Nor Asiah Mohamad

Buying properties in Malaysia? Highlight on laws, policies and their implication on foreign land ownership

The laws and policies pertaining to foreign land ownership in Malaysia have seen tremendous changes for the past two decades. The reasons may be linked to economic, political and social factors. The changes, as claimed, have to be carried out to accommodate the current needs and circumstances. Nevertheless, at the same time, frequent changes would also create uncertainty and insecurity to the purchaser especially the investors. The Malaysian government has made various efforts towards becoming a developed country, trying hard to attract foreign investors to invest in the country. At the same time, a reasonable consideration must be given to the needs of its own people. Moreover, it is equally important to protect and to ensure that the people’s right shall not be sacrificed for the sake of development and especially when all the benefits will go to only a certain class of people. The history of foreign land ownership policy especially on the restrictions imposed by the laws and policies are worth noting. The legal perspectives are delineated from some important statutes such as the National Land Code, 1965, the Malay Reserve Enactments, the Malay Agricultural Settlement Act, the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954, and also the restrictions imposed by the states since land is a state matter in Malaysia. Furthermore, some of the restrictions are traceable in the policies determined by the relevant ministries. Following this, the implication of these restrictions on foreign land ownership and also property market will be addressed.

An Exploratory Study of Strata Residential Properties Problems in Peninsular Malaysia and How They are Resolved

This study identifies the common problems faced by the owners of strata titles, the Management Corporation, the Joint Management Body, the Commissioner of Building (COB) as well as the Managing Agent being the stakeholders in managing strata properties. The methods employed are qualitative in nature. Analysis is done based on reports published by the relevant authorities dealing with strata residential properties as well as the case law as reported in the two leading journals in Malaysia i.e. the Malayan Law Journal and the Current Law Journal. The types and nature of problems are derived from the annual reports. The extent of the problems is determined based on the figures and supported by observation and interviews with the COB, being the agency directly involved in overseeing and monitoring strata properties management. The findings show that a substantial number of problems exist in the management of strata properties despite a law that allows the owners to self-managed their own properties. Having stated the status quo concerning the problems, the study also looks at the various means of resolving disputes as exist under the Malaysian housing system. The study proposes that alternative dispute resolution (ADR) modes are more appropriate in ensuring the sustainability of strata living and management.

REDESIGN OF DE BOTHEZAT HELICOPTER : THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE ROTORCRAFT INDUSTRY

This paper outlines the possibility of redesigning the de Bothezat helicopter. This helicopter uses a 4 rotor configuration and the basic structure is a 3 Dimensional truss girder. It flew in 1921 but failed to meet set performance targets and had control problems. Despite of this, the 4 rotor configuration has its promise. The limited success of the YURI 1 Human Powered Helicopter (HPH) in 1994 which uses the same configuration at least confirm that such configuration can give very meaningful lift to weight ratio for very minimum power (1/3 hp). Recent works on Rotary Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) such as the successful Mesicopter of Stanford University also uses a 4 rotor configuration. Control is obtained by differential thrust. For a bigger Remote Control (RC) Model, the Dragan Flyer II also uses the 4 rotor configuration with three gyrostabilizers to augment the stability of the differential thrust system. The rotors are all rigid. Rigid Hang Glider technology can be used to fabricate future large rotors for this