An Analysis of Factors Bringing to Socio Economic Growth in Local Communities Haudi Khairi Aseh Kamal Kenny, Phd P.Ravindran Pathmathan

Home , Bentong, Brinchang, Cameron Highlands, Tanah Rata

International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Vol. 11, No. 3, (2020), pp. 1493-1506

An Analysis of Factors Bringing to Socio Economic Growth in Local Communities Haudi Khairi Aseh Kamal Kenny, PhD P.Ravindran Pathmathan

Abstract Common perception of rural areas indicated that the areas are a social and economic environment where agriculture plays a significant role in its economic function. However, this is not the case. Several researches have demonstrated that socio-economic development of local communities is significantly influenced by many factors, for example the accessibility of their areas. Over the years, partnership between public and private entities in the context of socio-economic development in Malaysia has shown empirical success as reinforced by the need to address demands and challenges of the local community. These initiatives would provide essential inputs that would suffice relevant literatures for the stakeholders in order to develop a better socio-economic growth in Malaysia. Looking at the potential, this study attempts to determine the socio-economic demands and challenges of the local population in Cameron Highlands, Pahang to suggest relevant assistance and interventions required. The overall results of this study reveal the gaps faced at the community level in the District of Cameron Highland in the context of social and economy. This study was carried out via a structured survey throughout the district involving 300 respondents and also complemented with a face-to-face interview carried out with key stakeholders. The study findings were also supported with secondary data compilation of journals, articles and speeches.

Keywords: Socio-economy, Rural Development, Urbanisation, Empowering, Interventions, Knowledge Management, Viability

Introduction Malaysia has seen dramatic changes in its political setting in the past few years where it has impacted the leadership and governance in the country. Many reforms have taken place in the last decade. Some reforms were supported with studies with impact evaluation, whereby others were ad hoc. Siddique (2007) in his article explained that reform and innovation drives has influence the changes in political and economic contexts. These changes has rendered major impact on the roles played by both the public and private sectors with the former as the “fundamental engine for growth and development,” while the latter is regarded to play “indirect and supportive roles” (Siddiquee 2007, p.83). With these changes, it can be predicted that the seeds of development can be benefitted by the local communities if the right infrastructures are in place. Inter-related processes have occurred throughout the transition from being as under-development to development status. Agriculture itself has become a form of industry, as technology, marketing and consumer preferences have progressed along the lines that closely follow the profile of comparable industrial sectors (Kenny & El, 2016).

The increase in the proportion of agricultural labour force is characteristically accompanied by a decrease in the proportion of labour force engaged in various non-agricultural activities such as manufacturing, trade and services.Having said this, it has opens up a wide range of employment opportunities however, at times the local community is not equipped to meet the expectations of the labour market. Thus, the challenge now lies in preparing the local community to meet this need. Fatimah (2000) elaborated that the development of the retail sector in Malaysia has resulted in the major changes in the structure of the marketing chain for products including declining of retails stores and increased market shares of

1493 ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC Copyright ⓒ2020 SERSC International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Vol. 11, No. 3, (2020), pp. 1493-1506 supermarkets as a ratio of the population and the market share of small business firms. There are also growing numbers of international companies like TESCO, JUSCO and Cold Storage which has set a new benchmark in marketing system for agricultural products (Kenny & El,2016). Given the increasing globalization of the upstream and downstream sectors’ economy, it is difficult to evaluate and localize the generation and maintenance of growth and employments. The Rural Transformation Programme (RTP), an initiative under the National Transformational Programme (NTP) was introduced in the 2012 Budget to transform the country into a high-income and developed nation. Based on the Economic Report 2012/2013, the RTP sought to attract investment, create economics and employment activities as well as provide opportunities for the younger generation who has migrated, to return and work in rural areas. Ecotourism on the other hand offers benefits for local residents, conservation, development and educational experiences. Sustainable ecotourism depends on successful participation of local people. Through their participation, pollution free tourism activities can be maintained and income for sustainable development may be generated. Skills-based programmes are an important component to ensure that the community is equipped with the knowledge and ability to perform jobs that require skills. Empower ECER (East Coast Economic Region) is a twin-pronged human capital development initiative of ECERDC which focuses on Skills and Entrepreneurship Training for adults and Academic Training for examination-year-students in the East Coast Economic Region. The programme was first introduced in Bentong, Pahang in 2010 and it has since been expanded to Cameron Highlands in 2012 (ECER Media Room, 2013). The challenge remains to ensure that courses introduced and taught in this programme are relevant to the work market and that the participants are able to sustain their businesses in the long run. All these measures to a certain extent need to be addressed and finding the solutions, hence, as revealed through the recommendations – would be best served.

