Exploring the Concept of Public Participation in the Context of Governance From the Perspective of Youth Leaders

Abstract

This study aims to identify the concept of public participation in the context of governance according to the understanding and practise of youth leaders. Past studies and statistics from the Malaysian Youth Index in 2016 show a decline in membership registration in most youth organizations. The decline in membership registration gives the impression that young people are less and less interested in being involved in youth associations, and this situation can be considered a critical one for the future of the country. Therefore, this study tries to explore the understanding of the concept of youth participation in youth leadership. Understanding this basic concept is important because a correct understanding will help youth leaders attract many young people to get involved in youth organisations and further accelerate the governance process through mature and continuous public participation. A total of seven top youth leaders were interviewed. The interview data was analysed using the thematic method. The findings of the study show that the understanding of the concept of public participation among the top youth leaders is still low. Youth leaders give general and diverse definitions of the concept of public participation, and this causes the implementation of public participation to be less emphasized. This study is expected to help relevant parties in youth management formulate and design activities and programmes that are appropriate and able to attract the interest of youth to increase public participation.

The measurement model of leadership communication: Perspective of youths’ association in Terengganu, Malaysia

“…Youth leaders are responsible for any changes that occur in the youth association's leadership (Suhaimi and Abidin 2022). A great leader changes the status quo, and makes a difference (Fahrudin et al 2023).…”