Malaysia's total population was 32.98 million in January 2022.. Data show that Malaysia's population increased by 408 thousand (+1.3 percent) between 2021 and 2022.. 48.6 percent of Malaysia's population is female, while 51.4 percent of the population is male.. At the start of 2022, 78.2 percent of Malaysia's population lived in urban centres, while 21. . By law the government is not allowed to redraw the electoral boundaries until 2026 unless members of parliament amend the federal constitution, a process that requires a two-thirds majority vote. Umars wife, who viewed the body before the autopsy, said she saw swellings all over the body. The protest took place amid threats of disciplinary action by hospital administrations and heavy police presence at several major hospitals nationwide. Share this via Telegram Among lots of social issues in Malaysia, i choose 5 social issues that i felt is the worst in Malaysia. One-Stop Crisis Centers, an integrated multiagency service in the emergency department of most major public hospitals, provided support, including emergency contraception, to victims of sexual violence. Preventing violence. Social problems can relate to governments, social behavior, social structure, environmental and economic problems. Public schools are open to some UNHCR-registered refugees, but not to the children of illegal immigrants. If the prosecutor agrees sufficient evidence exists to justify continued detention and further investigation, a fact-finding inquiry officer appointed by the minister of home affairs must report within 59 days to a detention board appointed by the king. Employers were unilaterally able to terminate work permits, subjecting migrant workers to immediate deportation. The Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development is responsible for safeguarding the rights of persons with disabilities. Saddiq was released on bail, and the charges were transferred to a Kuala Lumpur court in September. People also migrate because of factors like wars, poverty, discrimination, and for political or even religious reasons. Published by Statista Research Department , Oct 5, 2022. It remained at 4.1% in 2022 and is forcasted to stabilised at -3.1% in 2023 and 2024. In October UNHCR estimated there were 9,040 stateless persons residing in peninsular Malaysia, the majority of whom were of Indian Tamil ethnicity. In the paper, Economic Cost of Youth Suicide Malaysia, Relate Malaysia found that, for every youth suicide in 2019, the Malaysian economy lost RM676,165. Members of the Malaysian Bar Council, NGO representatives, and other observers expressed serious concern about significant limitations on judicial independence, citing several high-profile instances of arbitrary verdicts, selective prosecution, and preferential treatment of some litigants and lawyers. Self-censorship took place among academics at private institutions as well, spurred by fear the government might revoke the licenses of their institutions. See the Department of States Trafficking in Persons Report at https://www.state.gov/trafficking-in-persons-report/. Protests deemed acceptable by the government usually proceeded without interference. Further custodial deaths were recorded but no one was held to account. From March 3 to July 29, Selangor State Islamic religious authorities detained journalist Wan Norhayati Wan Alias, known as Ibu Yati, without charge, based on controversial comments she posted on social media about the Arabization of Malay culture. It conducted training, undertook investigations, issued reports, and made recommendations to the government. Physical Conditions: Overcrowding in prisons and immigration detention centers, particularly in facilities near major cities, remained a serious problem. The measures included school officials forcing girls to show their blood-soaked sanitary pads; doing swabs of their vaginas with cotton buds, tissues, or fingers; or patting them down to feel if they were wearing a sanitary pad. Police also raided her home without a search warrant. Union officials claimed legal requirements for strikes were almost impossible to meet; the last major strike occurred in 1962. What happen to Malaysia in 2021? Sarawak maintained its ban on Zakir Naik, an Islamic preacher; Mandeep Karpal Singh, formerly of the fair-election NGO coalition Bersih; sitting Bersih chair Thomas Fann; former chair Ambiga Sreenevasan; Wong Chin Huat, an academic and Bersih resource chair; Jerald Joseph, a SUHAKAM commissioner; and activists Colin Nicholas and Jannie Lasimbang, among others. Ibu Yatis court date was set for January 25, 2022. In September, however, Hamzah informed parliament the government would require healthcare workers to notify security forces if undocumented migrants appeared at health facilities and vaccine centers. His wife disputed the reports and filed a wrongful death claim against police, stating that his body appeared swollen and beaten. In September the High Court ruled that mothers who are citizens have the right to confer citizenship to their children born overseas on an equal basis with men who are citizens, but the government appealed the decision. Students with disabilities attended mainstream schools, but accessibility remained a serious problem. Five agencies, including the Department