1 AGGRESSION AMONG MALAYSIANS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENT Zaihairul Idrus 1 , Nor Hafizah Nor Hamid 1 , and Geshina A Mat Saat 1 Forensic Science Programme, School of Health Sciences, USM ABSTRACT: The aim of this research was to establish a baseline of aggression among Malaysians. With this baseline, it is possible to determine the position of Malaysian criminals’ aggression levels. Such information is vital for understanding Malaysians’ level of ag gression compared to other country populations as well as determining what form of rehabilitation should be implemented in order to reduce criminals’ aggression levels to the Malaysian population average instead of non-Malaysian population average levels. For this purpose one hypothesis was proposed: Malaysian sexual offenders have a higher level of aggression compared to the normal population. The samples were as follows: 235 government servants representing the normal population (control group) and 99 incarcerated sexual offenders representing the criminal population (experimental group). An adapted version of Buss and Perry’s (1992) aggression questionnaire was used to compare levels of physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility. Findings indicate that a) Malaysians have a lower aggression average than other populations and b) the criminal group had significantly higher levels of aggression compared to the normal population, most notably hostility. Two implications for the community and environment are a) despite the lower baseline of aggression in the normal population, there is a need to address aggressive tendencies in order to reduce incidents of social ills and b) rehabilitation in prison should focus on reducing hostility levels among offenders in preparation for their rejoining society. Keywords: Aggression, incarcerated criminals, hostility, rehabilitation INTRODUCTION Current practices extoll the application of Western theories and approaches in the treatment and rehabilitation of incarcerated Malaysian offenders. This is problematic as the way that aggression and violence is interpreted, managed, and regulated differs in different social contexts. Cultures vary in their attitudes toward aggression and violence, norms regarding its gender-based expression, as well as beliefs and behaviours about the extent and normalcy of aggression (Blackburn, 1993; Ramírez and Andreu, 2006). These variations contribute to child-rearing patterns, personal experiences, and the management of aggressive problems (Cairns and Cairns, 1994; Loeber and Hay, 1997; Kokko et al, 2009). Research has evidenced that aggression is a stable trait and that children’s assessment of aggression is predictive of adolescent delinquency (e.g.: Coie et al, 1992, Cairns and Cairns, 1994; Loeber and Hay, 1997, Rappaport and Thomas, 2004) and adult criminal behaviour (e.g.: Blackburn, 1993, Kokko et al, 2009). Olweus (1979) reviewed 16 longitudinal studies of aggression among males and reported prediction coefficients ranging from .98 for 1 year with 13-year-old children to .36 for 13 years for children from the age of 5 to 18. According to