Documentation for the Workshop / Country Papers : Malaysia

Country Paper: MALAYSIA

1. Overview of census

1.1 The Population and Housing Census, Malaysia, 2000 was held on 5^th of July 2000 for a period of two weeks. The 2000 census provides a wealth of information on the number of persons and household with a wide range of demographic characteristics. This census was the fourth decennial census since the formation of Malaysia in 1963. The Department of Statistics was appointed by the Malaysian Government to carry out the census since 1970 and the division that is responsible for the planning is the Population and Housing Census Division.

1.2 The contact person in the division is The Director of Population and Housing Census Division (email address hajar@stats.gov.my or by fax number 03-88889224).

2. Brief summary of census

2.1 Information on disability was first collected in the 1980 Census and was confined to only three categories that is ‘Blind’, ‘Deaf/Dumb’ and ‘Other’. However the data was not published. The 2000 Census attempted to obtain a more detailed classification and included types of disability such as sight, hearing, speech, limbs, mental and others. The information can be cross-tabulated with demographic characteristics like gender, age, ethnic group and marital status. The data was collected for the planners in both the government and private sector who are directly involved with the disable, to improve their facilities, welfare, training and other services. During preparation for the questions, other departments such as the Ministry of Welfare Services was also involved in deciding what type of information to collect.

2.2 The definition of handicap during the census 2000 referred to “Persons who experience losses, changes or abnormality either physically, body structure, nervous system, functions of an organ and mental or physical disability. It may happen before or after childbirth either on temporary or permanent (defined as handicap for more than six (6) month). The condition either fully or partially hinders the social and community needs of an individual in terms of the cultural and physical environment”.

2.3 Types of disable are as follows:

Sight

Hearing

Speech

Limbs

Mental

Others

a. Sight

Includes blind persons, those with poor eyesight, low vision and loss of both eyes. Those with poor eyesight wearing spectacles or contact lenses and those with corrected eyesight are not included in this category.

b. Hearing

Inclusive of deafness, partial deafness, loss of hearing (but able to speak) resulting in difficulty with study at school and prospects in suitable employment or being self-employed.

c. Speech

Inclusive of inability to speak (dumb) normally having difficulty studying at normal schools and also less prospects in getting suitable employment or being self-employed.

d. Limbs

Inclusive of handicaps such as amputation of hand/feet, paralysis (including polio), weak backbone or muscles, deformed body structure, dwarfs etc. Loss of a small body parts such as a finger is not considered as being handicapped.

e. Mental

Includes slow learners, brain damage and mental disorder. A person with mental disorder is defined by imbalance between biological and mental age. Also includes cerebral palsy or spastic due to brain damage caused by virus infections, hemorrhage etc, leading to brain dysfunction.

Mental disorder can refer to two categories:

Intellectual

Psychological – not included in the definition of mental disorder

f. Others

Inclusive of autism

3. Scope of census

The 2000 Census provides a wealth of information on the number of persons and households together with a wide range of their demographic characteristics. In addition, it also yields information on the number and types of living quarters as well as the availability of basic amenities. There are three parts to the questionnaire, i.e.:

Living quarters particulars such as type of living quarters, construction material of outer walls, drinking water and electricity supply, type of toilet facility, garbage collection and number of bedrooms.

Household particulars such as availability household items, ownership of living quarters and tenancy.

Person particulars such as gender, age, marital status, ethnic group, religion, citizenship, education, occupation, industry and handicap.

4. Response and non-response and data collection

The Population and Housing Census 2000 were done by face-to-face interviews. There are consistency checks and edits and imputation done to clean and improve the data especially for non-response cases. Any person of the household who is capable to answer the questions is accepted as the respondent. About 30 questions were asked. There are 8 languages used in the census (Malay – the national language, English, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Kadazan, Japanese and Korean).

5. Error Measurement

5.1 To minimize error during the census, several a pilot tests on the questionnaire was done. A Trial Census one year before the actual census, provided a dress rehearsal for the implementation of the project. Immediately following the Census 2000, a Post Enumeration Survey (PES) was undertaken to study the extent of under-enumeration in the census and to evaluate several aspects of coverage and content.

5.2 The processing activity was divided into two phases that is, manual processing and computer processing. In phase one, the questionnaire underwent checks for completeness and in phase two underwent coding of questions relating to education, migration, occupation and industry were done.

