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ISSN: 2010-3646
Subject Category: Social Science and Humanity
Published by: International Association of Computer Science and
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IJSSH Vol. 5, No. 10, October 2015
International Journal of Social Science and
Humanity
CONTENTS
Volume 5, Number 10, October 2015
Compact Urban form for Sociability in Urban Neighbourhoods………………………………………………822
Wan Mohd Rani Wan Nurul Mardiah
Local Government Service Efficiency: Public Participation Matters………………………………………….827
Zikri Muhammad, Tarmiji Masron, and Aziz Abdul Majid
Using Co-Design to Express Cultural Values and Create a Graphical Identity: A Case Study of Khon Kaen,
Thailand………………………………………………………………………………………………………...832
Ratanachote Thienmongkol
Perceptual Reasoning and Moral Competency as Predictors of Extraversion — A Preliminary Finding……..844
Mohd Nasir Che Mohd Yusoff and Nazirah Hanim Sharipudin
An Assessment of “Zawarawa” Mass Marriage Programme, in Kano State, Nigeria…………………………849
Rohana Yusof and Amina Lawal Mashi
Using TEI XML Schema to Encode the Structures of Sarawak Gazette………………………………………855
Tze-Min Fong and Bali Ranaivo-Malançon
The Relationship between Religious Orientation, Moral Integrity, Personality, Organizational Climate and Anti
Corruption Intentions in Indonesia……………………………………………………………………………..860
Zulfa Indira Wahyuni, Yufi Adriani, and Zahrotun Nihayah
Effectiveness of Riot Prevention through Community Policing in India: The Practices of the Mohalla
Committees……………………………………………………………………………………………………..865
Miharu Yui
Bipolar Emotional Response Testing of Online News Website Content: Indonesia Case…………………….872
Irwansyah
Western Intellectual Insights for Muslim Policy Makers on Religion Based Economy……………………….879
Mohammad Manzoor Malik
Multi-Competence, ELF, Learning and Literacy: A Reconsideration…………………………………………887
Howard Doyle
A Review on Drivers and Barriers towards Sustainable Supply Chain Practices……………………………...892
Mee Yean Tay, Azmawani Abd Rahman, Yuhanis Abdul Aziz, and Shafie Sidek
Environmental and Social Crises: New Perspective on Social and Environmental Injustice in Octavia E.
Butler’s Parable of the Sower…………………………………………………………………………………..898
Maryam Kouhestani
Impact of RTE Act on Girl Child Education…………………………………………………………………...903
Sonal Mobar
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 5, No. 10, October 2015
Compact Urban form for Sociability in Urban
Neighbourhoods
Wan Mohd Rani Wan Nurul Mardiah

examining the role of urban form elements in influencing the
social interactions among the local community of urban
neighbourhoods in Malaysian cities. This study adopted a
quantitative method approach and data will be collected
through household questionnaire survey and observation
survey. The findings of this study is expected to contribute in
providing an indication for policy makers and planner to
devise a framework to improve the quality of urban
neighbourhoods to achieve livable city. It will also provide
evidence of a significant association between the urban form
elements and the type and frequency of social interaction
among local residents of Malaysian cities that will further
promote liveable and healthy cities. With the objective to
assess urban form character of selected urban
neighbourhoods, it is anticipated to provide scenario on the
current status of urban living environment of Malaysian cities.
Finally, the study is expected to provide significant
contribution to stakeholders to guide the policy-making
towards creating livable environment in line with the vision
and mission of Malaysian government.
Abstract—Cities with compact urban form are often
associated with being sustainable. Among them are impacts on
quality of life, improved access, neighbourhood satisfaction, as
well as improved individual and community’s wellbeing. This
study is part of a bigger scope of study that looks into the
relationship between urban form and social sustainability. This
paper specifically explores the notion of compact urban form
and how it impacts the aspect of sociability in urban
neighbourhood. Objectives of the study are (i) to identify the
extent of compact urban form on influencing community
behaviour and (ii) to establish the type of social interactions as a
result of residing in a compact urban form residential
neighbourhood. Data was collected through the use of
household questionnaire survey which was conducted in
selected residential neighbourhood within Kuala Lumpur
Metropolitan Region and supported by observation survey.
Findings of the study reveals that residents of compact urban
form tend to have higher chance to have social interaction with
their neighbours either, of certain intention or unintentionally.
It is through these social interactions that would lead to better
social cohesion that would create safer neighbourhood
environment.
Index Terms—Compact city,
neighbourhood, social interaction.
urban
form,
urban
II. BACKGROUND
Creating sustainable and livable neighbourhood is
important to ensure that the people‟s quality of living is
protected. A well-planned neighbourhood has the potential to
influence or initiate some kind of social interaction among
the local communities. Many planners encouraged for
compact urban form with mixed land use and pedestrian
friendly streets in order to induce social interaction and
provide some sense of the neighbouring community [3]. Lack
of social interactions in urban neighbourhood would
eventually lead to greater urban problems such as threat to the
safety aspects and sense of security among the residents. As
highlighted in the National Urbanisation Policy [4],
Malaysian cities are experiencing a decline in the quality of
living in terms of safety. Urban form elements claimed to
have various significant impacts of sustainability. Several
studies have explored the links between urban form and
social sustainability in which urban form is able to improve
access to facilities, social interactions, quality of life that
would lead to a better neighbourhood satisfaction. Some
suggested that social interactions tend to improve as it moves
away from the city centre [5]. A better social interaction in a
neighbourhood would have significant influence on
individual„s well-being as well as community [5], [6]. It also
facilitates to reduce the feeling of fear in the neighbourhood
hence able to live more comfortably [5]. Porta (2001) [7]
have illustrated the relationship between urban form and
components of urban sustainability that also include the
I. INTRODUCTION
Cities with compact urban form are often associated with
being sustainable. Compact urban form is regarded as the
major form that can guide urban development to
sustainability particularly in reducing the negative impacts of
the dispersed development [1]. Aspect of sociability within
an urban neighbourhood is one of the factors that determines
the quality of a particular neighbourhood. It is deemed that an
isolated community is seen as a failed neighbourhood [2].
Interactions among neighbours which would lead to better
social ties and social cohesion have many advantages i.e.
increase of sense of security, better neighbourhood
satisfaction and sense of belonging.
This paper explores the aspect of compact urban form and
its relationship with social sustainability, specifically
focusing on social interaction - level of sociability within
urban neighbourhood. This study focuses on aspects that
would contribute to improve the level of sociability by
Manuscript received June 5, 2014; revised August 6, 2014. This work was
supported in part by the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia – Research Grant.
The author would like to thank Research Management Centre, Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia and UTM Razak School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
for the financial support.
W. Wan Mohd Rani is with the UTM Razak School, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Semarak, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.564
822
social component (see Fig. 1). It was explained that social
interaction within the built form is an effect of street life of
the urban form [7]. This is a result of how urban form affect
the way people uses the space hence contributes to the
various social interaction among the community.
URBAN FORM
URBAN
SUSTAINABILITY
Land use/
Transportation
Environmental
Quality
Environmental
Component
how they can actively participate in developing a quality
environment. Social sustainability also refers to the viability
of socially shaped relationships between society and nature
over long periods of time [11]. It is also known to be a
wide-ranging multi-dimensional concept focussing on the
social goals of sustainable development [12]. A socially
sustainable society is one that is just, equitable, inclusive and
democratic, and provides a decent quality of life for current
and future generations.
There are basically four aspects of social sustainability:
equity, community safety, health and choice. Others have
associated social sustainability with equity, community and
participation [2], [3], [13]. Three core dimensions of social
sustainability were identified which focussed on satisfaction
of basic needs and the quality of life, social justice and social
coherence [13]-[15]. It was suggested that social
sustainability comprises two main dimensions, (i) social
equity and (ii) sustainability of community [11]. The first
dimension basically deals with the aspects of urban form
focussing on access to services and opportunities such as
local services, public transport and affordable housing. The
second dimensions deals with broader aspects that include
social interaction, satisfaction with the home and
neighbourhood, safety, and participation [11]. In relation to
the importance of the build environment to health and
well-being, it was found that participation and empowerment
in the neighbourhood environment had been identified as
being essential to the overall social sustainability,
particularly quality of life and well-being [16]. It was also
stressed that the built environment plays a key role in
influencing participation in local neighbourhood life [16].
Quality of life also relates to having a good relationship
between housing and local employment, retail, education and
health facilities. This relationship facilitates better social
interactions and sense of community within the built
environment [10].
Another important aspect connecting urban form and
social sustainability is safety of the built environment. Safety
within the built environment context is related to the extent
people can use enjoy and move around the outside
environment while feeling safe [17]. several categories of
fear that relate to the built environment are fear of being
attacked, fear of being run-over and fear of falling [17].
These feelings usually constrain people„s willingness to
participate and behaviour at a certain level in the outside
environment. To ensure a safe environment, several aspects
that need to be considered. Among them are: a mix of uses,
pedestrians separated from traffic by trees; proper parking,
designated bicycle lanes, spaces and buildings designed and
adequate street lighting; wide, well maintained footways; and
proper traffic calming measures [17]. To conclude, social
sustainability directly impacts the quality of life. Hence, this
paper focuses on social sustainability and how physical urban
form may facilitate moves towards improving social
sustainability.
Economic
Component
Street Life
Institutional
Component
Social Component
Fig. 1. The relationship between urban form and urban sustainability.
In the context of Malaysia, as documented in the Tenth
Malaysia Plan, the government is committed to improve the
overall quality of life. Malaysian government has
emphasized the need to ensure urban areas are moving
progressively towards building a vibrant and attractive living
environment. This includes focusing the effort to ensure
means of transportation are designed to move people,
equitable access to services and facilities and people feel safe
with their neighbourhood environment [8]. It was also
realized the important role of physical form and character of
living space to facilitate high quality of living is achieved. In
all development plans, emphasis has been given to ensure
that the quality of neighbourhood are protected to ensure
III. URBAN FORM AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
Previous research has revealed that urban form has
significant implication for most aspects of urban
sustainability with great emphasis on social sustainability
(social equity, integration and cohesion) and environmental
sustainability (energy reduction and travel patterns [5], [9].
To understand urban form, in simpler terms it is defined as
size, shape, and intensity of urban settlements and the spatial
organization of different types of land use [9]. Urban form is
referred to as the distribution and pattern of human settlement
within the urban areas. Key variables to describe urban forms
are density, shape, degree of dispersal or concentration and
the quality of the infrastructure for public transport [10].
Social sustainability is closely related to the behaviour of
people and how people respond to change in their
surrounding environment. It also suggests that sustainability
addresses the question of how societies can shape their
modes of change so as to ensure the preconditions of
development for future generations. In this context, there is a
need to understand how people perceive the environment and
IV. METHODOLOGY
This research explores compact urban form and its effect
on social interactions in urban neighbourhood. Quantitative
823
method approach was used to primarily in the data collection
and analysis stage. All variables used in this study were made
quantifiable in order to facilitate the process of data
collection and data analysis.
A. Data Collection
Data was collected through questionnaire survey. The
samples were households within selected urban residential
schemes within Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Stratified random sampling method was used to select the
samples. The samples were stratified according to the
different level of compactness through the use housing
density variable i.e. low density housing medium density,
medium high and high density housing.
This study was also supported by an observation survey.
The observation survey is considered significant for this
study since direct contact with the neighbourhood and local
people involved in the case studies permits the researcher to
obtain information which would have otherwise been
unavailable.
Fig. 2. Age group distribution.
B. Method of Analysis
Data from the questionnaire is analyzed quantitatively and
supported by findings derived from the observation survey.
To ensure that the samples from the household survey were
representative, the researcher performed sample weighting.
Sample weighting is one of the steps that the researcher has
undertaken to ensure that the data are reliable. Generally, in
statistics, weighting is used to correct disproportional sample
size and used to correct for differential response. By
performing weighting, the researcher able to adjust the
collected data to represent the population better. In this study,
the researcher weighted the samples based on the response
rate of the three sub areas (inner, intermediate and outer). In
performing the analysis, among the techniques applied were,
frequency distribution, cross-tabulation and deriving mean
score. The researcher further explored the relationship of the
data using several statistical tests.
V. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Socio-Demographic Profile
A large majority of the respondents were from the age
group of economically active population with an average of
84% for Kuala Lumpur and 96% for Putrajaya. The reason
behind this is because of the design of the survey that targeted
only the head of household or their spouse or partner.
Findings regarding the age group distribution for both case
study cities reveal a higher proportion of economically active
age group as compared to the actual distribution. According
to the census for both cities, based on the most recent data,
majority of population falls under the economically active
group with 67% for Kuala Lumpur and 61% for Putrajaya
[18], [19]. For the elderly age group, there are higher
proportion in Kuala Lumpur (4%) compared to Putrajaya
(0.6%) [18], [19]. For Malaysia as whole, the pattern is quite
similar. It was recorded that percentage for young dependants
are 26%, economically active are 68% and elderly dependant
are 16% for year 2010 [20], (see Fig. 2).
In terms of average household size, a great number of the
respondents for all areas have approximately 2-5 occupancy
Looking at the distribution pattern, Putrajaya does not have
any single occupancy household except for the outer area (a
slight 1%), (see Fig. 3). There is also pattern for more than 5
occupancy household„. It appears to be that as it move further
from the core area, there would be fewer households with
more than 5 occupancy„. This finding is expected as it also
reflects the Malaysian‟s national average household size of 5.
Fig. 3. Household size of study area.
In terms of home ownership, majority of the respondents
in Putrajaya are renting in all sub area with an average of
92% (see Fig. 4). The pattern is different for Kuala Lumpur
where, the distribution is quite evenly spread, especially in
the outer area. On average, in Kuala Lumpur, it was reported
that 29% owns the house with mortgage, 33% owns outright
and 39% are renting. However, it is noted that in the inner
area of Kuala Lumpur, percentage of owning the house
outright is slightly higher at 41% as compared to other type
ownership and in other subarea location throughout the
survey areas.
Fig. 4. Home ownership.
824
B. How Compact Form Impacts Sociability
Social sustainability is related to aspects of how people
behave within the physical environment. It is claimed that
mixed land use and pedestrian friendly streets are important
measures in order to induce social interaction and provide
some sense of neighbouring community [3]. This concept has
been applied in the New Urbanism concept that supports
among others mixed use and pedestrian-friendly streets.
People would interact and behave differently when they are
in different kind of environment. In compact urban form,
people are expected to have the opportunity to achieve better
sociability due to the proximity. This is because they would
have greater opportunity to meet one another either
intentionally or unintentionally. Assessment on the compact
urban form on sociability was conducted by exploring the
compact form related variables with sociability variables.
This is achieved through the evaluation of several urban form
variables i.e. (i) land use mix, (ii) density and (iii) housing
type. Variables related to sociability are (i) frequency of
meeting, (ii) how well they know their neighbours and (iii)
how they interact with their neighbours.
Generally, in terms of level of sociability within the
sub-area locations, the researcher investigated the matter by
approaching the respondents with several questions in the
questionnaire survey form. The respondents were prompted
to provide information on the level of interaction based on
different scenarios. 5 point Likert scale was used to capture
the information with score 1 represents “None‟ and score 5
represents “All”, hence, higher score represents better social
interaction. Table I presents the findings of the 3 variables
that summarises the level of social interaction among the
respondents within the case study areas. The finding
indicates that the levels of social interaction among the
community in the areas are quite wide-ranging. On the aspect
of meeting socially on average of once a week, it was
reported to be more common in the inner areas (both cities).
In terms of having a chat or greeting, for both cities, it was
revealed to be better in the outer areas. Previous studies
revealed that social interactions tend to improve as location
moves away from the city centre [5].
form also relates to having some sort of mixed of land use.
Areas with some land use mix means that people would have
the chance to participate more within the neighbourhood
residents would not require to travel far to go to services such
as banks, retail outlets and other related services. Findings of
the study on this aspect have proven that social interaction
improves in areas with some land use mix. In terms of having
social meeting at least once a week, areas with some land use
mix were reported better at 95% significance level and was
reported significant at 99% for having the convenient to chat
with. On the other hand, for the different housing types,
those living in terraced housing were reported to have
generally better sociability level among the neighbours at
99% significance level.
TABLE II: LEVEL OF SOCIAL INTERACTION ACCORDING TO DIFFERENT
COMPACT FORM VARIABLES
You would ask
You see socially
You have a chat
to borrow
on average once
with
food/ tools
a week
from
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Density
High
3.07**
0.87 3.07**
1.03
2.00** 1.10
Medium
2.72**
0.93 2.82**
0.88
1.81** 0.97
Low
2.39**
0.95 2.51**
0.86
1.56** 0.81
Land use
No - Single
use 2.57*
0.89
2.63**
0.87
1.71
0.92
Residential
Yes - some
mixed of
2.62*
1.06
2.79**
0.93
1.68
0.89
use
Housing Type
Detached/
Semi-detac
2.73**
0.84 2.72**
0.88
1.76** 0.93
hed
Terraced
2.74**
0.94 2.85**
0.89
1.83** 0.99
Flat/
2.42**
0.96 2.54**
0.87
1.56** 0.81
Apartment
** indicates 99% significance level.
* indicates 95% significance level.
VI. CONCLUSION
The focus of this paper was to explore the relationship
between compact urban form and social sustainability,
specifically focusing on social interaction within urban
neighbourhood. Findings of the study have shown that areas
with some land use mix have better sociability level as
compared to areas with only single residential use. This
supports the claim by Jacob that physical environment with
mixed land use encourages social activities as compared to
single-use areas [3]. In terms of density, social interactions
within high density areas seem to be better as compared to
low density areas. This corresponds well with previous
studies where it has proven that among the advantages of
higher density are larger concentration of people hence it
would create demand for communal services that would lead
to greater chance for social interactions [10] [21]. However,
it is also important to note that there should be a limit to
encourage high density neighbourhood or settlement for
sustainability. Empirical research have proven that too high
density will eventually lead to overcrowding hence initiate all
sorts of social problems and is also associated poor social
interaction, high crime rates. Hence, policymakers and
TABLE I: LEVEL OF SOCIAL INTERACTION WITHIN SUBAREA LOCATIONS
You see socially
You would ask to
You have a chat
on average once a
borrow food
with/ greet
week
/ tools from
Kuala
Lumpur
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Inner
2.81
1.05
2.88
1.00
1.54
0.82
Intermediate
2.55
1.07
2.64
0.93
1.98
0.90
Outer
2.56
1.03
2.90
0.79
1.96
1.15
Putrajaya
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Inner
2.57
0.80
2.54
0.77
1.53
0.79
Intermediate
2.41
0.86
2.46
0.84
1.57
0.84
Outer
2.54
0.89
2.69
0.88
1.73
0.95
In taking account the urban form variables (see Table II),
social interactions within high density areas seem to be better
as compared to low density areas. This finding correspond
well with previous literature that have proven that high
density where close proximity is one of the factor that can
initiate interactions among the urban-dwellers. Compact
825
[8]
planners need to identify the ideal density and other compact
urban form characteristics that would give benefits to the
overall sustainability of the neighbourhood.
The implication of this study is it contributes to providing
valuable knowledge needed for urban planners and
policymakers to meet the challenge of urban growth more
effectively and to devise a framework for sustainable urban
form to ensure it is socially sustainable. The research findings
also contribute to the existing knowledge in such a way that
future development and growth in metropolitan regions in
developing countries can be guided in a manner that
enhances long-term sustainability. Finally, it is hoped that
with this indication, policy makers and planner able to make
vital decisions to further improve the neighborhood areas for
better sociability with the aim to improve the overall quality
of life.
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The study was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education,
Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM –
Q.K130000.2740.00K40) and Institute for Housing, Urban
and Real Estate Research (IHURER), Heriot Watt
University.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[18]
[19]
[20]
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Sustainable Urban Form? Routledge, 1996.
H. Barton, Sustainable Communities: The Potential for
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N. Dempsey, C. T. A. Brown, S. Raman, S. Porta, M. Jenks, C. Jones,
and G. Bramley, Elements of Urban Form, in Dimensions of the
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measures of accessibility to public playgrounds,” Environment and
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sustainability and urban form: evidence from five British cities,”
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a Literature Review, V. H. P. Foundation, Editor, 2000.
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Routledge, 2006.
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Wan Mohd Rani W. N. M. is a senior lecturer from
Razak School of Engineering and Advanced
Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She
obtained her PhD in urban studies from Heriot Watt
University, United Kingdom in 2012. She obtained her
undergradute bachelor degree in urban and regional
planning and MSc. in built environment from
International Islamic University Malaysia. Her research
interests are subjects related to urban form, social
sustainability, quality of life and well -being.
826
Local Government Service Efficiency: Public Participation
Matters
Zikri Muhammad, Tarmiji Masron, and Aziz Abdul Majid

organization that has a wide range of clients including
citizens, business and employee communities, and employees
of public or private sector [1]. Furthermore, one of the
importance roles of government agencies is to provide
information and services for each cluster of customers,
especially citizens or local people [1]. Government agencies
especially local government should aware that their services
delivery will be evaluated by the citizens. This scenario will
affect on the public assessment at a general election to vote
the party that will lead the country. The low-level of
knowledge and skills of public sector employees and
inefficient operating systems will contribute to customer
dissatisfaction. Customer satisfaction is one of the factors
that contribute to the quality of the goods or services
delivered [2] and considered one of the indicators for public
service performance measurements [3]. Besides that,
customer satisfaction measurement is used to improve the
quality of goods or services that will contribute to the
competitive advantage of the organization [4].
The inefficiencies urban management can contribute to the
failure of development projects and low performance of
service delivery by local authorities. This scenario occurs
when local authorities fail to meet the expectations of their
customers [5]. This argument supports by Freemantle study
which pointed out that the main reason of complaints by
customers is the failure to perform the promise,
incompetence, delay, failed to inform about the changes and
the lack of flexibility in a direction [6]. Meanwhile, study by
Parasuraman et al. explained that there was a gap in service
delivery processes between suppliers and users. The gap
exists is due to the services provided by the supplier cannot
meet the requirements of the buyer or user [7]. This is
supported by Davison and Grieves which concluded that
there is a significant gap between the expectations of the
manager of an organization with customer expectations [8].
For managers, quality assessment based on the right services,
reliable and fair, competitive staff, and well-mannered.
However, the customers will evaluate the quality of service,
based on positive image, the range of services offered, the
right time to react, good communication with customers and
compliance with contract specifications. Besides that the
implementation of e-government program especially
e-complaint for the residents can improve the government
operation internally as well as the quality of service delivery
[9], [10]. The local government can manage the performance
management measurement especially the service delivery
performance by providing the infrastructure for performance
management [11]. However, the local government needs a
good planning system to enhance efficiency and
effectiveness and to offer improved services for sustainable
development [12].
Abstract—The service delivery efficiency by local authorities
is one of the key elements in developing the livable cities. The
involvement of local communities in measuring the efficiency of
service delivery as a primary source of information should be
practiced by all local authorities. However, local authorities are
more likely to choose only some of the information given by the
local community to improve the services delivery efficiency.
This may be due to the low-level of involvement by local
community for the dissemination of information to local
authorities. This scenario will cause a conflict between local
authorities and local communities. Local authorities should
take into account the local communities view in measuring the
service delivery efficiencies to create the livable cities. This
study is important to assess the level of community involvement
in sustainable urban development process. This study will
identify the importance of community involvement in
measuring the public service delivery. This study was
conducted interviews among 360 respondents in Manjung and
Kerian District in Perak. This study found that the level of
involvement among the local communities in disseminating
information to local authorities is still low.
Index Terms—Local authority, local participation, public
governance, service delivery
I. INTRODUCTION
A good governance is based on the fully support by
citizens in the implementation of national development
programs. In general, most of citizen wants to get the
high-level of service delivery efficiencies from the
government, especially the basic services for life.
Government should listen to the people views about the
priority needs in service delivery performance. According to
Malaysia Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172)
and the amendment, public participation input must be taken
into account in preparing the development plan such as
Structure Plans, Local and Special Area Plan in Peninsular
Malaysia. The public has a right to be notified and participate
in any decision making that will affect their life. However,
the government, especially the local authorities tend to
disregard some opposite view of the development planned
agenda. This situation contributes to the disorder in the local
authority administrative system which may cause of
low-level of service delivery efficiencies. Furthermore, the
lack of monitoring on development programs will lead to
financial problem.
However, customer management by the government is a
very complicated. The government agency is a large
Manuscript received May 19, 2014; revised July 25, 2014.
The Authors are with the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang Malaysia
(e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.565
827
2) Construct validity
Based on the rotated component matrix, out of 40 items,
eight items were dropped as they either had loadings less than
0.5 or cross loadings. Seven factors met the selection criteria
of eigenvalues greater than 1.0, explaining a total of 70.21
percent of the variance. The KMO measure of sampling
adequacy was 0.78 indicating sufficient intercorrelations
while the Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was significant (χ² =
13241.23, p < 0.01). All the items selected had factor
loadings greater than 0.5. Factor 1 contained eight items and
has been labelled as “Complaining Services”. In Factor 2,
five items were included and then labelled as “Community
Development Services”. Five items loaded onto Factor 3 and
named as “Law Enforcement Services”. Factor 4 consisted of
four items and thus was labelled as “Environmental
Management Services”. Factor 5 included four items and
represent as “Basic Amenities Services”. Finally, Factor 6
and 7 only included three items for each factor and this has
been labelled as “Community Health Services” and “Street
and Light Services”. Table I presents the factor loadings
obtained.
II. METHOD
A. The Unit of Analysis and Population
The unit of analysis in this study are the residents of
Manjung and Kerian Town. They include low cost and
medium cost housing. The population is being studied
involves 10,000 residents.
B. Questionnaire Administration
Data was collected through a structured questionnaire, for
each housing unit selected. The principal investigator met the
residents at their home during working hours and weekend.
Each resident will be given a questionnaire attached with a
covering letter guaranteeing confidentiality and informed
consent for the research. Respondents filled in the
questionnaire anonymously. The principal investigator then
collected the questionnaires either on the same day or two
weeks later. For those who were unable to complete the
questionnaire, assistance was given or an interview made by
the principal investigator. Onsite editing of the
questionnaires was made and checked twice at the university.
The population was first stratified to location and type of
development in order to get the various sub-groups of the
population. The technique of sampling used in this study
basically the convenience sampling, but taking into account
housing location and the different types of development. This
will ensure that the various subgroups in the population are
represented. A total of 370 questionnaires were distributed
and only 360 were usable. As such, the usable response rate
is 97.30 percent.
III. RESULT
A. Profile of the Residents
There were 70.2 percent males and 29.8 percent females.
With regards to marital status, 80.2 percent of the residents
were married, 9.8 percent were single, and 10 percent were
divorced. They were predominantly Malay (70.2%),
followed by Chinese (18%), Indian (10%), and others (1.8%).
More than half (60 %) of the residents belonged to young age
group from 19 to 45 years old. About 74 percent had
education below or equal to college diploma level. The large
majority (81.7%) had an income of less than RM5,000 per
month. A total of 177 (49.2%) respondents were from the low
cost housing while 183 (50.8%) were from the medium cost
housing.
B. Testing the Goodness of Measure for the Service
Delivery of Local Authority Construct
1) Content validity
Content validity refers to the extent to which an instrument
covers the meanings included in the concept [13].
Researchers, rather than by statistical testing, subjectively
judge content validity [14]. The content validity of the
proposed instrument is at least sufficient because the
instrument is carefully refined from a proven instrument with
an exhaustive literature review [14].
828
3) Convergent validity
According to Campbell and Fiske, convergent validity
refers to all items measuring a construct actually loading on a
single construct [15]. Convergent validity is established
when items all fall into one factor as theorized. All seven
factors displayed unidimensionality with Complaining
Services, KMO = 0.86 explaining 68.34 percent of the
variation; Community Development Services, KMO = 0.86
explaining 72.51 percent of the variation; Law Enforcement
Services, KMO = 0.84 explaining 76.45 percent of the
variation; Environmental Management Services, KMO =
0.84 explaining 72.86 percent of the variation; Basic
Amenities Services, KMO = 0.82 explaining 69.42 percent of
the variation; Community Health Services, KMO = 0.76
explaining 75.86 percent of the variation; and lastly Street
and Light Services, KMO = 0.68 explaining 61.48 percent of
the variation. Thus, it can be concluded that the convergent
validity of these measures is valid.
4) Discriminant validity
A correlation analysis was done on the seven factors
generated and the results are presented in Table II. As can be
seen all seven factors are not perfectly correlated where their
correlation coefficients range between 0 and 1. Hence, this
study can be concluded that discriminant validity has been
established.
5) Reliability
According to Nunnally alpha values equal to or greater
than 0.70 can be considered a sufficient condition [16]. This
study used Cronbach alpha value for testing the inter-item
consistency. The seven corresponding alpha values are 0.92,
0.93, 0.91, 0.89, 0.83, 0.82, and 0.70 for Complaining
Services, Community Development Services, Law
Enforcement Services, Environmental Management Services,
Basic Amenities Services, Community Health Services and
Street and Light Services respectively (Refer Table II). This
study concluded that these measures possess sufficient
reliability.
TABLE I: FACTOR ANALYSIS RESULT FOR SERVICE DELIVERY.
Factors
Items
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7
Factor 1: Complaining Services
CS1
0.75
CS2
0.83
CS4
0.75
CS5
0.79
CS6
0.77
CS7
0.86
CS9
0.87
CS10
0.77
Factor 2: Community Development Services
CDS1
0.71
CDS2
0.79
CDS3
0.85
CDS4
0.75
CDS5
0.88
Factor 3: Law Enforcement Services
LES1
0.77
LES2
0.85
LES3
0.89
LES4
0.82
LES5
0.81
Factor 4: Environmental Management Services
EMS2
0.71
EMS3
0.87
EMS4
0.89
EMS5
0.81
Factor 5: Basic Amenities Services
BAS1
0.80
BAS2
0.85
BAS3
0.89
BAS4
0.86
Factor 6: Community Health Services
CHS1
0.72
CHS2
0.79
CHS3
0.77
Factor 7: Street and Light Services
SLS3
0.77
SLS4
0.62
SLS5
0.77
Eigenvalue
10.72
6.61
2.12
1.77
1.52
1.33
1.12
Percentage of Variance
23.11
12.23
10.11
9.75
8.58
7.12
5.55
Total Variance Explained
22.22
35.44
45.77
54.86
64.76
69.33
74.86
0.78
KMO Measure of Sampling Adequacy
Approximate Chi-Square
13241.23***
Note. N = 360. Items included for the respective factors are underlined for identification; ***P<.001.Factor loadings less than .30 have not been printed.
829
TABLE II: RESULTS OF THE CORRELATION ANALYSIS
1
2
3
Item
4
5
1
2
Complaining Services
Community Development Services
(0.92)
.61**
(0.93)
3
Law Enforcement Services
.41**
.55**
4
Environmental Management Services
.25**
.19**
.26**
(0.89)
5
Basic Amenities Services
.11
.16**
.32**
.55**
(0.83)
.42**
.28**
.42**
.32**
.38**
.47**
.47**
.45**
6 Community Health Services
.23**
7 Street and Light Services
.19**
Note: Values in the diagonal are Cronbach alpha coefficients.
6
7
(0.82)
.43**
(0.70)
(0.91)
6) The level of service delivery efficiency
In general, this study found that the level of service
delivery efficiency by local authorities from customer
perspective in Manjung and Kerian town are at a high level
for complaining services, community services, and
environmental management services. However, the
community development program and law enforcement
services are at moderate level. More than 50 percent of
respondents agreed that all the services above need to be
improved in the future. Meanwhile, more than 50 percent of
the respondents concluded that the basic services and street
and light services provided by local authority are at low-level.
Local authority need to pay more attention on basic amenities
services such as waste management, street maintenance,
drainage, river management and cleaning of public area.
Besides that, local authority must be monitored all aspects of
maintenance regarding to light and street services. It can be
concluded that, the level of service delivery efficiency by
both local authority in Manjung and Kerian must be
improved in the future based on the need of local people.
dilemmas of public participation in the government plan
which cause execution on development program not
successful. However, the public's understanding on
participation concept is still confused. So, this is impossible
for them to involve in public participation programs such as
Local Plan public hearing program on Local Plan designed
by Local Authority. Meanwhile, most of the participant are
the ones who have their own interests, such as developers or
those who are involved in the planning. Local government
should take a good opportunity to improve their services
form perspective of customer’s views point. This study has
proven that some of the customers are willing to contribute
their idea and suggestions based on their local knowledge to
improve the services delivery.
7) The level of public participation
The study found that the level of public participation in
planning and improving services delivery efficiency process
still at low levels. More than 61 percent of respondents stated
that they were not involved in any plans or improvements in
service delivery by local authority. Besides that, more than
53 respondents are not aware about the right to contribute
ideas in the planning, improving or development programs
provided by local authorities. This study also found that less
than 35% involves in public hearing for Local Area Plan.
However, Most of respondents doubted that their views will
use in preparing Local Plan Development program. Besides
that, 45 percent of the respondents are willing to contribute
their ideas in improving the service delivery efficiencies by
local authority.
570-578, July 1993.
[2] A. M. Zamil and M. M. Shammot, “Role of measuring customer
satisfaction in improving the performance in the public sector
organization,” J. Bus. Stud. Quar, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 32-42, 2011.
[3] T. G. Vavra, Improving your Measurement of Customer Satisfaction: A
Guide to Creatin, ASQ Quality Press, Milwaukee, WI, 1997, pp.
430-440.
[4] G. A. Boyne, “Concepts and indicators of local authority performance:
an evaluation of the statutory frameworks in England and Wales,” Pub,
Mon, Man, vol. 22 no. 2, pp. 17-24, 2002.
[5] D. W. Cravens, C. W. Holland, C. W. Lamb, and W. C. Moncrief,
“Marketing’s role in product and service quality,” Industrial Marketing
Management, vol. 17, pp. 285-304, 1998.
[6] C. Brennan and A. Douglas, “Complaints procedures in local
government: informing your customer,” The International Journal of
Public Sector Management, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 219-236, 2002.
[7] D. Freemantle, What Customers Like About you Adding Emotional
Value for Service Excellence and Competitive Advantage, London:
Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1998.
[8] A. Parasuraman, V. A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry, “A conceptual model
of service quality and its implications for future research,” Journal of
Marketing, vol. 49, pp. 41-50, 1985.
[9] J. Davison and J. Grieves, “Why should local government show an
interest in service quality,” The TQM Magazine, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 32-38,
1996
[10] A. A. Rashid, H. Jusoh, and J. A. Malek, “Enhancing urban governance
efficiency through the egovernment of Malaysian local authorities –
The case of Subang Jaya,” GEOGRAFIA Online TM Malaysian
Journal of Society and Space, vol. 6, issue. 1, pp. 1-12, 1996.
[11] R. M. Ramli, “Malaysian e-government: issues and challenges in
public administration,” IPEDR, vol. 48, pp. 19-23, 2012.
[12] Rivenbark, W. C. Roenigk, D. J. Noto, and Lidia, “Navigating
efficiency and effectiveness relationship across local government
services: Another step toward strategic resource management,” Journal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is funded by Short Term Grant Universiti
Sains Malaysia (USM). 304/PHUMANITI/6313003
REFERENCES
[1]
IV. DISCUSSION
The idea of public participation is based on the democratic
system to protect the rights of individuals and the public
interest. Public participation is seen as important elements of
the democratic government. Public participation in the
development program and improvement of service delivery
has been suggested as an effective way to achieve sustainable
development and brings a lot of positive impact on society.
According to the Act, there are opportunities and right of the
public to know the plan in their area and have opportunity to
make objections, but there are some problems, criticism and
830
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2012. In 2012, he joined the
Department of Geography, University Sains Malaysia, as a senior lecturer,
His current research interests include local government, urban geography,
regional planning and industrial planning.
of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, vol. 25,
issue. 4, pp. 675-692, Winter 2013.
N. Khilji and S. Roberts, “An exploratory study of knowledge
management in the UK local government planning system for
improved efficiency and effectiveness,” in Proc. the International
Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management &
Organizational Learning, 2013, pp. 551-560.
E. Babbie, The Practice of Social Research, Wadsworst: Belmont, CA,
1992.
W. S. Chow and K. H. Lui, “Discriminating factors of information
systems function performance in Hong Kong firms practicing TQM,”
International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol.
21, no. 5/6, pp. 749-771, 2001.
D. T. Campbell and D. W. Fiske, “Convergent and discriminant
validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix,” Psychological
Bulletin, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 81-105, 1959.
J. C. Nunnally, Psychometric Theory, McGraw Hill: New York, 1978.
Tarmiji Masron was born in Sarawak and he is a professor in geographical
information system (GIS) in the Section of Geography, School of Humanities,
Universiti Sains Malaysia. He received his PhD in geographic information
system (GIS) from Universiti Sains Malaysia and has field expertise in GIS,
spatial social science, spatial tourism and spatial decision support system
(SDSS). He is heavily involved in research work, publications and
consultations related to geographic information systems (GIS) in the social
sciences, local knowledge, tourism and SDSS.
Aziz Abdul Majid was born in Pahang, Malaysia in 1958. He received the
bachelor degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University 1983 and master of
science in agriculture from Sam Houston State University in 1984. He joined
the Department of Geography in 1989, University Sains Malaysia, and now
he is a senior lecturer.
Zikri Muhammad was born in Terengganu, Malaysia in 1977. He received
the bachelor degree in business administrative from the University Putra
Malaysia in 1999, master of art (urban and regional planning) from
Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2005 and the Ph.D. degrees in urban geography
831
Using Co-Design to Express Cultural Values and Create a
Graphical Identity: A Case Study of Khon Kaen, Thailand
Ratanachote Thienmongkol