of Labor of the Ministry of Human Resources, have enforcement powers under the law, but their officers performed a variety of functions and did not always actively search for indications of forced labor. During the same period, three people died while in police lock-ups, and 188 prison inmates died. Zahid faced charges filed in 2018 of corruption, money laundering, and taking bribes totaling three million ringgit ($720,000) from a company that ran a visa center for the workers, who paid tenfold higher costs for visa services and medical tests over a five-year period without receiving additional protections or benefits. Share this via LinkedIn UNHCR deemed this a widespread problem. As we continue to understand more clearly, issues such as conflict, hunger, and climate change are deeply interlinked. Employment discrimination occurred against persons with disabilities (see section 7.d.). What are the current issues in our society? MACC noted that all transactions associated with the 29 charges against Noor Ehsanuddin were advances that had been fully repaid. Police justified this practice as necessary to prevent interference in investigations in progress, and the courts generally upheld the practice. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum two years imprisonment, a fine, or both. The sentences for subsequent convictions are fines and up to three months in jail. Rape is punishable by a maximum 20 years imprisonment and caning. The immigration director general issued a statement confirming that the ships departed with 1,086 of the 1,200 Burmese nationals aboard. Within seven days of the initial detention, however, police must present the case for detention to a public prosecutor. Sexual Harassment: The law prohibits a person in authority from using his or her position to intimidate a subordinate by any conduct that is sexual in nature. Undocumented migrants are detained during a crackdown by MalaysiasImmigration Department in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, May 20, 2020. Wage and Hour Laws: The minimum wage applied to both citizen and foreign workers, except for those in domestic service and the gig economy (see section 7.e., Informal Sector). A youth coalition press statement slammed the use of sedition as excessive intimidation of ordinary individuals. 05:27 AM (GMT) Embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to resign on Monday after a tumultuous 17 months in power marked by his government's poor response to . The political environment was hostile towards women. UNHCR affirmed that authorities continued to disallow visits by its staff to detention centers to meet refugees and asylum seekers, determine those in need of international protection, and advocate for their release. In May families of 10 inmates filed police reports after their incarcerated relatives claimed to have been abused while under quarantine at Jelebu Prison in Negeri Sembilan. Authorities provide defendants free interpretation in Mandarin, Tamil, and some other commonly used dialects from the moment charged through all appeals. The law prohibits and criminalizes all forms of forced or compulsory labor. In February 2020 the Pakatan Harapan coalition collapsed, and power transferred to the Malay-dominated Perikatan Nasional coalition which included the main Barisan Nasional components, headed by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. The court scheduled a hearing for October 14, and the case continued at years end. In modern times, people often migrate for security, work and even for education opportunities. The government may seize this land if it provides compensation. Participation of Women and Members of Minority Groups: No laws limit participation by women or members of minority groups or of historically marginalized groups in the political process, and they did participate. Saddiq pleaded not guilty in a lower court in Johor State to two counts of money laundering, involving 100,000 ringgit ($24,000). Depression. However, it should be acknowledged that mental health issues do not discriminate just like adults, the young have been significantly impacted mentally and emotionally by the pandemic. Moreover, racism and special privileges leave some . The incompatibility in the focus of higher education institution and the needs of labour market. This returned the long-dominant UMNO to power . I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.. WE NEED TO CONTROL OURSELF FROM NEGATIVE VIBRATIONS AND NOWADAYS NEED TO EXPERIENCE TO GET WORK AT ALL. According to a KFF analysis of government data, around 1 in 10 adults have medical debt. Multiple logistic regression shows that adolescents . Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights, Section 6. The government arrested and prosecuted some officials engaged in corruption, malfeasance, and human rights abuses, although civil society groups alleged continued impunity. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (EDICT) accused the government and police of not taking the issue seriously and called for a coroners inquest to determine the cause of death. Opposition lawmakers slammed then minister of health Adham Baba for breaking his promise that no action would be taken against doctors who participated in the strike. According to the Malaysian Bar Council, defendants generally had adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense if they had the means to engage private counsel. The law states that sodomy and oral sex acts are carnal intercourse against the order of nature. In February the Federal Court nullified a Selangor State law on same-sex sexual conduct. Students returning to Malaysia will have to undergo a COVID-19 swab test and quarantine procedures. (i) High Rate Of Unemployment Among Graduates. The Attorney Generals Chambers requested a fine of 200,000 ringgit ($47,500), but Yusuf fined Malaysiakini more than double that amount. Subtance abuse. The government also had the right to compel arbitration in the case of failed collective bargaining negotiations. Police abuse of suspects in custody and a lack of accountability for such offenses remained a serious problem. The government placed some restrictions on academic freedom, particularly the expression of unapproved political views, and enforced restrictions on teachers and students who expressed dissenting views. Malaysia's RHB Investment Bank noted in a report this month that serious weaknesses to the economy due to concerns that sluggish expansion in the construction and retail sectors, coupled with . Before and during that campaign, opposition politicians and civil society organizations alleged electoral irregularities and systemic disadvantages for opposition groups due to a lack of media access for the opposition and malapportioned districts favoring the then ruling coalition. Shortest response: "Tol". A consortium of NGOs released a formal report in 2018 detailing irregularities in the election, including vote buying, the use of public funds for partisan activity, and allegations of biased behavior by public officials. March 11, 2021 End Poverty, Equality, . Police detained Reza after he compiled two Spotify playlists of songs that referenced either the queen, Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, or her Instagram question to followers if they were jealous of her and her servants for receiving early COVID-19 vaccinations. The kingship rotates among the sultans of the nine states with hereditary Malay rulers. The government focused on preventing sexual exploitation of children, including sex trafficking. On June 15, the Attorney General filed an application to initiate contempt proceedings against online news portal Malaysiakini for five reader comments. The old saying "the rich keep getting rich" rings true in the United States. Crowded and understaffed courts often resulted in lengthy pretrial detention, sometimes lasting several years. Malaysia's population in 2022. The charges came on top of two other corruption charges against Saddiq on July 22 for misappropriation of one million ringgit ($240,000) in funds that belonged to his former political party, Bersatu, led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin. Over 175,000 refugees and asylum seekers, most of whom come from Myanmar, are registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office but have no legal status and remain unable to work or enroll in government schools. A synchronous fiscal, monetary and financial policy response has helped cushion the economic impact. However, drug abuse among the youth in Malaysia is becoming a grave concern. Civil and criminal law exempt men older than 50, unless convicted of rape, and all women from caning. Some employers and migrant workers reported that workers sometimes requested employers keep their passports, since replacing lost or stolen passports could cost several months wages and leave foreign workers open to questions about their legal status. In July the Federal Court upheld a 2018 criminal defamation conviction against online news portal Malaysiakini for articles and videos published in 2012 about pollution allegedly linked to Raud Australian Gold Mining and ordered Malaysiakini to pay 550,000 ringgit ($132,000) in damages and costs. Malaysia deported him back to Bangladesh on August 21. Displacement. Indigenous persons are governed by customary laws with no fixed minimum age for marriage. According to the International Press Institute, the nationwide state of emergency declared in January to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, postponing parliamentary sittings and elections while banning interstate travel and imposing restrictions on media, posed a grave threat to press freedom and freedom of expression. In March the government enacted an emergency ordinance prohibiting the spread of fake news related to COVID-19 and the state of emergency declaration with heavy fines, three years in prison, or both for violations. More than 60 offenses are subject to caning, sometimes in conjunction with imprisonment, and judges routinely mandated caning as punishment for crimes, including kidnapping, rape, and robbery, and nonviolent offenses, such as narcotics possession, criminal breach of trust, migrant smuggling, immigration offenses, and others. Other buyers requested suppliers to reduce or exclude FGV and Sime Darby products for supplies entering numerous countries. Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36. The constitution gives ethnic Malays and indigenous groups, collectively known as bumiputra, a special position in the country. Islamic authorities may enter private premises without a warrant to apprehend Muslims suspected of engaging in offenses such as gambling, consumption of alcohol, and sexual relations outside marriage. Significant human rights issues included: reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government or its agents; reports of torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention; problems with the independence . Censorship or Content Restrictions: The government maintained the ability to censor media. Observers noted that authorities took claims seriously, but victims were often reluctant to report sexual harassment because of the difficulty of proving the offense and the lengthy trial process. Freedom of expression came under attack immediately after the change in government, when authorities opened a sedition investigation into activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri for organizing a protest against the method by which the new government came to power. Such programs limited opportunities for non-bumiputra (primarily ethnic Chinese and Indians) in higher education and government employment. The Court of Appeal ruled that if the Ahmadiyya were proven to have converted from Islam, then the religious authorities would have authority over them, and sent the case back to the High Court for a determination of the original faith of the 39 plaintiffs. Violence and Harassment: Journalists were subjected to harassment and intimidation. Some NGOs asserted that a police approach of arrest first, investigate later was prevalent, particularly in cases involving allegations of terrorism. Everyone would agree about . In January, the High Court granted Sisters in Islam, a civil society group working to promote the rights of Muslim women, a stay on the enforcement of a fatwa issued against it in 2014. The government censored films for certain political and religious content, not allowing, for example, screening of films in Hebrew or Yiddish, or from Israel. When the attorney general orders an official inquiry, a coroners court convenes, and the hearing is open to the public. Unlike the government's initial response to COVID-19 or the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which involved daily press briefings with an official spokesperson, the federal administration . The broadly worded fatwa declares that Sisters in Islam and any individuals, organizations and institutions holding on to liberalism and religious pluralism are deviant from Islamic teachings. The law prohibits women from working underground, such as in mines, and restricts employers from requiring female employees to work in industrial or agricultural work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. or to commence work for the day without having 11 consecutive hours of rest since the end of the last work period. Malaysia's GDP in 2019 was $364,684 million. The legal system is based on British common law, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No matter how small or big their problems, their troubles may feel unbearable or overwhelming. We must bring activity and quality to the table. Global AIDS Coordinator and Global Health Diplomacy, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Special Representative for Syria Engagement, U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Office of the U.S. I very much appreciate it. Baseline figures of stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness in Sabah, where approximately 80,000 Filipino Muslim refugees resided, were unavailable. NGOs reported that agents or employers in some cases drafted contracts that included a provision for employees to sign over the right to hold their passports to the employer or an agent. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C): The law does not prohibit FGM/C, and it was a common practice among Muslim and some indigenous communities. Migrant workers also faced employment discrimination (see sections 7.b. The Royal Malaysian Police maintain internal security and report to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Refugees employed in the informal sector were paid lower wages than comparable employees and were vulnerable to exploitation. The government generally restricted publications it judged might incite racial or religious disharmony. The government has yet to release the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) set up in 2019 to investigate mass graves found in remote jungle camps on the Thai-Malaysian border in 2015. The government regards those who post content as publishers, thereby placing the burden of proof on the poster. Police suspended two officers pending investigation. In 2013 the state government had awarded Sri Jengka, a semi-state government corporation, a 99-year lease on the 1,618-acre tract. . Depression. Aug 5th 2021. The law also restricts the formation of unions of workers in similar trades, occupations, or industries. However, drug abuse among the youth in Malaysia is becoming a grave concern. In September Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat issued directives to improve the detention process and ensure suspects detained for investigation for more than 24 hours had access to legal representation, were in good health, and were allowed to testify in