Posted: March 12th, 2023

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MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY

COURSEWORK

TRIMESTER 2233

BOB7034 – ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

( All sections / Groups

)

2023

_______________________________________________________________________

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS

• The quiz, assignment 1, assignment 2 and project (with presentation material) should

be compiled within a submission.

• The overall written reports for quiz, assignment 1, assignment 2 and project must not

exceed 40 pages.

• Attach the presentation material for project. Please print either in 6 or 8 slides per

page.

• Write your name and student ID (front page), list of content (2nd page) and reference

list (last page).

• The writing should be in Times New Roman, font size 12 and 1.5 spacing.

• The submission due date is on week 7 (21 March 2023).

• Marks will be deducted for exceeding the page limit and plagiarism.

• Double sided printing is highly encouraged.

STUDENT ID NO

BOB7034 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 2022/2023

HH 1/1

Quiz: General knowledge (10%)

Provide your point of views for the following questions. You may refer to any current

organisational behaviour issues or theories to justify for answers.

Question 1: How far the theoretical knowledge in organisational behaviour can be

practiced at the workplace?

Question 2: If you are the manager, what will you do to ensure those individualistic

employees can work well in a group?

Question 3: Can the organisation culture be changed? Elaborate your justification with

an example.

Question 4: Is it possible to use digitalisation to lessen stress at the workplace?

Assignment 1: Academic journal (20%)

Please refer to research paper, “obesity and overweight issues could undermine

Malaysia’s competitiveness”.

• From your point of view, is being obese or overweight could undermine an

individual’s competitiveness at the workplace?

• If you are one of the top managements in an organisation, will you take any initiative

to enhance the fitness level of all your employees?

Assignment 2: Case study (30%)

Please refer to “how ‘quiet quitting’ became the next phase of the great resignation”

video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVLiRWD3gAM

• From your observation, is quiet quitting commonly being practiced among employee?

• If you are being given a responsibility to maximise the productivity in an

organisation, how to ensure all employees could adapt with high performance work

practices?

Project: Open topic (40%)

Written report (30%); Presentation (10%)

Choose any current behavioural issue and apply the theoretical organisational behaviour

concept in practise.

• Introduce the issue by emphasising on the ethical organisational behaviour values.

• Apply professionalism and humanities in analysing the issue and relate with any

organisational behaviour theories.

• Solve the issue by providing recommendation(s) with action steps for improvement.

Obesity and overweight issues could
undermine Malaysia’s competitiveness

Hasliza Hassan, Abu Bakar Sade and Muhammad Sabbir Rahman

Abstract

Purpose – The Malaysian lifestyle has been undergoing changes over time. With better socio-economic
conditions, Malaysians tend to consume more food today than they did previously. Excessive intakes of high
calorie foods combined with little daily physical activity have led to increased numbers of overweight and
obese people in the population. The purpose of this paper is to compare the incidence of overweight and
obesity in the population in Malaysia with other Southeast Asian countries.
Design/methodology/approach – Data for this research were based on secondary data of average weight,
overweight and obese people for populations in the Southeast Asian countries. The analysis for this research
focused on the population in Malaysia and compared it with populations from neighboring countries.
Findings – The population in Malaysia was ranked the second highest in the number of overweight and
obese people in the Southeast Asian region. In addition, the rate of increase overweight and obese people in
the population of Malaysia was found to be the highest in the region. Since the percentage of overweight and
obese people had increased consistently from 2010 to 2014, there was a high possibility that the momentum
would continue into the following few years.
Originality/value – Being overweight and obese was not desirable by the majority of people as it could lead
to various health diseases and psychological problems. Unfortunately, the percentage of overweight and
obese people in Malaysia seems to be increasing. Improved socio-economic conditions have increased the
amount of food normally consumed by people. Although many people were found to be aware of the
negative impact of being overweight and obese, the majority of them did not seem to take the initiative to
reduce their body weight. This research is expected to create awareness of the alarming rate of increase in
the number of overweight and obese people in Malaysia in order to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

Keywords Obesity, Lifestyle, Malaysia, Health, Overweight, Body fitness, Body weight, Fat