Study Objectives The key objectives of the study are primarily: 1) To collect information via participatory appraisal methods and quantitative surveys on secondary data, on the characteristics of the affected community. 2) To identify and investigate the socio-economic demands and gaps of the local population which include availability to local resources and business and industry opportunities. 3) To explore the key nature of interventions and assistance required by candidates. 4) To observe the potential category of candidates to attend the Capacity Building Programmes. 5) To identify potential key training needs for the community. With a strong affirmation that knowledge sharing opens up another important dimension for the socio- economic development of the communities in the context of leadership and governance, as well as looking at community culture as the potential factor in influencing the formation of the knowledge sharing behavior, therefore, it is essential to examine if the relationship between stakeholders’ roles and knowledge sharing behavior is interceded by community culture. According to Suppiah& Sandhu (2011), community culture can have a positive or negative implication in knowledge sharing within an organization, depending on the kind of culture which is apparent within the community.

Significance of Study In this study, the researcher is aiming to provide an analysis on how socio-economic status has impacting the local communities. This study sees that lack of modern technology, availability of infrastructure and knowledge transfer in place might be the reasons for local businesses for not being successful. Therefore, this study is significant mainly because it will explore on how the transfer of technology and knowledge sharing can be present within the intervention framework for the community. This is in line with the perception proposed by the Information Resources Management Association (2012) that in order to allow

1494 ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC Copyright ⓒ2020 SERSC International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Vol. 11, No. 3, (2020), pp. 1493-1506 the community to achieve competitive advantage and engage in a favorable performance, knowledge sharing is of strategically an important element. Upon publishing the study, it is expected that the researcher will be able to fill this current gap within the available knowledge on the research topic. Henceforth, it is the hopes of the researcher that future researcher will be able to use the findings as an additional reference for a similar nature of investigation.

The study will also be significant for leaders in the various agencies basically because the discussions which will be provided will allow them to have a more comprehensive knowledge on the current socio- economic condition of the community being studied, the challenges and gaps that may occur and windows of opportunities to work together for the development of the particular community. In addition, the study will also be significant for the people in the academic field who are interested in the researcher’s field of study. Ultimately, this study intentto significantly contribute to empower ECER and all other government agencies as such they will gain practical knowledge and insights, specifically in the planning and implementing of future projects.

Overview of Cameron Highlands, Pahang Cameron Highlands in Pahang is one of Malaysia's most popular tourist destinations, a collection of peaceful townships perched 1500 meters high on a nest of serene mountains. It is also an important agricultural area producing tea, a large variety of vegetables, strawberries and flowers not only for the domestic market but also for export. The beautiful area is rich in its biodiversity and form an important water catchment area. It is classified as environmentally and ecologically sensitive. Cooling resorts, tea plantations and strawberry farms sprawl lazily across lush valleys and meandering hillslopes, the perfect setting for a relaxing holiday.

Socio-economic demographic of the population in Cameron The 2010 statistics depictedthat there is a total population of 36,978 residentsin Cameron Highland.The majority of the population were Chinese (34%), followed by Malays (19%), Indians (19%), non- Malaysian Citizens (13%), other Bumiputeras (15%) and others (0.5%). The other bumiputeras refer mainly to the Orang Asli community in Cameron Highlands.The following table depicts the population in Cameron Highlands by ethnic group in the year 2010.

Table 1: Total population in Cameron Highlands by ethnic group 2010

Malaysian citizens Non- Total Bumiputera Chinese Indians Others Malaysian Total Total Malay Other citizens Bumiputera 36,978 32,155 12,463 7,072 5,391 12,722 6,781 189 4,823

Note: The above figure has not been adjusted for under-enumeration (Source: Department of Statistics, Malaysia)

The data above shown that 30% (11,150) of the population represented those between 0-14 years old whereas those aged 65 and above represented only 4% (1,395) of the total population. This means that the number of people in the working age (15-64 years) were about 66%. In the context of education, there was 30,275 people who had received some form of formal education as reported in 2010. There were approximately 25% were in Primary and 34% were in Secondary School. However, the data also found that only 1% (370) of the total population obtained their degree or advanced diploma meanwhile only 2% (690) obtained some sort of certificate or diploma.

