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The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the role of sukuk in the monetary policy transmission mechanism through the asset price and exchange rate channels in the Indonesian economy.

Using the monthly data from January 2003 to November 2017, this study uses a multivariate vector error correction model causality framework. To examine the role of sukuk in the monetary policy transmission mechanism through the asset price channel, this study uses the variables of consumption, inflation, interest rates, economic growth and the composite stock price index. Meanwhile, to examine the role of sukuk in the monetary policy transmission mechanism through the exchange rate channel, this study used variables of inflation, interest rates, economic growth, foreign investment and exchange rate.

This study documented that sukuk has no causal relationship with inflation through asset price and exchange rate channels. Nevertheless, sukuk has a bidirectional causal relationship with economic growth through asset price and exchange rate channels. Sukuk is also documented to have a causal relationship with monetary policy variables of interest rate and stock prices through asset price and exchange rate channels. Finally, a unidirectional causality is recorded running from the exchange rate to sukuk in the exchange rate channel.

The finding of independence of the sukuk market from interest rates provides evidence that the trading of the sukuk in Indonesia has been in harmony with the Islamic tenets.

The relevant Indonesian authorities need to enhance both domestic and global sukuk markets as part of efforts to promote the sustainability of Islamic capital market development in Indonesia.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first attempts to empirically investigate the role of sukuk in monetary policy transmission through asset price and exchange rate channels in the context of the Indonesian economy.

The purpose of this paper is to assess knowledge of Singapore Grade 5 (11 years old) students’ understanding and proficiency in basic information literacy (IL) skills of defining information tasks, selecting information sources, seeking information from sources and synthesising and using information.

A 38-item multiple-choice question assessment instrument was used to assess the students’ IL skills based on the i-Competent IL model. The instrument first developed in 2010 was refined and expanded to increase the robustness and accuracy of assessment for the study. It was administered to 17 primary schools in Singapore in November 2015. The maximum possible score of 54 was scaled up to 100 to report the overall mean score for ease of reference and comparison. A total of 2,399 returns were obtained and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22.0 to compute the mean scores, IL stage-level scores. The study also investigated for any significant differences in performance between male and female students, and students with or without access to the internet at home.

The students achieved an overall mean score of 53.39 which is below a recommended acceptable score of 60 or 70 advocated in a number of past studies. The two worst performing areas of IL skills were synthesising and using information and seeking information from sources with mean scores of 45.89 and 48.81, respectively. A review of the highest number of incorrect answers suggests that students had difficulty in identifying key information from an information task narrative, understanding the use of reference sources and role of librarians, distinguishing between a fact and opinion, and adopting the best strategy for searching. Girls outperformed boys with an overall mean score of 55.38 vs 51.50. Students with internet access at home fared better than those without access to it with a score of 53.67 vs 45.81. The overall poor results of the survey suggest an urgent need to review the IL education landscape in the Singapore school system, revisit polices, priorities and assess the relevance and effectiveness of the IL curriculum, practical hands-on classes, and interventions that are currently employed in schools.

The study helped identify areas of IL skills strengths and weakness among Grade 5 students in Singapore schools. It provides recommendations for follow up actions for education authority and schools to improve the situation.

This study was prompted to provide an assessment after a national IL initiative was launched in 2012 to inculcate IL skills among the school-going children as part of creating a value-driven education system. This is the first reported set of findings for a large-scale survey conducted to measure and ascertain the IL skills level among Grade 5 students.

The purpose of this paper is to re‐examine the stock market integration and short‐run dynamic interactions between the Malaysian stock market and the stock markets of its major trading partners (the USA, Japan, Singapore, China and Thailand).

Weekly stock indices spanning from January 1992 to May 2008 is analysed using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach and vector autoregression (VAR) framework.

Stock markets of Malaysia and its major trading partners are found to be integrated. To some extent, it is found that trade does matter for stock market integration. Additional, geographical proximity and close relationship between the countries further contributes towards a greater integration between them. To move forward to a greater financial integration among these countries, trade liberalisation, including reduction or removal of trade and investment barriers would be necessary.

This paper is among the first attempts to use ARDL and VAR frameworks to examine integration among the stock markets of Malaysia and its major trading partners. The findings of the study would shed some empirical lights for the purpose of policy making.

This chapter aims to explore representations of information literacy and media literacy in Singapore’s educational discourse as part of its 21st century skills framework. Currently, information literacy and media literacy co-exist in Singapore’s education discourse but there is no related work attempting to clarify these two concepts in Singapore or to bridge them to propose an overarching framework. In what ways are these two terminologies identical or different in the local education context? We try to answer this question through reviewing relevant official documents. We start with a review the literature on the global scale regarding information literacy and media literacy. Then, we focus on Singapore to explore how various governmental agencies defining information literacy and media literacy. This chapter, in other words, is a result from a pilot study to understand how information literacy and media literacy is defined and understood in Singapore’s education system.

This purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the investors overreaction and underreaction behaviours across the sectoral stock indices in the Indonesian stock market.

Nine weekly sectoral stock indices, comprising agriculture; mining; basic industry and chemicals; miscellaneous industry; consumer goods industry; property and real estate; infrastructure, utilities and transportation; finance; and trade, service and investment for the period 2009-2012 were analysed using the paired dependent sample t-test. To provide more insightful empirical evidence, the presence of market anomaly of investor’s overreaction and underreaction was examined on five observations with different vulnerable times.