Abstract—This paper outlines one of the significant design
processes in my practice based design project. It involved
creating a new design of the public transport map (BRT Khon
Kaen) for Khon Kaen city. Collaborative and participatory
design concepts are presented in this paper. Both concepts can
be used to present the voice of stakeholders within the
community who played a central role in my design process. It
can be noted that democracy design can be used with the
heuristic concept of graphic designers to reach a design solution.
The human factors that formed the knowledge base of the
community were critical to providing the challenging ideas that
created the identity sets of map symbols on my design prototype
(map). The graphic details on the map features display the
design materials which related to the local ways of life, folk
wisdom, and culture. This design contribution expressed the
cultural values and created a consistency between map readers
and their background knowledge. The results of my usability
test found that graphical materials, which relate to user’s
backgrounds, can be used to enhance communication and
recognition.
Index Terms—Co-design,
participation, transit map.
graphic
design,
II. THE CASE STUDY CONTEXT/CULTURE
Khon Kaen province is located in the center of the
Northeast region in Thailand, better known as the „Isan‟
region. Khon Kaen province has the fourth largest population
of Thai cities, at 1.76 million people, while the CBD contains
250,000 people. Its geographical location and development
policies have made Khon Kaen a center of business,
education, medical professions, and transport in the region.
Local government is the Khon Kaen municipality (or Khon
Kaen City Council).
Isan culture represents all traditional practices in the Isan
region, covering the ways of life in this area [3]. An Isan style
has a strong identity derived from foods, languages (accents),
eating, folk arts, customs, amusements and beliefs. Khon
Kaen is one of 19 provinces in the region, which preserves
Isan traditionalism. Although the Isan region shares common
traditional practices, each province has their own strong folk
wisdoms [4]. For example, in „Yasothon‟ province there is a
Fireworks festival; „Ubonratchathani‟ province has the
Beeswax-Candle festival, and „Nong-Khai‟ province has the
Long-Boat competition. Meanwhile, Khon Kaen has the Silk
festival. The silk-cloth (Par-Mai) products are world famous
goods, and represent the folk wisdoms in this province (see
the examples in Fig. 1) [5].
community
I. BACKGROUND
In the next few years, Khon Kaen city will reform the
Urban Transport System (UTS) introducing a new project
„Bus Rapid Transit‟ (BRT) that will replace the old local
transport „SongThel‟ (Mini-Bus). This project will affect the
areas of Khon Kaen municipality. The project will create
radical change by replacing the whole operating system of
public transport. This plan has also included research
regarding new routes, architecture and corporate identity
designs, which were created as the design prototypes. These
design artifacts were defined by following the key concepts
of „Sin-Chai‟ literature that is the major concept of urban and
people development policies of the Khon Kaen municipality
[1].
However, even though Khon Kaen is situated in the areas
of the „Lan Chang‟ empire 1 and the Sin-Chai has been a
traditional literature for the „Mekong River‟ of more than 900
years, the Khon Kaen community does not have any
relationship to the literature in terms of history, geography
and the calendar [2]. The learning experience of people in the
Manuscript received June 1, 2014; revised August 2, 2014.
Ratanachote Thienmongkol is with the New Media Department, Faculty
of Informatics Mahasarakham University, 44000, Thailand (e-mail:
[email protected]).
1
In 1869-2321BC, the „Lan Chang Empire‟ covered the areas of the
Mekong Riverbank across Laos and Northeast Thailand (Isan region), some
parts of Cambodia and Vietnam; and the bottom areas of the South of China
[1].
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.566
community in the twentieth/twenty first century has not
meant a familiarity and consistency with the Sin-Chai
literature. The authors considered that Sin-Chai literature has
not been strong enough to provide the key images and
identity designs for Khon Kaen city and the new UTS.
Further details of this argument are addressed in topic five.
This point challenges me, in the role of Khon Kaen people,
a user, a researcher and a graphic designer, to question “how
can I research the real “local identity” from the knowledge
base of stakeholders in the community (Human Factors)?”
and “how can I transform this knowledge into the form of
graphic materials on the BRT transit map?” I believe that the
co-design approach can create identity designs in public
spaces based on the democratic responsiveness, community
ownership and respect of culture values.
Fig. 1. These pictures present the tradition of Khon Kaen folk wisdom, folk
musical instrument and custom: (left) Silk Cloths, (centre) Khaen and (right)
Isan country folk music.
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The Bamboo Mouth Organ (called „Khaen‟) is a key
musical instrument for the Isan country-folk music (called
„Mor-Lum‟) Hence, different folk wisdom in each province
has been built up contribute to local images and identities
(see Fig. 2).
fare systems, and timetables. Lynch [12] argued that the
changing of the urban transport project would have a
significant impact in modeling the image of cities. Hence the
development of a graphic support system that could be
applied to assist people to recognize and use their urban
space [13]. The reformation of a public transport system
needs to create a new user information system, including a
transit map, map handout, graphics on the buses, tickets,
graphic material in the stations, bus shelter and bus stop. The
Khon Kaen BRT project is not only reforming the operating
system, but it will also modify the city image by using the
Environmental Graphic Design (EGD) approach. It will
become an opportunity to see Khon Kaen city‟s fast
transformations and the changing image of the city.
Fig. 2. These pictures depict Khaen as the famous representing symbol in
Khon Kaen city: (left) a Khaen with the hotel building design, (centre) a
Khaen with logo and (c) aKhaen with the city clock tower.
III. THE NEW ROLE AND NEW SYSTEM IMPACT WITH THE
CITY IMAGE
IV. THE EGD EXPERIENCE WITH URBAN TRANSPORT
SYSTEM IN THE CITY
In 2015 the Southeast of Asia Nations or „ASEAN‟ will
associate as the „Asean Economics Community‟ (AEC). The
AEC consists of 10 member countries 2 in this community
system [6]. Since 1982 Khon Kaen province has been
promoted by the central government to be one of five major
cities in Thailand [7]. This promotion meant Khon Kaen has
to make adaptations in the logistics and transport hubs in the
Isan region, in order to support the aim of „East West
Economic Corridor‟ (EWEC) of the AEC.
Gibson [14] explained that the EGD is related to an
organization of the spatial space in urban areas, signage
systems, and public design systems of wayfinding
applications for creating an appropriate message to
communicate with people. Cohesive information and a
unifying visual element in a graphic communication system,
for a given location in a built environment, is key to the
systematic development in the EGD spectrum activity [15].
Although Khon Kaen city provides a mini-bus system (20
lines), there is no public transit information to show people
how to use it. Even the large transit nodes in Khon Kaen city
provide no graphic material of user information guidelines
(e.g. wayfinding of minibus with map, timetable, and fare
rates). This is evidenced in Fig. 4. The new arrival of the
BRT system will not only reform the UTS, but will bring with
it the new arrival of the EGD experience in UTS for the city
and people [16].
Fig. 3. This map show the location of Khon Kaen province at the center of the
Isan region. This area is the heart for distribution of goods to Indo-China.
EWEC will consist of double lines of trains and
motorways from Burma to Thailand, through Laos and
stopping in Vietnam [8]. Fig. 3 shows that Khon Kaen city is
located at the center of the Isan region and Indo China areas
(Indo-China areas consists of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and
Vietnam [9]). Any goods, cargo or transit passengers need to
be stored and stay in the city before distribution. These
reasons prompted Khon Kaen municipality to introduce the
new public transport plan (under the name of “Khon Kaen
BRT”)3. This plan will also support a transit commuter (e.g.
people, investors, and tourists) system, and reform their
urban transport system.
The BRT project was collaboratively planned between
Khon Kaen municipality and Khon Kaen University. In the
years 2009-10, the BRT master plan involved: 1) cancellation
of the old mini-bus system and installation of the new BRT; 2)
creating the new network route service; 3) adapting city land
use planning; and 4) defining new interchange stations, stops,
2
The AEC consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam [10].
3
Bus Rapid Transits (BRT) are transit systems that will use buses to
provide a faster service for commuting passengers in the special (bus) lanes
[11].
Fig. 4. These pictures show on overview of challenges in the largest transit
nodes in the city: (left) an old information board (without updating) is the
concealed by advertising canvas, (center) the Thai language around the
minibus is the informal information that every buses for passenger, (right) the
overview of bus stops in the city that is worn out and dirty.
V. THE INFLUENCE OF THE LOCAL POLICY REFLECTS TO THE
CITY IMAGE
With the new EGD experience, Khon Kaen municipality
awakened to the need to define the corporate identity for the
BRT system. Since 2007 “Nakhon Pang-Jan” (Pang-Jan City)
is the key aspect/identity that some local administrators
believe the city image should look like (key finding from
in-depth interview). This city is the name of the city in the
„Chadok Tale‟4. Sin-Chai literature is one part of the stories
„Chadok‟ is the stories of the Lord Buddha's former births. Most of
Chadok in Thailand would like to present just the last 10 worlds from 1,000
of the Lord Buddha's world („world‟ means the cycle of birth and death).
4
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in the Chadok Tales, which are concerned with Pang-Jan
city5.
Fig. 5. These pictures present the transforming idea from Sin-Chai mural
painting to a design of electricity poles installed around the downtown areas.
Nowadays, Sin-Chai is a famous and valuable literature in
the Isan region. Two of the temples in Khon Kaen province
have mural art related to Sin-Chai literature [17]. This
prospect made Khon Kaen municipality use Sin-Chai as the
key design strategy in developing their urban policy [18]. For
example, in terms of the urban development policy (2010-12),
Sin-Chai acted as the mascot and identity concepts of the city
around the municipality areas (see pictures in Fig. 5) [1]. This
concept was designed on the (bus) model in the BRT master
plan project. Moreover, the five new transit routes were
named using the name of heroes in the Sin-Chai story; though
these characters are not related to the history of each area (see
Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. These pictures present some of the corporate identity design of the
BRT: (left) BRT routes (names in Thai), (right) the BRT logo with alphabet
„K‟ design and one of the heroes in Sin Chai literature screened on a bus
model.
5
In Thai, Chadok tale explained that Sin-Chai is the King of Pang-Jan
city [2].
834
In fact, the Pang-Jan city and Sin-Chai story are directly
related to the historical geography, site and monuments in the
Nong-Khai province. Around 1200BC, Pang-Jan city was
established by local people in the „Ratanawape district‟
(Nong-Khai province); most people believed that Sin-Chai
used to be the king of this ancient city [2]. However, Khon
Kaen province has no relationship with either story. These
traditional paintings were painted by local artists around Isan
region such as Mahasarakham, Karasin and Roi-Et provinces
[17]. From these inconsistencies with Khon Kaen‟s history, I
believe that Sin-Chai literature has not been strong enough to
represent the city and new BRT identity designs. Local
government used a traditional top-down policy to create the
city image without the citizens‟ participation.
VI. APPLYING CO-DESIGN TO THE DESIGN PROJECT
The critical review of the current background of Khon
Kaen‟s identity design concept, made the authors question
whether the Sin-Chai concept was the best way to contribute
to the local identity design concept. This section presents an
alternative method to inquire about the key human factors
from the stakeholders in Khon Kaen city (knowledge base of
community). The co-design was utilized as the core design
concept in my design process in order to allow stakeholder
participation in the design method.
Billington [19] stated that a co-design concept came from
the American pragmatist tradition. He contended that
grass-roots democracy is based on the rights and freedoms
locals have to participate. Creighton [20] supported the
notion that citizen participation has a broad value to
community life because of 1) engages the public, 2) builds
trust, and 3) makes better decisions for the community.
Sanders and Dandavate [21] and Sanoff [22] stated that in
many cases, using citizen experiences can enhance the
chance of success compares with simply using outside
professionals. This is because citizens are more realistic
regarding the local contexts.
In the early 1970s-1980s, the participatory design (or
cooperative) concept developed in the Scandinavian
computer professional system [23], [24]. This concept
rapidly expanded to other fields such as; interactive,
industrial, information and graphic design areas [25]. Visser
et al. [26] explained that design cannot be separated from
society; everybody uses design as part of their daily lives.
This means a designer has to be responsible to the people in
what and how they design. However, the principles of
participatory design methods, tools and techniques are
dependent on the type of organization, technology, and
number of people involved with the project [27]. Schuler and
Namioka [28] suggested that a participatory design will
require testing existing products or prototype of developed
concepts by users, in order to ensure that those users‟ and
other stakeholders‟ knowledge will be utilized in the design
process, and the design of products will fit their lives.
However, the co-design concept prompted me to think about
which group of people would be involved and dealing with
my design project. The co-design concept also gave me ideas
for selecting methods and research instruments appropriate
for my data collection and analysis. Details are described in
the next topics.
VIII. MIXED-METHODS APPROACH
The research used a mixed-methods approach, with both
quantitative and qualitative methods. Because I dealt with
large and small groups of people in the community, I needed
to combine several approaches, for example: deductive
(quantitative) and inductive (qualitative) processes to
investigate key variables (see the mixed-methods process in
Fig. 8).
VII. THE RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
I used a stakeholder mapping technique to determine the
main strategy for recruiting potential research participants,
and who would be involved with the process of data
collection. This concept further extended my understanding
of the different perspectives, views, relationships and roles of
people in the Khon Kaen community [29]. Stakeholder
mapping is a method commonly used by applying the table of
two variables [30], as seen in Fig. 7. One (left) side of the
square represents the „power/influence‟ level of people in
Khon Kaen city, who are involved with the decision making
in terms of an administration system. Meanwhile, the (top)
side represents the „importance‟ level of people in the city,
who are involved with the outcome of my designs.
Fig. 8. Mixed-method approach for data collection: the methodologies used
are shown and the research instrument within each methodology described.
Fig. 7. This table presents the stakeholder matrix and the positions of my
main sample groups.
The author categorized the main group of participants,
who would be the representatives of Khon Kaen stakeholders,
as follows: 1) local people, 2) experts, and 3) key informants
which consists of two sub-groups (a) local administration
groups and (b) community users/drivers of local
transportation. These groups were placed in different
positions on the stakeholder matrix. The detail of participant
groups is provided in Table I.
TABLE I: THE ARRANGEMENT OF CHANNELS
BOX A: are people, who have high-influence and high-importance
in the community and BRT project. This is the Key Informants
group ‘A’, consists of five heads of local administration;
(1) Mayor/Khon Kaen Municipality, (2) Head Officer/Khon Kaen
Transport Center, (3) Head Officer/Khon Kaen Tourism Center, (4)
Head Officer/City sport and Tourism, (5) Chairman of City Economic
Chamber
BOX B: are people, who have high-importance but low-influence in
the community and the BRT project. It consists of three groups;
Local people (130 people, Male/Female): the group of local people
such as: (1) people with disabilities, (2) elderly persons, (3) students, (4)
workers, (5) business people, (6) high/low incomes people, (7) monks
Key Informants Group B (2 people): (1) a passenger (representative 1
female), (2) a Song-Theal driver (representative 1 male)
Expert groups (3 people): (1) Transport engineering field (1 academic),
(2) Urban design field (1 academic), (3) Isan folk art and Isan culture
fields (1 academic)
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A. Research Tools and Task Description
Questionnaire: I used a „questionnaire‟ as the main
instrument to survey the sample group of target populations.
The questionnaire will be a deductive process. The interview
technique was provided because some groups of participants
may not read, or may have disabilities. I applied descriptive
research methodology as the main approach to design my
questionnaires. At the first phase, I piloted questions, choice
of answer formats and technical devices. In the second phase,
I used „random selection‟ to choose a purposive sample. The
results from the experimental group are not included in the
process of data analysis.
Document Analysis & Theoretical Study: In my theoretical
study, I classified the two main contents about the theory of 1)
urban transportation systems and 2) design theory
(Co-Design, Semiotic thinking, infoDesign, design elements,
typographic design, HCD, etc.). Documentary analysis used
to identify the context of transport, transit behaviour and
culture, and transit structures. It also included development
plans and policy documents, which relate to the context of
transport development in Khon Kaen city.
Participant Observation: I used field-note techniques to
record observed, and apply autoethnography to record the
researcher perspective (designer voice), which I obtain from
reflections in the site work. These processes presented the
transparent relationship between the researcher and my field
work. My recording devices were a digital camera and voice
recorder.
In-depth Interview: I applied a semi-structured format
which included closed (structured) and open-ended
(unstructured) questions. I used unstructured questions to
define the framework of questions, creating a relaxing
atmosphere during the interview process. The sample group
of my in-depth interview include 1) the key informants in
group A and group B, and 2) the expert groups. The snowball
technique may be required if one of the key informants
recommends another person as being helpful.
Focus Group: My focus group process defined the
usability concept as the main theme of discussions.
Sub-themes included; 1) usability, 2) desirability and 3)
functionality [31]. My focus group set up in the form of
discussions and workshops. I used questionnaires, note
discussion ideas, and screened (classify) the group of
participants as part of data collection. I used the overhead
projector for presenting the design works, real-design
prototypes and voice recorders.
evaluation) concept. Feedback in this stage was brought to
adapting the design prototype before creating the final design
of Khon Kaen BRT transit map.
IX. COLLECTING AND ANALYTIC STRATEGIES
A mixture of collection strategies, between sequential and
parallel systems, was required during the process of data
collection [32], which was divided into three steps (see
diagram in Appendix A). Significant findings related to a
main (BRT map) design concept are presented in each stage
of data collection. The key findings were argued and
contributed to ideas for designing my transit map prototype
in the next section.
Stage 1: Data collection began using content analysis to
review research documents (e.g. city, transport, policy, and
culture contexts). Theoretical studies were also included in
this process (e.g. information design, human-centred design,
usability design, design elements and semiotics).
Analysis: I used content analysis to classify the type of
information based on inference techniques made by
systematically and objectively identifying specified
characteristics of my research framework [33]. In terms of
systematic analysis, I defined the information content as two
main categories consisting of 1) document analysis and 2)
theoretical study. In the document analysis, I regarded the
main research questions [34], in order to classify key themes,
terminology, and previous studies before reviewing key
literature. Document sources included websites, newspapers,
policy, textbooks and journals. Much of the content analysis
in this part was conducted using inductive rather than
deductive (objective) processes. In the theoretical study, I
applied the same criterion used in the document analysis.
Nevertheless, I analysed the context of my natural research
framework, in order to understand the key related theory.
Multiple data sources and collecting techniques were used in
order to strengthen reliability, as well as internal validity, for
data interpretation [35]. Appendix B presents a schematic
draft of my content analysis process.
Stage 2: Parallel data collection using qualitative and
quantitative approaches were applied in field work. This
consisted of survey questionnaires (step1-prior study with 50
people, and step2- with 130 local people); observation and
in-depth interview with the key informant group “A” (local
administration groups) and group “B” (community
users/drivers of local transportation).
Analysis: Key variables from the sampling were
triangulated to credibility and internal validity. These key
variables were classified to a different domain 6 , which
depended on the nature and relation of each variable. Each
domain was analysed and confirmed to ensure the final
inductive inferences (the human factors) of this stage
reflected the multiple realities of community relationship.
Finally, these human factors were combined with the
secondary data, and create the key conceptual design for the
second phase (see Appendix C for the analysis diagram).
These key design concepts were organised and transformed
to graphical material by applying design theories (e.g.
B. Research (Design) Methods
The stages of my research method, including techniques of
data collection and analysis, are presented in Fig. 9.
Fig. 9. These diagrams present the two major processes and elements of my
research method.
This figure shows the relationship between the methods,
techniques and steps of my research operation. The top side
explains the first stage of the design method before designing
the first prototype. The bottom side describes the second
stage that is concerned with the usability test (design
6
Consisted of 1) local culture perspectives, 2) transit behaviours, and 3)
transportation needs.
836
information design, design elements, colours theory, grids
system, and typographic design).
Stage 3: The qualitative approach employed a focus group
as the main instrument to collect ideas from evaluation
workshops (using questionnaires) and group discussions with
24 local (sample groups). The purpose of the focus group was
to share ideas between participants. The group consisted of
students, university students, adults, elders, and disabled,
with equal gender split of male and female, in order to
evaluate the usability of my design prototypes. The
evaluation theme in the questionnaire covered eight sections;
1) BRT logo, 2) graphic routes, 3) graphic for fare-rate and
timetable systems, 4) route-symbols information, 5) key
legends, 6) service information table, 7) index symbols and 8)
overall design materials on the map. Each section consisted
of three criteria for evaluating; 1) comprehension and
communication efficiency with the graphic materials, 2)
visible efficiency, and 3) the attractiveness of design
materials.
Analysis: I used triangulation analysis with factors such as
gender, age, education and income of my participants, and
collection techniques (interview/questionnaire and focus
group/discussion). The concurrent triangulation strategy was
applied to the data to compare the quantitative results with
the qualitative findings. I used descriptive statistics to detect
the frequency score values in each usability test variable
within the 8 sections of the questionnaire (including the
demographic section) to identify the central tendency score.
These scores were presented as the typical value of number,
percentage, mean (minimum and maximum) and standard
deviation (SD). Recorded interviews were transcribed before
unitising and categorising the raw data. This analysis process
revealed a key recommendation, confirmed and supported
with a statistical result.
These average7 results were indicated in the form of the
typical value of number, percentage, mean (minimum
/maximum) and standard deviation. Key recommendations
from participants were combined with statistic results and
summarised 8 . Results from the concurrent triangulation
provided significant feedback (human factors) to adapt the
graphic material on my design prototype and produce the
final design. Appendix E presents the analysis diagram of the
last stage in my analytical process.
X. KEY FINDINGS AND DESIGN OUTCOMES
A. The Results from Stage 1
Key finding 1: from the documentary analysis I found the
urban development policy about Sin-Chai literature was not
consistent with the historical site, geography and calendar of
Khon Kaen province.
B. The Results from Stage 2
Key finding 2: from the in-depth interview with the key
informants group A (5 interviewees), 2 people associated the
7
These averages were the indicator validating each design (material)
section on the complete map design as meeting the user requirements.
8
These keys were a comparison test to check alternative design solutions;
ideas that came from the users (and users) needs.
837
emblem of Khon Kaen city with Sin-Chai. Other emblems
such as the sticky rice bucket, city gate, and Khon Kaen Lake
received support from 1 person each. With regard to „local‟
culture, 3 participants thought the Sin-Chai mural painting
was the key representation of local culture.
Key finding 3: the in-depth interview with key informant
group B, revealed that „Khane‟ was the emblem of the Khon
Kaen city. Additionally, they said the tradition of Isan textiles
was the prominent point of local culture that they wanted
presented to a visitor.
Key finding 4: the suggestion from the expert group using
in-depth interview techniques found that the emblem of each
city was dependant on the slogan of each province. Most of
the emblems are articulated with a local way of life and
related to the Buddha life and stories.
Key finding 5: using frequency analysis, the results of the
questionnaire by 130 respondents revealed that for question
E1-4, 68.9% of local people answered that „Khane‟ was the
key emblem of the city. Meanwhile, for the question E1-3,
68.9% selected Isan textile (Par-Mai) as the prominent point
of local culture that should be presented to a visitor.
C. Argument 1
The triangulation of methods and sources from the key
findings no. 1 - no. 5; can be synthesised as three main factors.
Factor 1: Khon Kaen city does not have relevance to any
historical site, geography and calendar of Sin-Chai history.
Factor 2: most of local administrators preferred to set up
Sin-Chai as the emblem of the city. Factor 3: local people
have strongly contrasting ideas about the emblem and
prominent points of local culture compared with the local
administrator group. These factors confirmed that the
„Sin-Chai‟ concept has not received local recognition. The
emblem and prominent point of Khon Kaen culture arose
from traditional practices and folk wisdom as present in Fig.
1.
D. Deign outcomes (Design Prototype)
I transformed the knowledge base of local people, experts
and the needs of local administrators to my design prototype
(see examples in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11). Fig. 10 presents the
design of BRT logo, based on the concept of „Khane‟ and the
new 5 routes of the BRT system. The colours on the logo
reflect the arrangement of the route construction beginning
with the red route and ending with the yellow route. I also
addressed the needs of the local administrators by applying
the Sin-Chai mural painting style to the map (in fare rates
information). The pictographic of people was created based
on a local artist style. Fig. 11 shows the design concept as
applied to a basic pattern of traditional local-textiles (Par-Mai)
to create the original graphic style for the Khon Kaen BRT
map. The designing of Isan textile consisted of two pattern
lines (the major and sub lines pattern). I found the logical link
between Isan-textile design and the Khon Kaen UTS context.
I applied this traditional knowledge to defining the concept of
my transit map prototype. I substituted the BRT as the major
pattern; because, the BRT will be the major transit system of
the city. Meanwhile, the Mini-bus system was represented as
the sub patterns; because, this mode will become the
supporter of the BRT system.
TABLE II: OVERVIEW OF DESIGN SCORES EVALUATED BY PARTICIPANTS IN
THE FOCUS GROUP AND WORKSHOP DISCUSSION
Section
N
min
max
mean
1. Sum design scores of BRT
logo
2. Sum design score of graphic
design
3. Sum design scores of graphic
fare-rate and timetable
4. Sum design scores of
route-symbols information
5. Sum design scores of key
legends
6. Sum design scores of service
information tables
7. Sum design scores of index
symbol designs
8. Sum design scores of overall
design martrials
Sum design scores
Valid N (listwise)
24
2.66
4
3.58
24
3.10
4
3.68
24
2.88
3.88
3.60
24
3.15
4
3.64
24
3.28
3.96
3.78
24
3.16
4
3.65
24
2.85
3.96
3.70
24
3.33
4
3.82
24
24
3.22
3.91
3.72
Fig. 10. These graphic present the outcome of design prototype: (top) some
of the pictographic design on the fare rate system and (bottom) the logo.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 11. These graphic present the experimental design concepts from a local
textile concept to create the original design with graphic route on the map.
E. The Results from Stage 3
Key finding 6: results of descriptive analysis of the design
scores of three criteria within the eight sections ranged from
3.7 points to 4 point (or 92.5% from 100%) of “well
designed” recognition. The sum of evaluating design scores
are showed in Table II.
(d)
Fig. 12. These graphic some part of my adapted results: an idea came from
the participant feedback and the usability test results from the focus group.
838
F. Argument 2
Since 1970, the ISO defined the developing
comprehension in public information design symbols under
the code ISO7001 [36]. They suggested the testing level of
public communication success should meet a figure of 67%
comprehension of the control group with the symbol system.
Hence, it can be stated that the sum design scores of this
transit map have achieved the ISO7001 regulation. Table I
represents the recognition of sample groups with my design
prototype. The low point figures in the table section 1(2.66),
3(2.88) and 7(2.85) raised me awareness regarding which
parts were unclear with graphical materials.
G. Design Outcome (Final Design)
In Section I, the adapting point was the typeface of ‘BRT’
on the logo. I applied a Thai alphabet to create a typographic
character that looked like the English ‘BRT’ alphabet;
however half the participants had difficulty with the spelling.
At this point we cleared the typeface of the English alphabet
and replaced the old font (see picture (a) in Fig. 12). In
Section III we used of the word ‘Concession’ in Thai
language “Sum-Pa-Tan” groups was found to be unclear for
communication (in section of fare rates system). In particular
the words to be replaced were “Dek-Ran-Kon-Cha-Ra”
(students and elders) (see (b) in Fig. 12). In part of the time
Table I adapted the timing icon (sun and moon) and colors to
create fast recognition (see pictures (c) in Fig. 12). In Section
VII I added more key visuals and details on the part of index
symbols based on a participant comment (see picture (d) in
Fig. 12). The Final design presents in appendix D.
Fig. 13. These graphic some part of my adapted results: an idea came from
the participant feedback and the usability test results from the focus group.
However, the top-down policy may work for other
administrative proposes; this policy may distort the actual
cultural values and the spirit of community folk wisdom. The
key-findings confirmed the wrong direction of current urban
image development policy in that the Sin-Chai concept is still
far away from local minds. However, the co-design approach
can be utilized to create collaborations between local
stakeholders with the designer, and also empower people
within the community to take ownership of design.
XII. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION
XI. CONCLUSIONS
Ethical approval was granted by the Auckland University
of Technology Ethics Committee (AUTEC) and employed to
guide my field work study. Information sheets were provided
to participants in hard-copy and were communicated verbally
for those who were illiterate. Consent forms were given to all
interviewees to grant permission for their participation. Any
transcribed material and data analysis was returned to
participants involved with in-depth interviews. All
participant names and contact details were made anonymous
to protect their right to privacy.
This article has presented the body of knowledge with the
participatory design in a community, map design, design
methods, and the origin of design contribution. It has also
considered using a democratic response, to local
administration, to create a symbol of city identity. I believe
that visual identity is not just about how the city looks; it is
about how people look at your city. The design also presents
the community response with respect to community
ownership using local perspectives. Fig. 13, I propose the
contribution of collaboration model for designing Khon Kaen
urban transport map system. The model presents the
participatory concept between the three major groups of
stakeholder within the community. They can be able to share
their individual perspectives, which come out in form of
human factor needs (variables). A professional (or designers)
is the person or team who integrate the needs of stakeholder
basing on applying the principle of information design; in
order to transform these needs (data) to a visual material.
They also organize the evaluation process by using the
usability test concept. This test is the usability guidance of
ISO 9241-11, which ISO created to evaluate design products
basing on the achievement area of effectiveness, efficiency
and satisfaction in a specified context of use [31]. Moreover,
a feedback from this evaluation can be able to enhance the
learnability, memorability, and visual literacy of users, and
also decrease the design errors [37].
APPENDIX
839
Appendix A. The example of typological analysis process in my content analysis method
Appendix B. The relationship between the processes of data collection (left) and (right) data analysis strategies
840
Appendix C. The outline diagram of my analytical data in the stage 2
Appendix D. The final design after adapting the details from stakeholder feedbacks (see more detail in: http://visual.ly/khon-kaen-brt-map)
841
Appendix E. This diagram outlines of triangulation analysis in the focus group/workshop processes; in order to investigate usability test results and gather a
feedback from the stakeholders, before created the final design
Appendix F. These pictures present the focus group and workshop; during the process of usability test
[5]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This practical base research has been supported and
funded by the Mahasarakham University (MSU) and
Auckland University of Technology (AUT). I would like to
thank the New Media department who provided the design
equipment and laboratory. The author appreciated with my
supervisors, participants and Khon Kaen state agencies who
gave me with warm welcome, suggestion and participation,
during the data collection process. Finally, this project would
not have been possible without these people and
organizations as above.
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
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R. Thienmongkol was born in Khon Kaen city,
Thailand. The city is in the Northeastern part of
Thailand as we called “Isan region”. In 2005, he
earned the bachelor of fine and applied arts (BFA) in
communication design from Bangkok University,
Thailand. Then in 2007, he finished his master degree
in marketing management from Central Queensland
University (CQU), Australia. In 2014, he obtained his
PhD (Communication Design) from Auckland
University of Technology (AUT), New Zealand.
At present, his is a lecturer and researcher with academic experience in
the areas of; “Graphic Design” for a new media technology and creative
industry. He is teaching under/postgraduate courses at the Department of
New Media, Faculty of Informatics, MSU Thailand. The field of his research
is majoring in graphic design, information architecture, HCD & UCD,
Co-design, participatory design, experimental design, human factors, multi
& creative medias and motion graphic. His design experiences involve with a
creative design industry in across countries such Thailand, Australia and
New Zealand. His areas deal with, i.e. graphic design, information design,
design research/consultant, design branding/marketing research, consumer
behavior, corporate design, typography, packaging design, exhibition
design, and a guest design lecturer in the higher education.
Perceptual Reasoning and Moral Competency as
Predictors of Extraversion － A Preliminary Finding
Mohd Nasir Che Mohd Yusoff and Nazirah Hanim Sharipudin

personality [8].
Previous studies have suggested the significant connection
between personality trait and morality, for example [9].
Related to this, [10] suggested that personality trait such as
extroversion and neuroticism (considered as non-cognitive
properties) is important in moral thinking. In [11],
personality traits such achievement via independence,
intellectual efficiency, tolerance, responsibility, and capacity
for status (as measured by California Psychological
Inventory) indicated enough coefficient to link with
respondents‟ moral scores. In one study that was done among
undergraduate university students, moral measure and its
combination with personality variables, predicted „return
behavior‟ (return behavior was defined from informal
contractual obligation in which students received course
credit for completing three inventories, the third of which,
due to lack of time, had to be completed at home and returned
by mail. This time commitment was intentionally shortened
to set up a moral situation) [12]. Another study showed that
the personality of moral exemplars was oriented towards
conscientiousness and agreeableness [13]. Agreeableness
also characterized young adult moral exemplars [14].
From the above evidences, this study is undertaken based
on the rationale that the personality construct in young adult
should be determined from their moral competency as the
issue of morality is very crucial in the life of young adult.
Meanwhile, cognitive abilities (that is perceptual reasoning)
is a mental processes that underlie many human functioning
including learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision
making. Thus, it reflects human‟s behavior especially
personality which characterizing the patterns of thoughts,
feelings and behaviors.
Thus, with regards to this rationale, this study was carried
out to find out how much these parameters (which are moral
competency and perceptual reasoning) explain extraversion
trait of personality among medical students. It is to highlight
here that, it is unclear about the role of morality and
intelligence in the development of human‟s personality. In
other words, how much this set of parameter may influence
the magnitude of psycho-personality among young adults? In
addition, it is unclear whether the interconnection between all
these parameters may indicate the nature of extraversion trait
of personality. By knowing how the connection between
personality (that is extraversion), moral competency and
intelligence (that is perceptual reasoning), it will elucidate
our understandings on the nature of the connection that
shapes a person‟s cognition and their personality. The
various types of personality are believed to inherently include
a cognitive component in their construct, thus suggesting the
contribution of morality and intelligence in this construct. By
targeting on medical undergraduates who have considerable
Abstract—Combination factors of perceptual reasoning and
moral competency may contribute to the significant variance in
explaining the extraversion trait of personality. This paper
determines selected factors (i.e. perceptual reasoning and moral
competency) that potentially predict the extraversion. The
self-administered of Universiti Sains Malaysia Personality
Inventory (USMaP-i) and the Moral Competency Inventory
(MCI) were distributed to 33 undergraduate medical students
studying at Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Upon
completion of the questionnaires, a quick simple intelligence
test i.e. Perceptual Reasoning Test from the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale-Fourth edition, was performed. Moral
competency explained 13% of the variance of the extraversion.
Meanwhile, perceptual reasoning did not indicate any
significant prediction towards extraversion. The element of
morality is important to determine extraversion, rather than
intelligence. However, this finding should be accepted with
cautious due to the preliminary analysis and sample size
limitation
Index Terms—Extraversion, moral competency, perceptual
reasoning, personality
I. INTRODUCTION
Personality and intellectuality is suggested to have a
significant connection [1], [2]. Specifically, intelligence
measures were observed to associate with stability (rather
than neuroticism), extraversion (rather than introversion) and
low psychoticism. In one study that has been done among
university students, those scored higher conscientiousness
trait tended to score lower in intelligence tests. Also, those
scored higher for openness trait tended to give higher score
for intelligence [3]. This is supported by others [4] who listed
personality traits such as neuroticism, extraversion,
agreeableness and openness to experience that influenced
self-estimation of intelligence. Another evident comes from
one large sample size study (N=4859) which indicated that
intelligence was predicted by the personality trait such as
conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism [5].
However, the link between intelligence and personality traits
is somewhat controversial. For example, personality traits
such as conscientiousness was reported to have no
correlation with intelligence [6], [7]. In addition, most
theorists have not considered intelligence to be part of
personality, instead asserting that intelligence is unrelated to
Manuscript received May 29, 2014; July 30, 2014. This work was
supported by the Universiti Sains Malaysia Short Term Research Funding
(Grant Number: 304/PPSP/61312101).
The authors are with the Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical
Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian,
Kelantan,
Malaysia
(e-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.567
844
indicates good psychometric properties and valid to be used
for personality measure [16]-[17]. Twelve items were used to
measure extraversion, out of 66 items. These items are 2, 7,
10, 12, 18, 25, 27, 32, 36, 55, 57 and 62.
marked level of education and IQ, this confounding factor
should be minimized therefore enable more accurate
assessment on the influence of parameters of the interest.
Again, personality which characterizing people‟s patterns of
thoughts, feelings and behaviours, is reflected by their
cognitive abilities, and thus, depicts the pattern of behaviour.
Therefore, this study stands up to reach the consensus about
how much these two important parameters (which are
perceptual reasoning and moral competency) are responsible
or explaining the dependent variable which is extravert trait
of personality.
Again, we highlight important points that initiate this study
to be implemented. First, (1) personality is a construct of
social cognition, that growing from the intelligence
capability and the element of psychosocial development
(morale), and thus (2) social cognition is part of the mental
processes that underlie many human functioning including
learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making,
which reflecting human‟s behavior especially personality,
which characterizing the patterns of thoughts, feelings and
behaviors.
In addition to the above justification, weakness in term of
the inconsistency of the linkages between personality traits
and intelligence; and personality traits and morality has been
detected. This weakness leads to the missing of the
combination of intelligence and morality as factor predictive
of personality. Thus, this study is postulating the hypothesis
as follows:
Perceptual reasoning and moral competency are factors
predictive of extraversion trait of personality.
2) Moral competency
The Moral Competency Inventory (MCI) was used to
measure moral competency [18]. It is a five point Likert scale,
ranging from 1 to 5 (i.e. 1 = Never; 2 = Infrequently; 3 =
Sometimes; 4 = In most situations; and 5 = In all situations).
Ten areas of moral competency were focused by this scale: 1)
acting consistently with principles, values and, beliefs; 2)
telling the truth; 3) standing up for what is right; 4) keeping
promises; 5) taking responsibility for personal choices; 6)
admitting mistakes and failures; 7) embracing responsibility
for serving others; 8) actively caring about others; 9) ability
to let go of one‟s own mistakes; 10) ability to let go of others‟
mistakes. Level of „integrity‟ is indicated by the first four of
the competencies. Meanwhile, competencies five through
seven represent „responsibility‟. „Compassion‟ is captured in
competency number eight. The two end of the competencies
in the MCI claim to measure „forgiveness‟. An acceptable
validity has been reported elsewhere [19]. In previous study,
the internal consistencies of the 10 competencies varied from
0.65 to 0.84 [19].
3) Perceptual reasoning index
The Perceptual Reasoning Index from the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale-Fourth edition (WAIS-IV) [20] was
utilized to measure perceptual reasoning. The WAIS-IV is
the fourth edition from the series of the well-known WAIS
test (introduced by David Wechsler in 1955) to measure the
intelligence through administration of numerous related
cognitive task [21]. The subtest of Perceptual Reasoning
Index (PRI) consists of the series of tests such as Block
Design (BD), Matrix Reasoning (MR) and Visual Puzzles
(VP) with the supplementary test such as Figure Weights
(FW) and Picture Completion (PCm). The BD measures
non-verbal reasoning; visual perception and organization;
and visual-motor coordination. Meanwhile, the MR measures
fluid intelligence, visuospatial ability, simultaneous
processing, and perceptual organization. Perceptual
reasoning, visuospatial ability, analysis and synthesis, and
simultaneous processing are the specific areas covered by the
VP. For the FW, it measures fluid reasoning, which is
different from the PCm which focus on visual perception,
perceptual organization, and attention to visual detail.
Combination of these three core subtest (i.e. BD + MR + VP)
will provide the level of PRI for tested subjects.
Each subtest has different types of intelligence measure,
which could be accumulated to perform the level of
perceptual reasoning index (PRI) of intelligence. The timing
for timed-subtests is very important and need to be precised
as extra time will results in zero marks. The scores for both
BD and VP depend on the time allocated for each questions
while MR depends on the correct answer. The raw score
accumulated from these three core subtests made up a total
composite score of PRI.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Subject
Data was collected and analyzed from undergraduate
medical students from School of Medical Sciences (PPSP),
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). This data is part of the
research that is still in progress, sponsored by Universiti
Sains Malaysia short term research grant. Respondents were
selected based on inclusion criteria, these were (1)
Undergraduate medical students who were pursuing medical
degree at PPSP, Health Campus, USM; (2) Year one until
year five with aged ranged from 18 to 24 years old, (3)
Regardless of gender and ethnicity (Malay, Chinese, Indian,
others). However, those who have significant chronic
psychiatric condition such as depression or taking any
psychiatric medication, were excluded from this study.
B. Measures
1) Extraversion
The Extraversion Subscale of the Universiti Sains
Malaysia Personality Inventory (USMaP-i) was used to
measure extravert trait of personality [15]. The full version of
the scale consists 66 items with 0 to 4 rating scales
(1=Moderately Inaccurate, 2=Neither Inaccurate nor
Accurate, 3=Moderately accurate). This full version of USM
Personality Inventory (USMaP-i) covers five main areas of
personality - neuroticism, extraversion, openness to
experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. It
C. Procedure
Prior to the participation in the study, respondents were
845
explained thoroughly of the objective of the study and were
asked to give their signature for the consent form upon the
agreement to participate in the study. Participants could
forfeit at any time on their own choice as the participation is
voluntary. Recruitment of the respondents was implemented
by using purposive sampling, based on the inclusion and
exclusion criteria of the study (see the section of subject).
Cognitive test for perceptual reasoning was held at the
Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
At the same, the standardized questionnaires were distributed
prior to the test. The instruction and items of the
questionnaires could be understood easily and respondents
took about 10-15 minutes to complete each questionnaire.
Meanwhile, for the perceptual reasoning test, the test was
facilitated by the researcher and clinical psychologist.
Respondents were first explained on how the task will be
carried out before running the test. Some subtests were timed,
thus, respondents needed to perform the task within the time
limit with guidance from the researcher. In this study, only
three main tests were implemented. These were the Block
Design, Matrix Reasoning and Visual Puzzles, to perform the
level of perceptual reasoning intelligence of the tested
respondents. Ethical approval has been obtained from the
Human Research Ethics Committee of Universiti Sains
Malaysia.
III. RESULTS
Majority of the respondents who participated in this study
was Malay (76%, N=25), followed by Chinese (12%, N=4),
Indian (9%, N=3) and others (3%, N=1). More than half of
the respondents were female (N=23, 70%) than male (N=10,
30%) (Table I). Mean age of the respondents were 21 (±1.5)
years old.
TABLE I: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC OF THE RESPONDENTS
Percentage
Number of Respondent
(N=33)
Gender
Male
Female
10
23
70%
30%
Ethnicity
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Others
25
4
3
1
76%
12%
9%
3%
Mean of extravert trait among these students is 30.5 (±7.2).
Meanwhile the mean of moral competency is 158.1 (±14.5)
with perceptual reasoning 105.3 (±10.9) (Table II).
TABLE II: MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION OF THE EXTRAVERT TRAIT,
MORAL COMPETENCY AND PERCEPTUAL REASONING
Variable
Sample Size
Mean
Standard Deviation
Extravert Trait
33
30.5
±7.2
Moral Competency
31
158.1
±14.5
Perceptual
33
105.3
±10.9
Reasoning
Note: Two respondents did not answer the moral competency inventory in
complete, therefore they were not included in the analysis.
The proposed hypothesis which stated that perceptual
reasoning and moral competencies are the factors predictive
846
of extraversion trait of personality among the medical
students is not fully supported. The stepwise regression
analysis indicated that only the moral competencies predicted
extraversion (that is, 13% of the variance of the extraversion
trait among these medical students was explained by the
moral competency) (Unstandardized Coefficients, B=0.17;
p=0.048). Meanwhile, the perceptual reasoning was not
revealed as factor predictive of the extraversion (Table III).
TABLE III: STEPWISE MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE
EXTRAVERT TRAIT OF PERSONALITY: MORAL COMPETENCY AND
PERCEPTUAL REASONING AS PREDICTORS
Predictors:
B SE p Value
Moral Competency
Perceptual Reasoning [Excluded]
0.17 0.08 0.048*
R Square : 0.13
F Statistic : F (1, 29) = 4.23
B: Unstandardized coefficient.
SE: Standard error.
*p<0.05
IV. DISCUSSION
The element of morality in personality-developmental
approach presents a wider theoretical framework of this
research. This study reflects the important theoretical
argument in determination of the element of morality in one‟s
personality trait. Although the strength of the connection is
not very high, this findings have some important implications
for the theory and practice related to psycho-personality
education, which emphasizing the moral thinking and
judgement. When looking back at some important research in
psycho-personality from 80‟s to early 2000, there is not
sufficient documentation with regards to the association
between personality traits and moral reasoning [11], [22].
However, [22] detected some degree of coefficient between
personality factor (i.e achievement via independent) and
moral reasoning. Even though moral-cognitivistic approach
may not provide a comprehensive elucidation of the moral
judgement processes; and in general does not indicate strong
relation between personality and moral reasoning, [10]
argued
that
the
non-cognitive
component
of
psycho-personality (such as empathy, extroversion and
neuroticism) are imperative in the development of
conventional forms of moral thinking which related to
interpersonal accord and conformity in social norms and
authority and social-order maintaining orientation in law and
order
morality.
Thus,
some
characteristics
in
psycho-personality were detected to tie with the level of
morality - those who preferred principled moral reasoning in
making moral decisions were seen as dependable, creative,
intelligent, and flexible in thought and action [22]. The
present finding shadows [22] who pointed several important
facts related to personality and morality as follows: (a)
Young adults indicated important attribute to principled level
of moral judgement that was related significantly to the
measures of social poise and extroversion. (b) the
„person-oriented‟ (such as value group activities, meetings,
moral-building opportunities and discussions to solve
specify general intelligence (g) as the highest node and it is
broken down into other specific abilities [30-31]. With this
regard, previous studies concerned on the validity of using
general intelligence rather than narrow cognitive abilities in
predicting important life outcomes [32-33]. Thus, it is
suggested that the interpretation of the role of intelligence in
explaining personality should be considered cautiously due
to its complexity. If we follow the hierarchical level of
intelligence level (g) by [34], the below level was defined as
„between fluid and crystallized intelligence‟. Crystallized
intelligence is considered as verbal and fluid intelligence is
considered as non-verbal. As mentioned by [34], fluid ability
is less dependent on the experience and knowledge while
crystallized knowledge is based on education and experience.
In addition, using these two categories, the categories could
be expanded into more minor five, six or seven order groups.
For example, [35] proposed that intelligence have seven
factors: Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, musical,
Bodily kinesthetic, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal; which is
different from Ackerman‟s theory despite having the same
amount of seven second order factors: Fluid intelligence,
Visual perception, Perceptual speed, Learning and memory,
Knowledge and achievement, Ideational fluency, and
Crystallized intelligence [36]. Hence, it is highlighted here
that, researchers usually refer to the intelligence theory based
on the type of instruments used to measure intelligence.
Numerous studies that aim to assess the level of intelligence
should consider several confounders. Each person has their
own dominance in what classes or types of intelligence,
influenced by many factors such as genetics, age, schooling
background, environment and even personality [37].
problems and make plans) points to the high preference for
principled levels of moral judgment. (3) The criteria for
morality appear to be dependent on intellectual resources and
resourcefulness. It is suggested that the component of
morality is critical in developing materials for
psycho-personality education.
As a direction for the future research, it is important to
look into the morality and personality from the framework of
cultural neuroscience (CN). This framework will help us to
understand the influence of culture‟s elements such as values,
practices, and beliefs in the developing of one‟s morale and
personality. Uniquely, the construction of a CN framework
relies on theories from various disciplines such as
anthropology, psychology, and genetics. In a recent study,
CN was framed in multiple time scales (situation, ontogeny,
and phylogeny) in order to explain how the diversity of the
cultural values and genetic factors contour the complexity of
the human mind and behavior [23]. Similar to the previous
contribution in CN, It is stated that cultural capacities and
their transmission that arose from complex human mental
and neurobiological processes were critically determined
from bidirectional indicators (culture and gene) across two
timescales: macro and micro timescales [24]. With this
regard, the macro timescale determines phylogeny and
lifespan, whereas the micro timescale determines the
situation. In this regard [25], “culture” is viewed as a set of
traits that is inflexible and has specificities. In other words,
the variation of population culture can be manifested in
neural activation patterns, which highlight the fundamental
value in the development of racial identity and ideology [26],
especially in the multiethnicity population like Malaysia.
A cultural approach, through interdisciplinary educational
infrastructure and research may provide a better
understanding of health disparity and merging the health
quality across diverse cultural populations [24], [27-28], as
well as reflects crucial implication in health disparities and
public policy development [23]. Within this culture
framework, the trait of “individualism-collectivism” in
cultural dimensions that modulate the psychological neural
basis can be highlighted [23] to explain the interaction
between
personality
and
morality
in
one‟s
psycho-physiology development. However, bringing culture
into the moral and personality research mainstream is not an
easy task. The main challenge is to empower the educational
medium that has capability to provide a comprehensive and
culturally sensitive framework to educate the future
generation. This objective could be achieved by improving
the research infrastructure, increasing research capacity, and
establishing appropriate ethical standards.
Perceptual reasoning index which reflects one‟s ability to
think abstractly [29] and implies many meanings such as
learning, planning, comprehending, imagination, making
decisions, perception, and so on, did not predict extraversion.
It has to be understood that intelligence is not restricted to
only academic‟s score and the ability to answer problems, but
more of how a person is able to make use of their
surroundings to their benefits with their intellect which
differs for every person. Although there are several
competing hierarchical theories regarding intelligence
especially perceptual reasoning specifically, most theories
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Author thanks Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian,
Kelantan, Malaysia for the financial support and research
facilities.
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Mohd Nasir Che Mohd Yusoff was born in Selangor,
Malaysia on October 23, 1975. First degree which was
the bachelor of science, specialization in social health
was obtained from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang,
Selangor, Malaysia in 1998. Master of science was
obtained from the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang
Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia in 2002, with
specialization in medical science. University of
Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia awarded the degree of doctor of
philosophy with specialization in health psychology in 2009 to Dr. Mohd
Nasir Che Mohd Yusoff.
He is currently working as a senior lecturer at Department of
Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti
Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.
Currently Dr. Yusoff is actively participating in Neuroscience Club
Association for Kelantan Malaysia Chapter. This association is headed by
the United State of America Neuroscience Club. Under this association,
many activities have been implemented at society level by the financial
support provided by the club.
Nazirah Hanim Sharipudin was born in Kota Bharu,
Malaysia on November 3, 1990. Her first degree which
is the bachelor of biomedical engineering was obtained
from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor
in 2012.
She is currently studying master of neuroscience at
Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical
Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.
Currently Miss Sharipudin is actively participating in Neuroscience Club
Association for Kelantan Malaysia Chapter. This association is headed by
the United State of America Neuroscience Club. Under this association,
many activities have been implemented at society level by the financial
support provided by the club.
848
An Assessment of “Zawarawa” Mass Marriage
Programme, in Kano State, Nigeria
Rohana Yusof and Amina Lawal Mashi

