Persepsi golongan belia terhadap ‘Malaysia Baharu’ dalam kerangka pembangunan komuniti di Semenanjung Malaysia (Youth perception towards ‘New Malaysia’ in the framework of community development in Peninsular Malaysia)

Abstract

Makalah ini membincangkan tentang persepsi golongan belia terhadap ‘Malaysia Baharu’ dalam kerangka pembangunan komuniti di Semenanjung Malaysia. Istilah Malaysia Baharu popular digunakan selepas berlakunya pertukaran kerajaan pada pilihan raya umum ke-14 daripada parti Barisan Nasional yang mendominasi pemerintahan negara sejak merdeka kepada kerajaan baru yang diterajui oleh Pakatan Harapan. Malaysia yang dikatakan melalui fasa baru dijangka mengalami perubahan dari segenap aspek kehidupan politik, ekonomi dan sosiobudaya ke arah yang lebih baik. Dari itu, satu kajian telah dijalankan dalam kalangan belia khususnya mahasiswa universiti awam di Semenanjung Malaysia. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti persepsi mereka terhadap perkembangan semasa yang berlaku dalam negara ini. Kajian telah menggunakan gabungan dua pendekatan kualitatif dan kuantitatif. Untuk pendekatan kualitatif,  teknik NGT (Teknik Berkumpulan Nominal) dan FGD (Perbincangan Kumpulan Berfokus) telah dilaksanakan, manakala bagi pendekatan kuantitatif pula teknik survey menggunakan borang soal selidik. Borang soal selidik telah diedarkan kepada 800 orang responden belia pelbagai etnik. Hasil kajian menunjukkan wujud variasi persepsi responden berdasarkan etnik terhadap Malaysia Baharu dalam perkara-perkara yang melibatkan pembangunan komuniti. Golongan belia etnik Melayu dilihat lebih objektif dalam mengemukakan pandangan mereka manakala golongan belia etnik Cina dan India pula dilihat lebih positif dalam menunjukkan sokongan mereka terhadap era pemerintahan Malaysia Baharu ini. Hasil kajian ini juga memberikan suatu gambaran terkini terhadap perkembangan semasa yang berlaku walaupun Malaysia Baharu itu baru sahaja berusia setahun jagung.

Kata kunci: belia, etnisiti, mahasiswa universiti awam, malaysia baharu, pembangunan komuniti, semenanjung Malaysia.

This paper discusses the perception of the youth towards New Malaysia in the framework of community development in Peninsular Malaysia. The term ‘New Malaysia’ is popular to be used after the change of government's in the 14^th general election from the Barisan Nasional party that dominated the country's government since independence to the new government led by Pakatan Harapan. Malaysia, which is said to undergoes new phase, is expected to experience changes from various aspects of political, economic and social-cultural life to a better one. Therefore, the study was conducted among youth, especially public university students in Peninsular Malaysia. The study aims to identify their perception of the current developments in the country. The research used qualitative and quantitative approaches. For qualitative approach, NGT (Nominal Group Technique) and FGD (Focus Group Discussion) techniques were adopted, while for quantitative approach, survey techniques using questionnaire forms were employed. The questionnaire was distributed to 800 youth respondents of various ethnic groups. The findings show that there are a variety of perceptions based on the ethnicity of the respondents to New Malaysia in the matters involving community development. The Malays were seen as more objective in their views while the Chineses and Indians were more positive in expressing their support for the New Malaysian government. The findings also provide the latest overview of current developments even though the New Malaysia is just about two years old.

Keywords: youth, ethnicity, public university students, new malaysia, community development, peninsular Malaysia.