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Almost everyone liked to look presentable because first impressions were always formed from an
individual’s appearance. A presentable body structure and image could influence self-esteem. As a
result, the majority of people were concerned about their appearance. The mass-media had a
powerful influence on people’s perception of an ideal figure (Patricia and Arnold, 2002). People who
did not have a presentable or desirable look usually lacked self-confidence. Many people thought
that appearance was highly related to body weight. In reality though, the majority of people did not
really care too much about their weight, but rather the way they look. People who had excess body
weight go to fitness centers because of a concern for their appearance instead of their excess body
weight (Gulle et al., 2014). Every individual should ensure that they were neither overweight nor
obese in order to look presentable. Excess weight was due to a high percentage of fat deposited in
the body. The main places for fat distribution were either at the central abdominal region or the waist
(which would make someone look apple-shaped) or at the gluteal-femoral region or the buttocks
(which would make someone look pear-shaped) (Gan, 2014).

Although there were many researchers and practitioners who raised the issue of overweight and
obesity, there has not been a perfect or standardized measure to overcome the problem of being
overweight or obese. Overweight and obesity was usually determined from the calculation of an

Received 23 September 2017
Revised 6 November 2017
28 November 2017
Accepted 28 November 2017

This research project has been
supported by the Multimedia
University, Malaysia, through an
internal research grant. Special
appreciation is given to the
Research Management Center of
the university for supporting this
research project under the Mini
Fund Research Project.

Hasliza Hassan is based at the
Faculty of Management,
Multimedia University,
Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Abu Bakar Sade is Head of
Research and Postgraduate
Studies at the Faculty of
Business and Information
Science, UCSI University, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
Muhammad Sabbir Rahman is
Associate Professor at the
Department of Marketing and
International Business,
North South University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PAGE 204 j INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE j VOL. 11 NO. 3 2018, pp. 204-213, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2056-4902 DOI 10.1108/IJHRH-09-2017-0050

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individual’s body mass index (BMI) based on the formula of (weight in kg)/(height in meters)2.
Individuals who had a BMI reading of higher than 25 were considered overweight and those with a
BMI reading of higher than 30 were considered obese (World Health Organization, 2011). BMI was
commonly used to determine an ideal body weight for an individual and to make comparisons
between groups or societies. The BMI is measuring an ideal weight based on height. Another
option for measuring is through waist circumference, where the waist measurement for Asian men
was to be less than 90 cm and less than 80 cm for women (Gan, 2014).

The percentage of overweight people in the Southeast Asia region was between 8 and
30 percent for males, and between 8 and 52 percent for females, proving that there were more
females who were overweight than males in Southeast Asia (World Health Organization, 2011).
If being overweight was not controlled, it led to obesity. Obesity was an excessively abnormal
body weight and was considered a non-communicable disease. It has become a global
syndrome (Gan, 2014) because it leads to various health problems among adults and children
(Aboshkair et al., 2012b). Obesity was a critical issue all over the world, both in developed and
developing countries (Gan, 2014), and there has been a dramatic increase in overweight and
obese people not only in Southeast Asia but also throughout the whole of Asia, Europe and Africa
(Aboshkair et al., 2012b). Obesity was expected to increase because there had been a
continuous increase in the percentage of obese children (World Health Organization, 2011) and
adolescents (Zalilah et al., 2006). Being overweight and obese was preventable (World Health
Organization, 2015), but without proper control in diet and a change in sedentary lifestyles, these
diseases would only prolong and become more critical in the long term.

Research methodology

This research was a secondary analysis based on the latest data gathered by the World Health
Organization (2015). It focused on Southeast Asian countries which consist of Brunei, Cambodia,
Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam. The data gathered were based on BMI measurements for average, overweight and obese
people in 2010 and 2014. Therefore, the general analysis was based on these three categories of
BMI. Further analysis was made by comparing the BMI of men and women. The main focus of the
analysis was on the comparison of the BMI of the population in Malaysia with that of other countries
in Southeast Asia, mainly because these countries were located close to one another. Most of
the populations in Southeast Asian countries also shared the same lifestyle and consumed the same
food daily, which make them a huge nation block within the Asia region. Previously, majority of
the population in Southeast Asia tend to focus more on physical activities as lifestyle and consume
more fresh foods with less preservative on daily basis. Due to modernization, this traditional lifestyle
has become obsolete with continuous advance in technologies to support modern lifestyle. In
addition, the majority of people nowadays tend to consumemore processed foods than fresh foods
on daily basis. The findings from this secondary analysis could be related with the current lifestyle of
the population in Malaysia to understand how lifestyles influence being overweight and obese.
This analysis was also based on the findings of various research scholars within this field.