Divorce rate is also very high in sub-Saharan Africa. For
example a BBC network African programme in collaboration
with the Kano state, social re-orientation board, aired on
March 2011, gave a gloomy picture about collapsed
marriages or divorce rates in Kano state. “It was reported
from the research conducted that 32% of marriages in Kano
state survives only a period of three to six months; that many
young women divorced of age 20-25years are said to have
gone through three marriages at least; that there are more
divorce than weddings in Kano every week; that it is not
uncommon to come across young women who are less than
30years of age who have not been serially divorced etc”.
Furthermore, as at 2009 it was estimated that there were over
one million zawarawa (i.e. menless women) in Kano state.
This prompted Hajiya Altine Abdullahi, an executive
Director, National association of divorcees/widows and
orphans to threaten a protest march [7].
Various explanations about the increase in the rate of
divorce have been provided: that the nuclear family suffers
from an emotional overload, which increases the level of
conflict between its members; that incompatibilities which
were tolerated are now seen as intolerable; and the absence of
love, once seen as unfortunate but bearable, is now taken as
indicative of the retrievable breakdown of marriage; and that
marriage is increasingly viewed as a „relationship rather than
a contract‟. By getting married, people do not see themselves
as entering, a binding, lifelong contract; rather they are
hoping to establish a personally satisfying relationship: “love,
personal commitment and intrinsic satisfaction are now seen
as the cornerstones of marriage. The absence of these
emotions and feelings is itself justification for ending the
relationship” [8].
The effects of divorces on the family are many: The major
one being its economic and material effects, as most affected
women faces a lot of economic hardships, long-term effects
on family roles and the feelings of family members (for
example the affected family experienced diminished capacity
for parenting after divorce and what sociologist called the
“silver lining effect to the dark cloud of divorce) [9].
These are certainly very disturbing revelations, which
should attract the attention of any serious minded
government and other concerned members of the society.
Various attempts towards tackling the menace of failed
marriages in the state such as preaching by religious scholars,
counselling by parents and efforts of match fixers (who
roamed the streets of Kano with photo-graphs of “menless”
women) seems to achieve very little success in reducing, let
alone eliminate the menace of failed marriages. However,
Kano state government under in collaboration with Hisbah
Board seems to have found a solution to the problem through
the comprehensive social programme tagged “zawarawa
Abstract—The study is to access the Kano state government
social programme of reducing “Zawarawa” (menless women
divorcees, widows etc). The aims of the study is to evaluate the
Zawarawa mass marriage programme, to identify factors
responsible for high marriage breakdowns, to identify the
effects of failed marriages on its victims as well as to
recommend measures on how to reduce the incidences of
marriage breakdowns in Kano State. Six officials of the Kano
state Hisbah Board and 200 beneficiary women were served
with questionnaires administered in English and Hausa
Languages respectively. The results shows that mass marriage
programme have been accepted by majority of the target
population, that there is high success rate, and it has reduced
level of poverty amongst the beneficiary women. The study
recommends the expansion of the Mass Marriage Programme
to other states of Nigeria and countries with similar social
problems.
Index Terms—“Menless”
marriage project, spinsters.
women,
“zawarawa”,
mass
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
There is no consensus about the definition of family by
scholars [1]. However family has been defined as a „group of
two or more people related by birth, marriage or adoption and
residing together, all such people are considered as members
of the family [2]. The family is a central institution in all
human societies, although it may take many different forms
[3]. Similarly, family is still regarded as an important source
of help and support and that family contacts are still
maintained even though family members tends to leave
further apart [4]. Marriage on the other hand has been
defined as a union between man and a woman [5]. Marriage
is an important social institution which promotes procreation,
peace and a disciplined society free from all kinds of
indecencies and vices. There are basically two types of
marriage: Monogamy; this refers to a marriage of two
individuals, while Polygamy, refers to a marriage where a
man or a women have more than one spouse [6]. However,
despite its religious and social significance marriage as an
institution is today facing serious problems. One of these
challenges is the alarming rate of “menless” women existing
in our society who are divorced from their previous
marriages or have ever not been married (Spinsters).
Rohana Yusof is with the Northern Corridor Research Centre, Universiti
Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia (e-mail: [email protected]).
Amina Lawal Mashi is with the Sociology Department, Umaru Musa
Yaradua University, Katsina, Nigeria (e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.568
849
mass marriage programme”. So far within a period of two
years a total of 350 “menless” women have been married off
and rehabilitated through financial and material support
rendered to the couples to enable them engage in meaningful
trade to support their families.
The Hisbah Board is one of the Kano state governments
parastatal/agency established for the purpose of
implementing some social Programs. Its mandates include:
collaboration with the police to enhance security and crime
prevention, moral counselling, traffic control, reconciliation
services and the reduction of “zawarawa” (“menless women”)
through the arrangement of mass marriage program. The first
phase of the mass marriage project took off on 15th May,
2012 with a total number of one hundred couples
(“zawarawa”), while the second phase was conducted on
15th July 2012 with two hundred and fifty couples [10].
Plans have reached an advanced stage to marry off another
set of 1111 couples.
The aims of the paper therefore is to appraise the Kano
state government social programme, designed to reduce the
number of “menless women” through the mass marriage
project phase I and phase II so far conducted, and to make
necessary recommendations on how to strengthen the project.
II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW
“Marriage is a publicly recognized, more or less as
permanent alliance between a man and a woman (i.e. a
conjugal unit).In most societies the families of the partners
have a role in establishing the relationship (often choosing
the mate and at least manifesting their approval of the choice)
and participate in the rite of passage which constitutes the
formal marriage. Thus marriage legitimizes sexual access and
the children as a result, are given an inscriptive position in the
society as members of a particular lineage and family” [11].
Three sociological perspectives: Symbolic Interactionist,
Structural Functionalist and Conflict, have provided useful
insight into family roles and relationships. However, for the
purpose of this study, emphasis would be given to Structural
Functionalist perspective to provide explanations on the
changing roles and relationships of the family in our societies
today. It is hoped that this would help us in understanding the
reasons for the various marriage breakdowns in our societies.
Functionalist Theorists, argues that the forms and
functions of family is affected and shaped by the larger social
environment in which the family operates. In other words as
societies undergo such major changes particularly in
Industrialization and Urbanization, the family must adopt to
the effects of those changes in order to survive. Functionalist
Theorists like Talcott Parsons and Williams Goode have
noted the changing or loss of family functions. Thus
“Modern families no longer perform certain functions that
used to be within their domain, but they do play an
increasingly vital part in early-childhood socialization, in the
emotional lines of their members, and in preparing older
children for adults roles in the economic institutions of
industrial societies” [12].
All major Sociological Perspectives support the view that
the family is a resilient institution; it adapts to changing
economic conditions and changing values. The traditional
850
family, according to Structural Functionalist has provided
support to the couples and their children in a number of ways:
sexual regulation, reproduction and replacement through
given birth to children, socialization as the family serves as
the main training ground for children, emotional support and
protection from all kinds of frustrations and dangers, and
economic support i.e. provision of shelter, food, education
etc. However, the roles and functions of family in the new
changing social order have been transferred to other
institutions for instance, socialization has been transferred to
schools, economic functions have gone to the factories, the
traditional protection and care function have been partially
taken over by the police etc. [13].
The major consequence of changes on family roles and
functions is increase in single parenthood.
Increase in Single Parenthood
Single parenthood can come about through a number of
different routes:
Divorce: is simply the dissolution or termination of
marriage. It involves the cancellation of all legal duties and
responsibilities of marriage. Divorce is unlike annulment
which declares marriage null and void. The legal process of
issues of alimony (spousal support), child custody, and child
support. Several studies have shown that divorce rate is
growing around the globe. It was reported that there was a
doubling in the proportion of young people aged 25 to 44,
and men aged 45 to 64, living alone between 1986/7 and
2005/6; that the proportion of people in their twenties who
lived alone increased from 3 percent in 1973 to 9 percent in
1996; and that number single women increased from 28% in
1960 to 67% in 1994 [14].
In recent times, particularly in Kano state divorce has
reached an alarming rate. As at 2009 it was estimated that
there were over one million zawarawa (i.e. menless women)
in Kano state which prompted Hajiya Altine Abdullahi, an
executive
Director,
National
association
of
divorcees/widows and orphans to threaten a protest march.
Increase in poverty, particularly amongst “zawarawa‟‟ the
(“menless women”). This is particularly more pronounced in
less Developed Nations of Africa and Asia, where majority
of women are not educated and not gainfully employed, thus
making them entirely dependent on their husbands. “Women
suffer an average decline of about 30% percent in their
income first year after separation while men experience a
10% increase” [15].
Psychological problems: Beyond materials effects of
divorce, there are the longer term effects on the family roles
and feeling of family members. “Many divorced adults
continue to feel angry, humiliated and rejected, while the
children of divorced parents tend to exhibit a variety of
psychological problems. Moreover, both men and women
have a diminished capacity for parenting after divorce. They
spend less time with their children, provide less discipline
and are less sensitive to their needs. Even a decade after the
divorce, the parents may be chronically disorganized and
unable to meet the difficulties of parenting. Instead, they
come to depend on their children to help them cope with the
demands of their own lives, thereby producing an
“over-burden children”- one who, in addition to handling the
normal stress of childhood, also must help his or her parent
ward off depression [16].
Individuals whose parents divorced during their childhood
have a higher probability of teen marriage, divorce, peer
problems, delinquency, truancy and depression [17].
views of the Hisbah board officials where they cited divorce,
death of husbands and spinsters as the major causes of
"menless" women in Kano state.
TABLE II: HARDSHIPS "MENLESS" WOMEN EXPERIENCED
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Lack of Security and respect
Lack of care and maintenance
Separation from children
Difficult in raising up children as
single parent
Total
III. METHODOLOGY
The research was conducted at Hisbah Board Headquarters
Kano. The research targeted 200 women randomly selected
out of the 350 “men less” women married off as at July 15th,
2012. Six officials of the Hisbah Board in charge of the
“zawarawa” mass marriage programme were selected for the
study. In carrying out the research one set of questionnaire
and an in-depth interview were used. The questionnaire for
the beneficiary women was administered by the researchers
in Hausa Language (as most of them were not literate), while
the in-depth interview with the Hisbah board officials was
conducted in English Language. The questionnaires were
analyzed and the results presented in a table with the women
responses coming first, followed by the interview conducted
with the officials of the board.
34
115
57.5
Spinster
Total
17
200
8.5
100
200
100
TABLE III: FACTOR LEADING TO BREAKDOWNS OF MARRIAGES
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Lack of Islamic knowledge
governing rules of Marriage
Lack of Patience
Misunderstanding/communication
gap between couples
Abandonment of marriage
responsibilities
Total
TABLE I: REASON FOR SEPARATION FROM PREVIOUS MARRIAGE
Response
Frequency
Percentage (%)
68
20
41.5
18.5
20
Table II above, indicated that majority of the respondents
(41.5%) said they experience lack of care and maintenance
and 20% of the respondent reported lack of security and
respect from the society. While (18.5%) reports experiencing
difficulty due to separation from their children. Similarly
(20%) reported difficulty in rising up their children as single
parents.
IV. DATA ANALYSIS WOMEN RESPONSES
Death of former
husband(widows)
Divorce
40
83
37
40
71
35.5
32
11
16
5.5
86
43
200
100
Table III above, shows various reasons accounts for
marriage breakdowns: (43%) of the respondents said the
abandonment of marriage responsibilities by the husbands
(i.e. lack of feeding, shelter, education of children etc.) as one
of the major factor causing marriage breakdowns. While
(35.5%) of the respondents stated ignorance or lack of
respect to religious teachings governing marriage, thus
making the men not take marriage as an important institution
in the society. (16%) of the respondents however, reported
lack of patience especially during periods of
misunderstanding and quarrels which are unavoidable in
marriage relationships. Similarly (5.5%) of the respondents
stated lack of understanding and proper communication
between the spouse which often leads to quarrels.
Table I above, indicates that (57.5%) of the respondents
cited divorce as the main cause of marriage break ups.
Divorce as a results of so many reasons (such as abuse of
religious and Islamic tenets governing marriage and divorce,
lack of patience by the couples, poverty etc.). These factors
constitute the major reasons for marriage break ups in our
society today. 34% of the respondents lost their marriage
unions due to death of their husbands (widow ship). Death is
a natural end and therefore does not constitute a social
problem. However, there is the need to evolve a program like
the mass marriage project to carter for their (i.e. widows)
interest. It is however interested to note that 8.5% of the
respondents are spinsters i.e. those girls who for whatever
reason could not find a suitor on their own; but had to enlist
the support of Hisbah board to achieve their goals. It is now a
global phenomenon, for girls/women to spend a lot of year
searching for an appropriate partner/husband. So many
factors account for this ugly situation: women population
relative to that of men, unreasonable/tall ambition of the
women to marry readymade husbands who are rich, the
economic downturn and unemployment associated with men
who cause delayed marriages and the fact that men nowadays
are not interested in marrying more than one wife. This is
causing African Societies to experience similar divorce
problems, Europe and America had been experiencing for
many decades. The responses also collaborated with the
TABLE IV: MEASURES TO REDUCE MARRIAGE BREAK-UPS
Responses
Frequency
Percentage
Inculcation to Religious teachings by
35
17.5
parents/spouses
Marriage not based on materialism,
39
19.5
but on love, understanding and
respect.
Husbands to discharge marriage
92
46
responsibilities adequately
Patience and adequate
34
17
communication between spouses
Total
200
100
From Table IV above, (46%) of the respondents said
husband should take their marriage responsibilities seriously
851
“menless” women in the state. They said:
“In fact it is a combination of so many factors that over
time culminated into the growing number of “menless”
women in the state. These factors include- high divorce rate
due to total disregard to adherence of religious teachings
governing marriage and divorce, emphasis on materialism
rather than love while marrying, lack of patience and
understanding by couples especially during period of crisis
and the biggest being the crippling poverty amongst couples,
which move often than not made some husbands to abandon
their basic marital duties with regards to feeding, clothing,
medical, “death of husband (widows), and spinsters
particularly women who could not find
suitable
husbands/girls to marry”.
(i.e. of providing feeding, clothing, education, shelter,
protection etc.) seriously, and (19.5%) said marriage should
not be based on materialism, but rather it should be based on
love, respect and understanding as marriage has its ups and
downs. However (17.5%) of the respondents said married
couples should learn and respect their religious teachings on
marriage and divorce and be patient. Similarly (17%) of the
respondents insisted that couples should communicate well
amongst themselves in order to clear all grey areas in their
relationships, as well as be patient with each other when there
are mistakes or understandings.
TABLE V: WAYS TO STRENGTHEN THE MASS MARRIAGE PROJECT
Responses
Frequency
percentage
More support from nongovernmental
64
32
organisations/wealthy Individuals
Enactment of appropriate legislation to
62
31
safeguard marriages
Expansion of mass marriage to local
54
27
government headquarters
To Provide a forum to attract educated
20
10
and working class "menless" women
Total
200
100
3) Channels and criteria used in linking suitors
The respondents said: The board has introduced means and
procedures which all men and women interested in getting
married would have to follow to actualize their goals.
“According to them these procedures includes: a visit to
the Hisbah board to indicate interest and fill forms giving all
personal data including photographs, interview and medical
/screening to ascertain the health condition of those wishing
to be joined in marriage union. The future brides are then
encouraged to interact and know themselves fully in order to
foster understanding and love before the marriage fatiha and
wedding is done”.
Table V above, indicates that (32%) of the respondents
urged for more support of the mass marriage program from
private organizations and wealthy individuals to compliment
the efforts of the government. (31%) of the respondents
called for enactment of an appropriate Law by the Kano state
government to guarantee the continuation of the program
after the tenure of the present administration in view of its
importance to the society. Furthermore (27%) of the
respondents advised that the mass marriage programme
should be decentralized to the 44 local governments of the
states in order to accommodate more women and ease the
hardship of travelling to Hisbah board headquarters for those
coming to benefit from the program. However, (10%) of the
respondents, urged the Hisbah board to create a forum to
encourage highly educated and well placed" menless"
women in the state to benefit from the programme, as most of
them feel shy to go to the Hisbah board to register. A website
and an email address should be opened where such women
can register.
4) Safeguards adopted by the Hisbah Board to protect
marriages from failing.
The officials indicated that “a lot of safeguards have been
incorporated to ensure that failed marriage is reduced to the
minimum. These safeguards started from i.e. initial stage of
registering and filling forms at the board where all personal
details and health records are disclosed in addition to
photographs. So the suitors would a first of all have to glance
at the pictures, the background of the person including ages,
level of education, employment or trade/craft, health records,
records of his/her previous marriages number etc. It is after
all these are disclosed to the suitors before they give an
opportunity to interact. So these in our opinion forms the first
safeguard to the marriage, as the partners were joined based
on marital facts about one another, i.e. no deception. Other
safeguards include- the filling of marriage contract between
the board and new married couples, issuance of marriage
certificate, continuous invitations/counselling to the homes
of the couples by the board to ensure that problems are solved
before they escalate, this is all in addition to financial and
materials benefits given to the women to engage in some
productive/business activities”.
A. In-depth Interview with Hisbah Board Officials
1) Reasons for the Mass marriage
All the respondents said the Kano state government was
disturbed by the increasing number of “Menless” women (i.e.
divorcees, widows and spinsters) roaming the streets, thus
causing a lot of social problems such as prostitution and
crime. Consequently, the Kano state government in
collaboration with Kano state Hisbah came up with a public
policy tagged “zawarawa” mass marriage to tackle the
menace. However, they said:
“The specific aim of the programme is to reduce the
number of “menless” women, reduce sexual abuse, and
prostitution to inculcate disciplines and patience amongst
married couples, to assist married with financial and material
assistance to reduce idleness and poverty”.
5) Number of women married out and problems
encountered by the board
The respondents said:
“Under the phase I and II of the mass marriage program, a
total number 350 couples have been joined to marriage,
adding that a plan has reached an advance stage to marry off
one thousand one hundred and eleven (1111) suitors by the
board”.
In respect of problems encountered by the board, the
officials reported that:
“Even though the state government is doing its best in
2) Factors responsible for high rate of “menless” women
The respondents gave various reasons for the increasing
852
identified so many factors that precipitate marriage breaks
down thus leading to an alarming rate of "menless"
(“zawarawa”) in the society. The factors include high rates of
divorce, window-ship and so many spinsters. The
consequences of having many “menless” women in any
society are many and they include increase in prostitution,
increase in crimes and delinquency particularly amongst the
affected women and their children. For example divorce
accounts for (57.5%) amongst the factors that causes
marriage break ups in Kano state. The Kano state mass
Marriage programme is really in line with the views of
structural functionalist theory which emphases the
importance of family in the stabilization of family and society
which is done through a number of means ; sexual regulation
which is done by every society in accordance with its own
values, often through marriage; reproduction and
replacement to guarantee the existence and continuity of
society as children are made to replace members who die as
well as to keep family lineage, inheritance clear; provide
emotional support and protection, as family provides source
of love, and belonging, security, protection and safety from
harm, economic support etc. In fact according to a BBC
documentary tagged “collapsed marriages” in Kano, “that
32% of all marriages in Kano survive only a period of 3-6
months, and that there are more divorce than weddings in
Kano every week". Furthermore, Widow-ship, this is another
factor that leads to separation, thus adding to the growing
number of "menless" women in the state by (34%). Spinsters,
this are young girls who have never been married although
they are interested in getting married but could not do so due
to some reasons. These reasons varies from lack of finances
by their parents to carry out the marriage rituals, lack of
suitable suitors and their high economic expectations i.e.
getting readymade men who had made it in life economically
and socially, this perhaps proves the argument of Rational
Choice or Exchange Theory which evaluates the costs and
rewards of engaging in an interaction to try to find the “best
deal”. This group of people according to the research finding
constitutes (8.5%).This findings seems to support the conflict
theory which argues that conflict in families is as a results of
struggle for power and control in the family unit and in the
society at large. Family was seen as the chief source of
female oppression and that until basic resources were
allocated within the family women would continue to be
oppressed.
The study identified various effects “menless” women
experienced from their husbands. 41.2% of the respondents
cited increase in poverty due to lack of care and maintenance,
while 20% reported lack of security and respect from the
society.
Sociologists have reported various consequences
/hardships associated with divorce. "First there are the
emotional aspects of divorce, since divorce is seen as a
failure, rejection and even punishment. More often than not
divorce involves splitting with family and many close friends
There are also costs for children, as children lives are turned
upside down; thus" Many children move to new
houses/Locations, leave one parent and friends and make
adjustments to new schools. Divorce lowers the well-being
of children in the short term, affecting school achievement,
funding the project, which has so far released 76million naira
for the project, the board has to appeal to wealthy individuals
in the society to give a helping hand as the government
cannot shoulder all the responsibilities alone. So the problem
of finding the project is still one of the problems facing the
board. Some other minor problems include insincerity by a
very small percentage of the public who either “impersonate”
or are just interested in collecting the token material and
financial assistance rendered to the couples by the board.”
Furthermore, the officials said “wealthy individuals have
made wholesome contributions of materials and money
running into millions of Naira”.
B. Measures to Strengthen the Project
The officials believe this is an important social program
which should be encouraged not only the government, by
wealthy individuals and united nations. This is because
marriage breakdowns/failures are now a universal
phenomenon which directly threatens our society in many
ways such as increase in rampant prostitutions, existence of
delinquent and unproductive youths that contributes in no
small measures to increase in crime rate. Therefore, all hands
must be on deck to tame this monster of family breakdowns.
The respondents specially said “there is the urgent need to
have a holistic approach by all stakeholders, especially
religious leaders, parents and schools in solving this problem.
This can be achieved through the enactment of legislation to
ensure continuity of the program after this administration of
Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, more support from
private individuals and organizations.
V. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Major findings of this research would be discussed in line
with the objectives of the study which are: To evaluate the
mass marriage programme, Identify factors responsible for
mass marriage breakdowns, to identify the effects of failed
marriages on its victims, families and society and to
recommend appropriate measures on how to reduce the
incidence of marriage breakdowns in the states; and the
relevant conceptual frame work.
The data collected and analyzed from the research seems to
justify the objectives of the study. These are analyzed as
follows:
The study highlighted the importance of the mass Marriage
programme due to the existence of an alarming number of
"Menless" women in Kano state, as a result of frequent
Marriage break ups due to a number of factors. In fact this
lead to the threat of one million protest match by divorcees in
Kano state in 2009 to voice their anger and frustration on men
and the government as they could not find husbands, some of
them for many years after their divorce or death of their
husbands. The mass Marriage programme initiated and
executed by the Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso
government is indeed a stitch in time, which has greatly given
hope to those frustrated "menless" women in the society. The
programme has also achieved other objectives such as
reduction in prostitution, youth crime, and truancy and
depression amongst the target population and their families.
As part of the objectives of the study, the findings
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on love and not materialism, beauty or lust.
8) Husband and wife should learn to forgive each other and
approached each other more gently and lovingly when
reconciliation was required, as a forgiving heart always
brings healing to wounded relationships
peer relationships and behavior [18].
VI. CONCLUSION
Family break-ups constitute one of the serious problems
facing marriage as an institution, all over the world today. In
view of the important role family plays in the society, there is
the urgent need for governments and other stakeholders to
evolve ways of saving families from frequent marriage break
ups. One of such initiatives was the introduction of mass
marriage project by the Kano state government in
collaboration with Kano state Hisbah Board. The program
was designed to provide a forum where women and men can
interact and eventually get married. So far the project has
recorded a lot of success stories i.e. it has reduce the number
of men less women in the state; as well as achieved poverty
reduction amongst the beneficiaries. Other states in the
Northern Nigeria and Countries where high incidence of
divorce/ separations/ and Spinsters are common, need to have
a critical look at the Kano state mass marriage project as a
panacea in solving similar problems in their States/Countries.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS
[10]
1) Expansion/decentralization of the program to Local
Government Area of the state.
2) “Menless” women who desire a separate forum to be
establish to give chance to “menless” educated women to
find suitors.
3) Parents to take marriage of their children too seriously
especially in selecting a partner for them.
4) Women to be encouraged to acquire education and skills
to make them economically productive, thus reducing
their dependence on their husbands and parents.
5) Since the problems of “menless” women cut across most
of the northern states and indeed the country as a whole,
the Kano state governors to implement similar social
program in their states. Similarly, the Federal
Government under its ministry of women affairs should
introduce a similar program for whole the country. This
is because family as an institution must to be
safeguarded and protected by all means and sundry in
order to have a decent and productive society.
6) The prospective couples should be encouraged to uphold
the importance and advantages of medical test before
marriage.
7) Our religious / traditional teachings about marriage, how
marriage should be conducted, conflict resolution
between spouses and divorce should be respected by all
parents. This would ensure that marriages are done base
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
Degenova and Rice, Intimate relationships, Marriages and Families,
5th ed., New York- McGraw Hill, 2002.
U. S. Consensus Bureau. (2005). Housing Vacancies and Housing
Ownership
Annual
Statistics.
[Online].
Available:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/annual/105/ann05def.
html
W. Kornblum, Sociology in Changing World, Wadsworth Eighth
Edition, Belmont CA: Wadsworth Publisher, 2005.
F. McGlone, A. Park, and C. Roberts, “Relative values: kinship and
friendship,” in British Social Attitudes: the 13th Report, R. Jowell et al.
eds., Darthmouth, Aldershot, 1996.
H. Jeanne et al., Our Social World Introduction to Sociology, Saga
Publication Ltd UK, 2007.
B. David, “Evolution, males, and violence,” The Chronicle Review,
May 24, 2002
BBC Network African Programme. (2011). [Online]. Available:
http://www.google.com.ng/gwt/x?gl=NG&hl=en
Haralambos and Holborn, Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, 5th ed.,
New York; McGraw Hill, 2000.
H. Jeanne and A. K. Robert, Our Social World Introduction to
Sociology, Saga Publication Ltd UK, 2007.
K. Hisbah. (May 2013). Kano state Hisbah Board. A New Dawn.
[Online]. 1(1). Available: http://www.kanohisbah.gov.ng
M. Peil, Consensus and Conflict in African Societies: an Introduction
to Sociology, East African Publishing House, 1968.
W. Kornblum, Sociology in Changing World, Wadsworth Eighth
Edition, Belmont CA: Wadsworth Publisher, 2008.
Haralambos and Holborn, Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, 6th ed.,
New York; McGraw Hill, 2004.
P. A. McManus, T. A. D. Preter, Haralambus, and Holborn, Sociology:
Themes and Perspectives, New York McGraw Hill, 2001.
J. Wallerstain and S. Blakeslees, Second Chance: Men, Woman and
Children a Decade, After Divorce, New York: Ticknor & fields, 1989.
A. J. Cherlin, Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage, Cambridge MA:
Harvard University Press, 1981.
P. R. Amato and J. M. Sobolewski, “The effects of divorce and marital
discord on adult children‟s psychological well-being,” American
Sociological Review, vol. 66, no. 900-921, 2001.
P. A. McManus and T. A. DiPreter, Haralambus and Holborn;
Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, New York McGraw Hill, 2001.
Madya Rohana bt Yusof was born in Mashi, Katsina
State, Nigeria on June 25, 1967. She possesses the
following qualifications: MSc in sociology in 2011 from
Bayero University Kano Nigeria, she got a master of
business administration in 2004 from Bayero University
Kano Nigeria, postgraduate diploma in management in
2001 Bayero University Kano Nigeria, BSc. in sociology
in 1994 from University of Abuja Nigeria.
She has 14 years working experience since graduation from the University
of Abuja Nigeria 1994. She worked with former Bank of the North Kano
Nigeria which later merged and became Unity Bank PLC Nigeria for over 12
years, where she held various positions including finance officer and risks
and credit officer of the Bank. She joined Umar Musa Yaradua University
Katsina Nigeria in September 2012 as an assistant lecturer of Sociology
Department.
854
Using TEI XML Schema to Encode the Structures of
Sarawak Gazette
Tze-Min Fong and Bali Ranaivo-Malançon