In terms of marital status, from a population of 25,828 who were 15 years and above, about 51% of the total population ages between 20-54 years old were married. There were about 535 people who were widows/widowers and more than half were females. In addition, the data also found that the majority of divorcees were among those between 25-34 years old. According to 2010 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia, a larger number of the population were living in rural areas. Approximately 70% of the total population were residing in the rural areas with the majority from this group being nuclear households and followed by extended households. When look at to the employment status of the Cameron population, most of the working population were involved in agriculture, forestry and fishery (48%) followed by wholesale and grocery businesses, car and motorcycle workshops (23%). It was noted that only 6 people were involved in the Information and Communication Industry and none in the Real Estate. Overall, the number of skilled workers in the Agriculture industry was higher compared to any other profession (6,851). Department of Statistics Malaysia reported that 16,149 people in Cameron Highlands were employed in the year 2010. Moreover, data obtained from the household survey in the 11 districts of Pahang from the year of 2008- 2011 conducted by the Implementation and Coordination Unit (ICU) Malaysia reported that majority of the households in each district are poor. However, comparison of those surveyed districts shows that Cameron Highlands’ incidence of poverty was extremely low (6.63%) as compared to the poverty incidences in Jerantut, Kuantan, Rabu dan Lipis. In fact, Siwar et al., (2014) affirmed that there were no hard-core poor in the district in 2010. Table 2 indicates the poverty status of households and incidence of poverty in Cameron Highlands. Table 2: Poverty status of households and incidence of poverty in Cameron Highlands Poverty Status Poor Households Hard-core poor Poor Incidence of poverty (%) 13 - 13 6.63

Plantations and Agro Tourism in Cameron Highlands According to Eduardo and Javier (2006), Agro tourism is defined as type of rural tourism that allows the tourists to visit farms and experience a farmer’s daily life. With all its opportunities and challenges, Agro tourism able to helps maintaining the next generation of the farming community in the rural areas. It is also known to be closely associated with cultural and heritage tourism as it can promote the uniqueness of the rural community. Through the 9th Malaysian Plan, the Malaysian government had opened opportunities for farmers to expand and diversify agricultural products and their related industries. Mass tea plantations in Cameron Highlands were started due to the high demand from western countries. This has created many employment opportunities for its local community.Cameron Highlands can be divided into three main subdivisions: Hulu Telum, Tanah Rata and Ringlet with 27 villages. Tanah Rata and Brinchang are the main tourism area with well-developed public facilities. Based on the several studies, Cameron Highlands in general already established its Agro tourism activities but it would need further development to support more sustainable horticulture.

Cameron Highlands and Its Homestay Programs Homestay is an accommodation system and economic activity in the tourist industry. It is popular amongst tourists who want to interact with local culture, lifestyle, social system and people.According to Levitt (1986), the important components of the homestay programs are accommodation, education, entertainment, enrichment, food and hospitality.In the case of Cameron Highlands, most of its homestay is in apartment-styled accommodation.Hence, there is a need to ensure that this business is localised and represents the community in which the homestay is offered. It may be tied to agro business and create a whole new enriching experience for tourists.

Ecotourism in Cameron Highlands In the recent years, jungle trekking and nature walks have become a big part of nature-based tourism. Cameron Highlands offers some of the most spectacular, exotic and safest trekking trails in the tropics. However, the trekking activity is presently poorly regulated and there has not been much investment in developing this. Guides are also found to be untrained and sometimes not registered.The promotion of such activities could also be improved. Chan (2000) proposed that with a proper marketing and promotion, there is great potential for Ecotourism industry in Cameron Highlands.

Education in Cameron Highlands Data in the Cameron Highlands District Council webpage listed that there are 4 main schools available. Dalat International School and C.H.E.R.I.S.H-Cameron Highlands Educational Rehabilitation and Informative Special Home are among of other schools available here. Cameron Highlands is also known as a favourite spot for educational trips. Students from nearby towns and states make yearly trips during school holidays to introduce this beautiful place to young children.