The study documented that the overreaction anomaly was present among the winner portfolios in the entire sectoral indices. With the exception of the sectoral index of basic industry and chemicals on the loser portfolio, the study documented the presence of underreaction anomaly among all other sectoral indices in Indonesia. These findings implied that the investors might be able to gain significant profits investing their monies in the sectoral stock market in Indonesia by implementing the contrarian strategy.

Originality in this paper lies in the discussion of overreaction of investors in Indonesia where the stock market has great potential and has different characteristics and different problems from other regions.

This study is conducted to determine a method of solving the Sraffian set of equations of production, using a computer model. Sraffa's theory is based on a very simple model of an economic system consists of a set of non‐linear equations. Consideration is given, in this paper, to the importance of using modelling and simulation techniques rather than analytical methods.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the current global crisis on the integration and co‐movements of selected Islamic stock markets.

Time series techniques of cointegration were used over the period spanning from February 15, 2006 to December 31, 2008. In order to explore changes in the stock market integration and co‐movement, following Majid and Kassim, we divide the period of analysis into two periods, namely the pre‐crisis period (February 15, 2006‐July 25, 2007) and during crisis period (July 26, 2007‐December 31, 2008).

No evidence was found of cointegration among the Islamic stock markets in both periods. Accordingly, the 2007 subprime crisis does not seem to affect the long‐run co‐movements among the Islamic stock markets.

The Islamic stock markets provide opportunity for the potential benefits from international portfolio diversification, even after the subprime crisis. The prohibition of riba, gharar and maysir is one of the plausible reasons of no cointegration in the Islamic stock markets.

Using the Islamic stock indices, to the best of the authors' knowledge, goes clearly beyond the existing literature on the subject matter.

This paper aims to determine the effect of equity financing on bank stability during normal and crisis periods.

This study uses a static panel regression that includes pooled ordinary least square, random effect and fixed effect model to examine the influence of equity financing on bank stability. In estimating bank stability during a financial crisis, the authors predict the occurrence of a crisis using the early warning system (EWS). The authors then used z-score to measure Islamic banks’ stability.

Islamic banks that offer equity financing structure are more stable compared to Islamic banks without such structure. Islamic banks with medium equity financing have highest stability relative to Islamic banks with high or low equity financing. During crises, the Islamic banks with equity financing structure remain relatively stable compared to other Islamic banks.

The sampling coverage could have included a larger number of countries and banks.

The authorities need to strengthen the banking framework to support the Islamic financial products by encouraging a wider use of risk-sharing instruments. Besides using a debt-like financing structure, Islamic banks should also place emphasis on equity financing in instilling the banking sector stability. In monitoring banks with equity financing, the authorities may need to look into the level of equity financing.

Besides avoiding riba and gharar in financing, equity financing encourages cooperation and participation among society as they share the risks.

This paper analyses the effect of equity financing on the Islamic banks stability during normal and crisis periods. This paper further examines the intensity of the equity financing and its influence on bank stability.

To investigate information literacy (IL) skills of secondary students in Singapore after integration of these skills into school curriculum. The study also explored cyber wellness skills of the students.

A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 14 secondary schools, located in different geographical zones of the country. A total of 3,306 secondary students participated in this survey. A scoring scheme was devised to assess IL skills of the students.

The students achieved an overall mean score of 52.6%, which is considered as a “middle” level of IL competency. The students obtained high mean scores for two IL skills: “defining information task and analysing information gaps” (60.5%) and cyber wellness (60.1%). Lowest scores were achieved for two IL skills: “selecting information sources” (47.4%) and “appraising the information process and product” (48.0%).

This study has not investigated IL knowledge of teachers, responsible for teaching IL components. Similarly, content analysis of school textbooks, integrating IL skills, could be useful.

It appeared that integration of IL skills into school curriculum showed limited success in imparting these skills. This paper suggests measures for improving the integration of IL skills into school curriculum. Findings of this survey will be useful to curriculum planners, education administrators, instructors teaching IL skills and school librarians.

This study was unique as, in addition to standard IL skills, it also investigated cyber wellness skills. It was desirable as now social media have become a popular source for information seeking and sharing.

This study aimed to acquire knowledge about Singapore secondary school (ages 13 to 16 years old) students' skills in searching, evaluating and using information.

A comprehensive instrument encompassing the basic information literacy (IL) skills, as well as a new dimension of ethical usage of information and collaborative information seeking was used for data collection. From August to November 2010, a total of eight schools comprising 3,164 students participated in this study.

It was a matter of concern that various kinds of libraries, including school libraries, were found to be under-utilized. From the test that was administered to assess the IL skills of students, the results were found to be generally unsatisfactory as each of the major categories of IL skills recorded a score that is below 50 (out of a maximum of 100) except for “task definition”. For skills related to “information seeking strategies”, “location & access” and “information use”, the types of schools, academic streams of study, and students' family background seemed to have significant influences.

This study is the first large-scale survey conducted in Singapore that sought to test the IL skills of secondary school students. The findings are useful in assessing the current effectiveness of IL integration, and the need for a more planned approach towards IL competency training within the school curriculum in Singapore.