participation and quality of life: a study on the people's ... papers/jssh vol. 14 (1) mar....

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 14(1): 11-25 (2006) ISSN: 0128-7702© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Participation and Quality of Life: A Study on the People'sEmpowerment in a Malay Village Community

ASNARULKHADI ABU SAMAHDepartment of Social and Development Science, Faculty of Human Ecology

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPMy Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords: Community development, community empowerment, participation, quality of life,Malay community

ABSTRACTPendayaupayaan sering dikatakan berlaku apabila manusia secara kolektif menentang merekayang kaya, berkuasa, pemilik gedung perniagaan dan semua bentuk penindasan. Walaubagaimanapun, ia tidak selalunya begitu. Pendayaupayaan komuniti juga tersirat dalam penyertaankomuniti semasa mereka mengendalikan hal ehwal kehidupan. Dalam proses individu mengawasikehidupan mereka menerusi penyertaan itulah terpancarnya elemen pendayaupayaan komuniti.Artikel ini menerangkan pendayaupayaan manusia yang terbentuk melalui penyertaan di sebuahperkampungan komuniti Melayu. Ia mengesahkan kesedaran komuniti mengenai keperluan danmasalah bersama yang dihadapi. Kesedaran ini diterjemahkan pula kepada tindakan kolektifapabila mereka menyusun diri dan menyertai pelbagai organisasi berasaskan kumpulan. Kumpulan-kumpulan ini adalah wadah bagi ahli-ahli komuniti menawarkan bantuan atau pertolongan untukmencapai matlamat kumpulan mereka. Dalam usaha yang digerakkan oleh komuniti inilahindividu-individu membentuk keupayaan mereka untuk mempengaruhi perubahan dalamkehidupan komuniti, membolehkan mereka membentuk kecekapan, belajar menggunakan usahasecara kolektif bagi menghasilkan output yang memanfaatkan mereka, dan akhir sekali menguasaikehidupan mereka. Menerusi proses penyertaan inilah pendayaupayaan manusia terbentuk yangmembolehkan mereka perlahan-lahan meningkatkan kualiti hidup dalam persekitaran komuniti.

ABSTRACT

Empowerment is often said to take place when people collectively organise themselves to fight therich, the powerful, the owner of large businesses and other forms of oppression. However, thishas not always been the case. Community empowerment is also embedded in the people'sparticipation when dealing with their everyday community life. It is within the process of howindividuals take control over their life depicts the elements of community empowerment. Thispaper portrays the people empowerment through their participations in a Malay village community.It illustrates the people's awareness towards the emergent common needs and problems. People'sconsciousness is translated into a collective action when they organised themselves and participatedin various group-based organisations. These self-propelling groups are avenues for members tooffer assistance in order to meet the groups' goal. In this community-driven endeavour, individualsdevelop their capacity to affect change in their community life, enabling them to developcompetence, learn to use collective effort to shape the outcomes that benefit them and ultimately,take control over their life. It is within this participation process that the people's empowermentis embraced and developed, enabling them to gradually improve their quality of life in thecommunity environment.

INTRODUCTION well as natural living environment of the peopleQuality of life covers a wide spectrum of human o r t h e community (hereafter the wordlife. It includes the social, economics, cultural as community and people will be used

Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah

interchangeably). Each of these areas can befurther divided into sub-areas, for example withinthe social dimension it could cover education,health, demographic profile, safety, socialintegration and so forth. Schalock (1996, 2004)proposed eight dimensions relating to quality oflife, and these include emotional well-being,interpersonal relationship, material well-being,personal development, physical well-being, self-determination, social inclusion and rights. Basedon the dimensions mentioned, there are basicallytwo main aspects concerning quality of life, thesubjective well-being and objective well-being.The objective well-being has more to do withthe tangible things that one benefits from aquality condition of life. Increase in income,wealth, and ability to possess a decent livingenvironment are examples of this objective well-being. This tangible thing is not easy to obtain.Individuals have to work for it at the same timethey have to participate in the process ofachieving the quality of life. In relation to this,Borthwick-Duffy (1992) and Schalock (2004)considered community participation as one ofthe indicators under the dimension of socialinclusion. It is through participation, communitymembers are able to discuss, think, plan, manageand take action to meet their mutual felt-needs.The process of how they organise themselvescollectively enables them to learn experienceand exercise their skills and abilities to meettheir common needs. Meeting the commonneeds will help to upgrade their quality of life.Thus, through participation, communitymembers gain and develop skills, knowledge,experience and confidence. It is the participatoryprocess engaged in by individuals as they workcollectively to improve the quality of life in theircommunities is the important component ofempowerment (Peterson and Speer 2000;Gutierrez 1995; Kieffer 1984). In general, manyresearchers perceive empowerment as theprocess through which people gain control overtheir life and participate in the life of theircommunity (Israel et aL 1994; Zimmerman andRappaport 1988; Kieffer 1984). In short, it isthrough participation that individuals or thecommunity members help to increase theirquality of life. This is about the subjective well-being. This paper focuses on how theindividuals as community members see thingsand able to put themselves together to achievetheir common needs so as to upgrade their