Indigenous of Cameron Highlands The Orang Asli is Malaysia's indigenous people, the aborigines and natives of the land. They are a diverse collection of tribes - each with a unique language, subtle nuances in physical appearance and different localities across Peninsular Malaysia. The population size of180,000 represents a mere 0.6% of the national population. In the Cameron Highlands, most of the Orang Asli come from the Temiah tribe who live mostly in villages and settlement areas stretching from the foothills of Tapah all the way up to Brinchang town and then down to Kuala.The indigenous community is still very isolated either from participation in the economy development or from receiving an impact from the economic development due to the fact that they live in very remote areas and far from development hubs. In a study done by Norlda et al. (2014), they found that the indigenous people in Cameron are open to tourism and development, however, their concerns regarding congestion and irresponsible tourism must be also taken into consideration. Relevant programmes should be introduced as part of the tour packages promoted and the indigenous group may be included to be part of this teaching team in order to educate tourists on taking care of the environment while on holiday.

East Coast Economic Region (ECER) The government of Malaysia has developed various initiatives to accelerate the country’s economic growth and amplify the nation’s income level. The East Coast Economic Region (ECER) which covers the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang, and Mersing in Johor is one of the government’s initiatives.

A Master Plan that will serve as basis for guiding the development and transformation of this region into a major international and local tourism destination over the next 12 years has been developed. The transformation plans also target to reforms the selected areas as an exporter of resource based and manufactured products, a vibrant trading centre and an infrastructure and logistics hub. The Master Plan also details measures to eradicate poverty and improve incomes and distribution in a sustainable manner for ECER.Besides, Pahang will also become ECER's automotive manufacturing, assembly and distribution hub, as well as the development of design activities with the support of educational institutions (Official port: Pahang State Government).According to Dato’Jebasingam (2011), increase in income generation and poverty reduction can be done by expanding the employment prospects and entrepreneurship through the high impact projects in the region. This is parallel to the main objective of the ECER Master Plan to correct the regional imbalance.

Empower ECER Cameron Highlands In 2010, ECERDC has launched an initiative named ‘Empower human capital development’ECER, a twin-pronged human capital development initiative to help reduce economic disparities between rural and

1497 ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC Copyright ⓒ2020 SERSC International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Vol. 11, No. 3, (2020), pp. 1493-1506 urban communities. It focuses at two main programmes which are the Academic Training Programme as well as Skills and Entrepreneurship programme. It was then further expanded to Cameron Highlands with the involvement of some 900 residents including the Prang Asli community in 2012. The Star Online (2012) reported that the implementation of the programme in Cameron was part of the Government’s inclusive approaches to ensure all levels of society would be able to enjoy and equal share of the country’s economy and ultimately contribute towards nation-building.

Study Methodology An exploratory design was used in this study to explore the socio economy gaps of the District of Cameron Highlands. This study was initially undertaken on the supposition that though were some facts existed in regards to the research area, but more information was needed to develop a more comprehensive framework of intervention. The researcher had carried the research process through two techniques: questionnaire administration and face-to-face interview.The main objective of the interview was to draw upon stakeholders’ perceptions, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions in a way which would not be feasible using other methods.

Population & Sampling Procedure Based on the Department of Statistics Malaysia-Web, the total population of District of Cameron Highlands is 36,978. Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) formula was used as a guide to get the appropriate sample size as it provides identical sample sizes in all cases; either continuous or categorical data (Bartlett, Kotrlik& Higgins, 2001). To ensure effective management of the data collection, a total of 300 samples were selected for the Cameron Highlands District for the context of primary data collection of community.As for the face-to-face interview, a total of 10 stakeholders from various agencies were interviewed.The respondents will be categorized as per the table 3.1 below:

Table 3.1: Category of Respondents No. Target Group Number of respondents 1. Existing EMPOWER ECER participants 50 2. Unemployed graduates 50 3. Unemployed youth (non-graduate) 50 4. Low Income Working Adults 50 5. Single mothers 50 6. Poverty Group 50

Survey Findings Socio demographic background A total of 300 respondents were recruited and the demographic background of the respondents is as depicted in Table 4.1. The mean age of the sample is 32.0 ± 9.9 years ranging from 18 years to 67 years old. Majority (37.0%) of the respondents were between the age of 31 and 35 years, andfollowed by 23.3% of them between the age of 25 and 30 years old. It is noted that 18.7% falls in the age region of 36 to 40 years while another 6.7% were between the age of 41 and 50 years. The percentage of both youth and elderly in the study was about the same where 7.0% of the total sample was youth age between 18 and 24 years while 7.3% were those aged 51 and above only.

