scholarly journals DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION OF HINDU TEMPLES IN MALAYSIA: PRAGMATIC RESPONSES OF INDIAN HINDU COMMUNITIES IN PENANG

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sue Teo
Keyword(s):  
Social Significance ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Face Threats ◽  
New Locations ◽  
The Face ◽  
Hindu Temples ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
Political Act ◽  
The Government

<p>This thesis examines the pragmatic responses of Indian Hindus when their century-old Hindu community temples face threats of demolition by the Malaysian government. I argue that their compliance with the demolition is a subtle and pragmatic political act that manipulates their political standing as a minority community in order to safeguard their temples. I analyse the effectiveness of such pragmatic acts of compliance by the Indian Hindu communities, and the implications of their compliance for the political and social significance, as well as the sacredness of their demolished temples.  My ethnographic data is derived from in-depth interviews of the management committees and community members of three Hindu temples in Penang, and field observations of the rituals and ceremonies in these temples. During my fieldwork, these temples have either been demolished or are in the process of demolition. The management committees of these temples have relocated the statues of the deities into temporary buildings. My findings show that the Indian Hindu communities acquiesced to government demolition of their community Hindu temples to make way for development. In return for their compliance, the Hindu communities expected that the government is obligated to find new locations for them to rebuild their community temples. Their attempts to ensure the temples continuously exist in the area suggest that these temples, regardless of their shapes and sizes, have significance for the local Hindu communities. This significance it true both for members of the temple committee and the local Hindu community. Their compliance also suggests that the portability of these temples as sacred places.  The importance of the thesis is in its insistence that Malaysian Indian Hindus as minorities are not necessarily powerless in the face of dominance of the government. Instead, these Hindu communities are actively engaging with their political and social realities with pragmatic and subtle political actions such as demonstrating compliance. By complying with the demolition of their community temples, the Hindu communities are not only able to manoeuvre their ways through the dominance of the government, but they can also Hindu communities.</p>

scholarly journals DEMOLITION AND RELOCATION OF HINDU TEMPLES IN MALAYSIA: PRAGMATIC RESPONSES OF INDIAN HINDU COMMUNITIES IN PENANG

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Sue Teo
Keyword(s):  
Social Significance ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Face Threats ◽  
New Locations ◽  
The Face ◽  
Hindu Temples ◽  
Hindu Community ◽  
Political Act ◽  
The Government

<p>This thesis examines the pragmatic responses of Indian Hindus when their century-old Hindu community temples face threats of demolition by the Malaysian government. I argue that their compliance with the demolition is a subtle and pragmatic political act that manipulates their political standing as a minority community in order to safeguard their temples. I analyse the effectiveness of such pragmatic acts of compliance by the Indian Hindu communities, and the implications of their compliance for the political and social significance, as well as the sacredness of their demolished temples.  My ethnographic data is derived from in-depth interviews of the management committees and community members of three Hindu temples in Penang, and field observations of the rituals and ceremonies in these temples. During my fieldwork, these temples have either been demolished or are in the process of demolition. The management committees of these temples have relocated the statues of the deities into temporary buildings. My findings show that the Indian Hindu communities acquiesced to government demolition of their community Hindu temples to make way for development. In return for their compliance, the Hindu communities expected that the government is obligated to find new locations for them to rebuild their community temples. Their attempts to ensure the temples continuously exist in the area suggest that these temples, regardless of their shapes and sizes, have significance for the local Hindu communities. This significance it true both for members of the temple committee and the local Hindu community. Their compliance also suggests that the portability of these temples as sacred places.  The importance of the thesis is in its insistence that Malaysian Indian Hindus as minorities are not necessarily powerless in the face of dominance of the government. Instead, these Hindu communities are actively engaging with their political and social realities with pragmatic and subtle political actions such as demonstrating compliance. By complying with the demolition of their community temples, the Hindu communities are not only able to manoeuvre their ways through the dominance of the government, but they can also Hindu communities.</p>

REGULATING NORTHERN IRELAND: THE SPECIAL POWERS ACTS, 1922–1972

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 1089-1120 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA K. DONOHUE
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Civil Order

Although the 1922–43 Special Powers Acts (SPAs) played a central role in prompting the Northern Irish civil rights movement in the late 1960s, virtually no secondary literature exists on the operation of the statutes. This article examines the manner in which the unionist government employed the acts during the tenure of the northern parliament. It suggests that the 1922–43 SPAs became a central grievance of the minority community because of the manner in which regulations introduced under their auspices were exercised: the ministry of home affairs initially used the emergency statutes to return civil order to the province; however, as violence declined the government began to utilize regulations to prevent the expression of republican ideals. Any attempt to garner support for a united Ireland was perceived as an attack on the Northern Irish constitution. Concurrent with this shift was a change in justification for the 1922–43 SPAs: from being required in order to establish law and order in the face of rising violence, they were soon heralded by unionists as necessary to maintain the constitutional structure of the North. In preventing the public exposition of republicanism, expressions of nationalism were likewise limited. This impacted upon a large portion of the minority community, giving rise to claims that the statutes were being unfairly applied.