Data and results

Table I represents the percentage of average, overweight and obese people in the population in
Southeast Asian countries for 2010 and 2014. The data were categorized into male, female and
people of both genders who were above 25 years and were taken from the World Health
Organization (2015). The overall percentage of average, overweight and obese people in the
population in all Southeast Asia countries increased from 2010 to 2014. Further analysis of the data
showed that the average BMI for females was higher than that of males, except in Timor-Leste and
Singapore. There were also more females who were overweight than male, except for the
population in Singapore for both years and in Brunei in the year 2014. In general, the percentage of
females who were obese was consistently higher than that of males in all Southeast Asian countries.

According to the BMI measurement for average weight in 2010 and 2014, the highest average
BMI in Southeast Asia was in Brunei, followed by Malaysia and Thailand. The overall average BMI

VOL. 11 NO. 3 2018 j INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE j PAGE 205

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for the population in Malaysia in 2010 was 25 percent and it increased to 25.3 percent in 2014.
The average BMI for females was higher (25.3 percent) than males (24.6 percent) in 2010, and
this momentum continued in 2014 where the average BMI for females was still higher
(25.6 percent) than males (25 percent). Although the average BMI for the population in Malaysia
increased from 2010 to 2014, the percentage increase could be considered moderate since
there was only a 0.3 percent increase compared with other populations in Vietnam (0.5 percent),
Laos (0.5 percent), Indonesia (0.4 percent) and Cambodia (0.4 percent).

The three countries in Southeast Asia with the highest number of overweight people in their
populations in 2010 and 2014 were Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. The population in Malaysia
was ranked the second highest in Southeast Asia for the percentage of overweight people, after
Brunei, and Singapore was ranked the third highest. The percentage of overweight people in
the population in Malaysia increased from 34.4 percent in 2010 to 38.5 percent in 2014. There
were more females who were overweight (36 percent) than males (32.7 percent) in 2010.
Similarly, the percentage of overweight females (39.8 percent) remained higher than males
(37.2 percent) in 2014. The percentage of overweight people for all populations in Southeast Asia
increased between the ranges of 1.7–4.1 percent. The population in Malaysia had the highest
percentage increase for overweight people, which were 4.1 percent, followed by Indonesia
(3.3 percent), Thailand (3.2 percent) and Vietnam (3.2 percent). The population in Timor-Leste
had the lowest percentage increase in overweight people, which were only 1.7 percent, followed
by the populations in the Philippines (2.1 percent) and Cambodia (2.2 percent).

Table I BMI Measurement for average, overweight and obese people in South-East Asia

Average weight (in percentage) Overweight (in percentage) Obesity (in percentage)
Countries Gender 2010 2014 2010 2014 2010 2014

Brunei Male 25.5 25.8 44.3 47.5 13.4 16.2
Female 26.5 26.6 45.0 46.5 18.4 20.1
Both 26.0 26.2 44.6 47.0 15.9 18.1

Cambodia Male 21.5 21.9 11.5 13.1 1.2 1.7
Female 21.6 22.0 19.1 21.9 3.4 4.6
Both 21.5 21.9 15.4 17.6 2.3 3.2

Timor-Leste Male 21.1 21.5 9.7 11.0 0.9 1.2
Female 20.7 21.0 16.1 18.1 2.5 3.2
Both 20.9 21.2 12.8 14.5 1.7 2.2

Indonesia Male 21.9 22.4 17.3 20.6 2.5 3.5
Female 23.0 23.4 25.2 28.4 6.1 7.9
Both 22.5 22.9 21.2 24.5 4.3 5.7

Laos Male 21.9 22.4 12.8 15.3 1.4 2.1
Female 22.3 22.7 19.9 22.6 3.6 4.9
Both 22.1 22.6 16.4 19.0 2.5 3.5

