The Sufic Paradigm for Stress Management and its Contribution to a Model of Social Work Practice

Zulkarnain A. Hatta 한국사회복지학회 2009 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.3 No.2

This article presents Sufism as a model for helping to alleviate human miseries. As the instability,contradictions, and stress of the socioeconomic structure create a frantic search for relevant modesof treatment, the theories and methods espoused in Sufism present an alternative approach to betaken up in the interest of more effective practice; especially in the field of social work, psychology,and counseling. Sufic masters or teachers, by the nature of their work are social workers; hence,their role in helping stressed people is discussed. Existing tools of measurement that can test stresslevels are used in order to present Sufism as being compatible with the mode of scientific inquiry. The article shows that sticking to traditional psychoanalytic, behavioral, transactional and analyticalpractices, to name a few, limits the avenues of help that can be offered to those in need. Socialworkers and human service agencies have to work in collaboration with religious institutions andother spiritual organizations in order to better serve the population.

Towards Establishing School Social Work in Malaysia

Zulkarnain A. Hatta 한국사회복지학회 2009 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.3 No.3

This paper calls for the introduction of school social work in Malaysia. Many industrialized countrieshave introduced school social work, partly because teachers are not able to tackle students’personal and social problems. Teachers are burdened with teaching tasks and are not trained tohandle social problems. The introduction of school social work in these developed countries was anadmission that there was only so much teachers could do in addressing the problems of school children. Even with school counselors, the problems have not decreased. Many parents in Malaysiaperceive schools to be incapable of providing sufficient education to excel in the major exams. Theexistence of many private tuition institutions and private teachers is a testimony to that perception. If society has already deemed these teachers to be incapable of providing quality education, toexpect them to look after students’ social problems is presumptuous on society’s part. The need forschool personnel who understand the social ills of the community is urgently needed, and it is thecontention of this paper that school social workers are best equipped for that responsibility.

The Poverty Situation in Indonesia: Challenges and Progress of the Marginalized Group

Zulkarnain A. Hatta,Djuni Thamrin Sarkawi 한국사회복지학회 2011 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.5 No.2

This paper focuses on Indonesian poverty alleviation programs. It examines the national povertyreduction programs of cash-based support projects for the poorest of the poor and highly marginalizedgroups. Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the East Asian financial crisis of the late1990s. In 2005, Indonesia began unconditional cash transfers (UCT) for the first time – giving cashmoney to the poorest, poor and near-poor targeted households. As a result, the income of the pooresthouseholds receiving UCT increased by 1.3 times compared to that of non-recipients. The UCTcan be seen as a new benchmark for Indonesia as a mechanism of a ‘‘shockbreaker’’ for the pooraffected by the crisis. In 2007, the government of Indonesia began a trial of the conditional cashtransfer (CCT) program known as the Hopeful Family Program (Program Keluarga Harapan orPKH). The CCT program was provided to poor families with an allowance conditional on theirattention to their children’s education and health. With this program, women in the communitygained access to new resources, in the form of the additional cash. CCT is planned to be the basisof the development of a future social security system.

Professional and Functional Alternative Social Workers: A Case Study of Malaysia

Zulkarnain Ahmad Hatta,Isahaque Ali,Jeevasuthan Subramaniam,Salithamby A. Rauff 한국사회복지학회 2014 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.8 No.2

The objective of this study was to compare “professional” (PW) and “functional alternative” (FA)social workers. The findings suggested that there were no significant differences between PWs andFAs in intervention, evaluation methods, work ethics, and values. The PWs, in clients’ eyes, werebetter at delivering services, while FAs’ services were more satisfactory to the clients. While PWswere supposed to be “professional,” FAs were more “professional” than PWs in their performancedespite their lack of recognition as “professional social workers”. These critical findings shouldencourage academics and practitioners for further discussion on conceptual implications of bothpractices and expand future research.

Dynamic Response of Dependency Ratio on Government Expenditures in Indonesia

Teuku ZULKARNAIN,Yusri HAZMI,Muhammad NASIR,Faisal FAISAL,Dasmi HUSIN 한국유통과학회 2022 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.9 No.2

The aim of this study is to see how government spending on education, health, and social security affects ratios in Indonesia. The third sector has a critical role to play in reducing the dependency ratio. It also aims to lower unemployment and poverty rates. This study uses the GMM panel data model. This model can determine the dynamic response of the ratio that comes from a number of variables. This study uses data from 33 provinces from 2010 to 2018. The results show that government spending in the education and health sectors has a positive effect on the dependency ratio, both in the short and long term. Social security has a significant effect on the dependency ratio in the long term, but not in the short term. Government spending in the education sector and health sector and social security sector have a positive and significant effect on disease and illness. The study’s findings show a high level of poverty with a large standard deviation. The high ratio value is due to the large number of restrictions placed on a number of regions. Each province has made a significant contribution to overcoming these challenges, particularly in terms of the comparative ratio.