Verán ustedes las chozas más humildes. El discurso de pobreza en la diplomacia pública cardenista dirigida a Estados Unidos

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-281
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dümmer Scheel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Lazaro Cardenas ◽  
The New Deal

El artículo analiza la diplomacia pública del gobierno de Lázaro Cárdenas centrándose en su opción por publicitar la pobreza nacional en el extranjero, especialmente en Estados Unidos. Se plantea que se trató de una estrategia inédita, que accedió a poner en riesgo el “prestigio nacional” con el fin de justificar ante la opinión pública estadounidense la necesidad de implementar las reformas contenidas en el Plan Sexenal. Aprovechando la inusual empatía hacia los pobres en tiempos del New Deal, se construyó una imagen específica de pobreza que fuera higiénica y redimible. Ésta, sin embargo, no generó consenso entre los mexicanos. This article analyzes the public diplomacy of the government of Lázaro Cárdenas, focusing on the administration’s decision to publicize the nation’s poverty internationally, especially in the United States. This study suggests that this was an unprecedented strategy, putting “national prestige” at risk in order to explain the importance of implementing the reforms contained in the Six Year Plan, in the face of public opinion in the United States. Taking advantage of the increased empathy felt towards the poor during the New Deal, a specific image of hygienic and redeemable poverty was constructed. However, this strategy did not generate agreement among Mexicans.

DIFFUSION AND ADOPTION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN TELECENTRES: SELECTED TELECENTRES IN KWAZULU-NATAL

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blessing Mbatha
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Information And Communications Technologies ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Ict Tools ◽  
The Government ◽  
Types Of Information

This study investigated the usage and types of information and communications technologies (ICTs) accessible to community members in four selected Thusong Service Centres (TSCs or telecentres) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The telecentres that participated in the study were: Nhlazuka, Mbazwane, Dududu and Malangeni. The study was informed by Rogers’ (1995) Diffusion of Innovations (DoI) theory. Through a survey, four TSCs were purposively selected. A questionnaire was used to collect data from community members in the four telecentres involved. The data collected was tabulated under the various headings and presented using tables, frequencies, percentiles and generalisations with the help of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicated that a variety of ICT tools have been adopted in the TSCs to provide the local community with the much-needed access to information and improved communication. The government should ensure that adequate varieties and levels of ICT competence are offered to all the citizens. In conclusion, there is a need for sufficient and coherent government policies regulating the training of the local community to use these ICTs effectively.

scholarly journals Support for a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the face of safety concerns and political affiliations: An Australian study

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110090
Author(s):  
David T Smith ◽  
Katie Attwell ◽  
Uwana Evers
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Australian Study ◽  
Safety Concerns ◽  
Government Mandates ◽  
Childhood Vaccine ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Levels Of Support

COVID-19 vaccine development has been widely awaited, but concerns around acceptance and political polarisation prevail. We sought to determine the willingness of Australians to take a (then prospective) COVID-19 vaccine, compared with their previously recorded opinions about other vaccines. We also sought to determine reasons for hesitancy, levels of support for possible government mandates, and the political basis of support. We surveyed 1200 Australians, including 898 participants in a panel previously asked in 2017 about vaccines and mandates. In all, 66% of respondents indicated they would take a coronavirus vaccine, less than the 88% who in 2017 agreed that vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary. Also, 70% of the respondents who indicated hesitancy were concerned about the safety of the vaccine if it was developed too quickly, and 73% of all respondents agreed that the government should require a coronavirus vaccine for work, travel, and study. This is lower than the 85% who agreed with the childhood vaccine mandate in 2017, but slightly higher than the number of respondents who indicated that they would definitely be willing to take the coronavirus vaccine themselves. Older respondents, higher income respondents, and respondents who vote for major parties were all significantly more likely to take a coronavirus vaccine and to support government requirements.

scholarly journals Indicators, security and sovereignty during COVID-19 in the Global South

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260
Author(s):  
John Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Third World ◽  
Global South ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
The Face ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Government

AbstractThe spread of COVID-19 has seen a contest over health governance and sovereignty in Global South states, with a focus on two radically distinct modes: (1) indicators and metrics and (2) securitisation. Indicators have been a vehicle for the government of states through the external imposition and internal self-application of standards and benchmarks. Securitisation refers to the calling-into-being of emergencies in the face of existential threats to the nation. This paper contextualises both historically with reference to the trajectory of Global South states in the decades after decolonisation, which saw the rise and decline of Third-World solidarity and its replacement by neoliberalism and global governance mechanisms in health, as in other sectors. The interaction between these modes and their relative prominence during COVID-19 is studied through a brief case-study of developments in Kenya during the early months of the pandemic. The paper closes with suggestions for further research and a reflection on parallel trends within Global North states.

