayes method which is readily available in Python. The first step is tweets extraction for a month (March to April 2019) using search queries: {Pakatan Harapan, Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Wan Azizah}. It is followed by tweets wrangling using NLP library and lastly output visualization in the form of a word cloud. A word cloud is a visual representation of text data with various font sizes depending on its probabilities. Final results showed that the tweets related to new government consist of neutral sentiment (41%) followed by positive sentiment (30%) and negative sentiment (29%). Malaysians do prefer the new government. However careful mitigation steps must be crafted to overcome controversial issues such as the ‘Rome Statute’ to avoid negative digital footprint, hence winning the Malaysians’ heart.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  17. Fulltext The Fabian political thought elements in the political movements in Malaysia (1952-1970): a preliminary review from historical perspective
    Ahamad Jama' Amin Yang
    Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2016;1(2):67-77.
    MyJurnal
    Fabian Society is a type of political think tank which was founded by a group of students and
    intellectuals at London School of Economics (LSE), United Kingdom in the late of 19 centuries. The
    Fabian political thought is a new manifestation of socialist ideology in United Kingdom emerged through the role of Labour Party Partiat that time. After the World War II, the influence of this political
    thought began to widespread throughout Malaya via British-educated Malayan students. This
    development brought about a new form of political idealism based on social-democrat orientation
    which emphasized on class struggles and civil issues in Malaya. Thus, the aim of this article is to
    scrutinize objectively and descriptively the influence of the Fabian political thought in the Malaysian
    political development from 1952 to 1970. Using the approach of history reconstructionist, the analysis
    discussion was developed based on the use of primary sources as the argument base. The research
    findings indicate that the influence of the Fabian political thought developed in Malaya by the role of
    the socialist intellectual-progressive group throughout the research. The development did not only
    involve labour movements and left-wing political parties such as Malayan Democratic Union (MDU)
    and the Malayan Labour Party, but it also influenced students movements at universities through
    University of Malaya Socialist Club in Singapore around 1950s and students societies in Universiti
    Malaya, Kuala Lumpur around 1960s. In fact, at the same time the progressive Fabian group slipped in
    right-conservative group through their direct involvement in UMNO and the Perikatan regime at the
    time. This indirectly proves that there is a different side of the socialist role through the role of the
    Fabian group in the development of democracy and politics in Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  18. Political economy and politics of gender: maternal and child health in colonial Malaya
    Manderson L
    ISBN: 0-7315-0720-7
    Citation: Manderson L. Political economy and politics of gender: maternal and child health in colonial Malaya. In: Cohen P, Purcall J (editors). The Political Economy of Primary Health Care in Southeast Asia. Canberra: Australian Development Studies Network an ASEAN Training Centre for Primary Health Care Development; 1989, p79-100
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  19. Fulltext The impact of fiscal decentralization, green energy, and economic policy uncertainty on sustainable environment: a new perspective from ecological footprint in five OECD countries
    Zahra S, Badeeb RA
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2022 Aug;29(36):54698-54717.
    PMID: 35305216 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-19669-y
    The paper explores the short-run and long-run asymmetric impact of fiscal decentralization, green energy, and economic policy uncertainty on environmental sustainability proxied by ecological footprint. Using the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed lag (NARDL) approach in selected five OECD countries, we find that ecological footprint responds to positive and negative fiscal decentralization asymmetrically in the long run and short run. However, the nature of the response varies significantly across countries. The result also suggests that green energy is a major factor in reducing the ecological footprint in all countries except Canada. Finally, economic policy uncertainty plays a negative and significant role in the ecological footprint in the UK, USA, and Germany while insignificant in Australia and Canada. Implications for effective environmental policies are discussed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics
  20. Migration and Singapore: implications for the Asia Pacific
    Low L
    Asian Pac Migr J, 1994;3(2-3):251-63.
    PMID: 12289774
    Matched MeSH terms: Politics*
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