Housing for young people: what are their opportunities? / Mahazril ‘Aini Yaacob, Siti Hajar Abu Bakar and Wan Nor Azriyati Wan Abdul Aziz

Housing does not only serve the basic needs of the citizens, but it is also considered as one of the important features of independent living. A comprehensive literature search revealed that access to housing is vital in the transition to adulthood, mainly to ensure that young adults enjoy a higher quality of life. Young adults face many hardships in their pursuit of adequate and affordable housing. Nevertheless, the act of leaving home, are typically determined by the economic resources (income) and other influential factors. The debate on establishing the homeownership was rampantly discussed by numerous researchers. However, efforts to examine the factors influencing the housing opportunities among the young people are limited. In response to this need, a preliminary study was carried out to identify the factors affecting the housing opportunities among the young people. Except for locational factor, affordability, housing knowledge and structural factors play prominent roles in inducing housing opportunities among the youth. Therefore, strategies such as comprehensive information about housing schemes should be made available and accessible to the young people. Additionally, other relevant parties, such as financial institutions and developers, may need to revise their requirement for loan financing, and the eligibility criteria. Overall, these measures should be able to ensure that young can people enjoy housing opportunities and improve their quality of lif

The challenges of local authorities: A case study in Malaysia

Rapid development in local authorities nowadays faced with several challenges in demands.Over the years, issues and problems due to poor management, malpractice, and poor finance makes local authorities in dilemmas.The ability to overcome current issues and the readiness to face future challenges are estimated differently due to size and boundary by itself.Local authorities whom are equipped with strong finance, visionary leadership, systematic strategic and action planning, and public support will definitely be more prepared to face those challenges. In other hand, weaker local authorities in financial and effective administration maybe faced problems in its area. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine in what level of issues and challenges facing by the council in served to the public and what the an approach applied to this study.There are several main findings by using a set of questionnaire on the issues and challenges of local authorities in Malaysia, by referring to Seberang Perai Municipality Council as case study and some information in questionnaires hand over to Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG).Thus, a few recommendations were proposed to its council in designing better approach in servicing public.In future research, the local government should be firmed in addressing the issues and challenges by having good instrument to be measured in their core business

The effects of recruitment and promotion practices on employees’ job satisfaction in the local governments / Adnan Aminuddin and Mahazril ‘Aini Yaacob

Human resource practices are usually associated with the continuous organization’s operation and succession. In order to succeed, an organization must prioritize the welfare of their employees as they are the key players in determining the prosperity of the organization. Hence, employees’ job satisfaction is the focal point in retaining the employees and organization’s succession. This study tries to identify the effects of human resource practices towards employees’ job satisfaction. The respondents in this research were employees from five selected local governments in Northern Region in Malaysia. There are two independent variables used which are Recruitment and Promotion. The findings of this study show that there are positive significant relationship between recruitment and promotion towards employees’ job satisfaction but only at a moderate level. Due to this reason, local governments must increase the effort to maximize the satisfaction level among employees by stressing on their recruitment and promotional practices

Understanding the Challenges Faced by the Young People in Malaysia

In Malaysia, it was difficult for young people to secure decent housing through ownership or renting. Due to Malaysia's lack of rental regulation, renting a home is challenging because there is no stability in the rental sector. The study was conducted using a quantitative approach involving a questionnaire survey with young people in the Greater Kuala Lumpur. Findings discovered that high deposits, lack of access to affordable rental schemes and lack of suitable rental housing schemes for the renters were among the critical challenges for them. Policymakers should relook into the rental aspect and formulate rental regulations that benefit both renters and homeowners in Malaysia

Kerjaya vs keluarga: Dilema dan cabaran wanita bekerjaya di era Pandemik Covid-19 / Mahazril 'Aini Yaacob

Siapa sangka bekerja dari rumah (working from home) yang dahulunya seringkali diimpikan oleh kebanyakan pekerja sebagai salah satu fleksibiliti kini menjadi mimpi ngeri. Fleksibiliti yang pada dasarnya memberi kemudahan kepada pekerja untuk mengatur proses kerja dengan masa yang tersendiri, kini ternyata mengubah corak dan rutin kehidupan kita. Kesan pandemik Covid-19 yang melanda dunia ternyata memberi impak yang besar bukan saja kepada dunia, malahan kepada setiap individu. Disebabkan kes Covid-19 yang semakin melonjak naik serta prosedur operasi standard mendorong kepaaa perubahan sistem kerja daripada bekerja dari pejabat (WFO) kepada bekerja dari rumah (WFH). Perubahan ini, walaupun disambut baik oleh pekerja pada awalnya, ternyata meresahkan kebanyakan mereka terutamanya golongan wanita bekerjaya. Ini adalah kerana tugas sebagai pekerja serta tanggungjawab sebagai ibu menjadikan situasi bekerja dari rumah dilihat sebagai satu kekurangan berbanding kelebihan

A Review on Housing Policy and Practices in Malaysia in Providing Access to Housing: Are they adequate?