Alberto Blest Gana: Four Chronicles and a Novel

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-135
Author(s):  
Laura Janina Hosiasson
Keyword(s):  
Utopian Fiction ◽  
Alberto Blest Gana ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Four chronicles written by Alberto Blest Gana between April and May 1862 in the newspaper La voz de Chile, months before the publication of his novel Mariluán, shed light on the close relationship between his production as chronicler and writer. Among the various faits divers discussed in the columns, the issue of a Mapuche delegation’s arrival in Santiago to hold a parlamento with the government about border disputes arises. The oscillating attitude of the chronicler in the face of otherness and his prejudiced comments, which are at the same time full of doubts and perplexities, serve as an incentive for his composing a utopian fiction. This article aims to examine the connections in the relationship between Blest Gana chronicler and novelist to expand the reading possibilities of Mariluán.

scholarly journals Implementation of Accelerated Policy-Driven Sustainability Transitions: Case of Bharat Stage 4 to 6 Leapfrogs in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4339
Author(s):  
Aditi Khodke ◽  
Atsushi Watabe ◽  
Nigel Mehdi
Keyword(s):  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Multimodal Discourse ◽  
Stage 4 ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Incumbent Regime

In the face of pressing environmental challenges, governments must pledge to achieve sustainability transitions within an accelerated timeline, faster than leaving these transitions to the market mechanisms alone. This had led to an emergent approach within the sustainability transition research (STR): Accelerated policy-driven sustainability transitions (APDST). Literature on APDST asserts its significance in addressing pressing environmental and development challenges as regime actors like policymakers enact change. It also assumes support from other incumbent regime actors like the industries and businesses. In this study, we identify the reasons for which incumbent industry and business actors might support APDST and whether their support can suffice for implementation. We examine the actor strategies by drawing empirical data from the Indian national government policy of mandatory leapfrog in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle emission control norms, known as Bharat Stage 4 to 6. This leapfrogging policy was introduced to speed up the reduction of air pollutants produced by the transport sector. A mixed-methods approach, combining multimodal discourse analysis and netnographic research, was deployed for data collection and analysis. The findings show that unlike the status quo assumption in STR, many incumbent industry and business actors aligned with the direction of the enacted policy due to the political landscape and expected gains. However, the degree of support varied throughout the transition timeline and was influenced by challenges during the transitioning process and the response of the government actors. The case suggests we pay more attention to the actors’ changing capacities and needs and consider internal and external influences in adapting the transition timelines. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on the implementation of APDST, by examining the dynamism of actor strategies, and provides an overview of sustainability transitions in emerging economies.

scholarly journals Maternal Vaccination in Uganda: Exploring Pregnant Women, Community Leaders and Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Phiona Nalubega ◽  
Emilie Karafillakis ◽  
Lydia Atuhaire ◽  
Pamela Akite ◽  
Flavia Zalwango ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Maternal Vaccination ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Maternal Immunisation ◽  
The Government

Background: We investigated pregnant women, community leaders, healthcare workers (HCWs) and programme managers’ perceptions of maternal vaccination in Kampala, Uganda. Methods: We conducted focus group discussions, key informant interviews and in-depth discussions with HCWs (3), community leaders (3), pregnant women (8) and programme managers (10) between November 2019 and October 2020. Data were analysed thematically. Results: Pregnant women, community leaders and some HCWs had limited maternal immunisation knowledge. There was confusion over what constitutes a vaccine. Pregnant women may not receive vaccines because of mistrust of government; use of expired vaccines; reliance on traditional medicine; religious beliefs; fear of side effects; HCWs attitudes; and logistical issues. The key facilitators of maternal vaccination were a desire to prevent diseases, positive influences from HCWs and information about vaccine side effects. Community leaders and some pregnant women highlighted that pregnant women do not make decisions about maternal vaccination independently and are influenced by different individuals, including other pregnant women, older people, partners, relatives (parents), community leaders, HCWs and the government. Conclusions: Our results indicate that public health messaging should target all community members, including partners and parents of pregnant women as well as HCWs, to improve knowledge of and confidence in maternal vaccines.

Accountability and the Media

2014 ◽  
Vol 652 (1) ◽  
pp. 206-221
Author(s):  
Anton Harber
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
News Media ◽  
Media Access ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
The Face ◽  
Public Broadcaster ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Poor Management

Two decades of contestation over the nature and extent of transformation in the South African news media have left a sector different in substantive ways from the apartheid inheritance but still patchy in its capacity to fill the democratic ideal. Change came fast to a newly open broadcasting sector, but has faltered in recent years, particularly in a public broadcaster troubled by political interference and poor management. The potential of online media to provide much greater media access has been hindered by the cost of bandwidth. Community media has grown but struggled to survive financially. Print media has been aggressive in investigative exposé, but financial cutbacks have damaged routine daily coverage. In the face of this, the government has turned its attention to the print sector, demanding greater—but vaguely defined—transformation and threatened legislation. This has met strong resistance.

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