Abstract—Automatic extraction of information from old
printed documents which have been digitised injudiciously will
end up with a lot human corrections. To overcome the problem,
one possible solution is to annotate the documents with some
markups. This paper presents the encoding of the digitised
sample of Sarawak Gazette published from 1903 until 1939
using the standard TEI XML schema. The output of the work is
a set of six TEI XML templates that is considered to represent
the different layout structures found in the studied samples.
Index Terms—Data structure, layout analysis, metadata, TEI
P5 schema.
I. INTRODUCTION
Sarawak Gazette is one of the oldest newspapers published
in Sarawak. The first publication was on Friday, August 26,
1870. This old newspaper contains a lot of interesting
information, and has become an essential source of historical
information of Sarawak events, such as trade and economic
activities, law and order, agriculture information, mineral and
oil production statistics, anthropology and archaeology, etc.
Extracting information depicted in Sarawak Gazette will help
certainly the preservation of the history of Sarawak. However,
a direct extraction is limited due to the fact that in general, the
information is in unstructured form. Thus, adding some
markups that identify clearly and without ambiguity the
different components of Sarawak Gazette will facilitate the
retrieval of information.
To encode the information, the layout of Sarawak Gazette
needs to be studied and determined formally, and then a
metadata structure based on the layout studies can be
designed properly. In this work, the metadata structure is
based on the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) latest guidelines,
TEI P5. The overall process is illustrated in Fig. 1 and these
steps will be followed as the structure of this paper.
Fig. 1. Sarawak gazette metadata design process flow.
Bali Ranaivo-Malançon is with the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak,
Malaysia (email: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.569
855
The process starts with the original document images of
Sarawak Gazette. The document images should be in PDF
format. Then, the PDF documents images will be converted
to JPEG image, and undergo layout analysis by using the
bottom-up page segmentation approach. Once the layout
structure of Sarawak Gazette is detected, a logic role can be
associated to some of its components. The logical
components will be arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which is called logical structure. It describes the relationship
between logical components, for example, a document
includes title, authors, summary, and a sequence of chapters.
A chapter might include a title, and a sequence of sections,
and so on.
Subsequently, the logical components can be located and
tagged by TEI by matching the layout structure of each page
of document images against models of logical components.
II. IMPORTANCE OF METADATA STRUCTURE ON SARAWAK
GAZETTE
Other than facilitating the information extraction from
Sarawak Gazette, metadata structure plays a crucial role in
the Sarawak Gazette digitization, OCR and linguistic
processing in the possible future. Sarawak Gazette has large
amount of scanned pages and very bulky, and metadata is
essential to manage and control over the large amount of
items. Metadata will guide the process of digitization, in
terms of evaluation and quality control. It also helps to make
sure that the digitized data are accessible, sustainable and
integratable.
III. SARAWAK GAZETTE AS SCANNED DOCUMENTS
Sarawak Gazette is one of the oldest newspapers published
in Sarawak with the first publication on August 26, 1870 by
the Government Printing Office. It was initiated by Charles
Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak. The objectives
were to provide Europeans who live at outstations, concise
statements of official business and other issues of public
interest, and to serve as an official report of the condition of
the various residencies under the Sarawak Government. It
was published monthly to play the role as newspapers which
edited by the Rajah‟s Civil Service [1], [2].
The publications of Sarawak Gazette from 1870 until
January 1, 1984 have been scanned and stored in PDF image
files. However, the proposed metadata structure of this
project will cover only the contents of Sarawak Gazette from
publication year 1903 until 1939. The scanned documents are
not in a very good condition (Fig. 2).
approach for the layout analysis of an Arabic newspaper. The
developed algorithm takes into account the complex
structural layout of Arabic newspaper. The algorithm is
based on the connected components for image, thread, and
frame extraction. For the case of Sarawak Gazette, the
document analysis is done in two successive steps that are
layout identification and then layout analysis. The layout
extraction was done automatically whereas the layout
analysis was carried manually.
A. Automatic Layout Extraction
Two image processing software were chosen for the layout
extraction of some selected samples of Sarawak Gazette:
SCRIBO Document Layout Analysis and Reconstruction and
Fiji Image Processing Package.
SCRIBO (Semi-automatic and Collaborative Retrieval of
Information Based on Ontologies)1 is a research project that
aims to provide algorithms and free software for annotating
semi-automatically and collaboratively digitised documents.
The proposed method is based on the automatic knowledge
extraction found in texts or images. SCRIBO has a tool,
which is available online and dedicated to the layout analysis
of historical documents. The selected samples of Sarawak
Gazette have been submitted to SCRIBO. The automatic
layout analysis by SCRIBO of the example of Sarawak
Gazette in Fig. 2 is shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 2. A sample of the scanned Sarawak gazette.
Even a very powerful optical character recognition (OCR)
like ABBYY FineReader fails to produce a readable text as
shown in Fig. 3 (the original scanned newspaper) and Fig. 4
(the output of the OCR).
Fig. 3. A portion of the scanned Sarawak Gazette in Fig. 2.
Fig. 5. Layout extracted by SCRIBO of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4. OCR output of Fig. 3.
Thus, to assist an automatic recognition of the characters
in Sarawak Gazette, it is important that the layout structure of
the newspaper is identified first.
Fig. 6. Layout extracted by Fiji of Fig. 2.
IV. DOCUMENT ANALYSIS OF SARAWAK GAZETTE
Fiji 2 is an image processing package that has been
developed to assist research in life sciences. It offers a large
In order to markup the different component parts of each
page of the Sarawak Gazette, it is essential that a document
analysis has to be carried out. There are many techniques in
extracting and analysing the layout of a document. For
example, [3] has proposed a bottom-up page segmentation
1
SCRIBO
Historical
Document
Layout
Analyis,
https://olena.lrde.epita.fr/demos/historical_document_layout_analysis.php.
2
Fiji is Just ImageJ, http://fiji.sc/Fiji.
856
variety of plugins and image processing features. It is simple,
easy to use, and can be installed directly on personal
computer. The Fiji feature called “Subtract Background” has
been used to process the selected sample of Sarawak Gazette.
Fig. 6 shows the result of this process on the file in Fig. 2.
SCRIBO and the Fiji tool used for layout extraction
require the input file to in one of image formats. Thus, the
original Sarawak Gazette PDF files were converted into
JPEG. The different file formats involved in the conversion
process is presented in Fig. 7.
V. TEI AS A STANDARD METADATA FOR SARAWAK
GAZETTE
As defined by NISO in their document “Understanding
Metadata” [4], “metadata is structured information that
describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to
retrieve, use or manage an information resource.” Another
straight forward and very popular definition of metadata is
“data about data”. A metadata describes the attribute of a
document or object. The concept of metadata is very
important for librarians, authors, digital archivists, database
developers, or end users who are searching information in
electronic documents. Reading a document which has been
increased with metadata structure is not meant for humans
but rather for machine. However the document is still
intelligent for human.
The three main types of metadata are descriptive metadata,
structural metadata, and administrative metadata. A
descriptive metadata “describes a resource for purposes such
as discovery and identification. It can include elements such
as title, abstract, author, and keywords” [4]. A structural
metadata “indicates how compound objects are put together,
for example, how pages are ordered to form chapters” [4]. An
administrative metadata “provides information to help
manage a resource, such as when and how it was created, file
type and other technical information, and who can access it”
[4]. The encoding of Sarawak Gazette is more a structural
metadata. According to [5], a good metadata structure
extends the use of data by researches and to prolong the data
life span.
A. TEI P5 Guidelines
TEI stands for „Text Encoding Initiative‟. It is a
consortium dedicated to the development and maintenance of
a standard for the representation of texts in digital form. The
latest guideline is TEI P5 [6]. The encoding schema is
formulated as an application of the Extensible Markup
Language (XML) using UNICODE as an international
standard of character encoding. A TEI document based of the
P5 guideline must be expressed as a valid XML-conformant
document which uses the TEI namespace appropriately.
TEI P5 Guidelines contain recommendations on the
appropriate ways to represent the features of textual
resources which need to be identified explicitly so that they
can be processed by computer programs. These guidelines
state a set of tags which may be inserted in the electronic
representation of the text to represent the text structure and
other interesting features. The guidelines are applicable to
text in any natural language, of any date in any literary genre
or text type without any restriction on form or content [6].
As stated by [7], TEI is a well-understood format for
lasting preservation of digital information and metadata. TEI
Guidelines is the chief deliverable which specified encoding
methods for machine-readable texts. It marks up the
electronic text such as novels, plays, and poetry [4]. It focus
on the exchange of textual information, and applicable in the
creation of new resources and in the interchange of existing
ones.
However, according to [8], TEI is very complex, if it is
compared to other similar element tagging, such as Dublin
Core, METS and MARC, but the complexity is inherent in
the task of annotating historical document. Reference [8]
Fig. 7. File format conversion during layout extraction.
B. Manual Layout Analysis
By mapping the SCRIBO and Fiji outputs, a complete
layout and structure of two-pages of Sarawak Gazette can be
visualized clearly. A layout analysis is a sketched diagram
that represents all the components of a given document. Fig.
8 shows the diagram of the layout analysis of Fig. 2 based on
the human interpretation of Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.
Fig. 8. Layout analysis from Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.
857
illustrates the encoding of a primary source using TEI. The
source‟s name is Alteres Landbuch. It is a code of law and
customs from the Swiss canton of Appenzell which originally
created around 1450. However, it has been modified in later
years. Encoding such a text in TEI is not a machine-driven
process, but it depends in many cases on the paleographical,
linguistic, and historical interpretation of the text, since the
manuscript is relatively old [8].
B. TEI Modules, Elements and Attributes for Sarawak
Gazette
The suitable TEI elements for the metadata structure of
Sarawak Gazette are determined based on the components
and logical structure that have been identified during the
document analysis presented in Section III.
The TEI P5 encoding schema consists of 21 modules
(analysis, certainty, core, corpus, dictionaries, drama, figures,
gaiji, header, iso-fs, linking, msdescription, namesdates, nets,
spoken, tagdocs, tei, textcrit, textstructure, transcr, and verse).
Each module declares particular XML elements and their
attributes. Table I shows the selected modules and elements
used to design the metadata structure of Sarawak Gazette.
The meaning of each element can be found in the TEI P5
Guidelines [6].
TEI, as a very active community, has pre-loaded TEI
templates in <oXygen/> XML Editor [9], which is a
commercial software. This capability of <oXygen/> has
simplified a lot the manual task of creating the TEI templates
for Sarawak Gazette. Thus, the XML files for Sarawak
Gazette were created using <oXygen/> XML Editor with the
TEI DTD and stylesheets which support TEI P5 version.
Because Sarawak Gazette has been digitised with two
printed pages in one scanned page, each created TEI template
represents the two printed pages. Fig. 9 shows one of the data
structure design output in TEI XML document.
TABLE I: TEI MODULES AND ELEMENTS FOR SARAWAK GAZETTE
Module Name
core
figures
header
textstructure
transcr
Elements
addrLine; cb/; date; graphic;
head; item; l; lb/; list; measure;
note; p; title
cell; row; table
fileDesc; publicationStmt;
sourceDesc; teiHeader; titleStmt
back; body; div; front; signed;
text
fw
Fig. 9. Layout template in TEI of a sample of Sarawak gazette.
VII. RESULT ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION
TEI Guidelines authorize the use of well-formed XML as
representation format. XML documents must obey to the
World Wide Web Consortium recommendation of the XML
1.0 (Fourth Edition). The design of metadata and data
structure of Sarawak Gazette based on TEI P5 Guidelines is
expressed in XML document. The XML documents of the
metadata design used the TEI namespace with proper
declaration at the beginning of the TEI text: <TEI xmlns=
http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0/>.
All the XML documents of the metadata design match all
the rules and syntactic constraints defined by the TEI P5
Guidelines. No syntax error has been noticed in all the XML
documents. The markup in the document is accurately
represents the TEI abstract model. Other than that, all the
documents of the metadata design contain a single
<teiHeader> element which includes elements for Title
Statement, Publication Statement, and Source Statement. It is
a mandatory component of a valid TEI XML document.
Metadata and data structure design in this research are
suitable for most of the possible layout in Sarawak Gazette
from year 1903 to 1939. The samples chosen are from
publication of the year 1903, 1913, 1919, and 1921 which
covered the different layout changing along those years.
Not all elements in Table I have attributes. Table II lists the
TEI elements that make use of attributes in the Sarawak
Gazette metadata design.
TABLE II: TEI ELEMENTS AND ATTRIBUTES FOR SARAWAK GAZETTE
Elements
cb
div
fw
graphic
head
measure
note
table
Attribute Classs
att.global
att.typed
-, att.placement
att.resourced
att.global
att.placement
-
Attribute
@n
@type
@type, @place
@url
@rend
@type
@place
@rows, @cols
VI. CREATING LAYOUT TEMPLATE IN TEI FOR SARAWAK
GAZETTE
Once the TEI elements and attributes have been defined,
the next step is to create the layout template for each
identified unique layout structure of the Sarawak Gazette.
Based on the document analysis step, it has been found that
the whole set of Sarawak Gazette, from 1903 until 1939 can
be represented by six templates only. It means that the layout
structure of each published page of the Sarawak Gazette
during the given period is one of the six templates.
VIII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS
The result of the layout analysis and the metadata design of
Sarawak Gazette in TEI XML documents is the first step
858
before exploring automatically the contents of the newspaper.
All the components identified during the Sarawak Gazette
document analysis can be tagged by TEI elements with
correct meanings as defined in the TEI P5 Guidelines. The
structural relationship of the layout is described correctly by
the TEI text structure elements.
The TEI XML templates of Sarawak Gazette are still under
reviewed and opened for discussion. They will be adopted
fully if they get the approval of a variety of users such as
librarians, historians, document analysts, etc.
As highlighted in [4], “metadata is [a] key to ensuring that
resources will survive and continue to be accessible in the
future”.
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
K. Beard, “A structure for organising metadata collection,” in Proc. the
3rd International Conference/Workshop on Integrating GIS and
Environment Modeling, Santa Fe, 1996.
L. Burnard and S. Bauman, “TEI P5: guidelines for electronic text
encoding and interchange,” Oxford, TEI Consortium, 2011.
J. Cummings. (Sept. 2013). An Inroduction to the Text Encoding
Initiative
(TEI).
[Online].
8.
Available:
http://prezi.com/s8rqk-xdpzdb/an-introduction-to-the-text-encoding-in
itiative/
M. Piotrowski, “Natural language processing for historical texts,”
Synthesis Lectures on Human Language Technologies, vol. 5, 2012.
Visual TEI Editor. (2002). <oXygen/> XML Editor. [Online].
Available: http://www.oxygenxml.com/xml_editor/tei_editor.html
Tze-Min Fong was born in Kedah, Malaysia on
March 6, 1990. She is currently persuing her bachelor
degree of computer science with Honors at Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak in 2014. She worked as an
annotator for a project on Sarawak Gazette. She is
currently doing her research on designing metadata
structure for Sarawak Gazette based on Text
Encoding Initiative Guidelines, as her final year
project at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is supported by UNIMAS Short Grant
Scheme through Grant no. 02(S103)/875/2012(16) to Bali
Ranaivo-Malançon. The authors would also like to thank the
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak for providing the resources
used in the conduct of this study.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Bali Ranaivo-Malançon was born in madagascar.
She gained her PhD in NLP from the national
institute for oriental languages and civilizations
(INALCO, Paris, France) in 2001. She is currently
an associate professor at the Universiti Malaysia
Sarawak (UNIMAS, Malaysia). Her research
interests are geared towards the development of
linguistic resources, text proccesing, text mining,
and processing of historical documents.
P. N. Sarawak. (2013). E-Sarawak Gazette. White Hornbill. [Online].
Available: http://www/pustaka-sarawak.com/gazette/about_us.php.
Sarawak Gazette Delima Edition. (2006). Faradalemedia.com.
[Online]. Available: http://www.faradalemedia.com/sg/home.html.
K. Hadjar and R. Ingold, “Arabic newspaper page segmentation,” in
Proc. the 7th International Conference on Document Analysis and
Recognition (ICDAR’ 03), USA, 2003, vol. 2, pp. 895.
National Information Standards Organization (NISO), Understanding
Metadata, USA, Niso Press, 2004.
859
The Relationship between Religious Orientation, Moral
Integrity, Personality, Organizational Climate and Anti
Corruption Intentions in Indonesia
Zulfa Indira Wahyuni, Yufi Adriani, and Zahrotun Nihayah

Abstract—Indonesia is a religion and strongly implemented
their religion belief value on their everyday life. However, the
issue of corruption in Indonesia is increasingly happening and
should receive special attention. It shows that the corruptions
behavior did not implement what being teach in their religion.
Furthermore, the data show that corruption also involves the
people who are in government institution. The objective of this
study is to see how the religious orientation, personality, moral
integrity, organizational climate can affect the intentions of the
anti – corruptions behavior. The study involved 203 Civil
Servants in the Ministry of Religion Affairs in Indonesia as a
representative population from government institutions. They
were administered a set of scales. Each scale is made on a
4-point Likert rating scale (range from strongly agree to
strongly disagree). By using SPSS software and LISRELL,
multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the research
hypotheses. The result of this research shows that all
independent variables did bring impact to dependent variable.
Index Terms—The anti corruption intentions, moral integrity,
organizational climate, personality, religious orientation.
I. INTRODUCTION
One of the biggest problem in Indonesia is the corruption’s
problem. The current data indicates that Indonesia get ranked
114 in the world's most corrupt countries (www.tempo.co,
2013) [1]. Even though, the state already has the commission
called KPK (Corruption Eradication Comission), an agency
whose primary mission is the prevention and eradication of
corruption, yet, there was still much corruption in Indonesia.
Furthermore, KPK indicates if the Ministry of Religious
Affairs be the most corrupt institution in Indonesia
(http://pendidikanagama.com, 2011) [2]. In fact, this ministry
should be a major part to educate society to become a person
who upholds the integrity so people will have no intentions to
do the corruption behavior.
Intention is one's intention to perform a set or pattern
behavior (Ancok, 1992) [3]. In this case a person who has the
intention to avoid corruption, which can direct it not to
corrupt behavior. Many factors that we believed will
influence the anti-corruption's intentions. One of them is a
religious orientation that showed individual’s perspective on
the position of religion in his life, which determines the
pattern of the individual relationship with religion. Further to
this, Allport and Ross (1967) [4] distinguish the religious
orientation of the two typologies, named intrinsic and
The authors are with the Faculty of Psychology, State Islamic University
of Jakarta, Indonesia (e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.570
860
extrinsic. People who has embraced an intrinsic religious
orientation as the purpose of life, has a strong religious
motive and trying to internalize religious values into his life.
While someone who has extrinsic religious orientation using
religion only as a way to reach their goals but do not try to
internalize it into their own heart. Thus, people who have an
intrinsic religious orientation will be running behavior in line
with beliefs that have been internalized, including avoiding
behaviors that are considered contrary to the religion values
such as corruption behavior. The meaning of corruption itself
was when people using authority and positions for personal
benefit and harm the public interest. The other factors that
also influence a person to do corruption or not is the
personality. Personality is everything that allows a prediction
of what a person will do in a given situation . In this study, we
focused on personality Hexaco Personality Type, which
consists of six dimensions, Honesty-Humility (H),
Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A),
Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O)
(Ashton, Lee, et al., 2004) [5]. Indeed, a person whose
personality is dominated by Honesty-Humility where
includes simplicity, honesty, and avoiding greed will have a
high intention to do corruption behavior.
Furthermore, other factors that also make contribution to
the intention of anti-corruption is the existence of moral
integrity, because the lack of moral strength will lead some
people to do corruption (Ministry of Religious Affairs, 2004)
[6]. Moral integrity can be defined as the consistency of
actions, values, methods, principles, expectations and
outcomes in ethics (ethic-intelligence.com, 2012) [7].
In addition to internal factors such as those mentioned
above, other factors that influence the intention corruption
are external factors, such as organizational climate.
Organizational climate is a concept that describes the
atmosphere of the organization's internal environment and
was perceived by its members during the move in order to
achieve organizational goals (Davis and Newstorm, in
Wirawan 2011) [8]. Bologna (in the Department of Religious
Affairs, 2004) states that main cause of the corruption’s
behavior is the opportunity to do it especially when being
associated with a system that did not have a strict monitoring
system so that will allows people to manipulate or to do
fraud.
Based on the above explanation, we want to know further
whether the religious orientation, personality, moral integrity
and organizational climate variable have direct influence to
the anti-corruption’s intentions.
II. BODY PART
A. Theoretical Background
In this research, we tried to define each variable with
scientific definitions. Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) [9]
suggested that the intention is cognitive representation of a
person's readiness to implement a particular behavior and is
seen as the closest antecedent to behavior. In addition, Ancok
(1992) stated that the intention can be defined as a person's
intention to perform a behavior. Intention plays an important
role in directing the action, which connects deliberation that
believed and desired by someone with a specific action.
Anti-corruption intention is the intention of the individual to
avoid corruption. According to the legal dictionary,
corruption means damaged, like accepting bribes, embezzled
money / goods belonging to the company or the state,
receiving money by using public office for personal gain,
misappropriation or embezzlement of state funds or the
company as a person working for personal interests or others.
Types of corruption:
1) Slippery, a corruption that is deliberately giving bribes to
obtain favorable decisions to the briber and the bribed
person
2) Exortion system, use their authority for personal gain,
take refuge in the legitimacy and power
3) Provocation system, better known as crime corruption
conspiracy or collusion, which provides opportunities
for partners to explore opportunities relating to the
protection of the law, regulations and the power that can
bring personal gain or groups
Religious orientation is an individual perspective on the
position of religion in his life, which determine the pattern of
individual relationship with religion. This viewpoint will
affect the behavior of individuals in the interpretation of
religious teachings and do what he regards as religious orders.
Allport and Ross (1967) divides religious orientation into
two typologies, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsically religious
oriented individuals tend to use religion in the framework of
usability. Religion is useful to support the self-confidence,
improve the status, defend against the reality or give sanction
to a way of life. They are driven by what they can get out of
religion, belief and more oriented to the internal life without
fixing the external consequences. While the intrinsically
religious oriented shows main motivation in religion, religion
is more focused on the interests that organize and mobilize
the entire life activity. They were trying to internalize and
follow on what has been teaching by their religion. They will
integrate and synchronize the belief and religious teachings.
Personality is the dynamic organization of psychophysical
systems that determine individual characteristics and
behaviors thought. Hexaco personality structure is a
personality type that consists of a six-dimensional model
developed by Ashton and Lee of some lexical studies
(Ashton, Lee, et al. 2004). Six factors or dimensions,
including the Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E),
Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C),
and openness to Experience (O).
Hexaco Aspects:
1) Honesty – Humility : Sincerity, Fairness, Greed
Avoidance, Modesty
861
2) Emotionality : Fearfulness, Anxiety, Dependence,
Sentimentality
3) Extraversion : Social Self-Esteem, Social Boldness,
Sociability, Liveliness
4) Agreeableness : Forgivingness, Gentleness, Flexibility,
Patience
5) Conscientiousness :
Organization,
Diligence,
Perfectionisme, Prudence
6) Openness to Experience : Aesthetic Appreciation,
Inquistiveness, Creativity, Unconventionality
Integrity and honesty is regarded as the truth or accuracy
of one's actions. Moral integrity is a concept of consistency of
actions, values, methods, principles, expectations and
outcomes in ethics (ethic-intelligence.com, 2012). Moral
integrity consists of three components;
1) Moral discernment, the ability to distinguish between
morally right and wrong. This has to do with good and
bad according to him and others.
2) Consistent behavior, ability to act on what he believed,
means the person who has the moral integrity to act
reliable or consistent at all times and circumstances, even
at difficult time.
3) Public justification, people who have the moral integrity
will publicly disclose that he is acting in accordance with
the beliefs that are the result of reflection and moral
evaluation. People with moral integrity is open and
honest stating what he believed to the public
Organizational climate is an organization's internal
environment relatively ongoing, experienced by members of
an organization, influencing their behavior and can be
described in terms of a set of characteristics or nature of the
organization (Tagiuri and Litwit In Wirawan, 2008). While
Mezias & Starbuck (in Riyanti & Dahesihsari, 2008) states
that organizational climate is a series of working
environment can be measured by the collective perception of
the organization's members who live and work in the
environment of an organization. Dimensions of
organizational climate is conformity, responsibility,
standards, rewards, organizational clarity, warmth, and
support and leadership.
Religious
orientation
Moral
Integrity
Anti- Corruption
Intention
Personality
Organizational
Climate
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework.
B. Research Methodology
The population in this study was a civil servant in the
Ministry of Religious Affairs. For this research we took 203
employees from various department in Ministry of Religious
Affairs. The data collection techniques using questionnaire
with Likert scale and consists of five subscales that assessed
all variables.
Sample selection method is simple random sampling.
Processing data using path analysis model and Lisrell for data
processing.
Here are the scales that we use to collect data.
Dimension
Honesty –
Humility
TABLE III: HEXACO PERSONALITY SCALE
Subdimension
Items
Sincerity
Fairness
TABLE I: RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION SCALE
Dimensions
Items
Extrinsic
Although I believe in my religion, I feel there
are many other more important things in my
life
It doesn’t matter so much what I believe so
long as I lead a moral life
The primary purpose of prayer is to gain relief
and protection
The church/mosque is most important as a
place to formulate good social relationship
What religion offers me most is comfort when
sorrows and misfortune strike
I pray chiefly because I have been taught to
pray
Although I am a religious person I refuse to let
religious considerations influence my everyday
affairs
Intrinsic
It is important for me to spend periods of time
in private religious thought and meditation
If not prevented by anavoidable circumstances,
I attend church/mosque
I try hard to carry my religion over into all my
other dealings in life
The prayers I say when I am alone carry as
much meaning and personal emotion as those
said by me during services
Quite often I have been keenly aware of the
presence of God
I read literature about my faith
My religious beliefs are really what lie behind
my whole approach to life
Religion is especially important because it
answers many questions about the meaning of
life
Greed- Avoidance
Modesty
Emotionality
Fearfulness
Anxiety
Dependence
Sentimentality
Extraversion
Social Self Esteem
Social Boldness
Sociability
Liveliness
Agreeableness
Forgiveness
Gentleness
Flexibility
Conscientious
ness
Patience
Organitization
Diligence
Perfectionism
TABLE II: ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE SCALE
Dimensions
Structure
-Employees feel their work is well
defined
-There is clarity about who is doing a
task
-There is clarity about who has the
authority to make decisions
Standards
-Employees are always working to
find ways to improve performance
-Employees have higher
expectations for their performance
Responsibility
-Employees feel encouraged to solve
their own problems
-Employees do jobs that meet the
quality standards of work even
facing a risk
-Employees do the job with a new
approach
Awards
-Company gives rewards and
punishments fairly
-Completion of a good job
consistently rewarded
Support
-Employees feel that they are part of
a well-functioning teams
-Employees getting help from
superiors if experiencing difficulty in
performing tasks
-Employees feel togetherness, do not
feel isolated or excluded themselves
Prudence
Items
1.I know clearly my duty in this
office
2.My boss explains well what should
I do in this division
3.Every employee knows clearly
their duty in this office
Opennes to
Experience
Aesthetic
Appreciation-Inqui
stiveness
Creativity
1.I feel motivated to work better
from day to day
2.I always put my best effort in my
work
Unconventionality
1.If I can not do the task, I will leave
it
2.I got the trust to fully responsible
for my work
3.I keep working my job even facing
a risk
Dimensions
Moral
Discernment
1.I get the reward according to my
performance
2.If I make a mistake, I do not get a
punishment
3.My boss never give me appropriate
compliment for my achievement
1.If there are difficulties in my work,
I was assisted by supervisor
2.I feel a mutual support among
fellow employees
3.If I get in trouble at work, finish my
own because a colleague or boss
does not want to help
Consistence
Behavior
Public
Justification
862
I will not pretend to like
someone just to get the benefit
of that person
I will not receive any bribe,
even its very large
I feel enough with what i have
today
I think that i am entitled to be
more valued than people in
general
I’m affraid to do corruption
I’m not easy to worry about the
little things
When being experienced a
painful events, i need someone
to make me feel comfortable
I’m often feeling sad when see
other people sad
Curently i feel satisfied with my
self
In social situation, i usually start
the conversation in the first time
I do like work in a group instead
of working by myself
First thing that i always do in the
new place is finding a new
friend
I rarely feel grudge to someone
who has hurt me
If i do something wrong,then i
will not hesitate to say sorry
I am flexible with my
opinion,eventhough other
people disagree with me
I’m a patience person
To anticipate certain situation, i
always made a plan
I usually pushing myself when i
want to achieve something
I’ll always try to make
something perfect
When i want to make a decision,
my logical always influence me
more instead of my feelings
If i have a chance, i want to
study art
I’m interesting to learn about
history and politics
People usually stated that i have
broader imagination
According to me, learning
philosophy is something
interesting
TABLE IV: MORAL INTEGRITY SCALE
Items
I feel good about myself knowing corruption is
essential to who I am as a person
I have had tried to understand why avoiding corruption
Behavior is right for me to do
Doing corruption is something I know I should not do
I feel it is my responsibility to be honest in most aspects
of my life
I consistently try to be honest and avoid corruption
I have the conscious objective of being honest in my
life
I feel comfortable explaining to others why I believe
that anti corruption is important to me
I continue to live according to my value even when
others don’t like it
I have thought about how other people should be honest
in their lives as well.
TABLE V: ANTI – CORRUPTION INTENTION SCALE
Dimension
Item
Anti-bribe
In the line of duty I never expect and will not
accept any giving from others
Anti-gratification
If someone give me a gift after I finished my
job, I will not accept it
Anti-fraud
Using office stuff for my personal benefit is
something that will decrease my self dignity
Anti-mark up
I never thinking to exaggerate price in office
procurement
Anti-black mail
I usually giving a gift to others to avoid
difficulty
Anti-nepotism
Objectivity and profesionality are very
important to be implemented in work
number of 92 categories of respondents. Then in the religious
orientation, total respondents in the category of high,
numbered 107, while the lower category amounted to 95
people. Then the variable moral integrity has 96 respondents
in the high category, while in the lower category number 106.
Finally, the anti-corruption behavior variables both high and
low categories at the same numbered 101 respondents.
D. Recommendation
Based on our research, we proposed some
recommendation that can be used:
1) The necessity of education that instills moral values from
an early age, which is given by the family and
educational institutions in order to form a national
identity that has moral integrity.
2) For the organizations, aside of establish clear rules and
procedures, it is important also to provide training
session in order to build good character implement
religious values and also moral integrity.
C. Result
Our first stage to analyze the data was tested the validity of
all measuring scales in this study with CFA (Confirmatory
Factor Analysis) and continued with the help of Lisrell
Software.
Furthermore, the authors see that there is connection
between independent variable (religious orientation, moral
integrity, personality, organizational climate) and dependent
variable (anti-corruption intention). The results can be seen
in figure below.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Fig. 2. Result from data analysis.
The resume from the chart above can be seen in the table
below:
[7]
[8]
TABLE VI: DESCRIPTIVE RESULT FROM DATA ANALYSIS
Organiz
Religious
ational
Moral
Orientati
Dependent
Integrity
on
Personality Climate
Variable
0.04
-0.17
0.10
0.58
0.07
Anti-corrup
0.08
0.10
0.09
tion
0.58
behavior
2.23
1.00
6.79
[9]
Coeff
Std.
Error
tvalue
[10]
[11]
It can be concluded that the independent variables that
affect the behavior of anti-corruption is religious orientation
variables with coefficient -0.17 (t> 1.96), and moral integrity
variables with regression coefficient of 0.58 (t> 1.96), while
the rest did not significantly affect the anti-corruption
intentions.
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
High
Low
Total
TABLE VII: STATISTICAL DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS
Organiza
tional
Religious
Moral
Anti-Corruptions
Climate
Orientation
Integrity
Intention
110
107
96
101
92
95
106
101
202
202
202
202
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Jakarta, 2004.
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Applications, Jakarta: Salemba Four, Corruption-Prone-Sector in
MORA, 2011.
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advantages of the hexacomodels of personality structure,” Personality
and Social Psychology Review, vol. 11, pp. 150-166, 2007.
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moderated mediation: theory, methods, and prescriptions,”
Multivariate Behavioral Research, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 185-227, 2007
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organizational behavior Indonesian context of global challenges to
local excellence,” Faculty of Psychology, Atma Jaya Catholic
University, Jakarta, 2008.
Zulfa Indira Wahyuni was a psychologist, who was
born in Sukabumi, on May 9, 1981. She graduated from
University of Indonesia in 2007 and got post graduated
degree in child clinical psychology. She has been
working as a lecturer, child clinical psychologist and
child division of Child & Gender Study Center in State
Islamic University of Jakarta. She is interested in doing
research in child psychology, social psychology, and
psychology of religion.
The author uses the median value of each variable to
ultimately determine the level of someone on these variables.
Based on the above table, high categories on organizational
climate variable number of 110 respondents, while the lower
863
Zahrotun Nihayah was born in Tuban, on July 24,
1962. She graduated from University of Indonesia in
2006 and got post graduate degree in developmental
psychology. She is currently working as a lecturer and
the head of Psychological Service Center in State
Islamic University of Jakarta. She is interested in doing
research in social, family and developmental
psychology.
Yufi Adriani was a psychologist, who was born in
Jakarta, on September 18, 1982. She graduated from
University of Indonesia in 2006 and got post graduate
degree in clinical psychology. She is working as a
lecturer, psychologist, and the head of Psychology
Laboratory in State Islamic Unversity of Jakarta. She
is interested in doing research in social psychology,
positive psychology and clinical psychology.
864
Effectiveness of Riot Prevention through Community
Policing in India: The Practices of the Mohalla
Committees
Miharu Yui

