Law of assisted reproductive surrogacy in Malaysia: a critical overview

Both traditional and gestational surrogacy are now entering the public mind as a major public policy issue, because of concern for apparent truncation of the surrogate mother’s rights. This article sets out to investigate some key relevant rights, the policy issues as yet unresolved, and the character of the current regulatory regime. Modern medicine, specifically assisted reproductive technology, has made legislation obsolete in many jurisdictions around the world, including in Malaysia. These new medical practices present many significant legal problems, with which the courts and legislators still struggle. A proposed statute, the Assisted Reproductive Technique Services Act, aimed at regulating reproductive technologies, including surrogacy arrangements, will be introduced in the Malaysian parliament soon. The proposed Malaysian Act will address issues such as surrogacy, sperm or egg banking, and sperm donation. Malaysia is moving cautiously towards regulation on this issue and is trying to avoid becoming a ‘rent-a-womb country’. Thus, this article asks the question as to what policy considerations are in place, in the current Malaysian regulatory regime, to care for the rights of the surrogate mother? It will try to show that there is still a danger that Malaysia could become a ‘rent-a-womb country’, with its necessary implications of property rights over surrogate mothers. The article employs section-by-section synthesis to reach its conclusions. Argument will suggest that the current state of the law in Malaysia, as to both traditional and gestational surrogacy, seems to be that the regulatory regime is a combination of the general law, private ordering, registration and enforceable professional ethics. However, there is no Malaysian statutory law in place, in the contemporary social context, expressly prohibiting a term in a surrogacy contract that might imply property rights over the surrogate mother. This is a serious apparent lacuna in the law, and might suggest that the laws of transnational crime be considered, as an alternative, as applicable to the surrogacy agreement.     

Adaptability of Kuwaiti Public Administration Employees to Total Quality Management Requirements

This exploratory study examines the infrastructure of total quality management （TQM） in Kuwaiti public administration. The research was based on a questionnaire administered to a random sample consisted of 600 government officials from various Kuwaiti ministries. The basic elements of TQM which were investigated relate to work relations, administrative procedures, and professionalism. The objective of the study is to improve quality of public services through diagnosing and strengthening positive points, shedding light on the negative aspects, and giving recommendations on how to enhance services＇ quality. The study results showed that public administration employees are highly adaptable to TQM requirements. Statistically significant variations were found in adaptability to TQM requirements due to gender, age, educational level, job level, and work relations with regard to many aspects. It is recommended that decision makers in Kuwaiti public administrators take some measures to enhance TQM orientation such as simplifying administrative procedures, making greater compatibility between employees and type of work, investing more resources on continuing education of public administration employees and conducting field studies concerning adaptability of other government bodies （public institutions, public companies, etc.） to TQM requirements to see similarities and differences between them and the ministries in this regard and draw appropriate lessons.     

Parental Abuse Towards Their Children with ADHD in Iran

This study assesses whether or not the three different forms of child abuse, parental “Nonviolence discipline”, “psychological abuse” and “physical abuse”, are associated with ADHD symptoms. The parents of a clinical sample of 108 ADHD children and 102 mothers of school children reported their behaviors using Parent–child Conflict Tactics Scales (CTSPC). The age range of children was from 6 to 15 years old. The mean scores of all the three types of abuse in the ADHD group were statistically higher than those in the comparison group. Inattentiveness and hyperactivity/impulsivity scores are not associated with the scores of abuse in ADHD children. Parental abuse occurs in a cluster of different types of abuse. Mental health professionals can be involved for all the three types of prevention of parental abuse.     

Localizing the Private Sector Workforce in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Study of Kuwait

The Gulf States have the highest numbers of migrant workers in the world (Shah, 2006 Shah, N. 2006. Restrictive labour immigration policies in the oil-rich Gulf: Effectiveness and implications for sending Asian countries. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Migration and Developments in the Arab region. 2006, Beirut, Lebanon.  [Google Scholar]). The rapid economic growth these states have witnessed over the last five decades has made them an attraction to foreign labor from around the world. This study explores the problem of the low rate of citizens working in the private sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, with a focus on the State of Kuwait. In order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon under study, the problem is contextualized in the wider region by examining localization efforts in two other GCC countries: the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Considering the similar demographical, economic, and social conditions among GCC countries, the study was conducted in the State of Kuwait.     

Bribery Problem in Kuwaiti Public Administration

This empirical study examines the bribery, problem in Kuwaiti public administration, its conception, magnitude, reasons, and its consequences. The study is a field research which is based on a random sample consisted of （600） people from various spheres of life in society. Study findings have shown that bribery in Kuwaiti administration is widespread and increasing, transcends nationality, gender, position, education level, and agencies in Kuwait which require paying attention to what kind of measures need to be taken to eradicate it. Recommendations are suggested on ways how to eradicate this problem in order not to become a phenomenon.     

Analysis of the Effects and Relationship of Perceived Handwritten Signature's Size,Graphical Complexity,and Legibility with Dynamic Parameters for Forged and Genuine Samples

This article presents an analysis of handwritten signature dynamics belonging to two authentication groups, namely genuine and forged signature samples. Genuine signatures are initially classified based on their relative size, graphical complexity, and legibility as perceived by human examiners. A pool of dynamic features is then extracted for each signature sample in the two groups. A two‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is carried out to investigate the effects and the relationship between the perceived classifications and the authentication groups. Homogeneity of variance was ensured through Bartlett's test prior to ANOVA testing. The results demonstrated that among all the investigated dynamic features, pen pressure is the most distinctive which is significantly different for the two authentication groups as well as for the different perceived classifications. In addition, all the relationships investigated, namely authenticity group versus size, graphical complexity, and legibility, were found to be positive for pen pressure.     

The Representation of Laji’een (Refugees) and Muhajireen (Migrants) in the Headlines of Jordan News Agency (PETRA)

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - This paper explores the representation of Laji’een (Refugees) and Muhajireen (Migrants) in...