THE PRESENCE AND INSINUATION OF SOCIAL CANCER AMONG SEA INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN MALAYSIA

Background and Purpose: Disturbances that hinder community development affect social capital. I refer to such disturbances as social cancer. This article aims at explaining the existence of social cancers, their typologies, and implications for Sea Indigenous People’s community development through economic activities.   Methodology: This exploratory case study involved 12 Sea Indigenous People in Johor, Malaysia. Data obtained through interviews were analysed using a thematic approach.   Findings: The findings revealed four types of social cancer in the community’s economic activities: 1) jealousy, 2) prejudice, 3) slander, and 4) defamation. Those social cancers had direct impacts on community development, specifically forming sabotage actions, negligence in using community capital, reducing community cohesiveness, causing a decline in the production of social innovation, and the existence of a hanging community and the death of the community.   Contributions: This study calls for a self-realisation mechanism to be introduced to community members so that their capacity for social capital can be developed to overcome the social cancer. Keywords: Community development, self-realisation mechanism, social cancer, social capital.   Cite as: Amir Zal, W. A. (2021). The presence and insinuation of social cancer among sea indigenous people in Malaysia.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 73-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp73-9

KETAHANAN KOMUNITI MANGSA BENCANA BANJIR DI PANTAI TIMUR SEMENANJUNG MALAYSIA DALAM KONTEKS MODAL KOMUNITI [COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AMONG FLOOD VICTIMS IN THE EAST COAST OF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA IN THE CONTEXT OF COMMUNITY CAPITALS]

Flood is a routine disaster encountered by the people in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. However, there were no specific studies that observed the elements of community resilience by which a strategy can be drawn up to help disaster victims. With this in mind, this study was conducted to explain the reality of community resilience in the context of community capitals. A total of 361 heads of household (HoH) from three states of Malaysia, namely Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan were selected as research subjects by using the purposive sampling method. Data were analyzed by means of the descriptive and inferential statistics (MANOVA and ANOVA). The analysis reveals three main findings: i) The level of community resilience among respondents is mostly moderate for three dimensions of community resilience; ii) the differentiation of community resilience according to different community capitals; and iii) the differentiation of community resilience based on different states (Roy’s Largest Root = 0.04, F (4.516) = 3.00, p <0.004), with respondents from Kelantan showing the highest result in dimensions of recovery (df = 2, 80.846, P = .037 <.05). This paper provides three key recommendations based on the findings: i) the need to enhance the existing capacity of community capitals; ii) to emancipate ‘social routines’; and iii) to encompass the other community capitals for the future research.Keywords: Community resilience, community capital, flood disaster, social routine, capacity building.Cite as: Amir Zal, W.A. (2018). Ketahanan komuniti mangsa bencana banjir di Pantai Timur Semenanjung Malaysia dalam konteks modal komuniti [Community resilience among flood victims in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia in the context of community capitals]. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 3(2),41-53. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol3iss2pp41-53 ABSTRAKBencana banjir merupakan bencana rutin yang dihadapi oleh masyarakat di Pantai Timur Semenanjung Malaysia. Namun demikian, tidak ada kajian khusus yang meneliti elemen ketahanan komuniti yang mana melaluinya boleh dirangka strategi untuk membantu mangsa bencana tersebut. Berasaskan permasalahan tersebut, makalah memberi tumpuan untuk menjelaskan realiti ketahanan komuniti dalam konteks modal komuniti. Kajian telah dilaksanakan di tiga buah negeri, iaitu negeri Pahang, Terengganu dan Kelantan. Seramai 361 ketua isi rumah (KIR) telah dilibatkan sebagai subjek kajian yang dipilih dengan menggunakan pensampelan bertujuan. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan statistik deskriptif dan inferens (MANOVA dan ANOVA). Hasil kajian menunjukkan tiga penemuan utama, iaitu: i) tahap ketahanan komuniti responden kebanyakannya adalah pada tahap sederhana bagi tiga dimensi ketahanan komuniti berbeza; ii) berbezanya ketahanan komuniti mengikut modal komuniti yang berbeza;  dan iii) berbezanya ketahanan komuniti dari negeri yang berbeza (Roy’s Largest Root= 0.04, F(4.516)= 3.00, p<0.004), yang mana responden negeri Kelantan paling tinggi dalam dimensi pemulihan (df= 2, 80.846, P= .037< .05). Makalah ini memberikan tiga cadangan utama berasaskan hasil kajian tersebut, iaitu: i) ditingkatkan kapasiti modal komuniti sedia ada; ii) memurnikan ‘rutin sosial’; dan iii) melibatkan lain-lain modal komuniti untuk kajian di masa hadapan.Kata kunci: Ketahanan komuniti, modal komuniti, bencana banjir, rutin sosial, peningkatan kapasiti

