1 The Role Of Globalisation in Improving Human Development in Malaysia (Peranan Globalisasi dalam Meningkatkan Pembangunan Masyarakat di Malaysia) Nur Syazwani Mazlan Universiti Putra Malaysia Farah Yushanis Fadzilah Universiti Putra Malaysia Saifuzzaman Ibrahim Universiti Putra Malaysia ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of globalisation on the level of human development in Malaysia. It also investigates the roles of other potential determinants of human development such as foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness and international migration on Human Development Index (HDI) in Malaysia. We employ the method of Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) on the annual time series data covering the period from 1980 to 2017. The results confirm a positive and significant long run relationship between globalisation and FDI with HDI in Malaysia. However, the results imply a negative short and long run relationship of both trade openness and international migration with HDI. Therefore, the results suggest for policies to be focused and geared towards fostering globalisation and attracting the inflows of FDI if the country’s main agenda is to improve the level of human development. Keywords: Globalisation; Human development; Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag; Malaysia ABSTRAK Kertas kerja ini mengkaji peranan globalisasi dengan menggunakan teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) sebagai proksi dalam meningkatkan tahap pembangunan manusia di Malaysia. Ia juga menyiasat peranan penentu potensi lain pembangunan manusia seperti pelaburan langsung asing (FDI), keterbukaan perdagangan dan migrasi antarabangsa ke atas Indeks Pembangunan Manusia (HDI) di Malaysia. Kami menggunakan kaedah Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) pada data siri masa tahunan yang meliputi tempoh 1980 hingga 2017. Hasilnya mengesahkan hubungan jangka panjang yang positif dan signifikan antara globalisasi dan FDI dengan HDI di Malaysia. Walau bagaimanapun, hasilnya menyiratkan hubungan pendek dan jangka panjang yang negatif mengenai keterbukaan perdagangan dan penghijrahan antarabangsa dengan HDI. Oleh itu, hasilnya mencadangkan dasar-dasar untuk difokuskan dan bertujuan untuk memupuk globalisasi dan menarik aliran masuk FDI jika agenda utama negara adalah untuk meningkatkan tahap pembangunan manusia. Kata Kunci: Globalisasi; Pembangunan masyarakat; Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag; Malaysia INTRODUCTION In the early days, Malaysia was heavily reliant on the agricultural industry where the focus was mainly on primary products such as paddy, rubber, and tin. Over the years, we have witnessed an industrial revolution resulting in a transition from agriculture to the manufacturing industry. This has played a key part in fostering globalisation in the country. The creation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) has succeeded in accelerating the achievement of objectives of Vision 2020 and transforming Malaysia into the information and communication technology (ICT) based country. Besides, this has also encouraged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country. For instance, based on the data from the Malaysian Investment Performance Report 2017 published by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA 2017), organisations from China, Switzerland, Singapore, Germany, and the Netherlands were the majority investors for about Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia 53(2) 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2019-5302-17