In this study, the sample selected for this study comprised of slightly more males than females. As presented in Table 4.1, of 300 respondents in this study, 155 (51.7%) respondents are male and the remaining 145 (48.3%) are female. Furthermore, looking at the distribution of ethnic groups, majority (36.0%) are Chinese while Malay (30.7%) made up the second largest group. Indians made up of 18.7% of the sample population while other ethnic groups made up the remaining 10.7%.

Table 4.1: Demographic background of respondents (n = 300) Characteristics Frequency Percentage Age (years) 18 to 24 21 7.0 25 to 30 70 23.3 31 to 35 111 37.0 36 to 40 56 18.7 41 to 50 20 6.7 > 51 22 7.3 Mean ± S.D. 32.0 ± 9.9 Minimum – Maximum 18 – 67 Sex Male 155 51.7 Female 145 48.3 Ethnicity Malay 92 30.7 Chinese 108 36.0 Indian 88 29.3 Others 32 10.7 Religion Islam 140 46.7 Buddhism 68 22.7 Hinduism 72 24.0 Christianity 20 6.7 Others 0 0.0 Marital status Single 77 25.7 Married 179 59.7 Separated/Divorced 28 9.3 Widow/Widower 16 5.3 Level of Education No formal education 22 7.3 Primary 69 23.0 Secondary 156 52.0 Pre-University 10 3.3 Tertiary 43 14.3 Current employment status In full-time employment (as an employee) 76 25.3 Working full-time (self-employed) 73 24.3 In part-time employment (as an employee) 40 13.3 Casual/part-time (self-employed) 65 21.7 Unemployed and not working at all 34 11.3 Retired 12 4.0 Income (RM) No income 78 26.0 <1000.00 46 15.3 1001.00 to 2000.00 73 24.3 2001.00 to 3000.00 45 15.0 3001.00 to 4000.00 31 10.3 4001.00 to 5000.00 18 6.0

>5000.00 9 3.0 Mean ± S.D. 910.00 ± 1181.23 Minimum – Maximum 0.00 – 6600.00 Health status Excellent 238 79.3 Have some health problems 55 18.3 Physical disability 7 2.3 Own transport? Yes 233 77.7 No 67 22.3

Perception toward socio economic status In order to determine their level of agreement with various aspects on the availability of social programmes and infrastructures, their perceptions towards socioeconomic status were asked. In general, the data shows an overwhelming response towards the needs for stronger social support system as well as better infrastructure and to empower the community in both personal and career advancement. As depicted from Table 4.2, majority (98.3%) either agree or strongly agree that cost is a hindrance to their career or business development. Besides that, 95.0% of the respondents also felt that it is difficult for them to find funders in order to expand their career/business.

Table 4.2: Perception towards socio economic status (n=300) No. Statements Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly disagree agree 1 Cost is a hindrance to my career/business 0 (0.0) 5 (1.7) 111 184 development. (37.0) (61.3) 2 Difficult to find a funder to expand my 5 (1.7) 10 (3.3) 100 185 career/business. (33.3) (61.7) 3 I know where to obtain information 80 (26.7) 62 (20.7) 99 59 (19.7) regarding career/business. (33.0) 4 Assistance from authorities will enable me 0 (0.0) 10 (3.3) 169 121 to increase my career/business. (56.3) (40.3) 5 I am currently receiving assistance from 78 (26.0) 55 (18.3) 95 72 (24.0) authorities to enable me to increase my (31.7) career/business. 6 I believe that the training and knowledge 0 (0.0) 30 (10.0) 91 179 transfer from the authorities will help me in (30.3) (59.7) my career/business. 7 I believe that interest plays an important 10 (3.3) 81 (27.0) 109 100 role in my career/business development. (36.3) (33.3) 8 Many programmes proposed by the 3 (1.0) 9 (3.0) 132 156 government have not been implemented at (44.0) (52.0) the grassroots level. 9 An integrated career and business 3 (1.0) 8 (2.7) 139 150 programme will benefit the community. (46.3) (50.0)

Furthermore, about half of the respondents (52.7%) in Cameron township claimed that they know where to obtain information regarding career or business development with the existence of ECER in their area. Other than that, majority of the respondents (96.6%) agree or strongly agreed that assistance form the authorities would certainly help their career advancement or better business growth. About 90.0% of the respondents also agree or strongly agreed that training and knowledge transfer would help their career or business development, in addition that 69.6% affirmed that interest in their career plays an important role. When asked about the implementation components of the government’s plan, majority felt that most of the strategies were well-implemented as planned (96.0%) with the desired outcomes. There was astrong support (96.3%) for an integrated career and business programme with the view that such programme would greatly benefit the community. In summary, the Cameron Highland urban community’s collective voices called for a stronger skill enhancement and training capacity. It is believed that with stronger programmes being implemented in the community, the potential of current facilities and infrastructures can be maximized. Furthermore, this has confirmed that in order to ensure the community able to keep up with their peers in regards of the social and career development, Cameron Highlands which has low socio-economic status will require more aggressive approaches in their programmes.

