The Asia Foundation

Radio Australia features a broadcast about the conference on regional migration in Asia held in Phnom Penh last week. Quotes from The Asia Foundation’s Program Officer for Counter Trafficking in Persons Project Louise Rose on the issue of Cambodian men being trafficked onto fishing boats in Thailand and Malaysia are featured. Listen to the interview or read the full transcript: “The dangers in trafficking Cambodian men.”

In a Sun Star (Philippines) article about the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s pessimism that a breakthrough could be achieved during the latest rounds of peace talks with the Philippine government in Kuala Lumpur, The Asia Foundation’s role as an International Contact Group member is mentioned. Read the full article: “MILF sees no breakthrough in talks with gov’t.”

In a USAID press release announcing the religious leaders conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on “the role of religious and community leaders in advancing development in Asia,” The Asia Foundation is credited for co-hosting the three-day event March 21-24. Read the full article: “U.S. Sponsors Bangladesh Conference for Religious and Community Leaders on Advancing Development in Asia.”

A Sabah Times article announces the launch of a new web portal entitled “Young Voices of Borneo” representing the voices and views of the young people in Sabah. Prior to the launch of the website, nearly 45 young people mainly from rural areas of Sabah attended a journalism course conducted by the Center of Independent Journalism. The Asia Foundation is cited in the article for supporting the course and the Foundation’s Country Representative in Malaysia Anthea Mulakala is mentioned as having attended the launch event. Read the full story: “New portal for young people online.”

The Asia Foundation in partnership with the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research released findings from their third opinion poll, the 2008 National Youth Survey, which gauges Malaysia’s youth perceptions on lifestyle, current issues, values, politics, and their own levels of civic and social involvement. Read the press release: “Merdeka Center poll: Youth well informed but politically disconnected,” and download the full survey.

In a New Straits Times article about findings from a national youth survey that suggest young Malaysians consider corruption to be a significant concern, The Asia Foundation’s  support for the survey is cited. Read the full article: “Graft fight is top concern of young.”

Kuala Lumpur

As Malaysian voters face general elections in the coming months, its youngest constituents feel that elections are important but that there is little people can do to hold government accountable between elections, as reported in a nationwide poll released today. The opinion poll, National Youth Survey 2007, was conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research – the nation’s foremost independent polling institution – in cooperation with The Asia Foundation to gauge youth perceptions of politics, current issues, democracy, and their own levels of civic and social involvement.

The poll’s findings will inform policymakers, politicians, and grassroots advocacy groups as they address young voters’ needs as well as guide civic education efforts ahead of the upcoming election. This is the second time in two years that the Foundation and Merdeka have partnered on a poll to measure the attitudes of youth voters, providing a side-by-side comparison of 2007 with results from 2006 on important concerns like crime, employment, elections, and the economy.

“As this is the second time we have conducted this poll, the data helps Malaysian voters and policymakers understand the needs of young voters and address their concerns based on factual findings. These young voters will shape Malaysia’s future so it is critical that we look at their attitudes towards their role in the community and in politics,” said Ibrahim Suffian, director of the Merdeka Center.

While the majority of young voters, 94%, feel that voting in elections is important, 52% think there is little they can do to hold government accountable between elections.

Results reveal that ethnicity contributes to significant differences in Malaysian youth perspectives. For instance, the majority of the ethnic Malay, Indian, and non-Muslim Bumiputera feel they are free to speak what they think, while Chinese respondents disagree at 50%. When asked if Malaysians are treated equally by the government, the majority of Malay and non-Muslim Bumiputera agree, but 59% of Chinese and 58% of Indians disagree. 53% of young people do not wish to be involved with politics, with findings being significantly higher among ethnic Chinese and Indian respondents at 75% and 68%, respectively.

As in the 2006 poll, the respondents – structured along the national population profile and specifically proportional to gender, ethnicity, and state of residence – answered questions detailing their news consumption, membership in groups, political awareness, and interpretations of democracy.

“Conducted within the framework of the Foundation’s commitment to increased citizen participation and responsive governance, both the 2006 and 2007 polls offer important baseline information and allow individuals to gauge their views against those of their fellow citizens,” said Anthea Mulakala, The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Malaysia.

The nationwide telephone survey of 1,508 randomly selected Malaysians between 20 and 35 years old was conducted between August 8 and September 1, 2007 and was funded by The Asia Foundation with support from the Netherlands Embassy. In addition to the questions asked in the main survey, expanded polling was done in both Sabah and Sarawak to a broader segment of voters. Detailed findings from Sabah and Sarawak will be released at upcoming events in December.

The full results of the survey are available to download from both the Merdeka Center’s website and The Asia Foundation’s website.

About the Merdeka Center

Merdeka Center was formally established in 2001 as an independent organization focused on public opinion research and socio-economic analysis. Its members are comprised of social scientists and professionals with qualifications in economics, communications, marketing, and law. Merdeka’s mission is to act as a bridge between Malaysians and the leading members of their society – by collecting public opinion and expressing them through survey results, analysis and position papers. For more information, please visit www.merdeka.org.

Kuala Lumpur and San Francisco

Today The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development since 1954, announced the appointment of Anthea Mulakala as Country Representative designate in Malaysia. Ms. Mulakala brings a wealth of experience in program design, implementation, and management in South and Southeast Asia to her new position, which she will begin September 19. She replaces Mr. Julio A. Andrews, who led the Foundation’s office in Malaysia since its reopening in 2005.

Ms. Mulakala has been overseeing programs in Asia since 1991, when she joined the South Asia Partnership (SAP) in Ottawa, Canada, to manage and administer a $13 million CIDA project to strengthen non-government organization (NGO) capacity in Sri Lanka. During that time she also served as advisor on gender-based issues to SAP offices in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. From 1997-2005, she was with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), initially in Bangladesh when she was team leader of a large Government of Bangladesh and multi-donor health project consortium, which provided essential health services to the poor through NGOs. Subsequently, as DFID’s Reconciliation and Development advisor in Sri Lanka, she developed and implemented the UK’s peace building and reconciliation strategy for the country, and chaired the Donor Working Group on the Peace Process, which consisted of bilateral donor agencies, UN agencies, and international financial institutions operating in Sri Lanka.

Currently a World Bank senior advisor to and operations manager for the $50 million multi-donor Decentralization Support Facility (DSF) in Indonesia, Ms. Mulakala has been piloting an innovative experiment in aid effectiveness and “donor harmonization” which brings together diverse development actors around common agendas in support of Indonesian decentralization.

Ms. Mulakala has a Masters Degree in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. She speaks French and intermediate Indonesian, Bangla, and Tamil.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Mulakala to the Foundation,” said Douglas Bereuter, president of The Asia Foundation, “and we look forward to furthering our programs with Malaysian partners to support Malaysia’s continued development and to help build constructive, mutually beneficial U.S.-Malaysia relations.”