Voicing Concern : Management and Governance by Dzulkifli Abdul Razak

This fifth in the series of Voicing Concern brings together articles related to theme, Management and Governance, that were published during that last decade from 2003 to 2014. This collection of 130 articles was originally published in The New Straits Times, Malaysia’s oldest leading national daily, as a weekly column that started in 1995. Theme is selected to commemorate the launching of the Tuan Guru Haji Mohd Yassin bin Muhammad Chair of Islamic Leadership under the Faculty of Leadership and Management at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Tan Sri Haji Muhyiddin bin Yassin on 15 October 2014. The terms “management” and “governance” in this volume are used interchangeably and broadly defined as means to deal with issues and situations in the best way possible. In this volume the articles are divided into several areas of concern that warrant sharper focus in line with the larger theme of the series – Voicing Concern – highlighting more specific topics that have major impact on the society at large. They ranges from issues related to education (including higher education and autonomy), and that of social relevance like national identity, cohesion, health and wellness, as well as sustainable development. It also covers finances and economy, and aspects of global uncertainties. While the articles were written to address the specific issues as they appeared then, the arguments used are by and large universal and therefore remain relevant today. They can serve as a starting point in trying to understand as to what the basic concerns are and then develop them further depending on the situation at hand. Although “leadership” is theme following this volume, the subject cannot be entirely divorced from the issues of management and governance, and there are bound to be overlaps. In any case, this volume aims to sensitive readers to a broad range of inter-related issues given the complexities therein. As such the articles are intended to be as thought provoking as possible so that new practices and wisdom can be co-created in seeking new solutions and viewpoints in tandem with goals of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. It is our fervent hope that this volume on Management and Governance will prove useful and handy to an array of readers be they policy-makers, academics and administrators and more so students who are often not privy on how issues that will eventually affect their future are managed and governed.