The concept of whistleblowing law in Islam is unique and differs from the West as it derives from the elements of Tawhid and Shari’ah. The concept is essentially dynamic and relevant since it was initially introduced during the Islamic ruling era until the present time. The practice of whistleblowing in Islam maintains the public interest (maslahah ‘ammah) which aims in fulfilling the five objectives of Maqasid Shari’ah. On the other hand, the western whistleblowing law was developed in response to tragedies in assuring good governance and protecting the public interest, in which the ideas of good and bad are determined by social norms and not based on the scriptures. In the present time, notably, the role of whistleblower is significant to response to corruption as a global issue plaguing many nations, which causes substantial destruction to social, economic and political aspect. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the concept and scope of disclosure of whistleblowing law from Shari’ah perspective and its western counterpart and how its principled conviction, upholding public interest disclosure could deal with the current phenomenon plaguing many nations, corruption. With that, the methodology employed in this paper reflected the descriptive, analytic, and prescriptive approaches by analyzing the existing laws, decided cases and literature pertaining to the conceptual and the legal frameworks of whistleblowing under the Western and Islamic jurisprudences.

In the last few decades, Malaysia has become a global hub for higher education services. Policies and programs have been put in place to improve the higher education system in the country and attract more international students. This development needs to be aligned with an effective dispute resolution framework to ensure the continuous development of the Malaysian higher education sector. The methodology employed in this paper is a doctrinal method based on the nature of the discourse. To examine the relevant higher education concepts and dispute resolution framework, research papers pertinent to the subject were analysed. In addition, relevant legislations were consulted to determine the adequacy of the existing legal framework for dispute resolution in the higher education context in Malaysia. The main objective of this paper is to examine the nature of education services and the existing dispute resolution mechanisms in the Malaysian higher education sector. The paper will explore education services as either a "public good" or a "private good" and whether students are consumers in the real sense and have consumer rights. This research establishes that although scholars have often argued as to whether or not students are consumers, in Malaysia and other Asian countries, students are perceived as customers, and therefore, the interest, welfare and satisfaction of students must always be of utmost priority. A thorough study of the existing laws reveals that there is an inadequate provision in the education laws in Malaysia, especially regarding the mechanisms of dispute resolution in its higher education institutions.

Malaysia introduced Feed-in Tariff (FiT) in 2004 to incentivise renewable energy projects through the implementation of the National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan 2009 and the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 725). Nevertheless, this FiT system failed to assist the country in increasing electricity generation from renewable sources. Later, auctions were introduced to boost the renewable shares, particularly solar photovoltaic power generation, after the quota for solar under the FiT were taken up. The tenders incorporated standard form of the contract along with a long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) which induced for the lowest price for power generation and guaranteed access to the national grid. This measure is considered as an excellent instrument to expand the renewable energy sector. There has always been a question: whether abandoning FiT for auctions is a feasible choice in the interest of sustainable clean energy for sustainable development? The main objective of the present article is to investigate the implementation of auctions to support renewable energy development in Malaysia and to examine whether auctions could replace FiT. This study adopted a doctrinal and comparative approach. It concluded that competitive bidding is preferable to support mature technology and large-scale generations, while FiT should be sustained to support new technologies. The article has also identified several countries such as Germany and India, who have successfully implemented competitive bidding systems to support the aspiration to expand the renewable energy sector.

This paper explores the potential of nuclear energy, particularly in the power sector, to solve energy challenges and to address the pertinent issues regarding energy sustainability in Malaysia. The deployment of nuclear energy in various developed and developing countries has conspicuously helped sustaining energy security and sustainability due to its compatibility and protection of the environment. In addition to energy security, nuclear energy also offers significant benefits to socio-economic aspects. Thus, nuclear energy in developing countries, including Malaysia, has the potential to emerge as a new prospect in the energy sector using sophisticated technology and expert personnel to maximize the energy benefits with the least environmental risk. This step would certainly meet future energy demands and help accelerate the country’s development with optimum energy generation in the country. Therefore, Malaysia should aim to resort to nuclear power generation whereby the current power sector is mainly generated by traditional means, with only a small fraction of it being renewable energy. With no experience in this field, Malaysia needs to establish collaboration with some country rich with nuclear-resource in order to build, maintain nuclear reactors and treat nuclear wastes. The development of such facility should also comply with the requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Moreover, Malaysia has to introduce legislation and policies related to future nuclear energy. Thus, this paper discusses some of the pertinent issues related to the prospects of nuclear power generation in the country towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   Keywords: Atomic energy, energy security, governance, sustainable development.   Cite as: Ghazali, F., Ansari, A. H., Mustafa, M., & Wan Zahari, W. M. Z. (2020). Legal perspectives on nuclear energy and sustainable development in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(1), 169-188. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss1pp169-188

This article examines the concept of federalism in the oil and gas industry in Malaysia. The petroleum industry is one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) to enhance national growth under Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). Due to its economic significance, the petroleum industry was given priority by the Government of Malaysia. The development of the oil and gas industry in Malaysia can be divided into two stages, ie the period before 1974 and after 1974. Prior to 1974, the ownership of hydrocarbon resources was placed under the jurisdiction of the respective 13 states forming part of Malaysia. In 1974, the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) was passed by the Parliament of Malaysia. Pursuant to the PDA, a national oil company has been established in the form of a public listed company which is called Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas). The national oil company was granted the entire ownership and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring, winning and obtaining petroleum onshore and offshore Malaysia. Each state permanently conferred its ownership, rights, powers, liberties and privileges in the petroleum by executing the vesting instrument specified in the PDA. This article examines the rights of ownership of the Federation and the various states of Malaysia with regards to the hydrocarbon resources at the time of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, and the gradual changes in the ownership of the hydrocarbon resources from the states to the absolute ownership of the Federal government in 1974. Furthermore, this article examines the legislation regulating petroleum resources and the role of the states and federation in the upstream oil and gas industry prior to 1974 and after the enactment of the PDA.