Recommendations for career/business development When the respondents were asked to provide feasible recommendations for career or business development at the community level, the findings show that scopes of the recommendation’s hovers around personal development both in terms of materials and skill building. More than half (63.3%) of the total respondents would like to see better improvements in financial infrastructures. Moreover, slightly more than half of the respondents also suggested having better agricultural support and schemes (55.7%) and business infrastructures (43.3%).

Other than that, it was interesting to see that about 41.3% of the respondents welcomed youth empowerment and women-related programme indicating that they were also looking for greater personal development on top of the physical needs. In line with the main economy activities in Cameron Highland, the community also recommended an improved agricultural scheme with better price control for crop yield (10.7%). Table 4.3: Top ten recommendations for career/business development at the community level (n=300) Recommendations % Availability of soft loan and other financial infrastructures 63.3 Agricultural support and schemes 55.7 Better infrastructures for business support 43.3 Youth empowerment and women-related programme 41.3 Small business development centres 39.7 Employment opportunities 22.3 Affordable housing schemes 18.7 Fair price for crop yield 10.7 Promotion of tourism 10.7 More technical training 6.3

Recommendations for types of training Figure 4.1 displayed the types of training that can be considered by any relevant authorities in order to enhance skills of the community. Among them, 75.3% of the respondents vouching the authorities to organize training courses on new agricultural techniques and applications in the community since agriculture is their main economic activities. Next, recognizing the huge potential tourism can offer to complement Cameron Highlands development, about 63.3% of the respondents also desired for hospitality and eco-tourism courses to deepen their knowledge and explore sustainability in tourism industry. About slightly below half (43.0%) of the respondents also welcomed environmental conservation courses to be organized within the community.

Apart from that, training on youth empowerment workshops were also mentioned by 33.3% of the respondents.Technical courses such as cooking courses, entrepreneurship and marketing courses as offered by ECER were also repeatedly mentioned highlighting the fact that these training courses were very much desired by some of them. Employment readiness,business administration, and ICT training courses also made the list indicating the desire to enhance their employability as well as business management skills.

Employment readiness 10.9 Business administration 10.9 ICT training 13.3 Entrepreneurship 18.7 Cooking 20.3 Marketing 28.7 Youth empowerment 33.3 Environmental conservation courses 43.0 Hospitality & Eco-tourism courses 63.3 New agricultural techniques & applications 75.3 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Percentge (%)

Figure 4.1: Top ten types of training to enhance skills in career/business (n=300) Recommendations The study reveals that the socio-economic growth of a community is contributed by many factors. Internal factors such as cultural practice, interest and self-motivation as well as external factors for instances roles of public and private entities in the community, family and community support can all be affecting the socio-economic growth of the local community. It is important to look at the unique factor that has directly or indirectly influence their work and life choices.

Influencing factors of socio-economic growth The following chart depicts some of the influencing factors of socio-economic growth as perceived by the stakeholders and the identified local community in Cameron Highlands, Pahang:

Table 5: Influencing Factors for Socio-economic Growth in Cameron Highlands, Pahang Demand Factors External Enablers Internal Factors (i) Agro Tourism: Based on (i) Local and ForeignTourists (i) Culture Cameron Highlands’ existing (ii) Government agencies like (ii) Change in attitude

1502 ISSN: 2005-4289 IJDRBC Copyright ⓒ2020 SERSC International Journal of Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Vol. 11, No. 3, (2020), pp. 1493-1506 landscape District Office, JKOA (Jabatan (iii) Close knit community (ii) Eco-tourism: Jungle Kebajikan Orang Asli) and trekking and visit to Orang Asli Department of Social Welfare Settlement (iii) Empower Cameron Highlands (iii) Agriculture • Tea Plantation • Strawberry Parks • Vegetables • Herbs • Honey