Malaysia Male 24.6 25.0 32.7 37.2 7.9 10.6
Female 25.3 25.6 36.0 39.8 13.0 16.0
Both 25.0 25.3 34.4 38.5 10.5 13.3

Myanmar Male 21.7 22.1 11.2 13.4 1.0 1.4
Female 22.8 23.2 18.7 21.6 3.1 4.3
Both 22.3 22.6 15.0 17.6 2.1 2.9

Philippines Male 22.6 22.9 18.9 21.0 2.8 3.6
Female 23.1 23.4 24.2 26.3 5.5 6.6
Both 22.9 23.2 21.5 23.6 4.1 5.1

Singapore Male 24.1 24.3 34.2 37.6 4.4 5.7
Female 23.1 23.2 26.0 28.1 5.6 6.8
Both 23.6 23.7 30.1 32.8 5.0 6.2

Thailand Male 23.2 23.6 22.7 26.2 4.1 5.7
Female 24.4 24.6 30.1 33.0 9.1 11.1
Both 23.8 24.1 26.5 29.7 6.7 8.5

Vietnam Male 21.0 21.5 14.2 17.3 1.5 2.3
Female 21.2 21.6 20.5 23.8 3.6 4.8
Both 21.1 21.6 17.4 20.6 2.6 3.6

Source: World Health Organization (2015)

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The population in Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand were among the top 3 ranked for obesity in
Southeast Asia in 2010 and 2014. Similar to the case for overweight people, the population in
Malaysia was also ranked the second highest in obesity after Brunei, while the country ranked
third was Thailand. The percentage of obese people among the population in Malaysia had
increased from 10.5 percent in 2010 to 13.3 percent in 2014. The percentage of obese males
had increase from 7.9 percent in 2010 to 10.6 percent in 2014. The percentage of obese
females was even higher in both years at 13 percent (2010) and 16 percent (2014). The overall
percentage in obesity for all countries in Southeast Asia increased between 0.5 and
2.8 percent. Similar to the case for overweight people, the population in Malaysia showed the
highest percentage increase in obesity which was 2.8 percent, followed by Brunei (2.2 percent),
Thailand (1.8 percent) and Indonesia (1.4 percent). The population in Timor-Leste showed the
lowest increase in obesity which was 0.5 percent, followed by the population in Myanmar
(0.8 percent) and Cambodia (0.9 percent).

Discussion and analysis

The overall percentage increase in overweight and obese people for the population in Malaysia
was considered the highest in Southeast Asia. The population in Malaysia was also ranked the
second highest for the percentage of overweight and obese people in Southeast Asia
for both 2010 and 2014. Another report also ranked the population in Malaysia as the tenth
highest in the world for the percentage of overweight people (Daily Express, 2015).
With improved socio-economic conditions, there was a high probability that the percentage of
overweight and obese people in the population would continue to increase in the coming few
years. Those overweight people who were unable to control their weight would become obese
while those who were in the average or normal weight had the potential to become overweight if
there was no self-awareness on this matter. This momentum was expected to be even more
critical with the increasing percentage of overweight and obese children. Children easily
became overweight and obese as a result of the availability of and accessibility to food
(Callaghan et al., 2015). The situation was becoming worse since the majority of children
tended to choose unhealthy foods as their main preference for daily meals (Waddingham
et al., 2015).

According to the deputy minister of health, the majority of the population in Malaysia had a BMI
measurement of more than 25, which was above the average or normal weight. This was
because the majority of Malaysians consumed meals six times a day that consisted of high fats.
Additionally, the majority of the population also did not allocate sufficient time for physical activity.
Consequently, almost 73 percent of the cases of death in Malaysian Government hospitals were
due to obesity (MyMetro, 2015). In Southeast Asia, there were 350,000 deaths that were caused
by being overweight or obese (World Health Organization, 2011). There were about 2.8 million
people from all over the world who were dying each year as a result of being overweight and
obese (World Health Organization, 2009). This has made the problem of being overweight and
obese the top 5 in the world in terms of risks of death (World Health Organization, 2011). And it is
said that this strong wave might have just arrived in Malaysia.

