Over the past years, there have been great concerns over the global environmental issues. Human activities have contributed towards climate changes that are affecting the world. The rise of temperature has been noticeable and this strengthens the arguments of the greenhouse effect. Among the environmental concerns include carbon dioxide emissions by transportation, deforestation, open burning, excessive waste, river pollution and etc. These issues have raised the global need for environmental citizenship. It is a form of citizenship that prioritizes and emphasizes the importance of the environment and one that crosses the national territorial borders. It stresses the need to have citizens who inhibit greater awareness of the environment and try to maintain and preserve the earth by participating in ‘green’ activities and saving the earth. This research aimed at exploring the awareness, understanding, perception and participation of Malaysian youth with regards to environmental citizenship. Six focus groups were conducted within Klang Valley with each group comprising of 5-6 people. The informants consisted of Malay, Chinese and Indian youths between the age of 18-25. The questions were focused on the general and technical understanding of environmental issues, the sources of information on the environment and the role that these individuals and the community have played as environmental citizens

This paper explores Lysgaard (1955) U-Curve model which explains the process of adaptation in a new culture. Lysgaard (1955) stated that those who migrate to other places go through the following stages of adaptation; the honeymoon stage, culture shock, adjustment and recovery. The existence and rise of new media technologies have brought the world closer together and thus raises the question whether one still go through the stages stated by Lysgaard (1955) New media components such as Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Blogs and Online television has created an impact towards the adaptation process. Four focus group discussions were conducted among Malaysians who had been to either Australia or United Kingdom for their tertiary education and has since returned to Malaysia. The discussions centered on the experience of these students adapting into the new culture and how the Internet and the new media has played a role through their adaptation process. Findings from the research show that the new technologies have brought them closer to their own culture and at the same time assist them in adapting into the new culture.

Globalization and building of knowledge societies demand higher access to information. Besides investing in appropriate infrastructure and facilitate media literacy, countries must also ensure better access, availability and quality of information to their population. Malaysia has taken the necessary steps to democratize information by enacting several liberalization policies, commercialization of media stations and deregulation of telecommunication industry. To foster a role for media in the democratization of information, Malaysia ensure easy access to information for civil and political participation, guarantee the no censorship of Internet, and create capacity to create knowledge in local dialects.

The paper aims to examine religious and cultural issues with regards to breastfeeding and explore how this awareness can improve breastfeeding promotion in a contemporary Muslim society. Focusing specifically on Malay women, the study looks at how breastfeeding is being negotiated into women’s understanding of modesty in Islam and how this may affect the practice of breastfeeding in public. Using qualitative approach, nine focus groups were conducted among Malay mothers in different parts of Malaysia to explore their experiences breastfeeding in different locations. The respondents were also asked to comment on a breastfeeding picture taken from a local magazine to explore their level of acceptance and responses to image of breastfeeding in the media. It was observed that Malay women were very concerned about Islamic rules with regards to female modesty but often negotiated the sexualized breasts into their overall understanding. The combination of these concerns has discouraged many Malay women to breastfeed in public. The study also found that while many respondents are not comfortable with the idea of having images of Muslim breastfeeding women in the media, their concerns are all related to religious matters. The study suggests that images of Muslim women breastfeeding can and should be used in any promotional items in order to make it a culturally accepted behavior but must also adhere to Islamic rulings

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