5.3 Training was carried out at various levels, i.e.:

Centralized training of trainers

Training at the State / District levels was done by headquarters officers from the Department of Statistics

Training to Supervisors

Training to Enumerators by Supervisors. This was done in small groups (2 – 3 Supervisors with about 15 – 20 enumerators) to ensure effective training.

5.4 The data collected for disability from the census has not been published, as there has been significant undercount of the number of cases. The numbers derived from the census when compared with the number of disabled registered with the Ministry of Welfare Services, was very low. Obviously poor response for the question from the respondent as well as possible reluctance of enumerators to ask the question during the interview, could have contributed to this.

6. Highlights of the strengths and limitations of census

6.1 The strengths of the census is:

International standards were used for all topics in the census and reference was made to the “UN Recommendation for Population and Housing Census” especially in terms of concepts, definitions and classifications. Updates to classifications such as occupation and industry were also taken into consideration.

Considerable experience gained from past censuses was strength. The first census that was completely handled by the Department of Statistics was for the year 1970. Continuity of experiences gained from the 1970, 1980, 1991 censuses has been of great value to the preparation for 2000 Census. The documentation of previous censuses has been useful reference to the planners.

Thus far, Malaysian censuses have been carried out for 100% coverage of the total population inspite of the cost involved. This has been valuable especially for small areas statistics.

6.2 The limitations of census is:

Respondent overload due to the number of question. The 2000 Census consisted of 30 questions for person particulars. The average time taken to enumerate each household was about 20 to 30 minutes and it created a burden on both enumerators and respondents.

Disability has been recognized as a sensitive question, especially for inclusion in a large-scale enumeration like a census. Therefore, collection of accurate data can be a problem.

Growing setback to ‘face to face’ interviews

7. Registers and the ministry/organization responsible for handicap

7.1     There are a number of ministries/organizations that are involved in providing services for the disabled. The type of services provided by each of them is different and related to the ministry/organization. These are as follows:

Department of Welfare Services

Ministry of Health

Ministry of Local Government and Housing

Ministry of Rural Development

Inland Revenue Department

Ministry of Education (Special Education)

Department of Registration

Social Security Organization

7.2     The ministries/organizations are directly involved with the handicapped are the Department of Welfare Services, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education (Special Education).

7.3      Brief summary of registers

a. Department of Welfare Services

The definition of person with disabilities for this ministry is based on WHO definitions:

“Any person unable to ensure by himself wholly or partly, the necessities of a normal individual and or social life, as a result of deficiency either congenital or not, in his physical or mental capabilities, which may have happened before or after childbirth”.

There are 4 categories of disabilities that are identified, i.e.: limbs, sight, hearing (including dumb) and mental. The existence of the services is to help the handicapped be independent and achieve their potential in everything that is within their capability.

To achieve that, the Rehabilitation Division, which constitutes the Services Institution and External Services, provides activities in the programs for the handicap.

b. Ministry of Health

The definition of person with disabilities is based on WHO definitions. The ministry gets the information and data collected through hospitals for inpatients (those admitted for treatment). Data on types of disabilities collected are visual disability, hearing, speech, physical, mental retardation, mental disabilities (include behavior problem, autism, hyperactive etc and others).

c. Ministry of Local Government and Housing

Disability refers to “Persons who are disabled in terms of physical, hearing or sight that limits their mobility or usage of building facilities”.

Under Ministry of Local Government and Housing Act (1990 amendment) it was noted that a building where the public can access should provide facilities like ramps, parking for disabled, toilet etc. They also provide 6% of special flat units under Public Housing Projects to the handicapped to choose ground floor in the case of walk-up flat and first floor where lifts are provided.

7.4     At present, a few meetings with the government agencies that provide services to the handicapped have been held. The aim of the meetings was to standardize the definition and classification of the disabled and identifies the functions and level of involvement of all agencies. The definition needs to be more    broad, global, uniform,systematic and comprehensive and suit all the government agencies involved. The goal is develop a database of all handicapped persons that can be accessed and used by all agencies for planning and implementation of programs.

Prepared by,
SITI ZAKIAH BT. MUHAMAD ISA
ssistant Director,
Population and Housing Census Division
for Chief Statistician
Department of Statistics,
MALAYSIA

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