Lifestyles could impact the current situation for the better or worse. Technological advances had
made it easier for people to become lazy (Broussard, 2015). Malaysia was one of the countries
that had adapted well to technological advancements, as a result the majority of Malaysians
seemed to lack active physical activity in their lifestyles (Rengasamy, 2012; Sazlina et al., 2012).
A sedentary lifestyle coupled with consumption of high-calorie foods could cause excessive body
weight (Gulle et al., 2014; Pieterman, 2015). The issue tended to worsen with the excessive
consumption of fast and convenience foods (Halicioglu, 2013), as well as a high intake of tobacco
and alcohol. This had not only led to more overweight and obese people but also increased
the blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids among the population in Southeast Asia
(World Health Organization, 2011). Health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases,
hypertension and high cholesterol levels were very high among the population in Malaysia.
An unhealthy population would indirectly slow down work performance and productivity, and
affected the efficiency of the nation (Daily Express, 2015).

VOL. 11 NO. 3 2018 j INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE j PAGE 207

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Improved socio-economic conditions had indirectly encouraged people to purchase
pre-prepared foods and dine at restaurants. Those who were earning higher incomes were
more prone to become overweight and obese (Finocchio and Dewes, 2015). This scenario
seemed consistent with the situation in Malaysia where there were more people who could
afford to purchase pre-prepared foods and dine at restaurants more often due to their
increased incomes. In fact, it was also evident in the number of shopping malls in Malaysia that
were being transformed into food malls, and the number of restaurants being opened as sub-
retailers in the shopping malls, and these were getting to be more than the number of non-
restaurants. In some shopping malls, there were more sub-retailers selling food than those who
were non-food related. Similarly, there were more young entrepreneurs who were interested in
venturing into the food industry, since the industry was developing well and was considered
secured as a result of being accepted by society.

The continuous increase in the percentage of overweight and obese people in Malaysia had
also created a huge market for fitness centers, especially in urban areas. The aggressive
implementation of fitness programs enhanced the fitness level of an individual (Aboshkair et al.,
2012a). However, although there were many people who had registered for fitness programs,
the majority of the participants had not exercised regularly after six months (Dishman and
Buckworth, 1996). Studies on why people dropped-out of fitness programs were still lacking
(Mâsse et al., 2011). One study found that most people seemed to have difficulty working out
regularly due to stress or personal challenges ( Jekauc et al., 2015) such as commitment to
family, work and study. This made participants set priorities for other aspects of their
lives than to exercise regularly to reduce body weight. Another study found that users of fitness
centers discontinued going to the fitness centers because they did not know how to use the
fitness equipment properly (Brown et al., 2015). Regardless of the reasons, the majority of
people had a tendency to give excuses for not exercising regularly if there was not a
strong commitment.

A study in Europe found that the chances for an obese person to get a job were slightly lower.
Furthermore, people who were obese were earning 9-10 percent less income than people who
were of normal weight (Lundborg et al., 2007). A superficial look at the findings might seem
at first that there was discrimination toward obese people. However, the employment
discrimination toward obese people could be perceived positively if it was to be the main
motivator for people to exert effort to reduce excessive body weight. This could influence
people indirectly to be more conscious about their appearance and they could take the initiative
to ensure that they fitted into the employment environment that required them to look
presentable. Research on this topic was still lacking in Southeast Asian countries, especially in
Malaysia, which has made it difficult to prove the validity of the research findings on populations
in Southeast Asia.

Recommendations and implications

The continuous increase in the number of overweight and obese people has seen expenses
for medical needs increase, especially in public hospitals that support the general population.
This would definitely add to the burden of the government’s budget to cover increasing medical
costs. Several studies have found that people who were obese, regardless of gender, would use
more of the health care services and incurred higher costs compared to those who were of
normal weight. An obese woman would cost 33.8 percent higher than a woman of normal weight
in mean costs for healthcare services while an obese man would cost more than 45.3 percent in
health care services compared to a man of normal weight (Folmann et al., 2007). Healthcare
costs for obese people were within the range of a quarter to almost half that of healthcare costs
for people of normal weight. These expenses would become excessive with the increasing rate of
overweight and obese people in the Malaysian population, especially of those people who were
relying on government support for medical health care.

