On the stalling of the Malaysian industrialization project

Abstract

In a recent article in this journal, Henderson and Phillips (2007 Henderson, J. and Phillips, R. 2007. Unintended consequences: Social policy, state institutions and the ‘stalling’ of the Malaysian industrialization project. Economy and Society, 30(1): 78–102.  [Google Scholar]) argue that Malaysian industrialization is ‘stalling’ because it is locked into low- to medium-technology operations. They attribute this to an affirmative policy that sidelined the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) capable of benefiting from linkages with transnational corporations (TNCs) and an immigration policy that provided cheap foreign labour and weakened the pressure on firms to upgrade themselves. While not disputing these explanations, this paper shows that the evidence they provide is unconvincing and, sometimes, undermines their case. Their argument is further weakened because they fail to explain why the proportion of high-tech exports in total Malaysian manufacturing exports is surprisingly high, unlike that of an economy concentrating on low- or medium-tech production.     

Organized Crime in Asia: A Review of Problems and Progress

This paper provides a preliminary overview of research on organized crime in Asia drawing on selected papers from a symposium held at the National University of Singapore in June 2007. We draw on these contributions to emphasize the enterprise nature of organized crime and the common problems encountered by law enforcement in controlling and preventing the many harms inflicted by serious criminal activity. Recent attempts to address the changing character and forms of transnational organized crime, especially through the strengthening of mutual legal assistance by regional bodies such as ASEAN, are noted. These measures have yet to develop into the cross-border institutional frameworks now found in Europe, and the level of effective co-operation can only continue to improve. Countering organized crime in Asia also faces additional difficulties arising from the cultural diversity, relative weakness of law enforcement in some states and the lack of common strategies in respect to illicit markets.

Social construction of capabilities and intersectional complexities in a Tamil village

India is an ethnographic museum, well-known for its national motto of “unity in diversity”. It is a country of diverse hierarchies where the social reality is intersected by the varied grades of caste and class, among others. Against this backdrop, this article conceptualises the intersections of primordial identities. The concept of intersection underscores how diverse social positions interact in a Tamil village in India. As intersectionality is “the mutually constitutive relations among social identities” (Shields 2008), the interactions of caste, class, and gender in education are conceptualised to understand the formation of capabilities.     

The “thinning” blueline: a Bourdieuian appreciation of police subculture

The notion of a recalcitrant “police subculture” is pervasive in the literature on policing, often invoked to explain many of the ills linked to police misconduct and corruption. This article argues that the failure of reform efforts is the result of interventionist strategies which had sought to change police subculture “head-on” without a corresponding change in the structural conditions in which the policing role is so located, and that these efforts, theoretically, have been informed by a conceptualisation of police subculture as homogenous, monolithic, and static. Using the Bourdieuian concepts of the “habitus” and “field”, the view of a “recalcitrant” subculture will be challenged in this article. Using the Singaporean experience as a case in point, it will be shown how changes in the field of policing can bring about changes, intended or otherwise, in the occupational habitus of the police: refashioning the informal repository of knowledge guiding police work.     

Relationships of depression to child and adult abuse and bodily pain among women who have experienced intimate partner violence

This study investigates whether depression in women who experienced intimate partner violence is associated with having also experienced childhood sexual and physical abuse, psychological abuse by an intimate partner, recent involvement with the abusive partner, and bodily pain. Fifty-seven women who had left a violent relationship with an intimate partner completed measures assessing their demographic characteristics, experiences of abuse in childhood and in their relationship with their intimate partner, and depressive symptoms. Multiple regression analysis showed that women's depression was significantly greater among those who had experienced childhood physical and sexual abuse, more severe psychological abuse, and greater bodily pain (p<.001), adjusted R(2)=.32. These results suggest characteristics that can help to identify abused women who are most at risk for depression, and they suggest specific issues that may need to be addressed in this population.     

Race,reintegration, and social capital in Singapore

Social capital, or the lack of, has variously been acknowledged as contributing to criminal and delinquent behavior among certain groups in society. It has rarely been employed to explain why ex-offenders are unable to break free from recalcitrant behavior and reintegrate into society. We argue that Indians and Malays, as racial minorities in Singapore and disproportionately represented in the prison and re-offending population, are significantly less likely to achieve reintegration than those who belong to the Chinese majority. Because Singapore is a highly racialized society, the effect of race on recidivism and rehabilitation is clearly identifiable. Understanding racial structuration by taking into account the differential impact of a hierarchically organized network of social relationships is central to this argument. For such vulnerable groups, social capital plays a critical role. The uneven distribution of ethnic capital restricts the ability of the Indians and Malays and enables the Chinese to achieve acceptance into the mainstream.     

Examining Media Coverage of Drugs in Malaysian Media

Asian Journal of Criminology - It has been well-established that, in the USA, the news media contributes to the construction of moral panics regarding the use and users of various types of drugs....