However, previous studies have not always contributed to
controlling or preventing riots. In addition, previous studies
have assumed that police officers in India should suppress the
public on these occasions [6].
The concept of community policing was formulated in the
area of criminology in the United States in the mid-1980s.
Trojanawicz and Bucqueroux, who belonged to the National
Center of Community Policing, define community policing
as the following: It is based on the premise that both the
police and the community must work together to identify,
prioritize, and solve contemporary problems such as crime,
drugs, fear of crime, social and physical disorder, and overall
neighborhood decay, with the goal of improving the overall
quality of life in the area [7]. At present, various countries
have introduced the concept and methods of community
policing such as Canada, Australia, and Singapore [8], [9].
In India, some states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu
and Madhya Pradesh have practiced the methods of
community policing, in fact, those few practical cases could
fulfill crime and riot prevention since the 1990s. Then, the
government, politicians, media and local residents assessed
those activities [9].
This study sets out to discern, “what factor determines the
success or failure of community policing in India and to
examine the essence of community policing”. This study
examines the workings of the Mohalla Committees in
Bhiwandi and Mumbai in Maharashtra as examples of
community policing. “Mohalla” means neighborhood in
Hindi. The name of the city “Bombay” was changed to
Mumbai in 1995. For simplicity, this paper refers to the city
as Mumbai regardless of the time period discussed.
Hindu-Muslim riots occurred in Bhiwandi in May 1970
and in May 1984 led by Hindu nationalists. Similar riots
occurred in Mumbai from December 1992 to January 1993.
Active community policing began in Bhiwandi in 1988 and
in Mumbai in 1993. The approaches of these two community
policing appear similar but are like two sides of the same coin.
We analyze the determinative factor toward maintaining
successful practice through those cases in Maharashtra.
Few studies have tried to study committee members’ and
police officers’ roles in the working of Mohalla Committees
in Bhiwandi and Mumbai, but those studies have not
investigated the actual conditions in the areas of the field
research [10], [11].
We discuss how local residents came to cooperate with
police in patrolling the area, empowering women, helping the
unemployed to attain skills and job, and purging localities of
illegal drugs and traffickers since the 1990s.
Abstract—During Hindu-Muslim riots, Indian police have
historically been unable to effectively deal with illegal detention
and indiscriminate shootings against citizens, and participated
arson and looting with the rioters. The local police and
paramilitary forces have been utilized to their limits in
conducting security operations. It is imperative that trust is
restored between local residents and the police force. This
paper examines the practices of community policing in
Hindu-Muslim riot-prone societies in India since the 1990s.
We analyze how India reinvented methods of community
policing and the steps it took toward keeping harmony between
the religious communities. This study contributes to a growing
approach to riot prevention that suggests the importance of
citizens’ participation in maintaining for the practices of
community policing in India to endure.
In the conclusion, we argue that local engagement contributes
to riot prevention, the significance of citizens’ participation in
keeping a multicultural society encompassing religious
communities.
Index Terms—Citizens’ participation, community policing,
multicultural society, riot prevention.
I. INTRODUCTION
Officially, the Muslim population in India is estimated at
138,188,240, the world’s third largest, next to Indonesia and
Pakistan [1]. Hindu and Muslim riots have been a critical
issue in India since the 1947 Partition. Different
methodologies for studying of Hindu and Muslim riots in
India have developed. Recently, a few studies focusing on
riot prevention have emerged, while considerable research
has been on the causes behind riots, from for example,
historical, anthropological, political, and socio-economic
methodologies [2]-[5]. Still, we must study the specific
attempts to prevent riots and achieve religious harmony in the
area. This study demonstrates how collaborative relations
between local police and citizens can be effective in
preventing Hindu-Muslim riots with the conceptual
framework of community policing. We look at two case
studies through field research.
Manuscript received May 31, 2014; revised August 19, 2014. This work
was supported in part by Research Grant of the Konosuke Matsushita
Memorial Foundation (2010-2011) , the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science
(2011-2012),
JSPS
KAKENHI
Grant
Number
24251003(2012-2017), and the Resona Foundation for Asia and Oceania
(2014-2015) with a study entitled “Effectiveness of Riot Prevention through
Community Policing in India: The Practices of the Mohalla Committees”.
Miharu Yui is with the Graduate School for International Development
and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama,
Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 7398529 Japan (e-mail: mi_haru15y@
yahoo.co.jp).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.571
865
II. METHOD
This study presents the results of more than four years of
research on community policing in the Maharashtra state
from March 2010 to March 2013. I attended some meetings
and events organized by the Mohalla Committees to
interview local police and citizens and observe how local
issues were settled and, what kind of problems arose. The
interviews were conducted on the following ten items from a
questionnaire with 47 participants: (a) What is your view of
the Mohalla Committees? (b) What role do you play in the
Mohalla Committees? (c) Why do you attend the Mohalla
Committees? (d) When and how did you come to know about
the Mohalla Committees? (e) How can the committee
members prevent Hindu-Muslim riots? (f) Do you think the
relationships between Hindus and Muslims have gotten
better? (g) What has been the most important goal for the
Mohalla Committees? (h) Do you have any future plans or
suggestions for the Mohalla Committees? (i) Do you expect
any future Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai? (j) What are the
major difficulties in the activities of the Mohalla Committees?
Participants were introduced by one participant to another
without any intentional religious prejudice; 22 Hindus, 17
Muslims, and 8 Christians. The quantitative data gave us
significant insights into how the relationships between local
police officers and citizens have been effective in creating
and developing the practices of community policing. This
paper begins with previous studies and lays out a conceptual
framework. The second chapter summarizes past
Hindu-Muslim riots and police behavior in India. The third
chapter analyzes how the Mohalla Committees have
prevented Hindu-Muslim riots in Bhiwandi and Mumbai.
The final chapter discusses the outcome and future of
community policing to prevent Hindu-Muslim riots.
Consequently, we argue that citizens’ participation is critical
for the success of community policing in keeping harmony
between different religious communities. This paper
empirically explores which determining factors have been
influential in the success or failure of community policing
between local police and residents in preventing riot
activities.
III. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A. Hindu-Muslim Riots in India
During British rule, the number of Hindu-Muslim riots
increased notably. During the struggle for independence, the
occurrence of riots came to a climax on the borders of what
would become India and Pakistan. After independence, riots
erupted consistently throughout the country from the 1960s
onward.
First, we consider the concept of Hindu and Muslim riots
in India. Tambiah argues that the term “riot” from an
anthropological approach, refers to collectivities of people,
or crowds, engaging in violent acts such as arson, destruction
of property, or physical injury to human beings, including
extreme acts of homicide and rape, directed against a distinct
enemy, whether it is social groups or the state or political
administration [3]. Hindu-Muslim riots also refer to
“communal violence” in official documents and previous
866
studies. The Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of
India defines communal violence in the following manner:
“Communal Violence would refer to planned and
organized acts of violence by members of one community
against members of another community with the intent of
creating or expressing ill-will or hatred and leading to loss of
life or injuries to people” [12].
According to these definitions, we demonstrate that
Hindu-Muslim riots are not spontaneous or suddenly caused
by community differences, but are created intentionally by
organizations that desire to cause harm to certain
communities. This study considers the riots of Hindus and
Muslims as encompassing violent confrontations, such as
arguments, scuffles, looting, arson, and murder. Thus, this
paper defines the concept of Hindu-Muslim riot prevention
as avoidance of scuffles, looting, arson, and murder and of
factors that cause riots indirectly by local police, paramilitary,
and local citizens.
Second, we describe the circumstances of Hindu and
Muslim riots since Partition.
2500
Number of Incidents
Number of Deaths
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Fig. 1. Hindu-Muslim Riots in India (1954–2010) (Source: [4], [13], [14],
edited).
Fig. 1 illustrates the Hindu-Muslim riot in India from 1954
to 2010. The number of incidents and deaths has increased
steadily with peaks in 1965 during the second Indo-Pakistani
War, in 1992 in a series of riots after the demolition of Babri
Mosque, and in 2002 during the Gujarat riot. The total
number of incidents is 22,704 and the number of deaths is
16,552.
This paper advocates a particular approach to riot
prevention. Varshney suggests that civic engagement (e.g., in
business, vocational and cultural associations) between
different religious communities could contribute to peace in
less riot-prone cities [11]. Additionally, Brass shows the
“institutionalized riot system”, which consists of the
preparation, rehearsal, activation, enactment, explanation,
and interpretation of riots by verifying the cases in the Uttar
Pradesh state. Brass points out the role of local Hindu
activists and specialists who have the desire to gain political
power in the area through this system [15]. Both studies offer
meaningful and stimulating arguments for riot prevention.
However, these studies do not clarify how local actors
could collaborate to prevent riots or how their efforts could
be effective. Therefore, this study develops an approach to
riot prevention to answer the question of “how local attempts
could control and prevent riots in an area” through an
empirical study of community policing programs.
for “Scheduled Castes” and “Scheduled Tribes” have been
reserved for minorities under the provisions of the
constitution. Fig. 2 shows the religious composition of
Maharashtra state in 2002.
As Fig. 2 illustrates, Hindu personnel (110,536) are
predominant within the Maharashtra state police force.
Muslim personnel (5,758) are underrepresented compared to
the 11% of the general population identified as Muslim
(10,136,567) in the 2001 Maharashtra state census. We can
point out similar problems in most states in India as well as
Maharashtra.
So, Rai, Additional Director General of the Police in the
Uttar Pradesh state, conducted interviews with riot victims,
200 Hindus and 200 Muslims, and presents the neutral of
Indian police. The term of “neutral” means impartiality or
evenhandedness in enforcement of law in this context. Table
I shows perception of police neutrality between Hindus and
Muslims.
B. The Concept of Community Policing
The concept and methods of community policing have
evolved a collection of related ideas, based on crime
prevention and problem-solving. In the United States, the
National Center for Community Policing was founded at the
Michigan State University in 1983, and over the past few
decades, a considerable number of studies have been
conducted on the concept, and practices of community
policing. Skolnick and Bayley claim that community policing
enhances public security and lowers crime rates, reduces the
fear of crime and makes the public feel less helpless,
reconnects the police with alienated publics, raises police
morale, and makes the police more accountable [16].
In the United States, the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act was enacted in 1994; this act authorized
$8.8 billion from the U.S. Department of Justice over 6 years
to create the Office of Community Oriented Policing Service
(COPS). By July 2009, the COPS office had funded
approximately 117,000 additional officers for more than
13,000 of the nation’s law enforcement agencies [8]. In short,
the practices of community policing in the United States have
evolved through governmental support for the finance and
workforce of the police.
TABLE I: HOW DO YOU FIND POLICE DURING HINDU-MUSLIM RIOTS?
Hindu
Friend
143 (71.5%)
Enemy
13 (6.5%)
Neutral
44 (22%)
(Source: [20], edited)
Muslim
Frequency
3 (1.5%)
146 (36.5%)
194 (97%)
207 (51.7%)
3 (1.5%)
47 (11.7%)
For 97% of Muslim victims, the police during
Hindu-Muslim riots are more like an enemy than friend. On
the contrary, 71.5% Hindu perception for police is friend in
riot situation. And the appreciation of police behavior is
neutral for Muslims is just 1.5% against 22% Hindu’s.
Namely, we ascertain biased Indian Police has acted hostilely
for Muslim and friendly for Hindu during riot situation on
victims’ perception.
Therefore, Hindu dominated police have acted violently in
prejudiced illegal detention and indiscriminate shootings.
Local police have been isolated from the area because local
residents have felt increasing dread and mistrust toward local
police. We argue the necessity for a change in awareness of
serving the local community and consider community
policing as an effective path.
Some local police officers have committed a breach of
confidence and encouraged reform to their law enforcement
process, in particular, in riot-prone cities.
We can characterize the practices of community policing
in India into four aspects: biased police, estranged relations
between police and residents, volunteer community policing,
and reform process of their law enforcement system. Some
programs have been launched by police departments in
particular states to foster better relationships between local
police and citizens. These include Neighborhood Watch
Scheme (Delhi), Mohalla Committees and Mohalla
Committee Movement Trust (Maharashtra), the Friends of
Police Movement (Tamil Nadu), and Nagar Raksha Samiti
Program (Madhya Pradesh) [9], [21], [22].
On the other side, Local Indian police and citizens have
accomplished much through volunteer activities under the
supervision of senior officers without establishing any legal
framework or governmental financial policy, which has
limitations in a few areas. Therefore, it has been difficult to
C. Characteristics of Community Policing in India
Local police are extremely important actors for security
and safety, although they have been impeded by historical
and political obstacles. We describe two structural problems
in their system: the existing laws and Hindu domination in
the composition of police personnel.
After the Indian Mutiny of 1857–1858, the government of
British India established police machinery to strengthen their
colonial rule and enacted the Police Act of 1861 to formalize
the police machinery as a ruler-supporting paramilitary force
[17]. In fact, the Police Act of 1861 has remained a law
despite its incongruence with the developed, democratic
policies of independent India. Even now, most police officers
are conscious of their position as ruler-supporters in
suppressing citizens with force. Although the National Police
Commission has recommended since 1979 that police should
serve impartial and service-oriented functions as a revision to
the law, the Police Act of 1861 has remained in effect for 150
years, so it would take much time and effort to reform it [18].
Fig. 2. The Religious Composition of the Maharashtra State Police (2002)
(Source: [19], edited).
The religious composition of local police forces is also
problematic. Employment opportunities in the public sector
867
IV. RESULT
with the help of pickaxes, hammers, shovels and iron rods,
flattening the entire structure in just 5 hours and 45 minutes.
They claimed the construction of Ram Temple at the site
[27].
The impact of the demolition of the mosque affected the
whole country by the coverage in a moment, and
Hindu-Muslim riots occurred in 13 states including
Maharashtra. While Hindu-Muslim riots occurred in Mumbai,
there were no riots in Bhiwandi. Khopade’s, successor as
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gulabrao Pol, initiated
quick action to prevent riots, for example patrolling with
local citizens and youths angered by the demolition of the
mosque not to act violently. As a result, no riots occurred in
Bhiwandi. The Mohalla Committees became famous for the
“Bhiwandi Experiment” [28].
However, the local meetings had become irregular, and the
local efforts had lacked the enthusiasm to prevent riots
between the members, police officers, and residents since the
late 1990s [29].
Finally, a violent clash between Muslim residents and local
police happened on July 2006, and two citizens and two
police personnel killed. This incident exposed the mere shell
that Mohalla Committees in Bhiwandi had become [30].
A. The Rise and Decline of the Mohalla Committees in
Bhiwandi
The famous power looms of Bhiwandi have been the main
industry since 1950. The majority of the population 65% is
Muslim. Economic and commercial mutual cooperation
produced harmony between the Hindu and Muslim
communities [24]. However, Hindu-Muslim riots occurred in
the Muslim area in May 1970 and May 1984, agitated by
Hindu nationalists. As a result, 187 were killed in 1970 and
1984. Citizens distrusted local police after these two riots.
When Deputy Commissioner of Police Suresh Khopade
arrived in Bhiwandi, he felt that local police should regain the
confidence and understanding of the citizens to create a
proactive machinery among them. He set up 70 Mohalla
Committees to organize meetings to discuss local issues
between police and residents in 1990. There were 25 Hindus
and 25 Muslims, selected by Khopade in each Mohalla
Committee, chosen regardless of their occupation or sex [25].
We consider whether local members equally representing
each community could lead an organization of the citizens
and promote the significance of multicultural society.
Main five aims of the Mohalla Committees as: (a) to watch
and gather information about the specific individuals who
intend to incite mobs through hate speech, slogans, and
rumors against the different religious communities; (b) to
intervene and solve the daily happenings, such as
landholding, domestic violence, and the dowry problem; (c)
to construct a surveillance and patrol system between the
police and the public; (d) to promote local communication by
organizing religious processions and meetings between local
police officers and residents; (e) to redress citizens’ distrust
of police and restore impartial police professional service
[26]. Khopade tried to restore residents’ trust in police
officers and a sense of security in preventing riots.
On 6 December 1992, a mob of over 150,000 Hindus
demolished the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh,
B. The Evolution of the Mohalla Committees Movement
Trust in Mumbai
The casualties of the Hindu-Muslim riots were
unprecedented, totaling 900 lives (575 Muslims, 275 Hindus,
45 unknown and other). The riots occurred for two weeks
from December 1992 to January 1993 as a result of the
demolition of Babri Mosque. The causes of deaths were
police gunfire (356), stabbing (347), arson (91), mob action
(80), private gunfire (22), and other causes (4) [31]. It is
noteworthy that about 40% of deaths were caused by police
gunfire. Local police were unable to enforce law and order in
Mumbai. Later, the New York Times revealed that senior
officers at the police headquarters repeatedly ordered
constables in the field to allow Muslim homes to burn and to
prevent aid from Muslim victims [32].
We find the limitations of reactive law enforcement in the
conspiracy of Hindu nationalists to attack Muslim residents
during the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992–1993. Furthermore,
serial bomb blasts resulted in the deaths of between 257 and
713 people at ten sites in Mumbai on 12 March 1993. The key
figure in the serial bomb blasts case was a Muslim, Tiger
Memon. And two of his accomplices had suffered a bullet
injury during the riots of 1992-1993, so the police felt they
had motives for vengeance. The bomb blasts case accelerated
hate and suspicion between Hindu and Muslim residents
[31].
There was suspicion, division, and mistrust between
Hindus, Muslims and local police. Therefore, local police
urgently had to tackle task of developing proactive law
enforcement activities with the collaboration of local
residents to resolve the situation.
A Muslim sheriff, Fakruddin Khorakiwala ordered to an
investigation of why Hindu and Muslim riots did not occur in
Bhiwandi while Mumbai burned on February 1993. The
inquiry of Khorakiwala’s commission demonstrated that the
Deputy Commissioner of Police in Bhiwandi had initiated
maintain their will to involve the community in policing, and
it has taken much time to redress citizens’ distrust of police.
That is, we argue that the practices in India have been
valuable in supporting volunteer work between law
enforcement officers and local residents. Some practices of
community policing in India have been gradually assessed by
state government, media, and politicians since the
mid-1990s.
Now, we find the recent tendency to formulate legal
systems to institute the function of community policing. The
Ministry of Home Affairs stipulates the activities of
community policing in a bill called the Model Police Act
2006, and suggests the policy of riot prevention in the
Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to
Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011.
Additionally, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advocated
methods of community policing to counter growing urban
crime rates [23]. The Government of India and state
governments are assuming the significance of community
policing step by step.
868
riot prevention through the practice of community policing in
close cooperation with the citizens in spite of the lack of
resources of the police [33].
Then, Chief Minister Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra
authorized
Khorakiwala’s
suggestion
immediately.
Additionally, three prominent people,
former Police
Commissioner of Mumbai Julio Ribeiro, social worker
Sushobha Barve, and then Police Commissioner of Mumbai
Satish Sahney launched the Mohalla Committees Movement
Trust (MCMT) in Mumbai together after meeting with
Muslim residents.
The main purpose of the MCMT in Mumbai is to construct
closer relationships and to support multicultural society
through local police officers in different communities [34].
The initial founders have different backgrounds as a Muslim,
a Christian, and a Hindu. In brief, their composition
embodied the message of the MCMT in Mumbai, which
emphasized the significance of harmony between the
different religions. Thus, local residents can naturally accept
the message and practice of the MCMT in Mumbai.
Gradually, local Hindu, Muslim, and Christian citizens
have come to participate in the workings of the MCMT,
transferring their initiatives from police to local members.
The activities of the MCMT were authorized under the
Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 by the government of
Maharashtra on October 1996 under the leadership of Ribeiro
[35].
Waqar Khan, a local Muslim member in the Dharavi area,
developed the common slogan and symbol of the MCMT,
“Ham Sab Ek Hain” (We are all one) [36].
The MCMT cooperated with 34 police offices to
accomplish functioning community policing in Mumbai in
2010 [37].
The main event of the MCMT is the Peace Cricket Match.
Cricket is a popular and national sport in South Asian
countries. The international cricket match would make use of
the conference between the leaders of India and Pakistan as
“cricket diplomacy”. It is an effective instrument to create
harmony through cricket matches. They placed regulations
on team formation that, at least, two religious minorities
should play on the team, for example, a Muslim or a Christian,
and the captain should be a police officer. The Hindu and
Muslim players can play together as one team in the Peace
Cricket Match. While they are attending the cricket match,
they have opportunities to communicate with each other. I
interviewed some players who said they had befriended
players from other religious communities [38].
The April 1995 was campaign opposing the film Bombay
on the theme of the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992–93. The
members of the MCMT persuaded the film detractors not to
attack particular communities, and the situation kept calm
while the film played.
The MCMT held eight local meetings concerning a
residents’ dispute in the Imamwada area in July 1995. They
established the causes of the confrontation as unemployment
problems and a water shortage. The MCMT opened a
vocational training for aspiring electricians and plumbers,
and provided volleyball courts and ping-pong tables for the
youth to dissipate stress. Furthermore, the local community
achieved a consensus to hold regular meetings among their
869
leaders on how to secure clean water [39].
In the Imamwada area, the MCMT also established the
Imamwada Mohalla Committee Computer Training Center
(PC Cell) in 1997 to empower local Muslim and Hindu
women to find employment [40].
Regarding the empowerment of women, the MCMT has
run a Women’s Grievances Redressal Cell at the seven
police stations with Hindu, Muslim, Christian female
counselors since 1997. The most common topic is domestic
violence and family problems, and there is no consulting
charge. In case of emergency, police officers come and calm
the situation at each cell [41].
Recently, the Mahim area has become a hotbed of crime
and disorder by illegal drug traffickers, addicts, beggars, and
prostitutes. Burhan Parkar, a Muslim facilitator of the
MCMT, invited Joint Police Commissioner Sadanand Date to
discuss decline in public security at their local meeting on
November 2012. Parkar and local citizens launched a local
clean plan to get rid of illegal drug traffickers and addicts,
and to dispose of garbage [42]. The MCMT has its own
influence and presence to remove criminals focusing on riot
prevention in the Mahim area.
After the massive riots of 2002, which left 790 Muslims
and 254 Hindus dead in Gujarat state, the MCMT and local
police came to grips with riot prevention, acknowledging that
Hindu nationalists was trying to trigger Hindu mob agitation
in Mumbai. Immediately, the Mahim police station held a
meeting with the MCMT urging citizens not to react, and
Dongri police station opened the amity cultural program with
the MCMT. Additionally, local police and the MCMT held a
rally around the area to promote peace, and the atmosphere in
Mumbai remained calm [43].
After the Gujarat riots in 2002, Waqar Khan and Baul
Korde made a motion picture titled Ham Sab Ek Hain: Ekta
Sandesh (We are All One: The Message for Unity)
concerning the Gujarat Earthquake on January 26, 2001,
which documented how all people were rescued, irrespective
of their religious differences. The MCMT often screens this
film to promote harmony [36]. Korde and Khan promoted the
importance of religious harmony and multicultural society
for local residents through the film. We describe how their
attempts could be effective to convey a message of harmony
regardless of age, sex or religion for every generation.
Thakkar demonstrates that the experience of the MCMT in
Mumbai highlights that common problems call for common
action, and the ability of community to cope with critical
situations has to be constantly discovered and rediscovered
[10].
Sharma argues that the work of the MCMT has only been
successful in areas where police officers have taken personal
interests and have ensured that the right kind of people are
inducted into committees [39]. According to Sharma’s view,
we find the difficulties depend on individual police officers’
discretion in sustaining the practices of community policing.
V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
This study examines how collaborative relations between
local police and citizens can be effective in preventing
Hindu-Muslim riots within the conceptual framework of
community policing.
We consider the results of the practices of the Mohalla
Committees in Bhiwandi as a failed case and the Mohalla
Committees Movement Trust in Mumbai as a successful case.
These two practices differed in their involvement of citizens,
with the case in Bhiwandi failing, and the case in Mumbai
succeeding.
Once, the Mohalla Committees became famous as the
“Bhiwandi Experiment” after no Hindu-Muslim riots
occurred during the demolition of Babri Mosque. However,
the local meetings became irregular, and the local efforts
were too weak to prevent riots between members, police
officers, and residents after the late 1990s. On July 2006, two
citizens and two police personnel were killed during a violent
clash between Muslim residents and local police. The
incident exposed the Mohalla Committees in Bhiwandi as
having collapsed.
In summary, we find the following three features of
community policing by the MCMT in Mumbai: (1) A Muslim
sheriff suggested the foundation of the MCMT to chief
minister immediately after the riot in 1993; (2) The practices
have been organized by volunteers from different religious
communities and local police and have focused on enhancing
the quality of life in the neighborhood by supporting
job-hunting, empowering women, and holding sports and
recreational events; (3) The main aims are to maintain
communication between police personnel and local residents,
and to promote a multicultural society. The active workings
of the MCMT have endured and developed without the
outbreak of any riots since 1993.
We show that attempts by the local police and citizens to
prevent Hindu-Muslim rioting were effective, while riots
occurred in neighboring areas.
These practices suggest us the possibilities for expanding
the approach and methods of community policing to all of
India. The most important factor in community policing is
citizens’ participation in order to secure the cooperative
relationship between police and citizens in solving
community problems. It is necessary to keep in mind that
citizens’ participation must be maintained for the practices of
community policing in India to endure.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[23]
Miharu Yui thanks Professor T. Sakano, Dr. S. Nakamura
from Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe
University, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer from Center for Study of
Society and Secularism, and Professor P. Trivedi from Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay for their valuable advices.
Also I am grateful to the numerous participants and police
officers in Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Pune.
[24]
[25]
[26]
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1993”, New Delhi: Delhi Regional Branch, Indian Institute of Public
Administration, 1998.
[41] M. Ishwala, Personal Interview, 28 January 2011.
[42] B. Parkar, Personal Interview, 22 December 2012.
[43] Mohalla Peace Panels Meet on Bandh Eve, The Indian Express, 1
March 2002.
[30] R. M. Prabohini, Police- Muslim Miscreants Confrontation in
Bhiwandi, a Report, Mumbai: Center for Human Right’s Studies and
Awareness, 2006.
[31] B. N. Srikrishna Commission, Report of the Justice B. N. Srikrishna
Commission on the Mumbai Riots of 1992-1993, Mumbai: Sabrang
Communications and Publishing Pvt, 1998, p. 18, pp. 44-45.
[32] C. Fernandez and N. Fernandes, “A City at War with itself,” in When
Bombay Burned, Reportage and Comments on the Riots and Blasts
from the Times of India, D. Padgaonkar, Ed., New Delhi: UBS
Publisher’s Distributors Ltd, 1993, pp.42-108.
[33] R. Singh, Lessons from Bhiwandi, The Indian Express, July 18, 1993.
[34] Personal Interviews with 22 members of the MCMT, January-March
2010.
[35] Mohalla Committee Movement Trust. [Online]. Available:
http://ccbtindia.org/page1.html
[36] A. Hammed. Waqar Khan Passes away Leaving Dharavi Orphaned.
Two
circles.
net.
[Online].
Available:
http://twocircles.net/node/142119
[37] S. Sahney, Personal Interview, 13 April 2010.
[38] A. Khan and A. Siddique, Muslim residents in Mumbai, Personal
Interview, January 29, 2011.
[39] K. Sharma, Mohalla Ekta Committees, a Documentation, Mumbai: The
Mohalla Committee Movement Trust, n.d., p. 7.
[40] S. A. Jabbar, Personal Interview, 24 April 2010.
Miharu Yui is an assistant professor, Graduate School
for International Development and Cooperation,
Hiroshima University, Japan. She was a research
fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science during 2011-2012. Also, she is a Ph.D.
candidate of the Graduate School of Intercultural
Studies, Kobe University, Japan. Currently, she
published 6 articles, “Efforts to Prevent Ethnic
Conflict between Local Police and Citizens in India:
The Activities of Mohalla Committees in Mumbai,” The International
Journal of Science in Society, vol. 3, issue 4, pp. 57-70, 2012. Her academic
interests include security, policing, multiculturalism. She has been working
with Prof. Pushpa Trivedi of the Department of Humanities and Social
Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay since 2004.
871
Bipolar Emotional Response Testing of Online News
Website Content: Indonesia Case
Irwansyah

Abstract—Indonesia media have concerned with the
existence of the Internet. Several printed media created online
news website that can be accessed by various devices. However,
none of the online news websites were evaluated by any tools.
This study proposed to evaluated online news websites based on
emotional response of users. By adopting bipolar emotional
response, the experiment study evaluated the content from
credibility, quality, liking, and representativeness aspects.
Results revealed that emotional response of users had various
polarization on every aspect of content. This finding shows that
Indonesia online news websites have different response
emotionally among users from different devices.
Index Terms—Online news website, content, bipolar
emotional response, polarization.
I. INTRODUCTION
Printed media starts to concern with the existence of the
new media technology, Internet. One of printed media
concern is creating news websites that can be accessed online.
In Indonesia, Kompas newspaper that has circulation of
500,000 exemplars per day and the readership reaches
1,850,000 people [1], creates Kompas.com, Kompas e-paper
and Kompas Digital. Another media such as Harian
Republika that has a 110,000 of readership (republika.co.id,
2012), creates Republika Online (ROL) within two years
after its daily newspaper published. In addition, another
printed media such as Tempo, published in 1971, creates
Tempo Interaktif (tempo.co). Interestingly, Tempo Interaktif
can be accessed not only from personal computer but also
from other gadgets, such as mobile phone, BlackBerry,
IPhone, IPad, and Android tablet personal computer (PC)
[2].
The concern of printed news media about the creation of
online news media version confirms the decreasing number
of printed news media readers, such as daily newspaper [3].
For example, the number of printed newspaper readers in the
nine big cities in Indonesia decreases from 25.1% to 15% in
2006 while the number of online news readers increases 23%
in 2000 and reaches 29% in 2004 [4]. In addition, paid online
newspaper readers increase twofold (9%) in 2013 [5]. The
existence of newspaper as digital and online news media
changes the platform of medium but also the judgement of
readers on the content [6]. Online readers found that contents
of online news top stories are more various than newspaper
[7]. Content variety of online news websites could be
Irwansyah is with the Communication Department University of
Indonesia,
Salemba,
Jakarta,
10430
Indonesia
(e-mail:
[email protected])
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.572
872
produced by using hypertextuality that gives access to other
news from various sources. As a result the news distribution
can run easily and fast [8]. However, the speed of online
news publication sometimes affects negatively toward news
standard [9]. News editors do not have much time to verify
the fact of the news [10]. As a result, the content of online
newspaper does not have factual evidence and editor
checking, and affects the credibility issue.
Credibility issue often appears sequently with the content
change in online news media [11]. In addition, credibility
issue lies in the initial sequence that determines the quality of
the content of online news websites [12]. Gladney et al. also
identify other values such as trustworthiness, accuracy,
informative and beneficial content which become a part of
quality that are appreciated by the workers of online news. As
a result, news quality of online media has similar standard
with traditional or print media [1]. A good of content quality
shows the journalism standard in the online news websites
[12]-[14]. Content quality can be seen on how online news
writing could deliver the message well [15]. Thus, content
quality is also one of important aspects to indicate the
performance of online news websites and the readers‟
experience of accessing news [16], including the readers‟
enjoyment of online news content [15]. Moreover, the liking
of the content shows the affection reaction of any experience
[17]. The affection reaction could be feeling of happiness,
sadness, or liking [17], [18]. Moreover, Douglas states that
the affection experience of online websites readers
undoubtedly affects the readers‟ emotion when having
interaction with the websites. Therefore, many online news
websites provide interactive feature to make the readers feel
involved in news experience [19].
Credibility, quality, and liking could not be separated from
the existence of representation [15]. Sundar shows that
representativeness could measure the online news perception
to all news content. It is identified by using hypertext that
correlated with any keywords from all online news website
(shovelware) [20]. However, the studies about credibility,
quality, liking, dan representativeness on online news are still
limited to the importance of perception and content. To date,
there is no specific study that indicates the level of user‟s
response emotionally as the effect [15]. In the mean time,
according to
Al-Radaideh, Abu-Shanab, Hamam, &
Abu-Salem [21], the study of effect is a part of evaluation
study which can explore the way of user to see, feel, and use
an online news media website.
The evaluation study focused on the characteristic of
emotional response also becomes important to (1) indicate
that emotion could be transferred by certain brand and could
form a perception and to (2) bring engagement and the ability
to remember (memorability). In addition, emotional response
could also construct a customer or user e-satisfaction when
accessing online website [22]. While accesing online website,
the user could be identified based on technology device
(personal computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and web
browser platform (mobile and non-mobile web browser) [23].
Therefore, this study explores the importance of measuring
emotional response in various technology devices and
platform used to access online news websites.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Nowadays, digital journalism gathers, produces and sends
news and information to computer 'literate' readers [24], [25].
The form of traditional media [8] is finally replaced by a new
„form‟ media with a continuous development of technology
[26]. Moreover, Fidler states that there are only two choices
that are faced by the media because of the technology
development: change or die. However most of the media
change to seek a new business opportunity which is not exist
yet in the traditional media [25]-[27]. As a result, there are
three important things in respect to transition of the media to
digitalization era. First, technology of developing media is on
the opposite of the current technology. Second, the
adaptation of media emerges as a response of the newest form
of technology. Third, traditional media choose to cope with
newer format and more sophisticated technology [25].
Consequently, digitalization has an implication to the
morphosis of the newspaper from previously in the form of
printed to be in the form of 'flat screen'-based website.
Therefore, news consumption will be no longer in the form of
printed paper but moving to be online.
News website is a site that provides information about the
latest events or occasion or collaboration of traditional
journalism and comments. News website becomes online
when it is combined with the form and features of
interactivity, hypertextuality, and multimedia. There are
three categories of online news websites. The first is the
mainstream. It is the online news websites that are the most
spread this time and the media is an extension and the second
distribution form of traditional newspapers. The second is the
independent. It is the online news websites which production
and distribution is only on website-based. Third is the index.
It is the online search engine or Internet news portal which
provides the content from other various online news websites
[8].
Online news website has existed since mid-1990s with the
presence of World Wide Web [28]. The first service of online
newspaper in the United States is the Chicago Tribune's
Online that was published in 1992. However, the track of the
origin of online news is started from the beginning of 1980s
when the Knight-Riders newspaper group and
telecommunications company AT&T launched an
experiment of videotext which was called Viewtron [29].
Viewtron gave the news in accordance with the requests
(news on demand) via a computer and television to customer.
While in Indonesia, the early history of the voice information
service in text (teletext service) and information service in
picture and text (videotext service) was not achieved but it
was stated in Law No. 24 of 1997 about broadcasting (State
873
Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia Number 3701 of 1997).
The importance of the content on the Internet especially
digital and online media was delivered by Bill Gate in 1996
by saying "content is king" [30]. Then Chaffey and Mill says
that "content is still king” [31]. In the context of online news,
media organizations need to give an original and important
content that can affect the life and social impact so that the
online news media become the prestigious news sources [32].
Moreover, search engine like Google also emphasizes on the
importance of the content because it searches for sites which
are capable to give high-quality content. The quality also
plays an important role in constructing readers‟ perceptions
of the abilities and trustworthiness on website [33].
In terms of content, online media which are able to
combine the credibility, high quality information and
interactive presentation, will be successful and surviving [34].
For that reason, McIntosh adds that online media must
prioritize the quality journalism to get public trustworthiness.
Then the content of online news should provide content that
has a stronger locality-oriented than one of the newspaper [35]
and more like 'shovelware‟ [6], [35], [36].
Several studies that evaluate the content of online news
focus on credibility [37] quality, liking, and
representativeness [15]. Study on media credibility shows
that the more credibility of media was, the higher use of the
media was. Credibility issues are related to the ease of news
site to publish news online [8]. Credibility also has a great
influence on news, which will decide whether or not the
readers believe it [38]. Credibility of news site was proven to
have a positive effect on media consumption. The readers of
news site only access the site they accept as credible site with
a high frequency accessing [39].
Credibility is a variable attributed to communicator by
receiver of information [40], [41]. The concept of credibility
includes three dimensions: the source, the messages, and the
media. Credibility of the source is related to persuasion in the
level of interpersonal communication. Credibility of the
message focuses on the characteristics that make them
credible or not. Credibility of the media is related to trust of
the readers toward information, spread by the media. Those
three dimensions are used to measure various aspects of the
content site of online news. Credibility is often attached to
the term “can be trusted (believable, trustworthy), unbiased,
competent, credible and skilled.” Other dimensions can
measure accuracy, relevance and completeness of the content
[37].
Components of credibility also can be seen from the type
of media and channels used such as a face-to-face
conversation, newspaper or web-based information. There
are three unique and interesting aspects in respect of online
news credibility: (1) whether contents of online news have
the same credibility with traditional media (newspaper), (2)
what distinguishes the credibility among the media, and (3)
how the assessment of media credibility based on the content
topics that have been presented is [8]. Measurements of
credibility from various media can be performed by
comparing the readers‟ perception of the belief, reliability,
justice, unbiased, balance, community relationship, easy
usage, completeness, quiet, hospitality, accuracy and interest
of each media [37].
To evaluate online information on digital literacy of
communication channels, it requires five criteria of
credibility: (1) accuracy, (2) authority, (3) objectivity, (4)
progressive situation, and (5) scope. Accuracy refers to the
level when the news site is free from error either information
that can be verified online or reliable information on this site.
The authority of the site is considered by assessment of the
author‟s existence and contact information which are
provided well personally or in level of organization, belief,
qualifications and affiliation of the authors or sources that
can be trusted. Objectivity involves an identification of goals
of the site and the information provided; that is a fact or
opinion that involves the understanding of the commercial
purposes, conflict of interest of the source of information,
including the relations among them. While now seen from the
information delivered is the result of updates. While
coverage refers to the overall and into the information
provided by this site [37].
Study of quality, liking, and representativeness showed the
importance of perception ratings in the content of
information that is delivered [15]. The site quality is the
grade or level of a good or superior communication. The
quality can be seen from measurement of the story presented
according
to
the
criteria:
clarity,
coherency,
comprehensiveness,
evaluation,
and
a
good
writing. Indicators for quality of the news media includes
financial stability and independent, integrity, social attention,
good writing/editing, and power of opinion and interpretive
analysis, professionalism and staff intelligence, influential
power of opinion leader, expanding readers‟ education and
intellectual, consciousness and emphasis on politics,
international relation, economy, social welfare, culture,
education and [12]. While the measurement for liking is the
affection reaction by involving a feeling to the entire story in
this site, and then developed by the criteria of bored, vivid,
enjoyable, interesting and fun [17]. Then the measuremet
related to the representativeness is the summary of the
information on the site seen by criteria of important,
informative, relevant and punctual [15].
Ratings perception in information content shows cognitive
strata of the readers [42]. While the measurement of
perception has not been able to show the content
polarization, content polarization can be viewed from the
measurement of emotional response. Douglas also shows that
the emotional measurement is usually performed in studies
on consumers and market research. The studies adopt
a Mehrabian and Russell's Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance's
scale, Plutchik's eight basic emotions categories, and Izard's
Differential Emotional Scale. In general, a study of emotion
develops two perspectives on psychological study: (1)
cognitive perspective and (2) social constructivist
perspective [18]. Cognitive perspective assesses emotion as a
cognitive function and describes individual response as
'organized syndrome' [43]. Social constructivist perspective
states that emotion can only be understood through social
analysis [44]. Therefore, emotion could be affected by
interpersonal relation, social macro and culture. Emotion is
also the result of individual evaluation toward the
environment which is considered as positive or negative
stimuli. Each person could evaluate stimuli based on the
positive or negative pole such as good or bad, and fun or
painful. The result of the evaluation will determine an
individual to approach or avoid the source of the stimuli [18].
Several studies has applied emotional measurements on
the website. Lai applied elaboration likelihood model and
develop the scale of positive and negative afective schedule
(PANAS) Scale on a cosmetic site [22] while Douglas
applied website emotional design (WED) scale on travel
website [18]. Other emotional response studies [45], [46] has
been used to reconceptualize and redesign website including
to understand users‟s need and want.
In line with the mobile communication technology
developement, access of online news website expands from
static to be mobile device. According to the result of the
study conducted by Reuters Institute for the Study of
Journalism, the use of mobile device to access online news
continues to increase, especially smartphone. This study also
shows a trend of consumption of multi-platform online news.
One of three men (33%) accesses online news through two
devices, and a small number of them (9%) accesses it through
more than three devices [47]. As a result, online news
website follows the trend to get more potential readers by
developing a multi-access site such as personal and portable
computer including tablet and smartphone. Multi-access site
from various devices give readers and potential user to get
news “anytime and anywhere”. Moreover, “smarter” mobile
phones have features that are able to give alert for any news
information updated from the site [48].
Moreover, now mobile phones are equipped with various
multifunctional applications such as song player, camera,
messages sender, email reader, Internet browser, even
television. Our time was spent mostly in front of the flat
screen of mobile phone to do various activities. Moreover,
reading news could be done at the same time as other
activities, such as watching television. As a result, readers
like more to see news from mobile phone. Mcquaid calls this
trend as the third screen, where various activities such
as watching movies, watching television and reading news
are much more eagerly undertaken on mobile devices such as
mobile phone [49]. Even, in this time, online news website
provides Really Simple Syndication (RSS) service that
enables syndication of website content in the various devices
so the readers can still receive the latest content without
having to visit the site [50].
III. RESEARCH METHOD
An approach that is used to measure credibility, quality,
liking, and representativeness of content of online news
website is generally quantitative approach, with the survey
method [12], [18], [22], [51], contents analysis [25] or
experiment [15]. Since this study is new and has not been
studied yet in Indonesia context, the study applied an
experiment method to measure readers‟ different perceptions
of the news site content.
Participants and Procedures. The participants in this
experiment were voluntary, where the candidates of
participants who met the requirements had to register
themselves to be involved in the experiment. Invitations to be
the participants had been spread through announcement
874
boards in campus, Faculty of Social and Political Science,
University of Indonesia and various mailing lists of the
students. There were two requirements of being the
participant. First, the potential participant was possessing a
device to access the site, such as personal computer (PC),
laptop, tablet
PC, tablet/pad or smartphone.
Second,
potential participants had ever accessed online news
websites at least for a week latest. Experiment group
consisted of 120 participants to get an ideal number for an
experiment. Unfortunately, not all participants answered the
questionnaire some of them left blank the question. The
response rate of filling items on the questionnaire is more
than 70%.
In the experiments group, the participants were divided
into three batches which each batch consisted of forty people.
Each batch followed three phases of experiment. In the first
phase, the participants were asked to enter a room that had
been provided various devices to access the online news
website. The devices consisted of five types, namely PC,
laptop, tablet PC, tablet or pad, and smartphone, and each
type were provided two units. The choice of accessing device
toward the site was based on the survey result that had ever
been conducted by Kontan. The survey results of Kontan
Team last May 5-11, 2011 placed IPad in the first sequence
(19.7% of male respondents, 29.2% of female respondents)
and then it was followed by Galaxy Tab (9 percent of male
respondents, 15.7% of female respondents), Playbook
(10.4 % of respondents), Acer Iconia (4.4% of respondents),
PC-Laptop-Netbook (16 percent). Then the highest was also
in Smartphone Android (49.2%). Then the participants were
welcomed to choose one of devices.
In the second phase, the participants were asked to access
ten Indonesia online news website. Based on the top of ten
Indonesia online news website, antaranews.com is the most
accessed by participant, so this article focused on
antaranews.com as an example.
In the third phase, after accessing ten online news website
at one of the devices, participants were asked to fill
questionnaire of bipolar emotional responses. It took ten
minutes to fill the questionnaire for each site. Then, the
participants moved to other device and access the same ten
online news websites for the next four different devices.
Therefore, each participant would fill five questionnaires for
five types of devices and ten online news website. The
experiment process took at least two hours for each
participant. Then all submissions of questionaires were
checked and each participant was given a mount of money to
reimburse their transportation and it was also as reward of
participating on the experiment.
Measurements and Research Instrument. Emotional
responses toward the content of online news website were
measured from four variables: credibility, quality, liking and
representativeness. Each variable was evaluated using
nine-scale of bi-polar adjective. The bipolar adjective test
had been also used on the measurement of user experience
for interactive television (IPTV) [52] and media
communication and online news website of BBC [45]. The
use of bipolar emotional response testing (BERT) analysis in
the site aims to bring emotional responses to the users in
respect to the state and the reaction toward the unwanted site
that was already existed, still in initial design, or in final
design.
Measurements of BERT used a differential semantic scale.
This scale was commonly used to measure evaluation of
emotional response by the couple of opposite adjectives to
show the two extreme poles (bipolar) that were different [53],
[54]. Operationalization of the four variables was performed
by forming an indicator that was opposite one another. The
credibility is measured by five indicators: 1) accurate
(inaccurate vs. accurate), 2) authority (unwritten vs. written),
3) objectivity (subjective vs. objective), 4) update (out of
date vs. up to date), and 5) scope (national vs. local). The
quality is measured by five indicators: 1) clarity
(unclear vs. clear), 2) coherent (unsuitable vs. suitable), 3)
comprehensive (incomplete vs. complete), 4) concise (absent
vs. present), and 5) writing (bad vs. good). The liking is
measured by five indicators: 1) variety (not various vs.
various, 2) lively (flat vs. vivid), 3) enjoyable (boring vs.
enjoyable), 4) interesting (uninteresting vs. interesting), and
5) pleasing (unpleasant vs. pleasant). The representativeness
is measured by four indicators: 1) disturbing (absent vs.
present); 2) informative (educative vs. informative); 3)
relevant (irrelevant vs. relevant); 4) timely (late vs. timely).
Those indicators were arranged sequentially in the
questionnaire sheets. Each indicator has a range of
differential semantic scale of 1-10 [55] that then was filled by
the participants. That range was divided into five negative
score (-5) and five positive scores (5). The number zero was
deliberately removed in these instruments to avoid an answer
with any doubts. The presentation of bipolar testing referred
to bipolar graph used by BBCi to measure the emotional
responses of the readers [45]. The graph showed the patterns
and the shape of the response emotional testing result. The
scores of the participants were grouped based on the site
accessed and the devices used. The bipolar graph also
explained the polarization among those indicators which
were measured. Based on the measurements of differential
semantics, the polarization had a range of 1-9 [55]. The range
is divided into three categories: 1) low range polarization
(1-3), 2) middle range polarization (4-6), and high range
polarization (7-9). The low range polarization indicated that
there was a similarity of emotional responses. Middle range
polarization showed various emotional responses but they
are not extreme one another. While the high
range polarization was on the two extreme points that
indicated a strong reaction that was inconsistent between
people to the site. Feeling and assessment that emerged were
various and very different from one another.
Besides the measurement of polarization range, the scale
of emotional level response was measured as well [22]. It
was an accumulation of the score for each indicator. The
accumulation score of each dimension are then categorized
into low, medium and high level. The scale of low level
response showed a negative emotional response to the
content dimension. On the other hand, the scale of high
response showed a positive emotional response to the content
dimension. While scale of middle level response indicated
the emotional response was on the moderate side, which is
neither negative nor positive.
The Validity and Reliability. The validity was performed
875
in two ways. The first was the content validity that viewed the
result of items scale from three variables that observed during
the bipolar test using the KMO test and Bartlett Test of
Sphericity. The second was the concept validity that referred
back to the concept and the theory used in literature. While
the reliability was counted by Alpha's Cronbach on the items
scale that were produced by bipolar test. The next step was
analysis of the exploratory factors (EFA) to see the division
based on the dimensions of content variables. EFA was also
used to reduce some indicators that were invalid [18], [56].
IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The statistical measurement of internal consistency and the
samples sufficiency show that the four dimensions are valid.
According to the factor analysis, a new dimension is formed
(“update & timely” dimension) and there is a (“credibility”)
dimension that join with another (“quality”) dimension.
Therefore, the new four dimensions consist of credibility &
quality, liking, representativeness, and update & timely
dimension. Thus, all the variables observed are considered to
be valid because the KMO value is more than 0.5 [56]. Since
the Bartlett Test shows the statistical significance level of
p<0.0005 and the coefficient of degree of freedom (df) is not
zero, the variables observed is considered to be satisfactory
and can be processed in the next statistics procedure. The
result of reliability shows some different reliability point
limits. For example the liking dimension has the highest
value with excellent reliability while the credibility & quality
dimension and the update & timely dimension have a high
reliability. In addition, the representativeness has moderate
reliability. Thus, every dimension in the measurement of the
content of the online news website has a good internal
consistency although in the various level.
From those 16 indicators of antaranews.com content on PC
Desktop, there are 10 indicators (62.5%) which have the low
range of polarization. From the graph, it can be seen two
dimensions (representativeness and update & timely) which
have a low polarization. Those show emotional response
similarity and emotional consistency to representativeness,
update, and timely of antaranews.com news content. The
range of polarization tends to direct to the right side. It means
that the news content of antaranews.com seems to be accurate,
have a written authority, to be objective, clear, suitable, good
writing, various, relevant, and up to date.
On the other hand, the indicators which have the high
range of polarization are the comprehensive and the
interesting. It means that an emotional inconsistency happens
from the comprehensive and the interesting sides of
antaranews.com news accessed through desktop PC. From
the 16 indicators of antaranews.com content on laptop, there
are seven indicators (43.75%). It means that they have the
low range of polarization. The range of polarization tends to
direct to the right side. It shows that the content of
antaranews.com news on laptop seems to be accurate, clear,
suitable, vivid, enjoyable, interesting, and up to date.
In addition, in the high range of polarization, there is found
four indicators (25%) namely, the authority, writing,
informative and relevant. Those indicators show the various
and inconsistent emotional response on the aspect. Based on
bipolar graph, the content of antaranews.com in tablet PCs
876
can be seen that there are only two indicators (12.5%) which
have the low range polarization. They are the accurate and
the clarity. In addition, there are 10 indicators (62.5%) that
have the high polarization. The more indicators that have the
high polarization indicate that the news content of
antaranews.com accessed through tablet PCs is considered
inconsistent and extremely various.
Antaranews.com news content accessed through
tablet/pad shows that there are 14 indicators (87.5%) that
have the low range polarization. In addition, there are only
two indicators (12.5%) that have the middle polarization. It
means that the emotional response to the antaranews.com
news content is similar and consistent. From 16 indicators of
the news content accessed through smartphone, there are
only three indicators (18.75%) which have the low range
polarization. They are the relevant, the update and the
accurate. The update & timely dimension shows a similarity
of emotional response and emotional consistency to the
update and the accurate of antaranews.com news content. In
addition, there are only two indicators (12.5%) which have
the high range polarization. The rest (68.75%) shows the
middle range polarization. It means that the dominant
response on smartphone is various but not extreme, and it
does not show either consistency or inconsistency.
After considering the polarization of antaranews.com on
the five accessing devices, the next step is measuring
emotional response of the content of the online news website
by considering the scale of emotional response level. The
scale is arranged by accumulating the indicator score of each
dimension. The result of score accumulation is divided into
three categories: 1) low, 2) middle, and 3) high. The division
of this category is based on the range of the minimum and
maximum score in every dimension. The credibility &
quality dimension has a value range 70 with minimum score
(-35) and maximum score (35). It means the score of (-35) to
(-11.7) is categorized as low, the score of (-11.6) to 11.5 is
categorized as middle, and the score of 11.6 - 35 is classified
as high. The liking dimension has a value range 50 with
minimum score (-25) and maximum score (25). In this
dimension, the score of (-25) to (-7) is categorized as low, the
score of (-6) to 8 is categorized as middle, and the score of 9
to 25 is classified as high. In addition, the representativeness
and update & timely dimensions have the same range, that is
20 with minimum score (-10) and maximum score 10. In the
both dimensions, the score of (-10) to (-4) is categorized as
low, the score (-3) to 3 is categorized as middle and the
score more than 3 is categorized as high.
Discussion Hits. The experiment study shows that there
are different results in the division of dimensions from the
previous similar research [15], [17], [21], [42]. This study
also successfully tests the concept of emotional responses.
This is shown by the formed classification of the new
dimensions that have already been tested their validity and
reliability statistically. In the Sundar‟s research [15], the
credibility dimension was differentiated from the quality
dimension. However, in this research, the both dimensions
join to one dimension, namely the credibility & quality. It
shows that the content credibility also indicates the content
quality. The credibility occupies the first order to determine
the quality of online news content [12]. It agrees with
Fidler„s [26] opinion which states that the credibility of the
news that still uses a website model and has not been mature
yet to be accessed through various kinds of smartphone. As
the result, the readers of online news have various responses
but not too extreme. The high polarization is found in the
tablet PCs and it shows that the various emotional responses
are on the both extreme points and inconsistent. It means that
the participants are confused to respond to the content display
emotionally. The different polarization supports the Tossell‟s
statement that the way of the users to access various websites
depends on the technology and platform used [23].
In the arranging the scale of the emotional response level
in the content variable, the four dimensions (credibility and
quality, liking, representativeness and update and timely),
show a high scale (>50%). It means that they indicate the
importance of involvement, memorizing ability and user‟s
satisfaction when accessing the online news website [22].
online news affects the quality of the journalism of the news
site. Online news websites that reports junk news or lie will
not be noticed by readers and it is considered as news that
does not have quality [57]. Readers‟ perception of news
credibility also shows the readers‟ perception of the quality
of the website [51].
However, in this research, there is one of the indicators of
the credibility and the update, which forms a different
dimension. The statistical test indicates that the indicator of
the update combines with the indicator of the accurate and
forms a new dimension. Previously the indicator of the
accurate was one of the indicators of the representativeness
dimension. The new dimension that has been formed in this
research is called the update & timely. It explains the update
& timely of the online news content. The update of the online
news content appears because of the pressure of an online
editor to adopt a form of a more flexible and professional
gatekeeping [25]. The update of the content includes those
that are crucial in the business of online news. An evidence of
the importance of the update can be seen from the previous
research results that there are 12 out of 38 websites that
provide services of RSS, podcasting, and sending news to
private mobile phone [58].
This research also successfully describes the polarization
form of the emotional responses in the form of the bipolar
graph. The display of the emotional responses shows that the
polarizations range of one to nine from every indicator so that
the emotional tendency, similarity, and consistency of
content display can be analyzed through this graph. The site
of the antaranews.com online news that becomes the
treatment shows the different polarization among the
accessing devices. There are three forms of the polarization
of the online news content: 1) low polarization, 2) middle
polarization, and 3) high polarization. The low polarization is
found on the PC desktop, laptop and tablet or pad. On the PC
Desktop and laptop, the polarization tends to direct to the
right side. It means that there are similarity and consistency
in the emotional responses that tend to be accurate, have a
written authority, to be objective, clear, suitable, complete, to
have a good writing, to be various, vivid, enjoyable,
interesting, pleasant, educative, relevant, up to date and
timely. Based on the range and the direction of the
polarization, it seems that only PC desktop and laptop that
have the similarity and consistency of the emotional
responses to the right side. It means that the news content of
antaranews.com is specialized to be accessed through PC
desktop and laptop.
In tablet or pad, the low polarization is in the middle of the
extreme points and it indicates that the emotional response
does not question the content so much because the
characteristic of tablet that is designed as a mobile device
makes the readers of online news websites concern the
content at a glance without regarding for the aspects that
affect the credibility and quality, liking, representativeness,
and update and timely of the content.
The middle polarization occurs on the smartphone with the
polarization direction tending to direct to the right side. It
means that there are various emotional responses but not in
the extreme value in the online news content that is accessed
through the smartphone because the format of the online
V. CONCLUSION
The experiment research in the content of the online news
website shows the importance of the emotional response test
in bipolar. There are nine findings in this research. They are 1)
the reconstruction of the new dimension of the online news
website content, 2) the description of the bipolar graph of the
emotional responses on various devices for accessing; 3) the
arranging of the scale of the emotional response level.
This research shows the credibility and quality dimensions
which combine and form a dimension and the formation of a
new dimension, called update and timely. Therefore, further
research needs to validate the new dimension through
experiment and survey. This research also shows the way to
access the online news through various accessing devices and
the polarization of different emotional responses. Thus,
further research needs to examine the relationship between
display format of the online news website on each of these
devices with the emotional response, including usability and
personal site display.
This research is limited to one online news site as an
experimental treatment tool. Content variable test of the
online news content will be more relevant if it is performed
by including more news sites. Then it does not only consider
the scale and pattern of the emotional response level
described in bipolar graph but also the axis map of the
position of each site emotionally and index site based on
emotional responses.
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Irwansyah was born in Halaban Langkat, Indonesia,
on January 21, 1973. He received a doctoral degree on
communication study at University of Indonesia,
Jakarta, 2010 and master degree from School of
Communication at University of Hawaii at Manoa,
Honolulu, United States of America.
He is a senior lecturer at Communication
Department, University of Indonesia, Jakarta. He was
one of International Fellowship Program (IFP) Ford Foundation fellow from
2003-2005 and Sasakawa fellowship in 2009. His current research interests
are focused on user experience and emotional response from communication
perspective.
Western Intellectual Insights for Muslim Policy Makers on
Religion Based Economy
Mohammad Manzoor Malik

