SOCIAL COHESION IN RUKUN TETANGGA (NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH) IN HULU LANGAT, SELANGOR MALAYSIA

Abstract

Begin in 1971 a new era in the Malaysian development has been started in which the emphasis on national unity became the national agenda. Tun Abdul Razak policy become an important person to bring the development through the New Economy Policy which the last product is unity. The impact of the policy the community has changed from traditional society to a modern society. Emile Durkheim already uses the concept as mechanical solidarity (rural community) and organic solidarity (modern community) to describe the changes. Ferdinand Tonnies described the changes through the concept of Gemeinschaft (community) to Gesellschaft (society). Through changes and modernization, society has changed to a more individualistic but still blend in among them in a new way, through association. In Malaysia, we have a department that manages the unity called the Rukun Tetangga-RT (Neighbourhood Watch). RT is the institution that officially is under the Department of National Unity and Integration (JPNIN). Therefore, RT plays important roles, especially in organizing the community, especially in the state of multicultural society. RT in this study area covers the district of Hulu Langat Selangor, Malaysia. There are seven zones in the district that includes Kajang, Ampang, Cheras, Beranang, Hulu Langat and Semenyih and Bangi. This study uses the questionnaire. This paper attempts to look at social cohesion in the community, especially in the neighborhood of RT in the district. This study has used the concept of social cohesion brought by Jenson (1998) and Paul Bernard (2000). There are six dimensions used to measure social cohesion: Belonging-Isolation, Inclusion-Exclusion, Participation-Non-involvement, Recognition-rejection, Legitimacy-Illegitimacy and Equality-inequality. A total of 588 questionnaires were analyzed. The discussion in this paper try to get feedback and input from presenters and participants of the seminar to improve the research was conducted.