Since being overweight and obese were non-communicable dieses, efforts to reduce body weight
were highly dependent on personal initiative. A proper eating behavior and physical activity could
prevent the disease from becoming worse (Zalilah et al., 2006) and could possibly cure it entirely.

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The key pillars to reduce body weight to obtain a desirable figure were dependent on personal
initiative to control the consumption of excessive food and include a routine of physical
exercise. Since the majority of Malaysians were eating six times a day, it would be
good to maintain daily meals by replacing foods that were high in calories with foods that were
low in calories. Recent studies have also suggested that it would be an added advantage to
count the number of bites, instead of counting the amount of calories, as an effort to
reduce body weight. Taking 20-30 percent fewer bites could help to reduce about
1.6 kg in a week (West et al., 2015). The modern lifestyle did not encourage the majority of
people to have perseverance to enhance their level of fitness. The modern generation also
preferred to spend time dining at restaurants rather than investing their time in physical
activity. Since the percentage of overweight and obese people in Malaysia had been increasing
continuously, having a large body size was becoming a norm regardless of gender
or age. This had also made people overlook their body weight even though they had already
been categorized as being overweight and obese. Personal awareness was crucial in ensuring
that excessive body weight was consistently being reduced to avoid negative impacts
in the future.

Physical fitness was the capacity to adapt and recover from strenuous exercise. The level of
physical fitness in Malaysia varied depending on body size and age group. Overweight people
who did not take the initiative to reduce and control their weight could continue gaining more
weight, leading to obesity. Obesity occurred due to the excessive consumption of fats and sugar
(World Health Organization, 2011). Lack of physical activity to burn the excessive calories could
make those who were overweight and obese to be unfit (Aboshkair et al., 2012b). School was the
best place to learn about health consciousness (Ioannou et al., 2012; Keshavarz Mohammadi
et al., 2010) and how to be fit. Students who came from schools that emphasized sports would
spend more time on physical activities and would have a high level of fitness. The implementation
of effectiveness fitness programs was dependent on sports facilities and equipment, the
adequacy of qualified teachers, the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process, the
involvement of students, the status of physical education in the school and financial support
(Aboshkair et al., 2012a). Further studies have found that physical fitness programs conveyed
through formal education was effective in enhancing cardiovascular endurance and flexibility
(Rengasamy, 2012).

Students who were physically active tended to be absent from classes less frequently. This
enhanced school attendance (Zusevics et al., 2013) and improved the academic performance
of students (Snelling et al., 2015). Research has also found that technological gadgets, such as
pedometers, encouraged students to be physically more active since they were able to track
their own personal health (Louisa Bruselius-Jensen et al., 2014). These gadgets also stimulated
students to be more competitive, not only with their colleagues but also to break their own
personal record to become fitter (Ross, 2015). Primary, secondary and high school students in
Malaysia were required to participate in physical fitness classes for at least one hour a week and
joined a sport as an additional co-curricular activity. This initiative was extended to include
some universities and colleges. However, the number of overweight and obese people among
the population continued to increase from year to year even though this initiative was
implemented. This was probably due to a continuing high intake of fats and sugar by the
younger generation that was far higher than the calories they burnt through physical exercise. In
addition, the majority of students in Malaysia tended to take health education classes for
granted, since the subject was not one of the main subjects for the national examination.
Students were also not being given any additional gadgets (such as a pedometers) to track their
own personal health condition.

Although an initiative had been taken by the government to train people to exercise regularly from
the time they were in primary and secondary schools, the effort did not seem to extend into
adulthood. Instead, modern lifestyles seemed to overrule active physical activity. The effort by the
government to provide a personal income tax exemption for the purchase of exercise equipment up
to RM300 (Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia, 2015) had also not encouraged the majority of
people to adopt healthier lifestyles. A new policy should thus be implemented to encourage people
to adopt an active lifestyle to prevent health problems. There was a perception that the overweight

VOL. 11 NO. 3 2018 j INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HEALTHCARE j PAGE 209

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and obesity problem could be cured by training children in pre-schools to prevent the problem from
getting worse (Robinson and Page, 2009). Educating children on nutrition could also influence them
to adopt a healthier diet (Ellsworth et al., 2015). However, positive results from interventions at
school could be effective within the short-term period (Taylor et al., 2015), but these would be truly
beneficial if they could be stretched into the long term. The chances of maintaining the positive
results would not endure if the parents of overweight and obese children were themselves
consuming too much food daily as they were the main influence on the children.