Drawing on Malaysia as the case study, the objective of this paper is to examine whether the current housing policy and practices in Malaysia are adequate in providing housing opportunities among young people. Utilising the Participatory Action Research (PAR) and the Delphi Technique, this study involved observation and in-depth interviews with key informants in Greater Kuala Lumpur. Two key themes emerged that contributed to the deficiency of housing policy and practices in Malaysia and suggest the development of comprehensive housing policies to address the issue of housing as one of the principles of human rights and improve the quality of life. Keywords: Housing policy; housing practice; young people; housing opportunities eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i19.321

The implementation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the Malaysian public sector / Mahazril ‘Aini Yaacob and Adnan Aminuddin

The use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as a tool of performance measurement has been practiced by the private sectors several years ago. Only recently, public sectors adopted this approach in measuring their organizational as well as their individual performances in line with their agenda to improve their service delivery system. Thus, this paper aims to look at the implementation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) mainly in the Malaysian Public Sectors in measuring their performance. In response to the Government Circular in 2005, Malaysian Public Sectors have developed their own set of KPIs and observation has been made regarding this matter. To this end, semi-structured interview was conducted at the National Registration Department, Pulau Pinang to further explore the use of KPIs in this frontline agency and how they approach this performance measurement tools as one way to measure their performance. The findings reveal that the use of KPIs has been successful in measuring their organizational and individual performance as well. Though it is hard at the initial stage to adopt this approach, but after several years of implementation, the use of KPIs contributed to several improvements in their administration and services. Nevertheless, since this study is just an explanatory study, it provides limited insights into how organizational managers perceived the relevance and usefulness of key performance indicators in measuring the organizational performance. This paper concludes that the implementation of KPI

Online Accountability Practices among Non - Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

This study measures the disclosure of non-financial information from NGO websites in Malaysia. This pilot study obtains empirical evidence through content analysis of 40 NGO websites to determine the extent to which information disclosure is carried out. Descriptive content analysis (score) is used in the inferential component of data analysis. The study results show that NGOs in Malaysia are weak in disclosing non-financial information such as customer satisfaction and complaints. This study provides empirical evidence on the importance of external audit formation for better information disclosure.   Keywords: Non-Financial Information; Disclosures; Websites; Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.368

Challenges of The Urban Squatters in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur: From the eyes of the policymakers / Zulaikha Abdul Patah Hasan and Mahazril ‘Aini Yaacob

Urban squatter refers to a group of people, generally from a more disadvantaged group who could not have proper access to housing and frequently living in inadequate housing structures with a lack of essential services such as poor maintenance, insufficient amenities, overcrowding, and dangerous areas (Economic Planning Unit, 2015; Aldrich, 2016; Kuek, Abdullah & Hamdan, 2016; Abdullah, Kuek, Hamdan & Zulkifli, 2017; Anindito, Maula & Akbar, 2018). The issues of urban squatters have become a global issue including in Malaysia (Dikovic, 2019). For instance, in Kuala Lumpur, the urban squatters have existed due to the low-income group who migrated to find a job to support their family and had a problem finding an affordable house (Aldrich, 2016; Abdullah et al. 2017; Kuek et al., 2016). As such, for those who could not afford to house, it forces people to seek another alternative housing solution by settling in squatter houses (Dikovic, 2019). Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) highlighted that the authorities must take serious action in progressing towards access for adequate, safe, and affordable houses with essential services to all populations, especially the urban squatters (United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 2018). If there is no significant transformation in the way of build and manage urban spaces, goal 11 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) cannot be achieved because the population in urban areas will rise to 6.5 billion people by 2050 which might affect the humans and development of the cities (UNDP, 2020)

Examining the Effectiveness of a Trade Union: Role of union strength and union leadership

This article aims to examine the influencing factors towards the effectiveness of the trade union from the perspectives of public sector union members. The present study used a quantitative research method involving a survey among 114 union members of Kesatuan Kakitangan Umum, Universiti Teknologi MARA (KKUUiTM). The findings revealed two important findings. First, the union members disclosed that their union was effective. Second, union strength and union leadership significantly influence trade union effectiveness. This research will help the union understand their strength and continuously improve its leadership to maintain its trade union effectiveness and contribute to greater union performance