Rents: How Marketing Causes Inequality by Gerrit De Geest

Book review of Gerrit De Geest, Rents: How Marketing Causes Inequality (Beccaria Book 2018), ISBN: 978-1-7325112-0-0. In his book titled Rents: How Marketing Causes Inequality, Gerrit De Geest, previously a professor at the Utrecht School of Economics and now Charles F Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law at the Washington University School of Law, examines the problem of economic rents, diagnoses their causes and offers some possible legal solutions

The Opportunity for a Civil Code in Myanmar

If the modern concept of codification is seen as a Code, Myanmar experienced for long time official and various codifications in a broad interpretation of the term. Indeed, Dhammathat has been used in the Ancient Burma. Moreover, a Burma Code related to the codification of Indian Common Law has been established in the country through the British colonisation. Since the independence of the country, the government continues to compile statutes law and case law on a year-by-year basis. Nowadays, codification can be used to solve legal uncertainty and conflict of laws in civil law such as family law, contract law and property law. Hence, Myanmar needs to modernise its civil law and could do it through a Civil Code. Therefore, this modernisation can be a great opportunity to achieve the legal, social and political unity in the country.

Intellectual Property Law in Malaysia by Tay Pek San

Book review of Tay Pek San, Intellectual Property in Malaysia (2nd edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2020), ISBN: 978-967-2339-89-2.

Economic Rights under the UN System and the Creation of a Newer International Economic Order

In the beginning of the human rights discourse, emphasis was on civil and political rights. Later, the thrust of the discourse moved to social and economic rights. Economic rights were demanded by the developing world manifesting in the form of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources and the New International Economic Order. Due to the untiring efforts of these members, economic rights are reflected, enunciated and promoted in the international human rights instruments created under the aegis of the UN. The OHCHR has an innovative approach towards the guaranteeing of economic rights. For instance, the Office has a human rights approach towards poverty alleviation. It also recognises different duty holders in promoting human rights like the Transnational Corporations apart from the governments and civil society in ensuring human rights (especially in the interlinkages on Business and Human Rights). These new approaches has transformed the promotion of economic rights. The question is whether the international economic order has benefited from the promotion and guaranteeing of the economic rights. The aim of the present article is to analyse the impact of UN efforts in promoting economic rights and its repercussions on the formation of a newer international economic order.

Digital Tracing and Malaysia's Personal Data Protection Act 2010 amid the Covid-19 Pandemic

Digital tracing is a proven effective means for the Malaysian government to trace and control the spread of COVID-19. However, the process of tracing and tracking in order to manage the spread of the pandemic have in many ways compromised personal information to third party applications. Malaysia is not the only country that uses digital tracing to manage the spread of the pandemic. Various countries have chosen different methods for digital contact tracing to manage the spread of COVID-19 and some are less respectful of privacy than others. This paper analyses Malaysia’s Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) and its effectiveness in protecting personal data during the pandemic as Malaysians continue to utilise the contact tracing mobile applications such as MySejahtera and SELangkah. The researchers applied doctrinal research method and analysed the current Malaysian legislation on data protection. It should be noted that the PDPA does not apply in the case of government collection and would not require federal and state agencies to be transparent in their data management.

A Proposal for Malaysia’s Asylum Act

Asylum is granted to people in search for international protection from persecution or serious harm in their own country. The right to asylum for refugees in Malaysia is far from realization and in dire need of a practical solution. Due to the lack of a proper enactment of Asylum Act, asylum seekers are to deal with denial of basic rights. Asylum seekers are also denied of education and healthcare due to high cost since these are not provided by the government. This article discusses the need for a proper enactment of Asylum Act in Malaysia in relation to the rising numbers of asylum seekers and refugees in the country. In this research, a comparative analysis between Malaysia’s existing laws dealing with asylum and the law of Australia, United Kingdom, Indonesia, and European Union was carried out. It was found that these countries have developed their legal framework for asylum considerably and could legally accommodate the influx of refugees into their respective countries, in contrast to Malaysia’s increasingly poor management of the refugees and asylum-seekers. The study suggests the possibility for the adoption of recommended legal principles from those countries into the proposed Malaysian Asylum Act.