Selected Concepts of Community Development and Operational Explanation from Islamic Context

Community development is being discussed in relates with its own concepts such as empowerment, participation and community potential. The concepts are often emphasized by scholars in describing the reality of community development. Islam is an extraneous in community development’s discipline, but Islam actually has its own explanation in regards of those concepts. In fact, Islam gives a detailed description of how the concept should be practiced within community development. The describable concepts by Islamic context are actually more practicable with the guidance of operational based. To explore the reality, this paper is examining the verses of Quran, traditions of the Prophet and Islamic Civilization. This paper shows that Islam is a way of life and directly guides the community development regardless of differences among the community. This paper also shows that Islam has long been the principle and the practice of community development. No wonder, Islam is seen as a top way of life as compare to other systems. Keywords: Selected concepts of community development, empowerment, community participation, community potential and operational explanation by Islamic context

Selective Participation – The Disempowerment amongst Bario Youth in Sarawak Malaysia

Participation is one part of an element of the empowerment; with it a person can control their capitals to gain their needs without depending outsiders. However, in reality, the issues concerned by public are always about the lacking of participation of youth in a local organization. Without participation, a youth will be in the state of disempowerment. To be more specific, this article listed out three research objectives; to describe the Bario youth’s participation in community organizations; to identify the factors of youth’s participations; to identify a barriers faced by Bario youths to participate in organization. This research studied on those issues encountered among Bario youth in Sarawak. This study was conducted through a survey research framework and the samples were chose by convenience sampling. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistic; the percentages and mean presenting the data. The result showed that, Bario youths were not participated in the local organization, especially when the organizations were dominated by other groups of age. They were participated in the organization by which they are free to make a decision on behalf of their affairs. The barrier is, the other group ages did not give chances to them in contributing their efforts to the organization. By considering those realities, researchers decided that Bario youths were disempowerment. Keywords: Participation, barriers of participation, empowerment, disempowerment

The exploration of social capital and its relation with economic empowerment of Orang Kuala in Johor, Malaysia

Trust economic empowerment is an issue that is rarely debated in discussing the reality of Orang Asli’s economy. Instead, other issues such as lagging behind, poverty, and marginalization of Orang Asli often become the hot topics for discussion. History, however, has shown that Orang Asli have been conducting economic activities with other communities for ages, even though the returns of the aforementioned activities are not encouraging for them. Orang Asli also have shown, through their history, their ability to fulfil other communities’ needs. Such a relationship directly indicates the relation of social capitals and economic empowerment among Orang Asli. In order to examine this issue, a study was carried out. The study was conducted on seven interviewees, who are the Orang Kuala villagers, residing at Bumiputera Dalam, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. Data were gathered by using in-depth interview method and semi-structured interview protocol technique. Data gathered were then analysed by using QSR NVivo software. The findings of this study showed that Orang Kuala have social capitals but the relationship differs according to the types of social capital, the bonding social and the bridging social capital. In particular, Orang Kuala have weak bonding social capital but possess a strong bridging social capital. They also show the ability to empower their economy through self-reliant, participation in businesses, increase in revenues and ability to control their income. As a conclusion, this study concluded that the economic empowerment of Orang Kuala is a result of bridging social capital

Quality of life satisfaction among converted Kelantan Chinese Muslims

This article investigates the quality of life of the Kelantan Chinese Muslim community before and after conversion to Islam, focusing on their level of satisfaction in term of economic aspect. This research was carried out using the sequential explanatory mixed method design involving 75 respondents selected for quantitative and five respondents for qualitative. The sampling method adopted was convenience and snowball samplings. The research data was collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that respondents were moderately satisfied before conversion and satisfied after conversion. Besides that, there is no significant difference of quality of life before and after conversion to Islam (F = 0.868, p = 0.355) and it was not influenced by the period of conversion to Islam (F = 0.832, p = 0.589). This analysis indicates numerous respondents are still moderately satisfied in their quality of life even though the average data shows they are satisfied after conversion

Penerimagunaan teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi oleh Belia Orang Asli Selangor: indikator integrasi melalui tafsiran nilai

