Leadership, Policy And Governance In Malaysia : A Study on Gen Y Perception and Expectation

Abstract

Gen Y in Malaysia comprises approximately forty percent (40%) of the population. Through media, various Malaysian leaders have enunciated the significant roles played by the Gen Y especially in the country’s development and advancement. Therefore, it is interesting to conduct a research on how Gen Y in Malaysia perceives the current Malaysia government leadership, governance, and policy. This article is also measured Gen Y‘s expectations and determine to what extent the youth in Malaysia believe in the ability of the current Malaysian government in shaping a better nation and country. The scope of this article is limited to the Gen Y studying in MARA higher learning institutions as per requested by MARA, the funder for this research project. By using the mixed methodology, this research has collected data from three focus groups and 431 respondents answered the survey. This cross-sectional survey took place from June 2016 until October 2016. The findings show a majority of Gen Y in MARA higher institutions have a negative perception on the current Malaysian leadership, policy, and governance except on few matters such as globally connected leadership, education opportunities policy and infrastructure for youth activities. In contrary to the findings for Gen Ys expectation towards public policies and governance in Malaysia, majority regardless male and female believe the Malaysian government can enhance public services and implement better policies in the future. Therefore, it is important for the current government to identify and rectify the factors that shaped Gen Ys’ negative perception as well as strategize a plan of action to ensure their expectations will be the future reality.