In the past, encouragement for increased physical activity came from the government.
Since the increase in the percentage of overweight and obese people had now reached critical
levels, many more organizations including government agencies, non-government
organizations, the private sector, schools and parents have been encouraged to adopt
healthier diets and to include regular physical activity. Some companies have advertised their
products by encouraging people to include physical activity in their daily lifestyle. There have
been more advertisements through the mass-media to raise awareness of the importance of
keeping fit, such as through television programs, radio advertisements and the internet.
The availability of social support and self-efficacy could influence an individual to have regular
exercise ( Jekauc et al., 2015). Instead of investing time and money in dining at fancy
restaurants, it would definitely be more worthwhile to invest in fitness centers. Fitness
professionals should also provide demonstrations on how to use the equipment at the fitness
centers (Brown et al., 2015). Guidance and motivation from fitness professionals could
encourage more people to join the program.

Further research

Further research to explore people’s perception of being overweight and obese should be
undertaken. It could be diversified to the various stages of data collection, to include an
analysis through a case study approach, or by carrying out interviews and experiments to
ensure the accuracy of results that are obtained. Research should also be conducted to
explore overweight and obesity issues relating to children, adolescents and adults. These
three categories of people might have different opinions of being overweight and obese
because age and maturity could influence how they perceive a situation. Research could also
be divided into rural and urban areas, since the different lifestyles could have different
impacts on the results. The working environment might also influence people to maintain a
desirable figure especially for those who were working at the front office, as customer service
officers, receptionists, cabin crew, sales officers or the like. Further research on how the
working environment influenced people to look more presentable at work could also be
carried out.

Instead of looking only into the perception of individuals, further research could also be
conducted to look into the perspectives of employers on their preference for recruiting new
employees or their perception of the performance of overweight and obese employees. Similar
research could also be carried out by investigating the academic performance of students based
on their body weight. There has been little research on this aspect in European countries and the
situation was the same in Malaysia because the majority of the population were sensitive when it
came to body weight. However, research was one of the best ways to alert society and motivates
people to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Malaysia has been experiencing an increase in the cost of living in the past few years, especially
in urban areas. The majority of the population believed that the increased cost of living did not
correspond with the average income of an individual. One of the common ways to cope
with the higher cost of living, especially in urban areas, was by reducing the expenses of
prepared foods or for dining at restaurants. Instead, the main preference should always be
homemade meals. However, more restaurants have emerged in almost every retail outlet.
This was because the majority of the population in urban areas were still preferred to dine at
restaurants. Another valuable area of research would be to explore why people were still
spending excessively for food although there was an alternative for them to save to support
the higher cost of living.

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Conclusion

Instead of having a presentable and desirable figure, people with good health and fitness had a
better lifestyle and were less vulnerable to diseases (Aboshkair et al., 2012a). In contrast,
excessive body weight made an individual unhappy and affected his or her self-confidence and
self-esteem. Based on statistical analysis, the percentage of overweight and obese people
among the female population was higher than the male population. Studies have also found that
females tended to consume more crude energy (Zalilah et al., 2006) and were more easily
affected by diseases and health problems (Gulle et al., 2014). Regardless of gender, however, the
population in Malaysia showed the highest increase in the rate of overweight and obese people
among the populations of Southeast Asia. The population in Malaysia was also ranked
the second highest for overweight and obese people in the population in 2010 and 2014.
The issue had been known to Malaysians because of an official alert by the government.
However, the majority of Malaysians seemed to take this issue for granted. As a consequence,
the percentage of overweight and obese people had increased drastically from year to year.
It was very important to ensure that everyone was able to allocate time for physical activity, while
at the same time adopt a proper diet. It was possible to avoid being overweight or obese since
both these problems were preventable (World Health Organization, 2015).

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Corresponding author

Hasliza Hassan can be contacted at: liza.hassan@yahoo.com

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