court about their treatment while under detention. It prohibits employers from retaliating against workers for legal union activities and requires reinstatement of workers fired for union activity. Therefore, all parties need to play their respective roles to curb this social problems. Child labor in urban areas was common in the informal economy, including family food businesses and night markets, and in small-scale industry. The law provides criminal penalties for corruption by officials; several sitting and former government officials remained on trial for corruption, including the former prime minister, and there remained a broadly held perception of widespread corruption and cronyism in government institutions. Libel/Slander Laws: The law includes sections on civil and criminal defamation. Rape. The Fitch Solutions report entitled, "Malaysia's 2021 Growth, Monetary and Fiscal Outlooks . First is mismanagement of the health crisis. There are few most notable negative effects of alcohol abuse on teens, such as: Young peopleengage in drug use for different reasons than do adults, and as such, they need different treatment methods to help them break the cycle of addiction. The government held thousands of individuals in immigration detention centers and other facilities. Several UN experts expressed concern that the crackdown was severely undermining efforts to fight the pandemic and immigration detention centers subsequently reported an increase in confirmed cases of Covid-19. Migrants, refugees, and stateless persons receive no government support. Keep posting! Legal observers feared the February ruling by the Court of Appeal against Malaysiakini (see section 2.a., Freedom of Expression for Members of the Press and Other Media, Including Online Media) set a precedent that websites could be held responsible for reader comments posted in response to content. Freedom of Movement: The government generally tolerated the presence of undocumented refugees and asylum seekers but sometimes detained them for a variety of causes in police jails or immigration detention centers until they could be deported or UNHCR established their bona fides. The constitution provides for the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak but does not refer specifically to the Orang Asli. Yet, as the realities of the coronavirus pandemic set in, shocking the system as the 1MDB scandal did, the opportunities for new political arrangements and thinking are real. National-level unions are prohibited; the government allows three regional territorial federations of unions for peninsular Malaysia, and for the states of Sabah and Sarawak to operate. There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees. Independent Monitoring: Authorities generally did not permit NGOs and media to monitor prison conditions; the law allows judges to visit prisons to examine conditions and ask prisoners and prison officials about conditions. Malaysia restricts the rights of followers of any branches of Islam other than Sunni, with those following Shia or other branches subject to arrest for deviancy. Defendants also may apply for a public defender in certain other cases. Employers are obligated to inquire into most sexual harassment complaints in a prescribed manner. A March 2021 ASEAN Today article revealed that Malaysia is experiencing an increase in mental health problems, which the existence of COVID-19 may be exacerbating. Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, Office of the U.S. The notice warned residents they could be fined up to 500,000 ringgit ($120,000), serve a five-year jail term, or both, if found guilty of the offense of building structures on government land. Penalties included fines but were seldom assessed and were not commensurate with those under other laws involving denials of civil rights, such as discrimination. Persons granted bail usually must surrender their passports to the court. In July police raided the offices of Freedom Film Network in response to an animated short film the network and the NGO Suaram released in June about the lack of police accountability. In August the minister of home affairs rejected an appeal by the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance to register as a political party. Check our list and get an inspiration boost. The law requires a permit to own a printing press, and printers often were reluctant to print publications critical of the government due to fear of reprisal. At court hearings 15 to 20 migrants were often tried together, grouped by the offense with which they were charged. Social issues news. Many government hospitals had crisis centers where victims of rape and domestic abuse could file reports without going to a police station. According to Department of Occupational Safety and Health statistics, as of July, 111 workers died, 3,668 acquired a nonpermanent disability, and 140 acquired permanent disability in work-related incidents. In April the Selangor State government issued an eviction notice to the Mah Meri Orang Asli for illegally infringing upon government land, nine days after the state governments investment arm, Permodalan Negri Selangor Bhd, had awarded a 99-year lease for 101.62 acres of land in Mukim Sepang, Selangor, to a private ecotourism development company.