Malaysia


Associate Professor Amanda Whiting
is responsible for the Malaysia Program.

ARC Discovery Grant - "Lawyers, Civil Society and the State in Post-colonial Malaysia", 2009-2012

Associate Professor Amanda Whiting

Historically, lawyers in western societies have been instrumental in building democratic states based on the rule of law and constitutional rights. Post-colonial Malaysia was founded on these principles too. Current scholarship shows little interest in the role that lawyers in developing countries can play in maintaining stable liberal and democratic states. This interdisciplinary legal history project will use archival records, legal materials and interviews to investigate how Malaysian lawyers have mobilised to uphold the democratic state.

Past Grants

2010 Fieldwork grant from ARC Federation Fellowship 'Islam and Modernity: Syari'ah, Terrorism and Governance in Southeast Asia' for the project 'Lawyers in Malaysia: Religious Orientation and Legal Professional Practice' ($30,000)

2009-2012: ARC Post-doctoral fellowship (DP 0986954): 'Lawyers, Civil Society and the State in Post-colonial Malaysia'

2008: Asia Pacific Futures Research Network Grant for 'Postgraduate & Early Career Researcher WorkshopOn Leadership and Management in Research on Asia and the Pacific' (co-recipient with Vera Mackie (lead organizer) and a team of 11 other scholars)

2006-9: ARC Discovery Grant (DP 0662844): "The Media and ASEAN Transitions: Defamation Law, Journalism and Public Debate in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore" (with Andrew Kenyon, Tim Lindsey and Tim Marjoribanks)

2005-6: Faculty Small Grant: "The Role of the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Malaysia."

Teaching

Associate Professor Amanda Whiting has taught several subjects with a significant Malaysian component, including:

  • Rule of Law in Asia (LLM, 2013);
  • Law and Society in Malaysia (LLB, not currently offered);
  • Law and Civil Society in Asia (LLB, not currently offered);
  • Citizens, Groups and States in Asia (LLM, not currently offered); and
  • Human Rights in Asia (LLM, not currently offered).

Research Supervision

Sonia Randhawa, 'Malay language female journalists as agents of Islamization, 1987-1998' Co-supervised with Kate MacGregor (Arts- History) (2012- )

Richard Powell, 'Vernacularising the law: Malaysia's bilingual policy as a model for postcolonial common law systems' Co-supervised with Joe LoBianco (Education –Linguistics) (2011-).

Saw Tiong Guan 'The Final Cut: Film Censorship in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia' Co-supervised with Andrew Kenyon (Law) (June 2008-June 2011)

Melissa Crouch, 'Opposition to Christian proselytisation in democratic Indonesia: legal disputes between Muslims and Christians in West Java (1998-2009)' Co-supervised with Tim Lindsey (Law) (June 2008-June 2011)

Event Organisation

Co-organiser with Professor Andrew Harding of International Workshop "Law and Society in Malaysia: Pluralism, Islam and Development' University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, July 14-17 2011. Hosted by the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria, British Columbia, and Asian Law Centre, University of Melbourne.

Public talk at the Melbourne Law School on 25 October by Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan, co-organiser of Bersih (the coalition for clean and fair elections) and former chair of Malaysian Bar Council and President of the Malaysian Bar. Please see the links below:

Co-organiser with Professor Andrew Kenyon of 'Malaysia and Singapore Workshop: Media, Law, Social Commentary, Politics' Melbourne Law School, Thursday 10-Friday 11 June 2010. Hosted by Centre for Media and Communications Law and Asian Law Centre (presented on Thursday 10 June).

Conference Presentations

Amanda Whiting, 'Malaysia - End of Draconian Laws?' presented at the 'Malaysia Singapore Update 2012', Australian National University, 12 September 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnGRQj9iPQ

Amanda Whiting, 'Political Struggles and Practical Ethics: A History of Peninsular Malaysian Lawyers and Lawyering', presented at the International Workshop "Law and Society in Malaysia: Pluralism, Islam and Development' University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, July 14-17, 2011.

Amanda Whiting, 'Malaysian Lawyers: Personal Values and Professional Practice", Australian and New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, 23-24 September, 2010.

Amanda Whiting and Tim Marjoribanks 'Media Professionals' perceptions of defamation and other constraints in Malaysia and Singapore: preliminary findings', Malaysia and Singapore Workshop: Media, Law, Social Commentary, Politics' Melbourne Law School, Thursday 10-Friday 11 June 2010. Hosted by Centre for Media and Communications Law and Asian Law Centre (presented on Thursday 10 June).

Amanda Whiting, 'Secularism, the Islamic state and the Malaysian legal profession', paper presented (in absentia) to the Working Group on Comparative Studies of Legal Professions, 7 July 2010 (Gif sur Yvette, Paris, France, July 8-10 2010).

Andrew Harding and Amanda Whiting, "Malaysian Lawyers and the Moderate State" paper presented at Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Chicago 27-30 May, 2010 (presented by coauthor Harding)

Amanda Whiting, 'Supplicants and Citizens: the Gender and Genre of Petitioning in the English Revolution' a paper presented at the workshop 'Human Rights: A Longer History. Planning and Scoping Meeting' 9-10 October, 2009. State Library of Victoria. (Monash University School of History).

'Lawyers, Politics and Public Interest Law in Malaysia' Joint presentation by Amanda Whiting and Andrew Harding, University of Victoria, Canada at the American Bar Foundation workshop 'Legal Complex and Political Liberalism', Ile de Berder, Brittany, France, 25-28 June, 2008.

'Desecularising the Malaysian State?' Paper presented at the Centre for Islamic Law and Society International Colloquium, 'Between Radicalism and Liberalism? Islamic Law in Southeast Asia' 12 November 2007, Melbourne Law School, Australia.

'Gender and the Construction of Religious Identity in Malaysia's Plural Legal System', paper presented at the Gendering Asia Network Conference, 1-3 June 2007, Akuryeri, Iceland.

'Religious Identity, Gender and Child Custody in Malaysia' presentation at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Denmark, June 2007

'Gender, Religious Identity and the Malaysian Legal System', paper presented at the conference 'Law, Religion and Social Change', Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University, 26-27 May, 2006.

Andrew Kenyon and Amanda Whiting 'Respecting Speech: Changing Defamation Law in Malaysia and Singapore?' conference paper presented at the 'Media: Policies, cultures and futures in the Asia Pacific Region', Curtin University of Technology, Perth 27-29 November 2006.

'The National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia at the Intersection of Government and Civil Society Priorities, 'International Conference on Human Rights and Development: Approaches to the Reform of Governance in Asia, City University of Hong Kong, 9-10 May 2005.