Abstract—The subject of relationship between religion and
economy raises many issues. It touches the originality of
religion and economy and their nature of relationship including
their independence and dependence. Western scholarship on
the subject has useful insights for the Muslim policy makers on
religion based economy. This research undertakes Marx and
Weber’s thought on the subject and relates the issue with the
current reality in industrialized countries such as Singapore.
The findings show that Marx is a reductionist and Weber’s
thesis highlights the independent role of religion in fostering
economy although he remains pessimistic regarding its
religiosity. The more plausible view is that though religion is an
independent variable, yet there is interdependence between
religion and economy. The economical modalities influence
religious life in many ways. This challenge calls Muslim policy
makers for a continuous intellectual effort in making creative
contributions in making religion based economy possible.
Index Terms—Economy, religion, Islam, Marx, Weber,
Singapore.
I. INTRODUCTION
The subject of the relationship between religion and
economy has become an interesting study area in the
contemporary time. Islamic banking and financial institutions
have now greater visibility in many majority Muslim
countries and a few non-majority Muslim countries. The
rationale of this interest is that economy based on Islamic
values is necessary for Muslims because conducting
economical activities in accordance to religious ethical
guidelines is an essential part of being a faithful believer.
Beside many values and virtues in Islamic business ethics
usury, deception, uncertainty, and doubtful transactions,
which are very much part of modern economy, are prohibited.
However, there is a long way to go for Islamic economical
and financial systems to make a significant mark at
international level. There is a risk of losing the religiosity of
these systems or succumbing to the dominant secular systems.
Therefore, theorizing on the subject of religion based
economy is in need of paying attention to cosmopolitan
wisdom related to the subject. In a like manner, to understand
the nature of the relationship between economy and religion,
this study undertakes Western scholarship as a historical
experience and theorizing and connects it with present
developments in the economically developed regions, thus
concluding into insights and lessons for Muslim policy
Mohammad Manzoor Malik is with the Department of Fundamental and
Inter-Disciplinary Studies, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and
Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia (e-mail:
[email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.573
879
makers on religion based economy.
This study is essentially a critical examination of the views
of Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) and
Karl Emil Maximilian Weber (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920)
on religion and economy. The first section explains Marx and
Weber‘s thought on the subject, and the second section
maintains Weber‘s view in a modest way and argues that
Marx is a reductionist. The third section shows that while the
religion has contributed to economy, in the same way
economy does affect religious life in many ways. This
signifies the relationship and dynamics between religion and
economy, leaving space for Muslim theorists to engage into
continuous intellectual effort in sustaining religious values in
economical developments.
Marx and Weber share their intellectual interest in
economy; especially in the advent, origins, and the future of
capitalism. There are converging trends in their thinking,
both of them are intellectually uncomfortable with capitalism;
but, at the foundational level, which is connected to the origin
of capitalism, their thoughts remain radically divergent. Marx
constructs his theory of capitalism on dialectical materialism
and considers religion as solely dependent on economy, a
form of alienation. Unlike Marx, Weber theorizes that
Protestantism largely contributed to the development of the
spirit, advent, and spread of capitalism. A modest reading of
Weber‘s thesis shows that religion is not the only factor,
which contributed to the development of capitalism; but,
indeed, it is the major factor. Both Marx and Weber were
uncomfortable with capitalism and its future; but while Marx
expected a revolution, Weber saw no way out of the ―iron
cage‖. Marx was therefore interested in theorizing the
coming communist revolution, Weber was more interested in
exploring the reasons which led to the development of
capitalism.
II. KARL MARX ON ECONOMY
Karl Marx was a German economist, philosopher,
historian, and sociologist. Marx along with Engels founded
philosophy based on dialectical materialism. In Economic
and Philosophical Manuscripts he used the concept of
alienation. The Communist Manifesto had worldwide
influence on politics. Preface to A Critique of Political
Economy was followed by Capital in which he examined
capitalism by materialistic understanding of Hegel‘s dialectic.
He held that ―the economic base of society, involving the
forces and relations of production, determines its ideological
and cultural superstructure, and that contradictions between
base and superstructure would, as a matter of historical
inevitability, lead to social revolution and socialism‖ [1].
To understand Marx‘s ideas on economy and religion, it is
indispensable to see how Marx develops his ideas. Marx in
fact reinterprets and reverses Hegel‘s idealism. Hegel‘s
idealism states matter is spirit and the world of physical
objects consist of ideas either in our own mind or of ideas in
some other mind: ―its central point is that there is only one
ultimately real thing, the Absolute, which is spiritual in
nature. Other things are partial aspects of this, or illusory
appearances generated by it‖ [2]. Hegel believed in
rationality of history and optimistic progress. He developed
the notion of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and its
repetition, which came to be known as dialectic, and this
dialectic results in historical progress and thought [3]. Marx
adopted the dialectic and contradiction in Hegelian
philosophy and used them to explain the material and social
changes. Marx converted Hegelian idealism into historical
materialism by suggesting that the basis of historical
development is the development of material modes of
production; hence, he produced a materialist philosophy of
history.
Marx‘s philosophical materialism estimates that it is matter,
which is first, not the spirit. Marx believes that the historical
changes are dependent on the techniques and modes of
production. Human history progressed in four stages:
primitive community, the slave company, the feudal mode,
and the capitalist mode. Marx focuses on the last stage, which
is capitalism, its development, its disadvantages, and its
anticipated fall and finally the advent of communism.
Marx claims that changes take place because of dialectical
materialism through the struggle of classes. And dialectical
materialism is as follows:
In opposition to idealism, it holds that matter is the primary
being and that mind is subordinate. Matter can exist without
mind, but mind cannot exist without matter. Sense experience
reveals the existence of an external and objective world. In
contrast to mechanistic materialism, it holds that the material
world is not static. Things are full of contradictions or
opposites, which drive them into a continuous process of
development. This development is progressive through
recognizing and reconciling the inherent contradictions [1].
The social changes are therefore based on material life
which makes humans different from the animals. Marx
claims ―[Men] begin to distinguish themselves from animals
as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence. . .
By producing their means of subsistence men are indirectly
producing their material life‖ [4]. In 1867, Karl Marx
presented his thoughts on the emergence of capitalism in an
essay entitled The Origins and Development of Capitalism.
The work suggested that human social organization is a
human creation based on modes of production. And changes
in societies happen when modes of production change. In
result, a new class and a new form of society emerges.
Merchants were inferior during Feudalism that developed in
Europe in the 8th century; however, merchants grew in
number and became powerful as the result of urbanization.
Marx identified the 16th and 17th centuries as being
periods of intense capital accumulation as a direct
consequence of the discovery, colonization and exploitation
of the Americas, and the development of maritime trade with
the East Indies and China. Thus began a process in the
880
development of commercial capitalism, in contrast to the
feudal capitalism that preceded it. So also began the rise of a
new class within medieval European society, that is, the
capitalist class, or as Marx liked to call them, the bourgeoisie
[5].
Marx reduces all of human life and history to economy; the
economy generates division of labor, class struggle, and all
the social institutions, which are supposed to maintain the
status quo. According to Marx, social institutions are
superstructure built upon the base of economy; they are very
dependent upon material and economic realities and nothing
else. All of the institutions, which are prominent in our daily
lives such as religion, can be truly understood when
examined in relation to economic forces. The following
section presents Marx‘s particular views on religion.
Marx on Religion
Marx did not write any exclusive work on religion, even so
his ideas have significant impact on the sociology of religion.
Religion, according to him, is one of the superstructures
which are based on economy; it is one of those social
institutions that are dependent upon the material and
economic realities in a given society. It has no independent
existence; it is instead the result of productive forces. As
Marx wrote, ―The religious world is but the reflex of the real
world‖ [4]. Marx gives the following account on religion.
Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion
is indeed man‘s self-consciousness and self-awareness so
long as he has not found himself or has already lost himself
again. But, man is no abstract being squatting outside the
world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and
this society produce religion, which is an inverted
consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted
world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its
encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its
spiritual point d'honneur, it enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its
solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation
and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human
essence since the human essence has not acquired any true
reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly
the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is
religion [6].
However, Marx has more to say on religion, its role, and
how it fits to his theory of economics. His most famous
statement about religion comes from Critique of Hegel’s
Philosophy of Right:
Religious suffering is at one and the same time the
expression of real suffering and a protest against real
suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the
heart of a heartless world and a soul of soulless conditions. It
is the opium of the people.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the
people is the demand for their real happiness. The call on
them to give up the condition that requires illusions [4].
Therefore, religion has no role in contributing to economy,
it is a substructure, and it is just a dependent variable, a
symbol of alienation. Religion helps to maintain the status
quo, which is based on economic facts, and it provides
comfort to those who are alienated without any implication to
economy. Its form and scope depends on the social life as
determined by those in control and ―the ideas of the ruling
class are in every epoch the ruling ideas‖ [7].
The concept of alienation is very important in Marx‘s
thought. Marx discusses types of alienations which are
related to capitalism. The meaning of alienation is that it ―is
the negative process by which a subject makes himself other
than himself by virtue of a constraint which is capable of
being removed on the initiative of the subject himself‖ [8].
Marx considers religion as self-alienation. It helps people to
live an illusory life; it makes them bear the injustice and
difficult life. Religion is opium in the sense that it makes
downtrodden people‘s difficult life more bearable. Religion
becomes the heart for those who are distressed by providing
an illusory comfort to them which may mean either afterlife
or next life. ―Religion offers compensation for the hardships
of this life in some future life, but it makes such
compensation conditional upon acceptance of the injustices
of this life‖ [9]. Marx suggests that this form of alienation
deserves to be discarded.
The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the
people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them
to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on
them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The
criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of
that vale of tears of which religion is the halo [4].
rational mode of life [10].
Weber argues that Calvinists played a role in creating the
capitalistic spirit, and Protestantism had a major role in the
advent of capitalism. He supports his thesis by two lines of
thought: empirical and theoretical. The empirical evidence is
that there is a correlation between being Protestant and being
involved in business; for that reason, Protestants have
contributed to the advent of modern economical conditions.
Theoretically, teachings of Protestantism that are in
consistency with the spirit of capitalism such as profit
maximization as an end in itself. He supports his claim by the
Protestant teachings such as worldly "calling" and Calvinists
understanding of predestination [11]. The other Protestant
sects such as Pietist, Methodists, and the Baptist had the
similar attitudes.
Weber concludes that the Protestant attitude to wealth and
economy broke down the traditional economic system and
paved the way for modern capitalism. Once capitalism
emerged its ethic took on a life of its own without any further
need of any Protestant values. Even so, Weber does not claim
Protestantism as the only cause of capitalism; rather it was
one of the main contributing factors.
Weber develops the above thesis by showing that
capitalism in its unique scientific way emerged in the West,
and this development was contributed by Protestants. He
does it by making empirical and theoretical arguments. The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism begins with the
question of rationalization; development of science; the
development of rational, systematic, and specialized
methodology; and the development of bureaucracy and the
trained officials. Weber claims that these are the unique
features of the Western society. In the same manner,
capitalism emerged in the West in its unique way of
rationalization which reflects through the spirit of capitalism
and its features such as bookkeeping. Therefore, there is a
link between the spirit of modern capitalism and the rational
ethics of ascetic Protestantism [11].
III. MAX WEBER ON RELIGION AND ECONOMY
Max Weber (1864 - 1920) was a German sociologist and
economist. Weber‘s writings and theories helped
establishment of the foundations of modern sociology.
Weber‘s major works deal with rationalization in sociology
of religion, government, organizational theory, and behavior.
His interest in the relations between religion and social and
economic conditions led to his influential theory that the
development of European capitalism can be explained in
terms of the ascetic secular consequences of Protestant
theology. Weber‘s most influential works are The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–5) and Economy
and Society [1].
The main theme of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism is the influence and role of religion in social
change; religion is an independent variable which can bring
change. The work could be treated as a critique of Marx‘s
view of religion. It mainly argues that the spirit which defines
capitalist institutions has its roots in Protestantism, beginning
with Lutheranism of Martin Luther, which emphasized
salvation rests on faith alone, and John Calvin‘s Calvinism,
which held that salvation is based on predestination.
B. Capitalism and Protestants: Empirical and Theoretical
Arguments
Weber gives the major credit of the development of
capitalism and its spirit to Protestantism. He does so, as
mentioned earlier, by providing two kinds of arguments:
empirical and theoretical. The empirical argument is that
Protestants were more involved in capitalistic activities than
Catholics. Based on his observations in Germany and
elsewhere, Weber depicts a correlation between ascetic
Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism.
By surveying different countries with mixed population
coming from different religions, it seems that Protestants are
dominantly business leaders, owners and skilled laborers.
During protestant reformation Protestants emerged richer
than Catholics. It is because Protestant parents tend to give
their children different kinds of education and Catholics have
more of a tendency than Protestants to stay in handicrafts
rather than to go into industry [11]. Therefore, Protestants
have shown a much stronger tendency to develop economic
rationalism than Catholics have. To this end, Weber makes
the following statement:
Business leaders and the owners of capital, as well as the
A. Weber’s Thesis
Max Weber develops a thesis in The Protestant Ethic and
the Spirit of Capitalism: there is a causal relationship
between the ethics of ascetic Protestantism and the
emergence of the spirit of modern capitalism. Weber writes:
The inner-worldly asceticism of Protestantism first
produced a capitalistic state, although unintentionally, for it
opened the way to a career in business, especially for the
most devout and ethically rigorous people. Above all,
Protestantism interpreted success in business as the fruit of a
881
skilled higher strata of the labor force and especially the
higher technical or commercially trained staff of modern
enterprises tend to be predominantly Protestant [11].
The theoretical argument, which Weber offers is that it was
Protestantism which led to the development of capitalism and
its spirit: it was Protestantism which was in consistency with
what is considered as the spirit of capitalism. In explaining
the above argument, Weber first explains the spirit of
capitalism and notices similarities between ascetic
Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism.
C. Spirit of Capitalism and Protestantism
Weber explains the spirit of capitalism as a body of salient
features. The spirit of capitalism is accumulation of wealth
for its own sake. That saving money or reinvesting it, instead
of spending it, is an intrinsic good. Therefore, accumulation
of wealth and its acquisition is not only a means for the
satisfaction of material needs but also an end in itself.
Weber‘s purpose of explaining the spirit of capitalisms is to
show that the same characteristics of this spirit were
propagated and taught by Protestantism.
In explaining the spirit of capitalism, Weber theorizes that
Franklin‘s attitudes to economy illustrate capitalism‘s ethos.
Franklin held that time is money, credit is money, and money
can beget money. People should pay all of their debts on time,
because it encourages the confidence of others, encouraging
people to present themselves as industrious and trustworthy
at all times. Weber says that this ―gospel of avarice‖ sees
increasing capital as an end in itself. This is the spirit of
modern capitalism.
In fact, the summum bonum of this ethic, the earning of
more and more money, combined with the strict avoidance of
all spontaneous enjoyment of life, is above all completely
devoid of any eudaemonistic, not to say hedonistic,
admixture. It is thought of so purely as an end in itself, that
from the point of view of the happiness of, or utility to, the
single individual, it appears entirely transcendental and
absolutely irrational [12].
Weber commits his last four chapters of The Protestant
Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism to demonstrate the
connection between the Protestant ethic and the spirit of
capitalism. He goes on findings the evidences that could
support his conclusions by looking at the various sects of
Protestantism with a clear objective to find out how the
teachings of these sects have actually contributed to the spirit
of Capitalism by exploring their ethical teachings and thus
providing the well-constituted evidence to justify the
contribution of these Protestant sects to the economical
development.
Historically, the four major forms of ascetic Protestantism
are Calvinism, Pietism, Methodism, and the Baptist sects.
Weber begins from Martin Luther‘s conception of ―Calling‖.
Lutheran conception of calling is that people are required to
fulfill their worldly obligations as they are religiously
significant. Different from Catholics and antiquity, this moral
justification of the worldly activity was the contribution of
Luther and of Reformation.
D. Ascetic Protestants and the Spirit of Capitalism
Weber finds support for his convictions in Calvinism,
especially its doctrine of predestination: it is predestined who
882
is saved and who is damned. It was important for them that an
individual should try to realize that he is saved and therefore
he/she should strive to realize so in this world. And an
individual should consider himself one of the saved and
should try to avoid temptations. Therefore, Calvinists
encouraged worldly activities; they believed that humans are
tools of God to fulfill his will. In conducting the worldly
affairs, Calvinists expected systematic self-control. ―The
God of Calvinism demanded of his believers not single good
works, but a life of good works combined into a unified
system‖ [12]. This was a rational and systematic approach to
life. Since people had to prove their faith through worldly
activity, Calvinism demanded a kind of worldly asceticism.
This Concept of predestination led to the development of
rationalized ethics and methods which were used by Puritans.
In brief, Calvinists did not live a monastic life but preferred to
live worldly life; they were at the height of rationalism
because their teachings disdained magic and stressed on
systematic lifestyle [12].
Weber, after presenting the teachings of Calvinism,
includes other Protestant sects which were consistent with the
Calvinistic teachings. First, he mentions Pietism; Pietists
believed that the methodical development of one‘s state of
grace in terms of the law was a sign of grace. Secondly, they
believed that God gives signs to those in states of perfection
if they wait patiently and ―deliberate methodically‖ [12].
Methodism strongest characteristic was its methodical and
systematic nature of conduct. Good works were only the
means of knowing one‘s state of grace. ―Righteous conduct
alone did not suffice‖, the feeling of grace was necessary for
salvation [12]. ―The Baptist denominations … carried out the
most radical devaluation of all sacraments as means to
salvation, and thus accomplished the religious rationalization
of the world in its most extreme form‖ [12]. They practiced
worldly asceticism, rejected politics, and turned to economic
occupations; they embraced the ethic of ―honesty is the best
policy‖ [12].
After presenting the above views of different Protestant
sects, Weber reaches his conclusion: there is a direct
relationship between ascetic Protestants and the spirit of
capitalism. He mentions many points to demonstrate how this
asceticism and the development of the spirit of capitalism are
connected. The capitalistic sprit is to make money not as a
means but as an end in itself. Asceticism opposed the
hedonistic enjoyment of life; this helped in developing the
professional altitude to work. Overall, ascetic Protestantism
gave ethical dimensions to the Capitalistic way of life.
Furthermore, it provided a religious zeal for the pursuit of
wealth because result of one‘s labor was a sign of God‘s
blessing.
Weber states that the teachings and influences of ascetic
Puritanism by many sects of Protestantism created the
modern economic order as far as the beginning and
developing stage of capitalism is concerned. Latter on ―The
religious roots died out slowly, giving way to utilitarian
worldliness‖ [12];
and ―Since asceticism undertook to
remodel the world and to work out its ideals in the world,
material goods having gained an increasing and finally an
inexorable power over the lives of men as at no previous
period in history. Today the spirit of religious
idea is shared by some scholars such as Daniel Bell, while
arguing in favor of the element of Protestant ethics in the
development of capitalism, makes the following statement:
What was also required was a religious ethic that provided
justifications for conduct and sanctions for lapses. In the
Protestant world view, all work (from the highest to the
lowest) was a "calling" and thus sanctified, as against the
view that work was a punishment for man‘s sin of
disobedience. The idea of a calling, then--which Weber
argued did not exist in previous religious or ethical codes--is
a moral obligation that projects religious behavior onto the
everyday world [17].
Therefore, the above-mentioned objections do not affect
Weber‘s thesis. First, Weber does not make Protestantism the
origin of capitalism, his thesis suggests that Protestantism has
contributed to the spirit and development of capitalism. He
does not make Protestantism the only reason and factor
which led to the emergence of capitalism. The second
objection, which blames Protestantism for the disadvantages
of capitalism and fear of associating these ill effects to
religion; this issue is also a weak position, because Weber
states that Protestant ethics was favorable for the
development of capitalism and once the capitalism came into
existence it lost its connections with the Protestant ethics and
therefore formed its own ethics and values. Magnús Árni
Magnússon's research, on Max Weber‘s hypothesis of a
faster economic growth of nations with predominantly
Protestant populations using data from the twentieth century,
concludes that although that might have been true during the
early years of the modern period, the ―Protestant edge‖ has
given way to a universal ―spirit of capitalism‖ belonging to
those who wish to embrace it [18]. Therefore, religion cannot
be made responsible for the ill effects and unkind
consequences of capitalism. The researcher believes that
Winthrop S. Hudson has captured the essence of this debate
in the following statement:
Weber‘s initial statement of his thesis was frequently
misread, misunderstood, and misinterpreted. Part of the
difficulty was a failure to pay sufficient attention to Weber‘s
definition of terms -- particularly what he meant by modern
capitalism and the spirit of capitalism. Further difficulty was
created by those who over-stated the points which Weber was
seeking to establish. Even Tawney understood Weber to be
asserting that Calvinism, by creating the indispensable
psychological climate, was to a very large degree the "parent"
of modern capitalism (Religion and the Rise of Capitalism).It
is now contended, however, that those who interpreted
Weber as saying that modern capitalism was the "offspring"
of Calvinism misunderstood him. Weber, it is insisted, never
made such a claim and was far too learned and sophisticated
to have done so. His intention was much more modest. He
was attempting to analyze but one of the many components of
the total matrix out of which the capitalist spirit emerged. He
did no more than suggest that Calvinism engendered a spirit
that was congruent with the spirit of capitalism and thus
facilitated the development of capitalist society (The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: the History of a
Controversy). This brings Weber, of course, largely into
agreement with Tawney who said that " 'the capitalist spirit' is
as old as history" and that what certain aspects of later
asceticism—whether finally, who knows?—has escaped
from the cage. But victorious capitalism, since it rests on
mechanical foundations, needs its support no longer‖ [12].
E. Plausibility of Weber’s Thesis
Weber‘s thesis is particularly plausible in two areas. The
first area is related to the theoretical foundations of his thesis.
The theoretical foundations of his thesis rest on the teachings
of Calvinism and other Protestant sects. The second area is
the empirical foundations of his thesis. This empirical base is
explicated in Weber‘s work and greatly supported by a huge
number of researches conducted in support of Weber‘s thesis.
F. Weber’s Theoretical Argument
Weber‘s theoretical point is that Calvinism was a major
factor in the growth of modern rational capitalism. Calvinism
and its teachings helped a change from the traditional form of
thinking to the rational form of thinking. As far as Weber‘s
presentation of theoretical lines and teachings of Protestantism
are concerned, his presentations of these teachings seem
undisputable. He has accurately represented the teachings of
Protestants. For example, to verify Weber‘s claims about the
teaching of Calvinism, Synods of Dort which is a religious
document that is the basis of Calvinistic belief, is helpful [13].
Furthermore, In Protestantism and Capitalism: The
Mechanisms of Influence, Jere Cohen revisits, reexamines,
and tests the classic Weberian thesis that the beliefs and
presuppositions of the English Puritans had influence on
believer‘s economic activity [14].
To go into comparative details between Weber‘s
presentation of Protestant faith and the sources of
Protestantism is an area which is quite broad. However, the
dispute is about whether the Protestant teachings were
inspired by the material facts or they had their own origins.
Some of the scholars claim that it was not the Protestantism
which developed the spirit of capitalism. For example, Kurt
Samuelsson claims ―whether we start from the doctrines of
Puritanism and 'capitalism' or from the actual concept of a
correlation between religion and economic action, we can
find no support for Weber‘s theories‖ [15]. On the other hand
some works, by accepting Weber‘s thesis, blame religion for
the disadvantages of capitalism. For example, H. M.
Robertson claims ―the Reformers read their Old Testament
and, trying to imitate the Jews, became those detestable
Puritans to whom we owe, not merely Grundyism and
Podsnappery, but also (as Weber and Tawney have shown)
all that was and still is vilest, cruelest, most anti-human in the
modern capitalist system‖ [16].
The first claim discredits the role of Protestantism in the
development of Capitalism. However, it seems that the
development of capitalism was not just an idea, it was a
practice, which was conducted by people, and majority of
these people were Protestants. Even if the roots of capitalism
were way beyond the Protestantism, it is still important to see
that this beginning would have not developed into the well
sophisticated system and professionalism if it had not found
its presence among certain people who were Protestants. It
was the adjustment and favorable response from the
Protestantism which allowed the development of the spirit of
capitalism by providing both religious ethics and competent
people to carry the capitalism to is development. The same
883
a self-alienation, helping deprived to sooth their pain.
Weber‘s analysis of capitalism gives a major role to
Protestantism in contributing to the development of
capitalism.
From the above comparison, it is clear that Marx is a
reductionist; he reduces everything to materialism. Matter is
the independent variable whereas other social structures
including religion are dependent variables. They are
sub-structures and change according to the change in material
variables. However, Marx‘s reductionist thesis is not
defendable; yet influences of changing economical modules
do have effects to religious practices in many ways especially
in social organization. On the other hand, Weber‘s thesis is a
defensible which states the influence of religion on economy.
Marx‘s view is very radical and an extremist position.
Against historical evidence, he altogether ignores the role of
religion in social change. Weber‘s thesis is actually a detailed
indirect criticism of Marx‘s thesis because Weber‘s thesis is
on religion and its role in developing capitalism.
In arguing against Karl Marx‘s reductionist view there are
two main areas of study. The first area is related to the
investigation of Weber‘s thesis, to understand the correctness
of it by researching the sources: researches, facts, and data.
The credibility of Weber‘s thesis will in fact prove the
incredibility of Marx‘s view. The second area is to
investigate Marx‘s thesis and to find whether human life and
social change are the product of economy alone when, in fact,
especially religion has changed human life and has led to
great social and sometimes holistic changes throughout
history. Associated with this argument is that religion is a
divine intervention in the society. It especially comes true
about Western religions, which are not the result of human
search, but a call from outside, based on revelation. Marx‘s
view that religion is a tool, which is used by ruling class, is
not also convincing. Though, religion can be misused in that
sense, but the impact of religion on ruling class has been
historically very transforming; the examples of Constantine
in the Christian history and Asoka in the Buddhist history are
worth mentioning. In a very striking way, removing all sorts
of doubts on the issue, Islamic civilization, which was a
leading civilization during the European dark ages, provides
a special case as its inception and development could not be
imagined without Islam. Muslim civilization was a practical
development of Islam and its worldview. Buddhism came
with Gautama Buddha, who was not the helpless and
powerless to seek solitude in metaphysical truth, he was
rather a prince born in a powerful family. In the similar way
the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) belonged to one of the main,
mightiest tribes of Arabia called Qurash.
The key problem, which is central in Marx‘s account of
religion, is his reductionism. According to him, religion is a
dependent variable. It has no influence of its own; rather it is
influenced by economical systems. However, the historical
evidences and examples show that religion has changed
humanity and shaped its course. To illustrate this, it is within
the context to go through the study of religions; and to see
whether they were personifications of aberration , sigh of the
poor, a poor man‘s paradise, and opium of powerful to
distribute among those under their control; or is religion
something else.
Calvinism did was to provide "a tonic which braced its
energies and fortified its already vigorous temper" (Religion
and the Rise of Capitalism) [19].
G. Weber’s Empirical Argument
This empirical base is explicated in Weber‘s work and
greatly supported by a huge number of researches following
the publication of Weber‘s thesis. There are many researches,
which reinforce the empirical facts, which Weber has put
forward in his work. In The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse
and Revival of an American Dream , the author traces the
origins of contemporary management back to the strict
disciplines of the Puritan Migrants of the 1630s and their
flight to America. Furthermore, how the current management
style has deviated from these Puritan principles [20]. Sascha
O. Becker and Ludger Wößmann in Was Weber Wrong? A
Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History have
empirically founded the following conclusion:
Max Weber attributed the higher economic prosperity of
Protestant regions to a Protestant work ethic. We provide an
alternative theory, where Protestant economies prospered
because instruction in reading the Bible generated the human
capital crucial to economic prosperity. County-level data
from late 19thcentury Prussia reveal that Protestantism was
indeed associated not only with higher economic prosperity,
but also with better education. We find that Protestants'
higher literacy can account for the whole gap in economic
prosperity. Results hold when we exploit the initial
concentric dispersion of the Reformation to use distance to
Wittenberg as an instrument for Protestantism [21].
The significant point in Weber‘s thesis is that
Protestantism was a major factor in the growth of modern
rational capitalism. Weber does not claim that it was the only
factor. It is also obvious that Weber does not defend religion
in general sense against Marx‘s criticism. Weber also shows
that the western Catholicism did not make any significant
contribution. This view of Weber is therefore not a general
appreciation of religions in making contribution in an
economical activity; it is rather appreciation of a special and
unique interpretation of religion which grew in
Protestantism.
Therefore, at most, it could be concluded that
Protestantism was a major contributor to the economic
development and the rise of capitalism. However, criticizing
Marx‘s historical materialism and his view of religion as an
alienation can be made on many other grounds, which may
not fall mainly within the material and economical realms,
but in other areas, which demonstrate that religion is an
independent variable. As a set of ideas and practices, it can
cause changes in many social areas including economy. It is
not only economy, which affects the social structures, but
also religion does cause changes in the society and in the
practices related to economical activity.
IV. REFLECTIONS ON MARX AND WEBER
The views of Marx and Weber on economy and religion
demonstrate their ideas on capitalism and situate religion and
its role in relation to economy. In Marx‘s view, religion has
no role in the materialist capitalism; religion is a substructure,
884
Going back to Judaism, Moses by being given religion
from God liberates his people from slavery of pharaoh. Here,
religion does not seem suspiration of poor, but a force which
coordinates the whole community to stand for their rights.
The story of Exodus shows how a religion played a vital role
in changing the life of the children of Israel. As the Old
Testament states how religion helped in coordinating people
and eventually brought revolution against the mighty
pharaoh.
While reading the history Buddhism, its founder, Mahatma
Buddha, was not a poor man. He came from a royal family
and he was a prince. The religion was born in a rich man‘s
house. It goes against Marx‘s view that religion is for poor
and it will vanish once a better economical conditions emerge.
The change which religion can bring in people and most of all
in the ruling class could be well appreciated by citing the
example of King Asoka in the history of Buddhism. Being a
mighty king, he waged many wars, and it was the teachings
of Buddhism that stopped him from further bloodshed. This
example also shows the power of religion in changing not
only ordinary people, but also kings.
While going through the history of Islam and Muslims,
ample support is present which affirms that religion can bring
a revolutionary change in society and people. Before the
advent of Islam, Arabs were a small community, mostly
nomads; they had no political influence and contribution to
human civilization. It is just after Islam; they flourished and
became able to set up magnificent civilization in Bagdad and
Spain.
The above examples illustrate the fact that religion is an
independent variable which is able to cause changes. The
historical study of religions shows that they emerged in
various societies to bring change in those societies. They
were not submissive to their social circumstances and
systems. That is why most of these religions in their
beginning met opposition, criticism, hostility, and
prosecution. On Marx‘s understanding of religion, the case
should not be the way the history shows us. For example,
Mahatma Buddha‘s criticism of his contemporary class based
society and of materialism which was prevalent in his time;
Jesus‘ criticism of his own society which was full of
arrogance and pride; and the Prophet Mohammad‘s (PBUH)
criticism of his society for worshiping many gods and
practicing many social evils.
Religion has created developments in many areas of life
and these developments have taken their own path as Weber
mentions about the development of capitalism. The teachings
of Protestantism mainly led to the development of capitalism
and capitalism latter took its own path with its own ethics. In
the similar way, Islam gave birth to a special state craft called
as Khilafah which in long run turned into monarchical
systems with its own principles while at the same time
keeping some regard and respect for the actual nature of
governing system that emerged in the first generation of
Muslims.
V. ECONOMY AND RELIGION
The relationship between religion and economy as
885
discussed in the above sections of this study shows that there
is an interrelationship between religion and economy. It also
appears that Weber‘s view supports that religion had a vital
role to play in the advent of capitalism, and Marx‘s view
suggests that economy has direct impact on religion; his view
leads to end of religion when his Utopian economical state is
realized. However, as argued above religion is not based on
economy, but it has its own existence and effects to social
practices.
However, there are implications and effects from economy
to religious practice and institutions. This does not mean that
the religion is a product of economy. In fact, there is a
two-way relationship between economy and religion [22]. As
economy influence our religious life, in the same way
religion also influences economic practices. For example, the
multinational companies operate in different countries which
have different religions and cultures. These companies try to
conduct their economic practices and shape their business
operations in consistency and sensibility with cultural values
and religions.
The impact of economy on religious institutions and
practices can be seen throughout the human history. Leaving
out the ancient and medieval times, the modern time, beside
many other developments, brought the industrial revolution
and capitalism. The economical development brought
changes in social scene and affected cultural and religious
values. The economy has affected all countries of the world
at different levels with varied degrees.
In many Western countries church attendance as fallen
seriously; it is, beside other reasons, because of the
economical activities and workplace schedules. The Eastern
countries where economical development is considerable,
people have transformed their religious life in many ways.
Industrialization and corporations have conditioned our way
of living and economical changes have put humanity in a
different and changing existential mode. How economical
development has affected religious practices and challenged
the religious lifestyles in almost every part of the world could
be illustrated by a report on Singapore that speaks of some
effects of economy to religious life. The report states:
Modernization and improved education levels brought
changes in religious practice. The inflexible work schedules
of industrialism, which tended to restrict communal ritual to
evenings and Sundays, and the lack of opportunity or
inclination to devote years to mastering ceremonial and
esoteric knowledge, both contributed to a general tendency
toward ritual simplification and abbreviation… Ethnic
affiliation was demonstrated by public participation in such
annual rituals as processions, which did not require elaborate
training or study….Immigrants tended to drop or modify
religious and ritual practices characteristic of and peculiar to
the villages they had come from. …Many Chinese became
more self-consciously Buddhist or joined syncretic cults that
promoted ethics and were far removed from the exorcism and
sacrificial rituals of the villages of Fujian and
Guangdong. …Islamic reformers acted to replace the
customary practices (adat) of the various Malay-speaking
societies of Java, Sumatra, and Malaya with the precepts of
classical Islamic law--sharia…. In the late 1980s, other
Chinese white collar and skilled workers were joining the
[7]
Japan-based Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society, an
organization based on Nichiren Buddhism), which provided
a simple, direct style of worship featuring chanting of a few
texts and formulas and a wide range of social activities. The
more successful religious groups, Christian and Buddhist,
offered directly accessible religious practice with no
elaborate ritual or difficult doctrine and a supportive social
group [23].
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
VI. CONCLUSION
The subject of this study was basically to look into the
nature of the relationship between religion and economy.
Marx‘s historical materialism suggests that religion is just a
substructure based on materialism or precisely on economy.
Whereas, Weber demonstrates that Protestantism mainly
contributed to the spirit of capitalism and its development.
The study demonstrated Marx as a reductionist by showing
that history of religions is contrary to Marx‘s position. The
modest understanding of the issue shows that there is a
two-way exchange between religion and economy. They both
affect each other in many ways. Economy does influence
religious life and institutions. This study puts forward many
insights for Muslim policy makers on religion based
economy. There are concerns the way Marx looks at the issue,
leaving economy overtaking every structure of the society
and affecting ideas and outlooks. And on the other hand there
are insights in Weber‘s thinking that puts high value on the
role of religion in contributing to economy, yet he remains
pessimistic believing that once economy progresses it takes
its own life and breaks with religion. Both thinkers are
pessimistic about the future of capitalism. These same
insights could be made relevant to many other social
institutions such as education, scientific progress, technology,
etc. In short, these concerns and issues demand a continuous
intellectual effort from Muslim theorists on religion based
economy in making sustainability of religious virtues
possible in overall developments in economy.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
Mohammad Manzoor Malik is an assistant professor
in
the
Department
of
Fundamental
and
Inter-Disciplinary Studies, Kulliyah of Islamic
Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences,
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He
received Alimiyat (BA) and Fazilat (MA) in Shariah
with specialization in Islamic law and jurisprudence
from Darul Uloom Nadwat-Ul-Ulama, Lucknow,
India; in the meanwhile, he also earned BA and LL.B
from Lucknow University. He furthered his studies in philosophy and
obtained MA and PhD from Assumption University, Bangkok. His research
interests are in moral philosophy, applied ethics, and bioethics. His
competencies are in history of philosophy, Islamic studies, jurisprudence,
hermeneutics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of religion.
REFERENCES
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K. Marx, Karl Marx: A Reader, ed. J. Elster, Cambridge University
Press, 1986, pp. 302.
H. Shagor. (2006). Marx and Religion: A Brief Study. [Online].
Available: http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/himel_shagor/
M. Hamilton, The Sociology of Religion: Theoretical and Comparative
Perspectives, Routledge, 1995, p. 83.
M. Weber, The Sociology of Religion, trans. E. Fischoff, Boston:
Beacon Press, 1993, p. 220.
M. Weber, The Protestant Ethic and The "Spirit" Of Capitalism and
Other Writings, trans. P. R. Baehr and G. C. Wells , Penguin Classics,
2002, pp. 1-321.
M. Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Weber,
trans. Talcott Parsons, London: Charles Scribner's Sons., 1950, pp.
53-181.
E. Crowell, ―Weber's "protestant ethic" and his critics,‖ The University
of Texas, Arlington, 2006.
J. Cohen, Protestantism and Capitalism: The Mechanisms of Influence,
Aldine Transaction, 2002.
K. Samuelsson, Religion and Economic Action: A Critique of Max
Weber, trans. E. G. French , New York: Harper Torchbook, 1964, pp.
154.
H. M. Robertson, Aspects of the Rise of Economic Individualism: A
Criticism of Max Weber and His School, Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press, 1933, pp. 208.
D. Bell, ―The protestant ethic,‖ World Policy Journal, vol. 13, no. 3, pp.
35, 1996.
M. Á. Magnússon, ―The economic consequences of religion; max
weber‘s ‗spirit of capitalism‘revisited,‖ Bifrost School of Business,
2002.
W. S. Hudson, ―The weber thesis reexamined,‖ Church History:
Studies in Christianity and Culture, vol. 57, no. Supplement, pp. 56,
1988.
D. Howard. The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an
American Dream (Hardcover) [Review]. [Online]. Available:
reviewhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/review/product/1850434190/ref=dp_
db_cm_cr_acr_txt?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
S. O. Becker and Wößmann, ―Was weber wrong?‖ A Human Capital
Theory of Protestant Economic History, Department of Economics,
University of Munich, University of Munich, Ifo Institute, CESifo, and
IZA2007.
R. J. Barro and R. M. McCleary, ―Religion and economic growth,‖
Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138: National Bureau of
Economic Research, 2003.
Singapore Religious Change. The Library of Congress Country Studies
and
the
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Factbook.
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y_religious_change.html
N. Bunnin and J. Yu, The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy,
Blackwell Publishing, 2004, pp. 180-733 .
A. R. Lacey, A Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed. London: Routledge,
1996, pp. 143.
T. Bottomore, L. Harris, V. G. Kiernan, and R. Miliband, A Dictionary
of Marxist Thought, ed. 2nd, Blackwell Publishing, 1991, p. 227.
K. Marx, Marx on Religion, ed. J. Raines, Temple University Press,
2002, pp. 2-171.
G. Dean. (September 1998). Karl Marx's the Origins and Development
of
Capitalism:
A
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Available:
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K. H. Marx, Early Writings, trans. R. Livingstone, G. Benton, and L.
Colletti, Penguin Classics, 1992 , p. 244.
886
Multi-Competence, ELF, Learning and Literacy: A
Reconsideration
Howard Doyle