(v) Unique local handicrafts (vi) Locality: Cool and Serene environment (vii) Land (ix) Orang Asli Resources In the context of resources, the assistance given can be divided into 4 components; people, assets, material and capital.The following components have been identified in the case of Cameron Highlands:

PEOPLE •The majority of the working population is involved in agriculture. •The number of skilled workers in the agriculture industry is higher compared to any other profession. •The Orang Asli community has good survival skills knowledge and their expertise should be tapped into. ASSETS •The Highland itself is an important asset to this district •Tea Plantations •Strawberry Fields •Vegetable farms •Forest products MATERIAL •Non-timber forest products like rattan, bamboo, wild fruits and medicinal plants •Agricultural products like vegetables, tea and strawberries •Other forest products like honey. CAPITAL •Hotels , Apartment-styled Accomodation for tourists •Land •Plantations •Orang Asli settlement •Forest •Restaurants and Shoplots

Implication of study a) Development of Action Plan

The findings of this study will provide an overview on the socio-economic landscape of the Cameron Highlands community. This will also enable the researcher to propose appropriate recommendations for interventions to be implemented in the area and serve as the base for the rolling out of Plan of Action upon completion of this study. b) Enrichment of Body of Knowledge of Cameron Highlands Since findings from the study also touched on the social and educational implication, it can make a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge concerning socio-economic of the local community in Cameron Highlands. This would strengthen the ideas that knowledge sharing and transfer are important components in the upgrading of skills amongst the local labour force. Recommendations Based on the findings of this study and the gaps identified, a number of recommendations are highlighted in this section. The programmes identified are tailored to the needs of the identified community of Cameron Highlands and may or may not be relevant to other districts. The following programmes are recommended as of the part of the profiling study for the development of Plan of Action: a) Interventions for Business and Employability Opportunities i. Dedicated Location/Area for Cottage Industry in Cameron Highlands Cottage industry in Cameron Highlands includes the plantation and marketing of agricultural and forest products. However, the key challenge includes the limited space to legally sell these products at the moment. Therefore, this study recommends that designated areas are properly identified for the purpose of marketing and selling these products legally. In addition, more small industry players and future young budding entrepreneurs are given access to market their products.

ii. Increase Marketability Cottage Industry There are some unique products of cottage industry that have not been marketed well outside of Cameron. This includes Sambal Strawberry, Ice-cream Malaysia Strawberry and Madu Tualang Cameron. The study recommends that private entities and relevant government agencies be encouraged to explore the possibility of promoting these cottage industry products both locally and globally. In order to achieve this, intensive entrepreneurial skills development programs need to be deployed. In addition, government agency should also look at possibility to provide financial incentives, tax relief, subsidized logistics and transportation services, and even bank loans.

iii. Hospitality Industry for the Local Community Currently hotel accommodations in Cameron Highlands are very popular. However, there employment package offered to the locals are not very attractive. This study recommends that a more attractive employment package should be made available to the local community in order to include them as part of Cameron Highland’s socio-economic development.Youths and currently unemployed graduates in Cameron Highlands should be encouraged to venture into untapped areas such as events and conference management, managing team building programs for corporates all over Malaysia.

iv. Recreational Centres One of the areas for development includes diversify the recreational centres for tourists. This is to complement the existing hospitality industry available within the vicinity of Cameron Highlands. Unlike Genting Highlands, Cameron currently lacks in terms of recreational activities and this could be a good opportunity to create interesting work opportunities and bring in more tourists to the Highlands.

v. Recreational Programmes for the Local Community One of the major concerns highlighted during the face-face interview with stakeholders is the lack of recreational programmes and activities for the local community.The study recommends that exciting events like Sports Festival and Youth Teambuilding programmes be introduced to the local community for the enhancement of their personal development. b) Target Participants Based on the profiling study carried out, the following category of participants has been identified to undergo the various training and upscaling proposed as part of this study. i. Unemployed youths ii. Single mothers iii. Unemployed graduates iv. Low-income working adults v. Identified poverty group vi. Current Members of Empower ECER Cameron Highlands The participants should be carefully selected to ensure the true value and impact is created from the implementation of the various invention plans. c) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Programmes by Private Entities Based on the interviews carried out, this study found that many of the stakeholders would like to see more involvement of the private sectors through their CSR programmes. Besides contributing their expertise and sharing of knowledge, private companies may also enhance the lives of the community by contributing to the development of sports facilities around Cameron Highlands. Limitation & Recommendation for Future Study These results have several important limitations. Firstly, the study only focuses on six target groups of the local community in Pahang. Therefore, the findings cannot be use to represent other communities. The study also included literature reviews and analysis of secondary data. However, it was discovered that there are very limited publications and articles on Cameron Highlands in regards to the studies carried out. There is availability of the overall data, manuals and information regarding the socio-economic growth for Pahang, but very limited data and statistics of the particular district can be obtained. Therefore, it is hoped that in the next few years, more studies will be carried out at district levels in order to give a proper description of the actual local scenarios.The second limitation in this study is that it has been carried out in a quantitative method, though the researcher has used the face-to-face interview to gauge better response from stakeholders.Thirdly, the timeline for the implementation of this study was too short. This has caused difficulty for government officials to revert with the relevant documents for use as secondary data. Therefore, for future studies, it is hoped that a more realistic timeline can be proposed for a more comprehensive report to be produced.