Measurement of Shoulder Range of Motion and Arm Motion Smoothness using Kinect v2; A Validation Study

Rizki Fajar Zulkarnain,Gayeong Kim,Arnold Adikrishna,Han Pyo Hong,In-Ho Jeon 대한견주관절의학회 2016 대한견주관절학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2016 No.7

Transforming the Local Capacity on Natural Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangladeshi Communities: A Social Work Perspective

Isahaque Ali,Zulkarnain A. Hatta,Azlinda Azman 한국사회복지학회 2014 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.8 No.1

Bangladesh has been a severe victim of its various sporadic natural disasters—flood, cyclone andstorm surge, flash flood, drought, tornado, riverbank erosion, and landslide. Familial and societallives and security of people are being seriously disturbed by these natural calamities every year. They also bring deadly damage to the economy and general environment of the country. Naturaldisasters cannot be pre-empted at all, but their damage can be mitigated with effective responses. Social work has been a profession notably known for its intervention of people’s vulnerability tonatural and man-made disasters. This concept paper discusses relevant intervention strategies andapproaches to transform the local capacity of communities on natural disaster risk reduction inlight of the social work profession.

Microfinance as a Development and Poverty Alleviation Tool in Rural Bangladesh: A Critical Assessment

Isahaque Ali,Zulkarnain A. Hatta,Azlinda Azman,Shariful Islam 한국사회복지학회 2017 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.11 No.1

Poverty is multidimensional in nature and exists in every part of the world. Microfinance is considered one of the most important programs to achieve poverty reduction, particularly in Bangladesh. It has been estimated that nearly 45% of Bangladesh’s population lives below the poverty line. This qualitative research study was conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of microfinance programs and the contributing factors to the high-level of poverty among microfinance beneficiaries in the district of Bogra, Bangladesh. Study findings indicated that microfinance programs were ineffective as a result of high interest rates; insufficient loans; unproductive use of loans; corruption and poor skills of microfinance institution staff; weekly repayment schedules; and physical and mental harassment of poor women. Additionally, the lack of employment opportunities, education, healthcare facilities and social safety nets; natural disasters; the dowry system; and the rising cost of basic daily needs have also contributed to chronic poverty.

Zakat as a Poverty Reduction Mechanism Among the Muslim Community: Case Study of Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia

Isahaque Ali,Zulkarnain A. Hatta 한국사회복지학회 2014 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.8 No.1

Poverty reduction remains the most important challenge for policy makers in Islamic communities. The World Bank (2010: Poverty profile in Muslim world, from http://www.worldbank.org)estimates that approximately 3 billion people are living in poverty and 46 million more people willcome under the income level of US$1.25 a day due to the recent global economic meltdown andslow economic growth rates. Thirty-five percent of these people are Muslims from Islamic countries. The global Muslim community has an essential role to play in addressing the injustice of globalpoverty through zakat. Zakat is an Islamic faith-based institution and is being underutilized forpoverty reduction in many of these poor Muslim countries. Since zakat constitutes one of thepillars of Islam, it is logical to assume that policy makers among Muslims should pay serious attentionto it. However, that is not the case for many Muslim countries and this paper will show thatnot all Muslim countries are seriously applying zakat in its strategy of combating poverty. Thispaper will specifically examine the role and effect of zakat in three Muslim countries (Bangladesh,Malaysia and Indonesia) providing the facts of countries that practise zakat in comparison withthose that do not.

Women’s Empowerment or Disempowerment through Microfinance: Evidence from Bangladesh

Isahaque Ali,Zulkarnain A. Hatta 한국사회복지학회 2012 Asian Social Work and Policy Review Vol.6 No.2

Women’s empowerment has been one of the declared goals of Bangladesh’s national developmentprogram, and microfinance is playing a leading role in bringing about the realization of this program. Since one of the intended goals of microfinance is to empower women, this concept paperattempts to investigate the success rate — does microfinance truly empower or is it a case of disempoweringthrough “empowerment”? The effectiveness of microfinance today has been a debatablesubject in the economic and social work realms, in which it is considered a viable tool for women’sempowerment. Although there are scores of studies that demonstrate that microfinance has a significantimpact on livelihood and improves the living standards of women by reducing poverty, thispaper contests those claims.