Abstract—Cook’s multi-competence model is taken as a basis
for an approach to English education, taking advantage of biand multilingual learners’ competences in other languages. This
perspective mirrors what happens in English as lingua franca
(ELF) situations and also in approaches to literacy education. In
the latter, learners bring to the learning their pre-existing skills,
knowledge and attitudes. Further, in the present digital age,
learners frequently possess higher digital literacies than
teachers, partly because they engage with electronic media and
communication channels in their normal lives, which again is
part of new multilingual and transnational online cultures.
While traditional types of language learning are recommended
to be maintained, the utility of bringing local language and
literacy practices together with learners’ own knowledge and
skills is recommended for current and future learning of
English. It is suggested that this approach is appropriate for
new digital and other literacies relevant to modern information
processing and communications technology.
Index Terms—English as lingua franca, learning, literacy,
multi-competence model.
I. INTRODUCTION
Vivian Cook, a British applied linguist proposed his
multi-competence model in the early 1990s developed from
Universal Grammar theories. Multi competence relates to
competence in two or more languages, which traditionally
are understood as first and second or other languages (L1, L2,
OL). In this paper these a priori distinctions are not presumed.
Rather connections are drawn among people‟s
multi-competence in more than one language. Following on,
Literacy which reflects considerable elements of language
use, ELF (English as a lingua franca) and also relevant
categorizations of Learning are deduced and drawn. The
purpose is to establish coherent ground for a model for
language education that is appropriate for meeting local
modern and cultural needs.
II. MULTI-COMPETENCE
Fig. 1. Cook‟s integration continuum of possible relationships in
multi-competence (Source: [2]).
Points 1 and 3 above, aligning people with L2 competence
with monolinguals (ostensibly who lack such L2 competence
or linguistic repertoire) are the basis of proceeding
discussions and proposals presented later, initially in relation
to ELF. However there is yet one more claim by Cook which
is also relevant: that multi-competence transcends
individuals, affecting a (language) community – the
knowledge of more than one language in the same mind or
the community [2].
This is a contentious notion, and I believe it requires more
investigation than has been done to now. For instance, to
The Multi-Competence model has evolved since its early
inspiration from Universal Grammar:
The term 'multi-competence' was originally defined as 'the
compound state of a mind with two grammars'; in the context
of that paper, „grammar‟ was used in the Chomskyan sense of
the total knowledge of language in the mind (the I-language)
leading some people to infer wrongly that multi-competence
Howard Doyle is with the Dept. of International Studies, Kochi
University, Japan (e-mail:[email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.574
was restricted to syntax. So multi-competence is now usually
said to be „the knowledge of more than one language in the
same „mind‟. Multi- competence thus presents a view of
second language acquisition (SLA) based on the second
language (L2) user as a whole person rather than on the
monolingual native speaker [1].
As mentioned before, distinction between L1 and L2
dissipates somewhat in the multi-competence view in as far
as both influence each other. Cook refers sets of knowledge
and skills becoming integrated, as per the continuum shown
in Fig. 1 below. These have parallels regarding Literacy,
discussed later.
However Cook‟s research has used orthodox Second
Language Acquisition (SLA) theories as a starting point (and
Cook is often cited within that field). His ideas therefore are
useful here for trying to present an understanding of
unorthodox perspectives from within the orthodox. As such,
the core points of the multi-competence model relevant here
are as follows:

The L2 user has other uses for language than the
monolingual, like code-switching and translation

The L2 user's knowledge of the second language is
typically not identical to that of a native speaker in
syntax, vocabulary, etc.

The L2 user's knowledge of their first language is in
some respects not the same as that of a monolingual

L2 users have different minds from monolinguals

L2 users have slightly different brain structures [1].
887
what extent can a language acquisition theory with roots in
neuro- and psycholinguistics evolve into a model for societal
language awareness? My view is that, with regards to
language situations in a language community, Cook‟s
multi-competency model informs rather than explains.
Instead, multi-competency works better explaining the
situations of individuals with bi- or multi-lingual
consciousness.
III. ELF
At the start of a book entitled Global Interactions in
English as a Lingua Franca, Franca Poppi [3] quotes
Seidlhofer‟s [4] common definition of ELF, as Any use of
English among speakers of different first languages for
whom English is the communicative medium of choice, and
often the only option
Yet, surprisingly, Poppi subtitles her book, How written
communication is changing under the influence of electronic
media and new contexts of use. The significance is in the
paradox of Poppi projecting her investigation into current
and future trends of language use and relevant literacies in
digital fields, but relies on a conventional ELF definition
referring to English users as „speakers‟. This significance
shall become clearer later when the „digital native‟
phenomenon is discussed.
ELF also presumes English-plus-alpha. Rationale for this
is frequency and ever-present chance of code-mixing and
code-switching among varieties of English and also any other
local languages. ELF is often seen as a thing or a cultural
entity and even as a variety of English on its own [5]. Rather,
ELF is better understood as a mode of English use, even
governed by context of situation. For instance, people using
or who resort to English in communication situations may be
conscious of various, even unpredicted institutional, legal,
political or other pressures to use English. But in the situation,
people are also commonly intent on doing what they need to
do, saying what they need to say. ELT discourses also
sometimes incorporate ideas about a world lingua franca
English variety that may act as a common tongue, which
educated or powerful people and of course also native
speakers use. For instance, the current Singapore Ministry of
Education curriculum document states:
At the end of their primary and secondary education,
pupils will be able to communicate effectively in English …
They will be able to: …

Speak, write and make presentations in internationally
acceptable English that is grammatical, fluent and
appropriate for purpose, audience, context and culture

Interact effectively with people from their own or
different cultures. …

„Internationally acceptable English that is grammatical,
fluent and appropriate for purpose, audience, context
and culture‟ refers to the formal register of English used
in different parts of the world, that is, standard English.
[6].
However, leading ELF theorist, Jennifer Jenkins, has
proposed that ELF varieties are characterised by core
elements of English forms in which people need to be
competent in order to be able to engage with English in at
888
least a minimally comprehensible way. Jenkins [7]
emphasizes phonological features of English. Yet, unless
people have competence with syntactical and lexical aspects
as well, use of any kind of English would be problematic or
even not possible. Pragmatics awareness is another element,
though it incorporates contextual cues and cultural awareness
evident in protocols for maintaining face, things which vary
far more significantly across cultures. In this sense pragmatic
awareness acquired in conjunction with learning another
language would reflect Cook‟s idea of multi-competence
affecting „the overall system of a [person‟s] mind or a
community‟ rather than just a person‟s language knowledge.
ELF however presumes that people would have some
competence with English and one or more other languages
(or with multiple varieties of English). If there is any
credence in the multiple-competence model then to engage in
ELF is potentially to utilise competences that come with
having the option to think in line with, even use, more than
one language.
IV. LEARNING
Following on from ELF, Learning is relevant, in that
people would learn English as they would learn any language.
Language Learning and language Acquisition are seen as
different [8], partly due to the more conscious and focussed
character of learning as a process. However in the learning
typology below, acquisition is considered alongside learning
as leading to the same outcome: obtaining knowledge, skill,
competence, with English, language and other things too.

Institutional – for instance school-based learning subject
to curriculum and language policy (not always
governmental, but also corporate, religious, clubs,
workplace, etc.). Teaching as a way of learning
obviously is pervasive. Institutional learning is also
characterised by minimal range of learner choice about
the learning.

Non-institutional – this learning type is subject to
people‟s choice; for instance independent learning,
taking advantage of available opportunities and
resources, and investing in or creating new ones.

Unintentional – contact with or exposure to language in
the environment, such as mass media or from people
around a person. People „picking up‟ language items, a
linguistic sense or awareness, systematically or
unsystematically, consciously or unconsciously, can be
learning unintentionally. On this point un- or
sub-conscious acquisition can be considered to be
occurring.
The utility of this typology is made apparent below.
V. LITERACY
Anthropological research in rural Iran in the 1970s by
Brian Street [9] showed how literacy practices were evident
in communities in which literacy had been presumed
non-apparent: in Koranic religious schools with Arabic, in
state school education with Farsi and numeratic practices in
local urban agricultural markets. He and others draw the
literacy practices idea from Heath‟s [10] work in a similar
context in isolated mountain communities in south east USA,
in which she developed the Literacy Event concept: basically,
an event when people interact with written text. A Literacy
Practice is what people do in a literacy event. Street, writing
in the early 1980s, prefers rightly or wrongly, an
„ideological‟ model of literacy that recognizes a multiplicity
of literacies; that the meaning and uses of literacy practices
are related to specific cultural contexts; and that these
practices are always associated with relations of power and
ideology, they are not simply neutral technologies [11].
Further, Street adds to his view on cultural specificity of
literacy practices by identifying
Dominant literacies originat[ing] from the dominant
institutions of society. [And] Vernacular literacies hav[ing]
their roots in everyday life [12].
A more guarded, even realistic interpretation is that
literacy practices often can be culturally specific, but
certainly not all. More to the point is that any agenda
incorporating literacy education ideally should incorporate
relevant practices specific to any given culture or community.
This parallels similar latter-day points mentioned in the
preceding section about local language influences on local
ELF by Canagarajah [13] and Pennycook [14].
VI. NEW MEDIA, NEW LITERACY PRACTICES AND NEW
LANGUAGE FORMS
It is from here that a key point in this paper can be
introduced. People engage in each of the above-listed types
of learning at different times in their lives. It is here that the
point in Franca Poppi‟s book‟s title – communication
„changing under the influence of electronic media and new
contexts of use – comes to bear. There are new types of media,
new communication goals, purposes and even interfaces.
For instance, older people, say currently in 2014 over 25
years of age, including perhaps most teachers, were mostly
brought up under the presumed primacy of the need to master
skills needed for written text. Over a decade ago, Mark
Prensky [15] coined the expression Digital Native, people
who grew up with new literacies for new media. A similar
term, „Net Generation‟, is mentioned in a recent
UNESCO-sponsored document about new literacies [16].
Poppi [3] mentions new ways of reading and writing plus
navigating hypertext online as part of these new literacies,
which tend to blend traditional print literacies and which may
also be used simultaneously. Ironically, if younger people
(learners) are the digital natives, older people (teachers) may
well be digital non-natives. As the older generation shift to
new, digital literacy practices, they become in Prensky‟s [15]
words, “Digital Immigrants”. Ryu [17] considers digital
natives in his research on online game players who also form
interactive transnational communities. After playing games
members communicate discussing, inquiring and advising
each other in forums and on discussion boards about their
electronic games [17]. These communities are characterised
by their international and multilingual membership with their
accompanying “multiplicity of language” [17], and attendant
“multilingual literacy”. Even so, Ryu observed that his
subjects “used English as lingua franca, a common
language” [17]. Members require digital literacy skills to be
889
able to communicate (let alone play) with each other. He calls
on language teachers and education planners to recognize
digital literacy and to incorporate use of digital media in
curricula. He recommends recognizing digital natives‟
non-institutional language learning and activity as viable,
relevant ways to learn, based in these young learners‟ own
cultural interests and literacy practices. A similar call is made
by Lee [16], though for a more institutionalised structured
learning approach.
Language as a component of literacy occurs in as far as
literacy practices involve engagement with language texts
(and with non-language texts too: eg. graphics, video and
audio), for which most people purposefully learn language.
Another aspect of literacy is meta-cognition and rubrics –
ideally a person should be able to know and to articulate what
they are doing, most effectively done using language. In this
sense also, language – say English – is used also to articulate
literacies that people are going to learn (referred to as
„Meta-language‟ here). Any relevant syllabus, curriculum
document or textbook is an example of this. Many textbooks
explaining literacy skills and practices even do so in language
that is more complex than actual language required for
engaging in those practices. In other words, lesson and
textbook explanations can be less comprehensible than what
they would teach. With English textbooks this is a problem!
This issue affects the utility of institutionalised learning in
many, many fields. Further, language and literacies from
outside of a given culture can have problematic transfer and
take-up by people of that culture. I have tried to demonstrate
this earlier with reference to younger digital natives, their
relative savvy with new digital literacies and a gap between
their non-institutionalised learning and established
institutionalised learning apparati administered and preferred
by many older education practitioners.
What to do about it? Viable solutions are already available.
VII. A NECESSARY NEW DICHOTOMIZATION OF ENGLISH
In this paper I have tried to show how people can be
psychologically set for dealing with language in different
ways, given operation of Cook‟s multi-competence model.
Not all people though, for instance monolinguals. Yet for a
person in a given ELF context, English can be just one
available language for communication. For the individual,
this condition exists before and during the point when
English becomes the common language mode of
communication
participants
for
achieving
their
communication or other goals, to do what they have to do.
Further, though earlier twentieth century literacy studies
identified multiple traditional literacies among diverse sets of
literacy practices which people engage in on a daily basis,
people now can select appropriate channels or media and
integrate literacies required for their operation. This is
noticeable in electronic media and computer mediated
literacy practices requiring multiliteracies to navigate
successfully. A peculiar characteristic of this technology is
the predilection for young people to have learned or acquired
necessary literacies in more unstructured ways than through
institutional learning, often by need or choice, and also
unintentionally. Such communities frequently are
outlined earlier.
multilingual, and English frequently pervades as common
language on online media. This may presume that many or
most members bring competence and also literacies from
their other language backgrounds.
On this last point, Andy Kirkpatrick‟s [18] proposal for a
Multilingual Model for teaching English has relevance.
Kirkpatrick writes for the context of the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for which he is more interested
in traditional printed text and spoken modes. At a
fundamental level, he notes that
While certain features of standard English may be
unnecessary for an ELF syllabus, some non-standard features
can be useful for lingua franca communication [18].
Kirkpatrick raises two predictable questions providing two
unorthodox answers:

What variety of English should be taught and how?
Rather than focussing on a specific variety of English, …
a radical move to teach English as it is used in social
contexts [within the ASEAN region].

Who should teach English [?] … suitably trained
multilingual teachers with high levels of English
proficiency [18].
VIII. CONCLUDING POINTS
I do not propose removing existing general English
education approaches or infrastructure. That is in spite of
their construction more around the cultures and contexts of
the learners‟ as a more workable way, rather than based on
some foreign or imaginary world standard English variety.
To this extent, existing institutional, non-institutional and
indeed unintentional learning milieux should remain - people
frequently learn what they have to learn in spite of obstacles
in their situation.
I do propose one step further: making the English
secondary to the literacy and other skills or knowledge
needed to be learned. Flippant inversion of ESP to make
„SPE‟ (Specific Purpose English) is one way to articulate this.
Any such particularized program most likely would need a
pre-requisite knowledge or a minimum operating English
meta-language repertoire for literacies peculiar to the content
and learning goals. However, local language and literacy
practices can assist this mediation, and scope for
incorporating them would need to be included.
There is one final issue: can the local – local English
variety, local language, local literacy practice, local texts and
other cultural artifacts - be used for general English, in an
ELF sense? I believe so, along the lines of Kirkpatrick‟s
Multilingual Model. There is also the question of
teaching/learning lingua franca Englishes outside of any
given local community. This is also possible and frequently
demonstrated in ELF research. There is a limitation however:
in as far as language cultures are defined ethnologically or
geographically: these perspectives become secondary as
people interact across those cultural boundaries within more
newly-formed cultures defined more by mutual interest and
purpose, such as business [3], vocation, leisure or religion.
How people bring baggage from their own cultures
perhaps is more evident in pragmatics aspects of language
than in other aspects like syntax, lexis and phonology. These
latter aspects are more easily formalised, codified and taught.
This characteristic makes these aspects easier to focus on,
therefore easier to teach or prescribe. English forms are more
easily transferable to a literacy-type learning program, but
bring into being just part of the outcome and not an end in
themselves. Yet, competence in more than one language can
enhance the uptake of another, in ways that the
Multi-competence model shows. The concluding point in this
paper is that in English education, institutions and also the
learners should not shy away from local discourses and other
influences, purposes or goals. Instead being able to embrace
them in a complementary way can only be more utilitarian
than detrimental in a holistic sense.
Kirkpatrick refers to an ELT project in Indonesia in the
early 2000s [18] involving Australian and local institutional
input, producing a syllabus and textbook rooted in the local
community, its customs and culture.
Yet, the same principles can apply to literacy education,
especially if it integrates multiple communication modes and
media as electronic literacy practices do. To shift focus in this
direction means to shift focus away from traditional or
orthodox models of English taught, such as from general or
generic English to more localised and more specific modes,
practices and contexts. There is already a significant effort
directed this way in face-to-face, print and also electronic
media: in any Content-based English (often for higher
proficiency levels anyway) and also English for Specific
Purposes (ESP), These include things like business English
[3] and other work or vocational English programs. They
commonly and necessarily incorporate de facto literacy
components. Significantly also, English that is taught often is
contained within an identifiable corpus, or at least with a core
corpus of essential English forms and functions.
Here lies the proposed dichotomization:

Generic mutable English depending on local
circumstances. „British‟, „American‟, „Business‟,
„World‟, are orthodox adjectives describing these
Englishes already. „Local‟ of course is not just
proximally local – where a person is. „Local‟ implies real
and virtual (eg. digital) communities of which people are
members, and people may be members of more than one
community at any given time. In this case, the focus
would be more on English for its own sake.

The second aspect is subsumption of English as a
component of literacy practices where appropriate. This
can facilitate people learning English as part of what
people need or want to learn or do, as opposed to what
they do not need or want.
I believe both aspects mentioned here are viable within
institutional and also non-institutional learning situations as
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
890
V. Cook. (2012). Characteristics of L2 Users. [Online]. Available:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/Multicompetence/
V. Cook. (2012 a). Multi-Competence. [Online]. Avaialable:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/MCentry.htm
F. Poppi, Global Interactions in English as a Lingua Franca, Bern:
Peter Lang. p. 15, 2012.
[4]
[5]
[6]
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[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14] A. Pennycook, “Pluralithic Englishes: towards a 3-D Model,” in
Global Englishes in Asian Contexts: Current and Future Debates, K.
Murata and J. Jenkins Eds., Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
Pennycook specifically refers only to „language‟ but not to „English‟ in
his diagrammatic Pluralithic model for ELF, pp. 194-207, 2010.
[15] M. Prensky. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Part 1 On the
Horizon. 9(5). Digital natives, digital immigrants. Part II Do they really
think differently? On the Horizon. 9(5). (Retrieved on 30 April 2014).
[Online]. Available: http://www.marcprensky.com
[16] A. Lee, “Literacy and competencies required to participate in
knowledge societies,” in Conceptual Relationship of Information
Literacy and Media Literacy in Knowledge Societies, A. Lee, J. Lau, T.
Carbo, and N. Gendina, Series of Research Papers, World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) Paris: UNESCO, p. 5, 2013.
[17] D. Ryu, “Non-native English speakers‟ multiliteracy learning in
beyond-game culture: a sociocultural study,” MERLOT Journal of
Online Learning and Teaching, vol. 7, no. 2, June 2011, pp. 231-243,
2011.
[18] A. Kirkpatrick, English as a Lingua Franca in ASEAN: a Multilingual
Guide, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010.
B. Seidlhofer, Understanding English as a Lingua Franca, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, p. 7, 2011.
H. Doyle, “What is ELF: finding discursive focus for
English-as-a-Lingua-Franca Debate,” Research Reports of Department
of International Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Economics, Kochi
University, 2013.
English Language Syllabus 2001, Curriculum Planning and
Development Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore, p. 3. Italics
mine: the italicized segment is re-produced in English Language
Syllabus 2010: Primary & Secondary (Express/Normal [Academic]
Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Ministry of
Education, Singapore, p. 14.
J. Jenkins, The Phonology of English as an International Language,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
S. Krashen, Second Language Acquisition and Second Language
Learning, Pergamon, 1981, First Internet Edition December 2002.
B. Street, Literacy in Theory and Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1984.
S. Heath, Ways with Words: Language, Life and Work in Communities
and Classrooms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
B. Street, “Cross-cultural perspectives on literacy,” in Language and
Literacy in Social Practice, J. Maybin Ed, Clevedon: Open University
Press, pp. 139-150, 1994.
B. Street, Cross-Cultural Approaches to Literacy, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, Quoted in D. Barton, Literacy: an
Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language, Oxford: Blackwell
1994, p. 39.
A. Canagarajah, “Negotiating the local in English as a lingua franca,”
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, vol. 26, pp. 197-218, 2006.
Howard Doyle comes from Sydney in Australia, Currently he is an associate
professor in the Department of International Studies at Kochi University in
Japan. His research interests are the ecology of English in the world,
language and literacy education, pragmatics and text analysis.
891
A Review on Drivers and Barriers towards Sustainable
Supply Chain Practices
Mee Yean Tay, Azmawani Abd Rahman, Yuhanis Abdul Aziz, and Shafie Sidek

II. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Abstract—The
rising environmental concerns are
encouraging consumers to have greater awareness of their
purchase decisions. Firms are implementing measures geared to
offering green substitutes for traditional products and services.
However, the effort towards sustainable supply chain
management (SSCM) is not as straightforward since
organization would face obstacles. The aim of this paper is to
identify the barriers and drivers towards the implementation of
the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). Through the
review of the literature, it was found that there are various
factors that have been documented to influence an organization
in making the decision towards SSCM implementation.
The term, sustainable development has evolved through
the powerful lobbying of the environmental movement over
the past 30 years. Bruntland’s definition of sustainable
development has become widely used. It defined sustainable
development as invoking the needs of future generations
counterbalanced to the current unmet needs of much of the
world’s population [8]. As a general concept, sustainable
development encompasses three fundamental approaches:
economic, environmental, and social developments, which
are interrelated and complementary [8].
The focus of research in sustainability has shifted from
local optimization in a single organization to that of the entire
supply chain [9], [10]. Moreover, sustainability has become a
Index Terms—Green, sustainable, supply chain, drivers,
barriers.
lasting movement that has started to impact on how we do business,
buy products and even choose our leaders. Environmental
I. INTRODUCTION
sustainability is a key issue for human societies throughout
the 21st century’s world. It can be defined as meeting the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their needs [11]. As environment
sustainability is attracting more attention, the literature on
SSCM practices focusing on environmental performance has
created a stream known as green supply chain management
[12]. It is not simply about reducing the amount of waste of
production or using less energy, but is concerned with
developing processes that will lead to businesses becoming
completely sustainable in the future.
The communities must not only be environmentally
sustainable, they must be also socially sustainable. [13] state
that social sustainability should be seen as: “A process for
creating sustainable, successful places that promote
wellbeing, by understanding what people need from the
places they live and work. The literature has addressed the
social dimension of sustainability by investigating various
social aspects such as community issues, corporate
governance, diversity considerations, employee relations,
human rights and diversity, educational and ethical
considerations, training and development and safety
[14]-[16]. It is far more difficult to quantify than economic
growth or environmental impact and consequently it is the
most neglected element of triple bottom line reporting.
Despite the business is large or small, they can actually
contribute to social sustainability such as to improve local
and global social conditions of workers, their families,
communities and society at large.
Economic sustainability assesses various aspects of SCM
focusing on ensuring healthy cash flow, good profit margins
and a proper return on investment, business performance
improvement and competitive advantage [17], [18]. Based on
the literature on the economics of sustainability, it
Previous research suggests that the implementation of
environmental initiatives for any company is an expensive
cost which trickles down through all levels of the firm [1].
Consumers and companies alike are consequently have to be
more willing to pay premium prices for green alternatives [2].
As with manufacturing firms, management is concerned that
commitment to green initiatives will reduce profitability at
the expense of actual environmental performance [3].
Besides that, managers’ commitment to environmental
investments in new greener markets will provide the firm
with the innovation to gain a competitive advantage quickly
[3]. Several multinational firms in diverse service industries
have announced initiatives to going green in products sold, or
in production processes. However, service firms consider the
conflicts of diverse stakeholders, including customers,
employees, suppliers, regulators, governmental agencies, and
stockholders and their reactions to make green initiatives.
These groups establish conflicting priorities for
management’s policies - high return on investments, high
quality products and prolonged profitability [4]. Thus,
organizations face barriers and drivers to sustainable supply
chain management [5], and these can be either internal or
external challenges to the organization [6], [7]. The objective
of this paper is to highlight the drivers and barriers towards
sustainable supply chain practices by firms.
M. Y. Tay, Y. Abdul Aziz, and S. Sidek are with the Faculty of
Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
(e-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected],
and
[email protected]).
A. Abd. Rahman is with the Halal Product Research Institute, Universiti
Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia (e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.575
892
situation, organizations could face barriers and drivers to
implementation of SSCM [5], and these can be either internal
or external to the organization [31], [32]. For instances, the
causes that for firms to engage in SSCM can be varied, with
some firms being driven from within by their top
management to participate themselves or not in sustainable
supply issues, and others responding reactively to outside
influences such as stakeholder pressures, customer
requirements and the like.
Some of the internal drivers are on broad organizational
issues including having top management commitment [33]
and a supportive culture [34], [35]. The involvement of
employees is also beneficial [36] including middle
management [37]. SSCM is also benefited by adopting an
Environmental Management System (EMS) [38]-[40].
Proactivity in SSCM may lead to firm competitiveness [41],
[42] or help manage reputational and environmental risk
[43]-[46]. Looking more specifically at the purchasing and
supply function, developing capabilities is important [12],
[47], [48], and specifying a sustainable SCM strategy is of
benefit [6], [36], and ensuring it aligns with corporate
strategy [49], [50]. Other internal corporate social
responsibility (CSR) practices can influence SSCM [51].
emphasizes utility, for which a value is computed [19], [20].
The costs of protecting the environment are frequently not
onerous and in many instances, the cost savings from using
resources more wisely and the reputational advantage in
attracting customers from being known as a “green”
organization increase organizational profitability [21], [22].
III. SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
The supply chain conceptually covers the entire physical
process from obtaining the raw materials through all process
steps until the finished product, directly or indirectly, reaches
the end user as well as the associated information flows. In
addition, most supply chains consist of many separate
companies, each linked by virtue of their part in satisfying or
fulfilling the specific need of the end consumer. In the supply
chain, it is not only includes the manufacturer and suppliers,
but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and customers
themselves. Supply chain management (SCM) concept had
been initiated in 1980s.
The topic of sustainability in the context of SCM has been
discussed using a number of terms in the literature.
Sustainability has become a global concern and hence
motivated organizations are revisiting their supply chain
operations taking into consideration the environmental and
social impacts of their supply chains [23]-[25]. In the recent
years, this has given rise for the academic is embracing new
term that most closely link sustainability and SCM concepts
are green supply chain management (GSCM) and sustainable
supply chain management (SSCM) [26]. From the study done
by [27], the analysis results shows that integration of
sustainability into SCM began by focusing on merging
“green” considerations with SCM practices. Thus, SSCM is
the extension concept of GSCM.
Ref. [28] defined SSCM as the strategic, transparent
integration and achievement of an organization’s social,
environmental and economic goals in the systemic
coordination of key inter-organizational business process for
improving the long-term economic performance of the
individual company and its supply chain. In addition, [5]
refers to SSCM as the management of material, information
and capital flows as well as cooperation among companies
along the supply chain while taking goals from all three
dimensions of sustainable development such as economic,
environmental and social, into accounts which are derived
from customer and stakeholder requirements.
People recognized that profits and profitability were the
only element in the long-term success of businesses and the
economic as the new economic order unfolded [29]. Also
important are the stakeholders and the environment.
TABLE I: DRIVERS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
Internal Drivers/ Enablers
1. People issues
i. Top management commitment [33], [66]-[68]
ii. Employee involvement [36, 66] including middle management
[67]
iii. Culture [35]
2. Strategic issues
i. Alignment of company strategy with purchasing/ supply
strategy [49], [50]
ii. Company sustainable SCM strategy [6], [36]
iii. Competitive advantage/ firm competitiveness [41], [42], [69]
iv. Risk management:
 Reputational and environmental risk [44]-[46], [70]
i. Performance management:
 EMS adopters [38]-[40]
i. Organizational size [6], [33], [71], [72]
3. Functional issues
Purchasing and supply function:
Capabilities within purchasing and supply function [47], [48], [73]
Other internal CSR practices influencing SCM [51]
External Drivers/ Enablers
1. Government
Government policy [43]
Regulation [33], [42], [64], [66], [74]
2. Competitors
Competitors [60], [61], [66], [74]
3. Customers
Customers [45], [53], [54], [66]
4. Suppliers
Collaboration with suppliers [55]-[59]
5. Investors
Pressures from investors [65], [73]
6. NGOs
Influence of NGOs [45], [48]
Sources: Authors compilation.
A. Drivers towards SSCM
SSCM incorporates with variety of concepts such as
environmental or green supply chain, where firms seek to
minimize negative environmental impacts in their supply
chains. Firms differ in what causes them to engage in SSCM,
with some firms being driven from within by their top
management to engage in sustainable supply issues, and
others responding reactively to external influences such as
stakeholder pressures or customer requirements [30]. In this
External drivers come from a range of stakeholders. Large
customers may influence smaller suppliers to meet SSCM
practices [45], [52], [53], and exert pressure in the supply
chain [54]. Collaboration with suppliers is important for
893
SSCM [55]-[59]. SSCM can enhance competitive advantage
[60], [61]. Governments are influential through policy [62],
[63] and regulation [33], [42], [52], [64]. NGOs exert
pressure on firms [45], [48], as do investors [65].
Firms which behave proactively on environmental issues
might be able to reap strategic advantage by foreseeing
opportunities and problems throughout the entire chain.
From the supply chain perspective, the market becomes a
more plausible means of environmental improvement. From
these observations, there are 3 main factors that relatively
have high impact to an organization on the execution of
SSCM which are (I) government, (II) employee and also (III)
consumers. Table I summarizes the drivers for SSCM
practices.
triple bottom line [77]. Additional, lack of top management
commitment is a major reason behind failure of quality
improvement efforts [78] in the execution of SSCM, and
unless management is fully committed to service excellence,
any improvement efforts are doomed to failure from the start
[78].
A focus on cost reduction can run counter to SSCM [33].
Looking at the purchasing and supply function, SSCM can be
hindered by a lack of training [79], [80] and understanding
[80] and having other SCM priorities [81]. Moreover,
increased investment in green products, however, concerns
many buying firms which believe that greater commitment to
environmental programs increases total purchasing costs and
subsequently decreases their competitiveness. As the
consequences, a firm’s strong environmental commitment
results in added costs, which put the firm at an economic
disadvantage as compared with other less environmentally
responsible firms [33]. Another difficulty associated with
formulating a green purchasing strategy is that green
purchasing may reduce the pool of qualified suppliers due to
stricter environmental quality standards [33].
External barriers include consumer desire for lower prices
[82], competitive pressures [80], and “green washing” or PR
exercise [83], [84]. Despite the growing attention, there have
been criticisms and scepticisms of the adoption of
environmental supply initiatives as being reactive to
regulations [33], [83]. Government regulation can inhibit
SSCM [86], as can a lack of commitment amongst suppliers
[7], [67], and industry type [33], [86]. Table II summarizes
the barriers of SSCM practices.
B. Barriers of SSCM
Moving to barriers to SSCM, a distinction can be drawn
between large and small firms, with larger firms more likely
to engage in SSCM [6], [33]. Generally, size is one of the
most important firm characteristics expected to influence the
adoption of green initiatives. According to [75], he also
found that firm size is an influence factor for firm to practice
on SSCM, bigger size firm tend to be more willing to
participate in green supply chain initiative.
TABLE II: BARRIERS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
Internal Barriers
1. People issues
i. Lack of management commitment [33]
2. Strategic Issues
i. Resources: cost [33]
ii. Performance measurement: traditional accounting methods [77]
iii. Organizational size: smaller firms [75]
iv. Financial,
Technical,
Information,
Managerial
and
Organisational [75]
3. Functional issues
i. Purchasing and supply function:
a. Lack of training [79], [80]
b. Lack of understanding of how to incorporate in purchasing
[80]
c. Other SCM priorities [81]
ii. Lack of corporate structures and processes [7], [11], [32], [87]
IV. CONCLUSION
A SSCM strategy requires companies to adopt
environmentally friendly purchasing, including taking into
consideration the purchasing of materials that consist of less
environmentally harmful elements, the use of fewer materials
and more renewable and recyclable resources to deliver to the
end user. Along the supply chain, suppliers, management and
customers can influence the practices of an organization to
make development more sustainable for the future.
Collaboration with suppliers is important for SSCM
[55]-[59].
Strategy research suggests that changes come not only
from the top, but bleed through every aspect of the company,
concluding that managers have a duty to the environment [1],
[90]. Meanwhile, employees’ commitment to environmental
concerns may subsequently increase increasingly identify
with the company’s objectives [91], [92].
In conclusion, several initiatives can be undertaken to help
firms adopt SSCM. Furthermore, focusing on supply chains
is a step towards the broader adoption and development of
sustainability, since the supply chain considers the product
from initial processing of raw materials to delivery to the end
customer [10]. As business move towards sustainability as
key for competitive advantage and higher performance, they
will need to develop even more collaborative and
cross-functional supply chain teams. They will also benefit
from exploring new business models with their suppliers,
External Barriers
1. Government
i. Regulation [85]
2. Competitors
i. Competitive pressures [80]
3. Customers
i. Consumer desire for lower prices [82]
ii. Poor supplier commitment [7], [68]
4. Media
i. Green wash [84]
5. Sectoral
i. Less regulated industries [33, 86]
6. Organization
i. Policy and Market Issues [87]
7. Technology
i.
ICT [89]
Sources: Authors compilation.
Internal barriers include a lack of supportive corporate
structures and processes [7], [10], [11], a lack of management
commitment [33], [76], and a reliance on traditional
accounting methods, which do not facilitate reporting on the
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corporate reputation. Dr. Yuhanis research work has appeared in marketing
and management as well tourism Journal such as Marketing Intelligence and
Planning, Social Responsibility Journal, Journal of International Food and
Agribusiness Marketing, International Journal of Economics and
Management, and Journal of Educational Travel. Dr. Yuhanis currently
serves as one of the associate Journal editor for Asian Journal of Case
Research (AJCR) and IJEM (International Journal of Economics and
Management.
Mee Yean Tay was born in year 1988 in Batu Pahat,
Johor, Malaysia. She received her bachelor degree
major in German language and minor in management
from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in year 2010.
She obtained her master of business administration
(MBA) from in UPM in year 2013 with a major in
human resource management. Upon her completion
in MBA, she continues her Ph.D. in business
economics in UPM. Her current research interests
include sustainable supply chain management and the implication on
performance.
Shafie Sidek is a senior lecturer in Faculty of
Economic and Management, Universiti Putra
Malaysia. He holds bachelor of engineering in
electrical, electronics and system and master of
business administration from Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, and doctor of business administration
from The University of Newcastle, Australia where
his research specializes in entrepreneurship,
innovation and technology management. He is
currently a co-researcher at Advance Technology Institute (ITMA) for
enhancing productivity and sustainability of Palm Oil Milling Industry in
Malaysia focusing on the economic, social and environmental impact of
palm oil milling technology.
Azmawani Abd Rahman is an associate professor
and deputy dean for research and graduate studies at
Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti
Putra Malaysia (UPM). She holds a bachelor of
science in finance from the University of South
Alabama, United States and PhD in operations and
technology management from the Aston University,
United Kingdom. Currently she is an associate
researcher at Halal Product Research Institute, UPM.
She has published research papers in refereed journals which include
Transaction on Engineering Management (IEEE), Journal of Manufacturing
Technology Management, and International Journal of Production Research.
Her research interests are in the areas of advanced manufacturing technology
management, manufacturing supply chain management, Halal product and
tourism supply chain management, and organizational culture.
Yuhanis Abdul Aziz is an associate professor at
the Department of Management and Marketing,
Faculty of Economic and Management at
University Putra Malaysia. She received her PhD
degree in business and management from the
University of Nottingham, UK. Her research
interests cover a range of area in services
marketing which includes service quality and
customer satisfaction, customer experience
management, branding and tourism and hospitality marketing. Additionally,
she has carried out research in the areas of corporate communication and
897
Environmental and Social Crises: New Perspective on
Social and Environmental Injustice in Octavia E. Butler’s
Parable of the Sower
Maryam Kouhestani