References 1. Ary, D., Jacobs L. C., &Razavieh A. (1996). Introduction to Research in Education.(5th Ed). Ft. Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Belmont CA: Wadsworth. 2. Bartlett, J. E., Kotrlik, J. W., & Higgins, C. (2001). Organizational research: Determining appropriate sample size for survey research. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, 19(1), 43-50. 3. Berk, L. E. (1994). Child Development, Boston: Allyn and Bacon Publishing. 4. Chirico S., Findlay J., Haywood N., McCutcheon G., Rai R., Scott M. & Wells M. (1998). Sustainable Community Development Guidelines. Bedfordshire Health Authority. 5. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd Ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.

6. Creswell J. W. & Plano Clerk V. L. (2011). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Sage Publications. 7. Dua, S., Sahni S., & Goyal D. P. (2011). Information Intelligence, Systems, Technology and Management. 5th International Conference ICISTM Conference Proceedings. 8. Fitzgerald, L. F., Gelfrand, M. J., &Drasgow, F. (1995). Measuring sexual harassment: Theoretical and psyometric advances. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 17 (4), 425-445. 9. Kenny & El (2016). The Socio Economy Gap Analysis of Local Communities in the District Bentong. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Research, 5 (3) 10. Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, (30), 607-610. 11. Mazzeo, S. E., Bergman M. E., Buchanan N. T., Drasgow F., & Fitzgerald L. F. (2001). Situation-Specific Assessment of Sexual Harassment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59(1), 120-131 12. Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism. (2011). Homestay Statistics 2011. 13. Morgan, D. L., & Kreuger, R. A. (1993) ‘When to use focus groups and why’ in Morgan D.L. (Eds.) Successful Focus Groups. London: Sage. 14. Mulligan, J. (2013). “Hotspot Watersheds—Identifying Opportunity” in Natural Infrastructure: Investing in Forested Landscapes for Source Water Protection. T. Gartner, J. Mulligan, R. Schmidt, and J. Gunn, eds. World Resources Institute. 15. Peterson, M. (2004). Homestay in Malaysia. Transition Abroad Magazine. Nov/Dec, 28 (3) 56- 57. 16. Pittenger, D. (2003). Behavioral Research: Design and Analysis. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 17. Rea, L.M., & Parker, R.A. (1992). Designing and Conducting Survey Research: A Comprehensive Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 18. Ryu, S., Ho, S. H., & Han, I. (2003). Knowledge sharing behavior of physicians in hospitals, Journal of Expert systems with application, Vol. 25, No.1, pp. 113-122. 19. Sabitha, M (1999). PersepsiTerhadapGangguanSeksual di TempatKerja di kalangan Pentadbir di SektorAwam. Seminar Penyelidakan UUM ke 5, Pusat Penyelidakan dan Perundangan, 28-30 September. 20. Sabitha, M. (2005) Kaedah Penyelidikan Sains Sosial. Petaling Jaya: Prentice Hall. 21. Sekaran, U. (2003). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach (4th Ed). Singapore: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 22. Siddiquee, N. A. (2007). Public service innovations policy transfer and governance in the Asia- Pacific region: The. Malaysian experience, JOAAG, Vol. 2. No. 1. 23. Strong, B., DeVault, C., Sayad, B.W., & Cohen, R. F. (2010). The marriage and family experience (8th Ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning 24. Suppiah V., Sandhu M. S., (2011) "Organisational culture's influence on tacit knowledge‐sharing behaviour", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 3, pp.462 – 477. 25. Wiersma, W. (2000). Research Methods in Education: An Introduction. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.