Perbincangan tentang realiti penerimagunaan Teknologi Maklumat dan Komunikasi (TMK) dalam kalangan masyarakat peribumi telahpun dibincang oleh para sarjana tempatan dan antarabangsa. Antara persamaannya ialah isu jurang digital yang wujud antara masyarakat peribumi dan masyarakat arus perdana. Sungguhpun demikian, sintesis dari dapatan kajian para sarjana tersebut dapat disimpul bahawa masyarakat peribumi berupaya menerima pakai TMK dan berintegrasi sebagaimana masyarakat arus perdana. Namun, realiti yang dialami oleh belia Orang Asli dalam isu tersebut masih menjadi tanda tanya. Justeru, kajan ini menyenarai dua objektif bagi memasti isu tersebut dibincang secara lebih mendalam, iaitu menghurai penerimagunaan TMK dan menjelaskan perihal integrasi TMK melalui pegangan nilai belia Orang Asli. Bagi mencapai objektif tersebut, kajian dilaksana ke atas 24 orang belia Orang Asli di Kampung Orang Asli Bukit Lanjan Damansara dan Pulau Carey, Selangor. Pendekatan triangulasi diguna bagi mengumpul data, iaitu melalui perbincangan kumpulan berfokus, temu bual mendalam dan pemerhatian tidak ikut serta. Data dianalisis melalui perisian komputer QSR NVivo. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan belia Orang Asli menerima pakai TMK. Penerimagunaan TMK didorong oleh nilai keakuran iaitu TMK telah diterima pakai oleh masyarakat arus perdana yang dilihat sebagai lebih terkehadapan dalam soal pembangunan. Kajian ini mencadangkan supaya pembangunan ke atas Orang Asli dilaksana dengan berasaskan tiga prinsip, iaitu berfokus, menyeluruh dan konsisten

Jurang digital belia orang asli di Bukit Lanjan, Selangor.

Jurang digital merupakan satu masalah yang sering berlaku dalam pembangunan ICT, ia menyebabkan wujudnya perbezaan besar dalam masyarakat termasuklah perbezaan kemudahan infrastruktur, pemilikan, penggunaan serta nilai terhadap ICT. Keadaan ini akan menjadikan pembangunan tidak lagi bersifat mapan dan menyeluruh terutamanya di kalangan belia Orang Asli. Keadaan ini akan menolak mereka untuk terus ketinggalan dari arus pembangunan perdana negara. Oleh itu, kajian ini cuba menghuraikan fenomena jurang digital yang berlaku di kalangan belia Orang Asli yang berada di bandar Damansara, iaitu Kampung Orang Asli Damansara Selangor. Kajian ini melibatkan 120 orang belia yang berumur dari 15 hingga 40 tahun. Hasil kajian ini mendapati bahawa belia Orang Asli berada dalam jurang digital, bukan kerana jurang digital nilai, namun ia lebih kepada jurang digital pengetahuan, kemahiran dan fizikal untuk memudahkan mereka akses kepada ICT. Ini menunjukkan bahawa belia Orang Asli tidak ada masalah untuk menerima pembangunan ICT, cuma faktor utama yang menyebabkan mereka berada dalam jurang digital ialah masalah ketidaksediaan kemudahan infrastruktur ICT di persekitaran mereka

The Vulnerability of Community Capitals as a Threat to Orang Kuala Community Development in Malaysia

Community development emphasizes the utilization of community resources, also known as community capitals. However, it is often difficult for the community to access these resources; this difficulty retards development. Such is the predicament faced by the Orang Kuala, for whom coastal changes have resulted in greater difficulty in accessing their community resources. Nor is that the only threat that they face. For affirmation of these threats, this article lists two objectives, that is, to identify the accessibility of marine resources and to explain the types of threats faced by the Orang Kuala. To achieve these objectives, a study was conducted involving 51 household heads and 5 Orang Kuala informants, all of whom are residents of Sungai Layau village in Johor, Malaysia. This study uses a mixed-method approach, the concurrent embedded design, and also interview-based questionnaires and in-depth interviews simultaneously. For the first objective, the results show that the Orang Kuala can still attain community resources in the form of marine products. However, the Orang Kuala faced three types of threats: trends, shocks, and seasonal changes. The most significant threat to the Orang Kuala is the trend, that is, cost of living and social problems. These threats can reduce their chances of acquiring benefits from these community resources. This condition is called “vulnerability of community capitals.” The objective of this article is to put forth proposals on how to increase the capacity of community resources for the Orang Kuala so that their community can attain sustainable development. This proposal is based on the reality that the threats facing the Orang Kuala are at a critical level and that they are ready to accept changes