depiction of environmental and social crises in Parable of the
Sower.
Abstract—We are living in a world of environmental and
social crises which justice is under a grave threat all over the
world. In Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler indicates a
world thrown into chaos by environmental and social disasters,
a world that has forced people to dramatically change the way
they live. This article attempts to expose and critique social and
environmental justice issues with utilizing Butler's critical view.
Butler delineates the features of our social and ecological
dystopian society and by means of that facilitates reader
identification. Through her novel, Butler forces us to reflect on
real world instances of environmental degradation and social
inequality.
II. NEW PERSPECTIVE ON ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE
In Parable of the Sower, Butler creates a world in which
the social crises of our time have rapidly moved toward
destruction. Social and environmental disasters severely
threaten the survival of humans, the Earth, and all its existing
creatures. Most of Butler’s critical views are centered on
exposing human disasters, whether human on human or
human on the environment, which threaten our society.
Hence, Butler reveals the realities of the social injustice of
our time through Lauren’s viewpoint who is the narrator of
the story. Lauren critiques her present situation and refuses to
accept dominant ideologies that allow the few to rule over the
many. In this society, humans and the environment move
toward deterioration.
Rachel Stein, in the introduction of her book New
Perspective on Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality
and Activism, argues that environmental justice activists and
scholars attempt to make a connection between ―race, class
and [the] environmental ill‖ to show that communities
composed of racial minorities and the poor suffer more from
environmental ills than those who are white or belong to
wealthier communities [2]. Stein likewise suggests that
another basic group that has received scant attention are
women, especially women of color and working-class
women, who considerably suffer from societal ills. Similarly,
ecofeminists have particularly examined the connections
among patriarchal ideology, racial discrimination, and
environmental decline. The ideology that shows the value
and superiority of white people, men, and the rich over the
rest of society, meaning those of colored skin, women, and
the poor, is utilized to justify the destruction of the society
and environment in the name of progress. As Greta Gaard
states, ―at the root of ecofeminism is the understanding that
many systems of oppression are mutually reinforcing.
Building on the socialist feminist insight that racism,
classism, and sexism are interconnected… between those
forms of human oppression and the oppressive structures of
speciesism and naturism‖ [3]. Therefore, studying the area of
environmental justice allows us to realize the interconnection
between various forms of oppression, which prompts
scholars to examine various ideological systems, such as
science, technology, religion, and humanism, to demonstrate
how these systems function in the current situation.
Parable of the Sower criticizes these ideologies and shows
how society is deeply involved in this system. Lauren is a
Index Terms—Environmental degradation, Social injustice,
Neo-Slavery and Spiritual changes.
I. INTRODUCTION
We are living in a world of environmental and social crises
which justice is truly under threat all over the world. Octavia
E. Butler in Parable of the Sower (1993) depicts and critiques
the social crises and environmental degradation of our time.
She argues that human beings are destroying their life by
demolishing the environment and expanding the social
injustice. In an interview Butler criticizes our society and
states that ―the greenhouse effect has intensified and there
has been a certain amount of starvation and agricultural
displacement. There are real problems. Some of our prime
agricultural land won’t be able to produce the crops that it’s
been producing… These are big problems‖ [1]. She views the
future with many environmental and social problems like
global warming and shortage in water supply and natural
resources.
The connection Butler makes between environmental
disaster and social injustice in her novel demonstrates that
our society already disproportionately victimizes the
powerless groups –racial minorities, women, the poor,
homosexuals and
so on– with environmental degradation. Furthermore, her
discussion of social inequality and spirituality reveals some
of the roots of social injustice. The purpose of this paper is to
study some of the issues of environmental degradation and
social injustice by providing a focused look at Butler’s
Manuscript received June 12, 2014; revised August 15, 2014. This work
was supported in part by University of Malaya – Malaysia. Paper title:
Environmental and Social Crises: New Perspective on Social and
Environmental Injustice in Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of The Sower.
Maryam Kouhestani is with the English Literature Department,
University of Malaya, Malaysia (e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.576
898
sharp critic of the American Christian tradition. Although she
is the daughter of a Baptist preacher, Lauren has totally lost
her faith and does not believe in her father’s God. She cannot
reconcile her observations and experiences with what she has
been previously taught about biblical scripture. All Lauren
sees and feels are disgusting: suffering, hatred, violence, and
murder. She then asks, ―Is it God? Most of the dead are the
street poor who have nowhere to go… Where’s the safety for
them anywhere? Is it a sin against God to be poor?‖ [4].
Lauren questions the connection between poverty and
suffering and believes that the poor suffer much more than
any other sector in society. Lauren asks if God is only for rich
or ―how will God… behave toward us when we’re poor?‖
[4].
Butler wants to involve her reader in environmental crises
to show how those in power, namely, the church and the
government, use religion to deceive the illiterate and the poor
by promising them that if you suffer in this world, God will
give you Heaven. Through these claims, those who are in
power are able to dominate the poor and enslave them for the
benefit of those in power. Lauren believes that the church
uses God to justify the poverty of some and the wealth of
others. Lauren’s doubt in Christianity stems from her
inability to believe how God possibly allows several terrible
things to occur to so many innocent and naïve people. Lauren
is disappointed by the passivity of the Christians around her,
which causes her to wonder why oppressed communities do
not try to change their lives. Instead of hiding behind the
walls and waiting for destruction, these communities can act
to improve their lives. Lauren then attempts to encourage the
community act and change their lives. She starts to share her
idea with her close friend Joanna, telling her, ―we can get
ready… for what’s going to happen, get ready to survive it,
get ready to make a life afterward. Get focused on arranging
to survive so that we can do more than just get batted around
by crazy people, desperate people‖ [4]. Lauren believes that
the only way to save the community is through efforts to
change the situation. However, the desperate and passive
community does not have the ability to accept sudden change.
Joanna gets scared of Lauren’s words and tells her mother.
Lauren’s father later hears about the tale from other people
and warns Lauren, ―These things frighten people. It’s best not
to talk about them‖ [4]. Although the father knows that
Lauren is right, he thinks that people do not have the ability to
accept the truth and that sometimes people in society deserve
their bad fortune as they accept their circumstances and
choose peace and comfort rather than attempt to change their
situation. Change comes with resistance, and people who
want change or reformation must have the ability to insist on
their ideology. Lauren is extremely frustrated that the
community does not listen to her; thus, she prepares herself
for a journey to leave the place and find a new society.
Lauren’s ideology is very different from those who are
older than her in the Robledo community because she has no
memory of how American society was in 20th century as she
was born in 21st century. The community elders talk about the
past as ―the good old days‖ when people were wealthy and
safe [4]. Adults believe that reconciling themselves with the
present situation is difficult as they had experienced a time
when ―there were churches all over the place and too many
899
lights and gasoline was for fueling care and trucks instead of
for torching things‖ [4]. Lauren blames the previous
generation for the environmental decline. She knows that if
those generations had not wasted natural resources, then the
people of her generation could have lived in better conditions.
Furthermore, because Lauren’s generation lives with fewer
sources, shortage in gasoline, water supply, and others, they
can adapt themselves to life. In contrast, for those who
experienced the previous lifestyle, living in this terrible
condition is difficult. Indeed, when Lauren’s stepmother
remembers her past life, she tells Lauren that she misses those
good days. Lauren thinks differently and sees society’s losses
as a positive aspect, discovering a potential for change in
society.
A. Earthseed
Lauren thinks that society requires a new sense of
spirituality different from Christianity to encourage people to
change their lives. Lauren therefore creates and forms a new
spirituality, a religion she calls Earthseed, which is
something that she believes society requires to make changes
and take action. We gain knowledge of this religion through
Lauren’s notes. Earthseed is a religion of action, which
negates the Church and its passive behavior. Her spiritual
notes are in verse, in which she writes, ―All that you touch/
You Change. / All that you Change/ Change you. / The only
lasting truth/ Is Change. / God/ Is Change‖ [4]. Lauren
believes in a God that can change whatever is wrong and
change inequality, injustice, and the environment to a better
place. Lauren’s religion is not passive, but one that
emphasizes the importance of action and independence.
Earthseed is a religion that assigns people the responsibility
to create a better destiny. As Lauren says, ―there has to be
more that we can do, a better destiny that we can shape‖ [4].
In other words, Earthseed is a reformation against
Christianity; it is a religion that refuses the destruction of the
Earth and the injustice of the human race.
Butler uses religion to criticize fundamentalist Christianity
and its destructive role in society. Butler’s dystopian
narrative is related to the reader in the form of Lauren’s
―personal journal and a theological and political manifesto‖,
which shows the terrible world of the 2020s and her
self-reflexivity in a collapsing society [5]. Butler initiates
Earthseed as a religion against Christianity to show that
religion is not passive by nature, and that it can be dynamic
and constructive. Butler uses religion and history to reveal
the reality that those in authority use people’s faith and
beliefs to have a dominant influence over them. Foucault
argues that the religious body is shaped by belief in a
non-binary society in which a theological idea thoroughly
covers the surface of the body [6]. Therefore, people accept
everything in the name of religion, and this acceptance
connects the body and religious belief. Foucault explains that
the spiritual body is redefined through the ―modern soul‖,
which is similar to how disciplinary practice shapes the body
[6]. Foucault mentions that in this connection between body
and soul, the coordination of religious practices is a dualistic
challenge to develop its force on both sides [6]. Butler truly
shows the interconnection between body and belief in her
work. For instance, when Lauren starts to talk about her new
ideology, she receives an unpleasant reaction because for
people whose lives are still rooted in the church, any idea
against their belief is unacceptable. The souls of such people
are totally connected with their beliefs. As Lauren’s father
says, ―these things frighten people. It’s best not to talk about
them‖ [4].
B. Space Travel
Lauren realizes that understanding how to deal with this
frightening life requires clarifying what she believes and
informing people of their terrible condition. Hence, Lauren
understands that the body is always the target of belief and
that changing people’s lives entails changing their beliefs. In
this perspective, Lauren observes how her family, friends,
and neighbors are suffering, and hopes that one day, people
will ―benefit from her version as a materialist and activist
spirituality‖ and seek to achieve control over society in the
name of a transcendental endeavor [5]. However, Lauren
thinks that merely surviving suffering and continuing their
lives as before is inadequate while ―things get worse and
worse‖ [4]. She believes that if people live their lives in this
manner, then someday they will lose everything and become
weak, poor, and hungry; they will be unable to even protect
themselves. ―Then [they]’ll be wiped out‖ [4]. Therefore,
Lauren believes that a ―collective responsibility for Change‖
should be present, which is based on her ―spiritual discipline‖
that moves toward a better destiny and a new way of life [5].
Lauren develops and refines her religion of survival and
transformation through her writing. She believes that writing
will ―keep [everything] from going crazy‖ and works to help
the bodies survive and transform the minds rooted in human
history [4]. Finally, Lauren realizes that space travel, one of
the key elements and cultural opportunities of her time,
carries the potential for change and expands humanity’s
self-realization and self-respect through ―temporal solidarity
and a cosmic transcendence‖ [5]. As Lauren explains, ―space
exploration and colonization are among the few things left
over from the last century that can help us more than they hurt
us‖ [4].
For Lauren, space travel is mingled with heaven, pointing
out that ―space could be our future‖. This statement could
mean that darkness will be over and that it is a departure for
liberty in the ―North‖ that she seeks particular promised lands.
At this stage, Lauren is looking for utopia; she proceeds to
develop a spiritual and political discipline in a decision to
move from her town to survive and go to a place to establish a
new community in which people can regain control over their
lives. This goal represents Lauren’s ultimate aim of departure
from a place that is under the colonization of another. She
plans to move from suffering and destruction to a new
community without any pain and depression. Lauren thinks
that perhaps people will one day be able to leave Earth and
live on other planets. The name ―Earthseed‖ contains the
essence of her ―dialectical plan‖, from seeking change to
renewing the Earth [5]. The Earth contains the cosmos and
Earthseed shows all of the stages of Lauren’s desire. Lauren
looks for a promised future and views the present as a time of
survival and a ―time for building foundations — Earthseed
communities — focused on the Destiny‖ [4]. Right from the
first pages of the novel, Lauren resists the social chaos of
feudalized capitalism. As she explores the situation, Lauren
900
understands that the problem is not localized in the place or
country she lives in, but it is a global disaster. She writes that
the ―world is in horrible shape. Even rich countries aren’t
doing as well as history says rich countries used to do‖ [4].
From this point on, we understand that Lauren’s (or
Butler’s) narrative works between her prophetic view that
seeks a utopia in history and an apocalyptic view that comes
from history. The reader achieves this realization at the end
of the novel. The narrator strongly believes that one day,
humans will achieve salvation and security in this world.
However, the reader finds out the lack of hope for a better
society.
III. NEO-SLAVERY AND SOCIAL INJUSTICE
A review of the history of the United States shows that in
the 20th century, several industries started establishing towns
where the said industries were being built. Numerous
factories were established near these industrial towns in the
suburbs or far from the cities. In Parable of the Sower,
corporate towns such as Olivar refer to the history of the
United States. Lauren states that ―there are still people in
Olivar, who are uncomfortable with the change. They know
about early American company towns in which the
companies cheated and abused people‖ [4]. Lauren and her
family, except her father, believe that working in Olivar
presents a chance for a better life because it is a rich town
with many large companies. Parable of the Sower is a novel
that depicts a huge gap between the poor and the rich, in
which private companies such as KSF are so powerful that
people have to work for them if they want to exist
comfortably. In these companies, workers are not
substantially paid. Instead of money, the workers receive
vouchers and a place to live. Those who work for the
companies have to live in gated communities. Lauren
explains the situation: ―wages were paid, but in company
scrip, not in cash… Workers had to pay for food, for
clothing… for everything they needed, and, of course they
could only spend their company notes at the company store.
Wages — surprise! — were never quite enough to pay the
bills‖ [4]. Lauren’s stepmother wants to go to Olivar because
she believes that the town is far more developed than their
own town, Robledo. However, Lauren’s father rejects the
idea of going to the company town. He says that ―Freedom is
dangerous… but it’s precious, too. You can’t just throw it
away or let it slip away. You can’t sell it for bread and
pottage‖ [4].
Butler urges her readers to refuse the utopia established by
companies, which she shows to be a false utopia that
smoothly enslaves its people. In Butler’s interview in Crisis
magazine, she suggests that slavery is occurring in American
society in the present time, as ―people have been held against
their will and forced to work after having been seduced by
lies about good salaries and that sort of thing‖ [7]. She
remarks that in the North of the United States, this sort of
slavery happens mostly to the Hispanics, whereas in the
South, the same thing happens to the Blacks. This statement
means that slavery never vanished, and that the United States
currently faces neo-slavery. Butler adds that these people
cannot leave their work. If they do, they are beaten and killed.
Indeed, Butler reveals in her fiction what we refuse to see in
the real world. She believes that people are not thoroughly
aware of the occurrences around them.
Lauren’s father believes that people living in Olivar are
unaware of the existence of slavery because the companies
never let those people realize their own situation. The
companies give their people whatever they need to ensure
their comfort and satisfaction, never understanding that they
have lost their freedom. In this system, workers are exploited
by the company they work in and have no way out. Butler
critiques this economic oppression of workers who are not
paid or are underpaid and receive vouchers instead of money
as a sort of invisible slavery.
To Butler, the excessive rights received by companies
from the government have never existed before in the history
of the United States. She believes that the state is losing its
power and position and that over the years, these companies
have become more powerful and have achieved more rights
to control their workers. Workers were historically protected
by the government against the violation of companies. Today,
however, many companies gain more rights than individuals,
which give them more authority to control their employees
and increase the difficulty for the employees’ voice to be
heard. This ineptitude of the government and the power of
companies drive the people to throw themselves at the gate of
Olivar for lower salaries but safer lives. Butler views that the
future is worse than the present because power is
decentralized, and the government is too weak to provide
security for its people. Butler believes that this desire to trust
capitalism to protect people from social violence is a
dystopian vision. How can people possibly trust capitalism,
which only thinks of its own benefits and uses employees as
an instrument to expand its commercial power?
Parable of the Sower shows a form of slavery in which
slaves know that they are imprisoned. Lauren talks about a
new form of slavery popular in this futuristic time, known as
―debt slavery‖, in which companies provide workers with
room and board; therefore, the employee owes money to the
company. The employees cannot leave their work or the
community until their debts are paid. Lauren describes the
life of these employees through Emery Tanaka Solis’
miserable story. Emery is 23 years old, a mixed-race woman
of Japanese and Black parents who escapes from the
company with her elder daughter after the death of her
Mexican husband. She is obliged to work for the company
with a very low salary to pay her husband’s debt. However,
the company takes away Emery’s two sons as payment. She
cannot tolerate the oppression and runs away. Lauren
exposes how in the future, life can be exchanged for money,
and how a company can own an individual’s life.
In her Crisis interview, Butler mentions that this sort of
slavery can be known as ―throw-away labor‖ [7]. She
remarks that some American companies, especially in
Mexico, employ cheap labor without following labor laws.
Such companies employ people but make no arrangements
for their safety. The employees may be poisoned with
chemicals or injured by equipment, among other things, but
they have to live in this horrible condition. These companies
do not acknowledge any responsibility, they only take
advantage of these people as long as they can, and throw
away the workers after a certain time.
In Parable of the Sower, Butler uses Olivar to criticize the
901
influence of capitalism on contemporary society. Through
the dialogue among Butler’s characters, we realize that the
economic situation of the early labor exploitation in the
United States has returned. Lauren’s father explains that
companies in Olivar sound ―half antebellum revival and half
science fiction‖ [4]. He distrusts these companies because in
exchange for security, room, and board, they take away
individual freedom. Butler criticizes company towns that
deceive people by saying that they will provide security and
give the people support and money. She reveals that Olivar
does not care for the health or economic situation of its
workers. Therefore, Butler expresses the danger of giving up
individual rights and losing one’s freedom.
Dystopian novels always reflect a catastrophe of a certain
time or of the near future. As Lauren remarks, perhaps cities
will be controlled by large companies in the future. She
believes that the ―company‖ was always a ―subgenre‖ of
science fiction, in which the hero attempts to overthrow or
escape the company. The so-called hero ―fought like hell to
get taken in and underpaid by the company. In real life, that’s
the way it will be. That’s the way it is‖ [4]. Therefore, the
reader realizes the danger of exchanging security for
freedom.
Lauren’s awareness of social injustice increases as the
novel progresses. When Lauren leaves Robledo and starts her
journey to the North, she meets different people with
miserable destinies that reflect the dystopian environment
and social crises of our time. The first people Lauren meets
and gets to know in her journey are a mixed-race family
called the Douglases that consists of an African-American
husband, his Hispanic wife, and their son. Lauren learns
about neo-slavery and the evils it entails through this family’s
experience. Although the Douglases, Travis and Natividad,
do not seem to be slaves by name, their sad experience
reminds Lauren of the revival of slavery in the late 20th
century. Travis presents a sad picture of modern slavery
through his story. His mother had to work ―as a live-in cook‖
after his father died [4], and she taught him how to read and
write. Travis explains that his mother worked for a man who
had a large library but forbade Travis from reading any books.
His mother then sneaked the books to him so that she could
teach him how to read. When Lauren hears this story, she
says, ―Of course. Slaves did that two hundred years ago.
They sneaked around and educated themselves as best they
could, sometimes suffering whipping, sale, or mutilation for
their efforts‖ [4]. Travis’ story shocks the reader because it is
reminiscent of the 19th century slavery in modern time. His
story reveals a resurgence of slavery when he continues that
his wife, Natividad, was also a maid working for the same
master his mother worked for. Lauren views the story as a
strange event of our time when she says ―the son of the cook
marrying one of the maids. That was like something out of
another era, too‖ [4]. Her surprise is complete when she
understands why the couple finally left the master’s house.
He says that ―the old bastard we worked for decided he
wanted Natividad… Couldn’t let her alone. That’s why we
left. That’s why his wife helped us leave‖ [4]. Lauren realizes
that the sexual abuse and rape of slaves were common during
the period of slavery, and that the same story is occurring in
our time. Travis and Natividad are lucky to escape the house
because ―in slavery when that happened, there was nothing
the slaves could do about it –or nothing that wouldn’t get
them killed, sold, or beaten‖ [4]. Lauren realizes that slavery
persists in our time. Travis’ miserable story is reminiscent of
the terrible slavery in the 19th century that Lauren reads of in
history. The masters are malicious and the innocent slaves are
victims of oppression. Lauren writes in her diary, ―[How]
many other people were less lucky –unable to escape the
master’s attentions or gain the mistress’s sympathies. How
far did masters and mistresses go these days toward putting
less than submissive servants in their places?‖ [4].
Butler reveals that even after centuries, slavery persists in
society. Even in these days of democracy, we can easily see
oppression. In Parable of the Sower, Butler predicts a
catastrophe in the near future that has roots in our present
time. In this case, Fredric Jameson remarks that one of the
main features that makes science fiction an especially fertile
form of fiction is its ability to ―break through history in a new
way‖ to gain historical consciousness ―by way of the future
rather than the past‖ [7]. According to Jameson, science
fiction functions by ―transforming our own present into the
determinate past of something yet to come‖ [8]. Therefore, in
this type of fiction, our present is seen as the past of some
unexpected future rather than the future itself. Science fiction
writers warn their readers of an unpleasant future in which
the chance of change or promise is lacking.
Lauren’s curious mind realizes that social injustice is
based on race, class, gender, or even different religions in
society. She believes that her present society has returned to
the days of slavery with one basic difference, which is that
slavery is not limited to the blacks but can be imposed on
anyone who lacks power and accepts slavery. Therefore, the
reason for slavery is no longer racial superiority but the
power of the employer, regardless of race and class, over
employees through ―debt slavery‖ as well as ―company
slavery‖. This type of superiority is an obvious result of
social injustice that Butler reveals in her novel. Butler
provides a new perspective of environmental injustice and
explores social crises in a general manner. Through rhetorical
analysis, Lauren criticizes the social crises and attempts to
change the present situation in which any form of difference
is viewed as a reason for oppression and exploitation in
society. The victims of such exploitation are usually racial
minorities, women, and members of the lower class.
Therefore, people are aware that if they do not make severe
changes in both the way they treat the Earth and the way they
treat one other, the situation of social groups that are
oppressed by powerful groups will worsen as the
environment continues to decline.
hierarchies in a dystopian system. She shows the controlling
systems of industrial companies that invisibly exploit their
employees in a way in which the workers never realize that
they are subjugated bodies. The workers obey the rules
automatically without any opposition because they believe
that these companies provide them with facilities and security
that protect their lives.
Butler’s novel shows a complex understanding of the
importance of fear, empathy, and tolerance. Lauren, the
narrator of the novel, has the capability to feel the pain and
suffering of others. Through Lauren’s diary, the reader sees
the harsh conditions of living in the community and Lauren’s
self-awakening process, through which she realizes that
people must change their way of life; otherwise, the future
will be considerably worse than the present. Lauren starts to
warn the community, including her family, friends, and
neighbors, of their terrible condition.
Lauren (or Butler) believes that the time is ripe for a great
change. Although Earthseed is defective, it has the potential
to change the world. The most important revision is human
destiny. Destiny must be changed. Lauren asserts, ―the
Destiny of Earthseed / Is to take root among the stars or
among the ashes‖ [4]. In this case, she views travel as the
immediate goal for change. Earthseed will not save the world
but it should influence the readers. Butler involves us, her
readers, in environmental and social crises to make us feel
unsettled, and incorporates us into the slave narrative to
allow us to see the world through different eyes and end the
slavery that exists around us.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Maryam Kouhestani thanks Associate Professor Dr.
Sharmani P. Gabriel for her kindly supervising during her
PhD candidate and University of Malaya for its support.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
IV. CONCLUSION
In Parable of the Sower, Butler illustrates the future of the
world. She predicts that the future will be considerably worse
than the present. Social inequality, environmental
degradation, and injustice are real problems that are
occurring in our time. The present social and environmental
crises of our world may seem less than what Butler depicts in
her novel, but they certainly have the potential to worsen in
the future. If we do not change the way we live, we threaten
one other’s lives and the Earth and endanger the global
economy. Butler warns her reader of oppressive social
R. Kenan, ―An Interview with Octavia E. Butler,‖ JSTOR, Callaloo,
vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 495-504, Spring 1991.
R. Stein, ―Introduction,‖ in New Perspectives on Environmental Justice:
Gender, Sexuality, and Activism, Rachel Stein Ed., New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2004, pp. 1-17.
G. Gaard, ―Toward a Queer Ecofeminism,‖ in New Perspectives on
Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality, and Activism, Rachel Stein
Ed., New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004, pp. 21-44.
O. E. Butler, Parable of the Sower, New York: Grand Central
Publishing, 1993.
T. Moylan, Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia,
Dystopia, Westview Press, 2000, pp. 227-230.
J. Carrette, Foucault and Religion, Routledge, 2013, pp. 109-112.
J. Miller, ―Post-apocalyptic hoping: Octavia butler's dystopian/utopian
vision,‖ in Science Fiction Studies, 1998, pp. 336-360.
F. Jameson, ―Progress versus utopia; or, can we imagine the future?
(Progrès Contre Utopie, Ou: Pouvons-Nous Imaginer L'avenir),‖ in
Science Fiction Studies, 1982, pp. 147-58.
Maryam Kouhestani was born on 28th of June,
1977 in Iran. In 2000 she received her bachelor
degree in English language and literature from
Ferdowsi University/ Iran. In 2007 she received her
master degree in English literature from Puna
University/ India. She is a PhD candidate of English
literature in University of Malaya/ Malaysia.
Ms. Kouhestani is one of the staff of Ferdowsi
University since 2000. She is a member of
MICOLIAC (Malaysia international conference on
languages, literatures and cultures) since 2010.
902
Impact of RTE Act on Girl Child Education
Sonal Mobar, Member, IEDRC

chores which include collecting firewood, preparing meals,
grinding spices, washing and drying clothes, looking after the
young siblings, etc. As per SSA framework, SSA‟s focus is
on gender parity which is rooted in the National Policy on
Education which brought center-stage the issue of gender and
girl‟s education.
Abstract—Under Right to Education Act (RTE), the
government provides Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidayalyas
(KGBV) which are residential schools in educationally
backward blocks at upper primary level for girls belonging
predominantly to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes,
Other Backward Class and minority communities. According to
the MHRD (2011), KGBVs are set up in educationally
backward blocks, where the female rural literacy is below the
national average (i.e. below 46.13% as per Census 2001) and
gender gap in literacy is above the national average of 21.67%.
This paper explores the conditions of KGBVs, the impact of
RTE on girl enrolment and retention. The author explores the
challenges and opportunities faced by girls, hindrances in their
education and the impact of RTE in providing access of
education to them. Overall, the paper explores the dimensions
of gender, equity and quality under RTE and suggests measures
to be taken up at policy level itself.
II. SSA AND RTE
rd
The 83 Constitutional Amendment recognizes the right to
free and compulsory education as fundamental and therefore
a justiciable right for the children between 6-14 years. The
Act lays down that each child should be imparted education
in such a manner that frees from fear, trauma and anxiety and
is able to convey his views clearly [1]. The Right to
Education (RTE) Act strives for effective and transformative
education. This falls under the domain of universal human
right, which leads to entitlement to claim the substance of it;
it relates to the possibility of demanding the right to
education and making it justiciable. Tomasevski (1999)
interprets the norms in RTE and summarizes them in a 4-A
scheme. The 4-A scheme stands for availability, accessibility,
acceptability and adoptability [2].
The Right of children to free and compulsory education
Act came into force from April 1, 2010. The RTE Act has 37
sections, seven chapters and one schedule which clearly lay
down the aims and goals of the Act. Some of the salient
features of the RTE Act, 2009 include that every child in the
age group of 6-14 years will be provided 8 years of
elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the
vicinity of his/her neighbourhood, providing free and
compulsory education. It provides for a non-admitted child to
be admitted to an appropriate class. The Act also mentions
about norms and standards, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio, the
buildings and infrastructure etc. No child shall be denied
admission for want of documents; no child shall be turned
away if the admission cycle in the school is over and no child
shall be asked to take an admission test. Children with
disabilities will also be educated in the mainstream schools.
100 percent enrolment is ensured by providing a Primary
School with in 1 km radius and Upper Primary School in 3
km radius of all the habitations. It has also to ensure that child
belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups are
not discriminated against and prevented from pursuing and
completing elementary education on any grounds. The
teachers should not be engaged in any other activities apart
from teaching. It must also ensure and monitor admission,
attendance and completion of elementary education by every
child and that the quality of elementary education conforms
to the standards and norms specified in the schedule.
Looking at the census records, we can see that female literacy
has gone up from 8.86% in 1951 to 53.67% in 2001 as shown
Index Terms—Equity, girl education, literacy, RTE, rights.
I. INTRODUCTION
Bridging the gender and social gaps in elementary
education is one of the fundamental goals of Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA). It is a comprehensive and integrated flagship
program of government of India, launched in 2000-01, to
attain Universal Elementary Education in the country in a
mission mode. The role of Universal Elementary Education
(UEE) is strengthening the social fabric of democracy
through provision of equal opportunities to all. Currently,
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is implemented as India‟s
main programme
for
universalizing
elementary
education. Its overall goals include universal access and
retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in
education and enhancement of learning levels of children.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or „Education for All‟ programme
recognizes that ensuring girl‟s education requires changes
not only in the education system but also in societal norms
and attitudes. A two-pronged gender strategy has therefore
been adopted, to make the education system responsive to the
needs of the girls through targeted interventions which serve
as a pull factor to enhance access and retention of girls in
schools and on the other hand, to generate a community
demand for girls‟ education through training and
mobilization.
Under SSA, the whole attempt is to reach out to children
who are excluded from the benefits of education. Among
these, the girls are considered the hardest to reach out to. As
per cultural practices, girls are supposed to do household
Sonal Mobar is with the Center for Equity and Social Development,
National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
500030, India (e-mail: [email protected]).
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2015.V5.577
903
in Table I. Though it is an upward gradient, the final
milestone is quite far.
scarifying, love and kindness as female attributes.
Under-representation of women is clearly evident in all the
textbooks across subjects. Little effort is made to depict
women in non-traditional roles and portray them as capable
of making choices. Issues of quality and equity are
inextricably linked. Education processes to be transformative
in terms of preparing students to question existing gender
relations and notions of masculinities and being feminine.
School is a place where students have opportunities for
questioning, debating, seeing new perspectives, forming new
identities and relations without feeling threatened or weak.
Gender disparities persist strongly in rural areas and among
disadvantaged communities. Therefore a critical aspect of
promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women,
with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances
and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives.
Education is one such tool that empowers them. And this
right to education for girls can be achieved efficiently if
measures to resolve related issues such as exploitative and
discriminatory behavior, sexual abuse and physical violence
are laid stress on [5]. Efforts have to be made to increase the
enrolment and attendance of girls in schools and there is need
to address the deep-seated cultural norms and values that
impede girls‟ access to education [6].
TABLE I: STATUS OF FEMALE EDUCATION IN INDIA
CENSUS
PERSONS
MALE
FEMALE
1951
18.33
27.16
8.86
1961
28.30
40.40
15.35
1971
34.45
45.96
21.97
1981
43.57
56.38
29.76
1991
52.21
64.13
39.29
2001
64.84
75.26
53.67
YEAR
(2001 Census)
III. GIRL CHILD EDUCATION IN INDIA
The Indian government has expressed a strong
commitment towards education to all. However, India still
has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia. The low
rates of female literacy not only have a negative impact on
women‟s lives but also the country‟s economy as well [3].
Numerous studies show that illiterate women have high rates
of maternal mortality, poor nutritional status, low earning
potential and little or no autonomy within their household.
Lack of an educated population can be an impediment to the
country‟s economic development. Since the governments
have realized this, they have developed many schemes to
educate the females of the country. There have been
programs and policies to check negative teacher attitudes,
biases in curriculum, lack of female teachers and inadequate
hygiene and sanitation conditions in schools that inhibit girl
child enrolment and retention [4].
V. OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this paper is to explore the status of
girl child education with reference to Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidayalays. Apart from that, the paper will discuss the
quality and equity issues related to girl child education, the
challenges and opportunities they face in accessing education
and the overall impact of RTE in enrolment and retention.
VI. KASTURBA GANDHI BALIKA VIDYALAYA (KGBV)
The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme is merged
with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the XIth Plan with effect from
1st April, 2007. KGBV is a scheme launched in July 2004, for
setting up residential schools at upper primary level for girls
belonging predominantly to the Scheduled Caste (SC),
Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and
minority communities. The scheme is being implemented in
educationally backward blocks of the country where the
female rural literacy is below the national average and gender
gap in literacy is above the national average. The scheme
provides for a minimum reservation of 75% of the seats for
girls belonging to SC, ST, OBC or minority communities and
priority for the remaining 25%, is accorded to girls from
families below poverty line.
Till date, the government of India has sanctioned 2578
KGBVs. Of these, 427 KGBVs have been sanctioned in
Muslim concentration blocks, 612 in ST blocks, and 688 in
SC blocks. As on 31st January, 2009, 2423 KGBVs are
reported to be functional (i.e. 94%) in the States and 1,90,404
girls enrolled in them. Out of the total 2578 sanctioned
KGBVs, 547 KGBVs have been constructed + 1262 are in
progress and 769 have not been started. The objective of
KGBV is to ensure access and quality education to the girls
IV. EQUITY LEADS TO EQUALITY
By equity we mean equal rights that are justifiable. It is
seen that there are cultural and societal practices that lead to
stereotyping roles and responsibilities of girls. These in turn
lead to bringing a skewed role-play in genders. It is required
that teachers and parents be sensitized to handle
gender-related differences. It is generally observed that in
classrooms, where both girls and boys are present, the
teachers tend to give more attention towards boys. Girls are
seen sitting passively. This affects students‟ participations in
classrooms. There are certain unsaid rules that are born in
such classrooms and carried with young minds all throughout
their life.
It is often seen that language reinforces gender stereotypes
in most places. The masculinity is described in certain terms
that affirm strength and aggression and femininity in such
terms that are docile and submissive in character. There are
pictures in textbooks which reaffirm these ideas on the
impressionable young minds. Visibility of women is very low
as compared to men‟s appearance in the textbooks. Women
and men are identified with stereotypical attributes: brave,
heroic, honest, are portrayed as male; and caring, self
904
at schools might pose a de-motivator. Inadequate toilet
facilities force the girls to go in the open fields to
urinate/defecate. Thirdly, inadequate female staff is also a
problem. Often, male teachers are insensitive and may
misbehave with girl students. Girls might have to suffer overt
and tacit form of discrimination embedded in school
environment. In case the girls are differently-abled, things
change altogether as they might be deprived from education
altogether. As far as opportunities are concerned, the
government makes sure to provide Primary Schools and an
Upper Primary School at 1 km and 3 km distance respectively.
Also, separate toilets for girls are made mandatory under
SSA. Recruitment of female staff is also essential for schools.
There are entitlements for girl children to retain them to
schools once they are enrolled.
of disadvantaged groups of society by setting up residential
schools with boarding facilities at elementary level. Approx.
Rs.20 lakhs for each KGBV (100 girls) is sanctioned. The
main aim of this programme/ scheme is to mainstream the
backward girls in school, to increase the quality education of
girls to create girls friendly environment in schools, and to
create awareness among the community members for girls
education.
Along with studies, vocational training is provided to the
residents of KGBV so that after completion of education in
the school they can be self dependant. For a smooth
functioning of KGBV there is a need to build the capacity of
the students and staff. Faculties from different subjects are
involved to train staff members in capacity building. A
popular cartoon character „Meena‟ is used to spread the
message of girl education. It has succeeded in increasing the
girls‟ enrolment in many villages. Girls are sensitized on
social issues and the challenges they might face later in life.
At KGBVs, girls are engaged in various arts and crafts
activities from basket making, weaving, pottery, ceramic
work, embroidery, crochet, etc. Through learning all these
interesting things, they become very skillful. Interested girls
are given coaching and trainings in archery, tennis, etc. too.
They are also engaged in other recreational activities also
such as folk games, sports, essay and story writing, puppet
making, rangoli making, mehandi, painting, collage making,
dance and drama, etc. Every month parent-teacher meetings
are organized where parents are informed about the school
resources, about the activities held in the school and progress
of their ward. They are also asked to give their views and
suggestions. The inmates of KGBVs are given all due
entitlements on time such as books, uniforms, bags, etc. and
cosmetic charges of Rs.50 per month. There are cooks,
wardens, and guards to look after the KGBV center. It is
observed that KGBV are generally well-maintained with
classrooms, properly ventilated dormitories, library,
entertainment room, kitchen, Head-mistress room, etc.
Sanitation and hygiene is well-maintained. There are
facilities of playgrounds too. A kitchen-garden is maintained
with the help of girls. Products grown there are used in
cooking at the KGBV. Good thoughts and moral values are
also inculcated in girls to make them grow as a better human
being.
VIII. IMPACT
The KGBVs have been able to provide not only education,
fooding and lodging, stationary and toiletries, but also have
opened a great vantage for the girls belonging to
marginalized sections of the society. The training and
education received at KGBVs enable them to be independent
and strong enough to take their decisions in life, once they
leave KGBV center. They receive life-long character
building training. With trained and qualified staff to look
after the girls, the KGBVs are achieving the goal they were
set up with, i.e., of providing a free education along with
vocational training, to girls from disadvantaged and
marginalized sections of the society. The RTE Act attempts
to bridge the gap between boys and girls on social and
cultural level. To effectively implement the RTE Act, the
Human Resource Development Ministry, Labor Ministry,
Women and Child Development Ministry, Panchayati Raj
Ministry and Rural Development Ministry have to work
together. There should be an umbrella body that brings all
these agencies together to work towards a common goal. The
government must make every effort to become self-sufficient
by using the education cess and other taxes to effectively
implement the RTE Act. The RTE Act has been able to
resolve some bottlenecks such as providing Special
Residential and Non Residential Education Centres for Out
of School Children (OoSC) and migrant children, providing
toilet facility for girls and differently abled, availability and
use of computers, etc. Once all these challenges are resolved,
the implementation of RTE act will meet success and have a
positive impact over the people. All sorts of socio-economic
discrepancies should be removed to make this Act a success.
VII. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Girl child education is affected by many issues such as
poverty, social values, inadequate school facilities, shortage
of female teachers, and gender bias in curriculum. Access to
education has been one of the most pressing demands of the
women‟s rights movements. They have to face challenges
and hindrances from familial to societal levels. Firstly, they
are not sent to schools as they are deployed in household
chores. In case they are enrolled in schools, there are various
issues related access, transport, safety and quality. Some
parents fear to send their daughters to schools because the
way to schools is not safe. The girls might have to cross
highways, bridges, railway tracks, forests, etc. and if there is
no escort, it is not safe for the girls. This leads to girls being
drop-outs or out of school. Secondly, infrastructural facilities
IX. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Education also leads to girl child empowerment. It helps
build their self- confidence, self-esteem; it transforms them
from a docile person to an educated person who can handle
the challenges of life and question inequalities. Gender-parity
has been the overarching concern of the system on the whole.
Through education, gender and social disadvantages can be
resolved and equity can be achieved. Girls experience
multiple forms of disadvantages. Curriculum, textbooks, and
pedagogic practices need to capture the entire web of social
905
and economic relations that determine an individual‟s
location in the social reality and shape their lived experiences.
There should be teachers‟ sensitization programmes to
promote equitable learning opportunities. Interventions like
gender training remain largely sporadic and need to be
accelerated. Gender inclusive text books should be designed.
It is high time to understand the structural and social barriers
to girls‟ education and bring out systematic change.
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Muslim girls are
vulnerable, leading to them being Out of School Children
(OoSC) and drop-outs. It is time to address the challenge.
Measures include transport, escorts, counseling, helping
them negotiate domestic work burdens, community support
mechanisms. If the society wants to flourish then it will have
to invest in a girl child‟s education [7]. There are educational
disparities across the developing countries. When we educate
a girl we empower her to have a say over the choices she has.
Once educated, they can speak up for themselves, their rights,
argue if wronged and demand justice. This would lead to
making of a just society.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank the Center for Equity and
Social Development, NIRD Hyderabad for providing an
opportunity to work in the field of girl education.
906
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Framework for Implementation Based on the Right of Children to Free
and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan, 2011.
K. Tomasevski, Human Rights and Poverty Reduction- Girls’
Education through a Human Rights Lens: What Can be done
Differently, What Can be Made Better, Odi Publications, 2005.
A. Warner, A. Malhotra, and A. Mcgongale, “Girls‟ education,
empowerment, and transitions to Adulthood: the case for a shared
agenda,” International Center for Research on Women, 2012.
United Nations Girls‟ Education Initiative, „Girls‟ too!‟ Education for
All‟.
UNGEI
Factsheet.
(2006).
[Online].
Available:
http://www.ungei.org
United Nations’ Children’s Fund, the State of World’s Children 2007:
Women and Children-the Double Dividend of Gender Equality,
UNICEF, NY, 2006, pp. 7.
A Human Rights Based Approach to Education for All: a Framework
for the Realization of Children’s Right to Education and Rights within
Education, UNICEF, NY, USA, 2007.
Department for International Development, Girls Education: Towards
a Better Future for All, DFID, 2005.
Sonal Mobar was born on October 2, 1981 in Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh, India. She completed her studies from
Lucknow University, pursuing PG in social
anthropology and then doctorate in sociology from IIT
Kanpur in 2012. She is currently working with Center
for Equity and Social Development at National Institute
of Rural Development, Hyderabad. She specializes in
the field of rural development, IT in education, tribal
studies, culture studies, social exclusion and stigma. She
prefers to take an anthropological take at studying cultures and society.

TOC

Transcription

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