Formulating a Malaysia Assessment Measure for Modern Rural

 FORMULATING A MALAYSIA ASSESSMENT MEASURE FOR MODERN RURAL DEVELOPMENT: TOWARDS A SYNERGISING FOR RURAL CHANGE

 Assoc. Prof. Gs. Dr. Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rashid

(Project Leader)

Dr. Kushairi Rashid

Ana Kashfi Muhamad

Aizazi Lutfi Ahmad

Muhammad Azrul Azwan Azman

Hafriz Suhairi Mohd Rejab

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

ABSTRACT

The Malaysia government aims to transform rural areas into economic focal points, improve rural livelihoods, living environment and narrow the life quality gaps between those living in urban and rural areas. This aspiration can be seen through a translation in many national development policies, particularly in Dasar Perancangan Fizikal Desa Negara (the DPF Desa Negara 2030), Dasar Pembangunan Luar Bandar (the DPLB 2030) and very current is Wawasan Kemakmuran Bersama (the WKB 2030). To this extent, rural assets and resources (agricultural, entrepreneurship, business, tourism) should be further explored – as a mechanism in reducing the divide between rural and urban living standards, and more importantly, to prevent any obstacles or difficulties faced by rural communities in fulfilling their needs in the global urbanisation challenges. Inspired by the government directive-aspirations and the emergence of new technologies in rural practices, nationally and globally, the current research aims to formulate a comprehensive measure for rural development in Malaysia based on a new approach to modern rural development framework; that is an approach to empower rural actors by providing them solutions – a missing link approach for synergising rural change and community’s social well-being. The research comprises three main stages, namely: stage 1 – preliminary studies and the determinant of a research direction; stage 2 – expert view survey, analyses and findings; and the final stage – applications, validations and recommendations. As a result, the research has formulated the MAMRD (a Malaysia Assessment Measure for Modern Rural Development) as the missing approach for the implementation of the existing government policies such as the DFP Desa Negara 2030 and DPLB 2030. The MAMRD has compounded all the important criteria of the DPF Desa Negara 2030 and the DPLB 2030 and integrates them with the smart technologies and ICT applications to modern infrastructures within the rural areas which reflect a holistic approach to handle the rural problems taking advantage of the new technologies. Finally, the MAMRD will be based on the three dimension-objectives measure which in turn comprises 13 criteria groups and subsequently assessed by using 141 criteria. It has found that the stages, model, analyses and interpretations, in this research, need to be endorsed where those elements discussed help identify the emerging new paradigm shift in villages and societies approach in the rural areas. Worthy to note, it is reliable to use the MAMRD for the rural assessment to maximise the rural performance towards the future niches and the ways forward of rural development in Malaysia - rural sustainability-resilient-and-smart.

Keywords: Modern rural; Sustainability-resilient-and-smart; Smart technology practices. Rural infrastructure; Internet of things, IR4.0