quality of life in their living space, i.e., theirliving environment.

PROBLEM STATEMENT ANDOBJECTIVE OF STUDY

Traditionally, quantitative approach is heavilyused in studying quality of life. Economic indexesand social indicators are the two main yardsticksto measure people's quality of life. Hedley, Dubinand Taveggia (1980), Hankiss (1978), Rosen(1979) and Roback (1982) focused on economicaccount in examining quality of life. Both, Rosen(1979) and Roback's (1982) studies focused oneconomic indicators referring to wage and priceamenities to rank the quality of life in cities.Headey (1993) made an attempt to integratepsychological variables into economic frameworkto account the household well-being andproposed three interrelated elements. Accordingto the writer, the well-being is a function ofstocks (comprised of family support, friendshipnetwork, leisure skills, work skills health andwealth), background (gender, knowledge, socialstatus and age) and daily activities, includingthe psychic income and satisfaction.

One must not forget that there is also asubjective account or element in examiningquality of life. Community involvement is one ofit. As mentioned above, by participating incommunity life, individuals would be able toorganise themselves to meet their need, thushelp to enhance their quality of life.Participation is a process; hence it is difficult tostudy using a quantitative approach. It demandsa qualitative methodology to explain the dynamicof the process. Hence, this paper will describehow people are able to improve their quality oflife and illuminate the element of empowermentwithin that dynamic involvement process,through participation.

Many local studies on participation focusedon the benefit gained by the participants indevelopment programmes or project initiatedby the government such as Felda (Rokiah 1987)and the conflict between modern bureaucraticand the local people's working style (Zahid1992; King 1992) in promoting change. Zahidnoted the 'tension' between the cultivators inthe RISDA (Rubber Industry Small Holders'Development Authority) mini-estate programmeand authority due to differences in workingschedule introduced by the authority.Introducing a modern way of cultivation to the

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Participation and Quality of Life: A Study on the People's Empowerment in a Malay Village Community

local people also created a conflict betweenestate and the villagers as reported by King inhis study on SALCRA (Sarawak LandConsolidation and Rehabilitation Authority) inSarawak. In development process, theparticipants have to make adjustment andadaptation as described indirectly by Rokiah(1987) and Shamsul et al (1979). Peasants,fishermen, smallholders etc. do not rejectdevelopment. The crucial point is whether thisdevelopment meets the people's needs and howthe responsible authority takes the initiativediscussing related matters with the people(Nazaruddin et al 2000). Writings on women'sparticipation in development process within theperspective of gender have been developed byMakol (2004), Maimunah (1995, 1997) andJariah and Laily (1997). They insisted thatwomen have the capability to make changethrough their active participation and in somecases under certain circumstances such as whenthey are left by their husbands, they are able toearn their living. According to them, this portraysthe people's (women's) empowerment. In short,various studies have shown that the participationis pertinent to make and affect changes incommunity life, and thus subsequently, qualityof life.

Though many studies on people participationhave been carried out, the focus has alwaysbeen on the government-sponsored programmeor project. There is still a need to study on thepeople's participations so as to explaincommunity empowerment in relation to thequality of life. Studies on people's self-initiatedprojects that exemplified local people'sinvolvement in promoting their quality of lifehave not been given high priority by localresearchers. This investigation is crucial becauselocal initiated projects could portray theelements of self-determination and self-development (another dimension in quality oflife) of the community members. It is abouttheir ability to care for themselves, which denotestheir empowerment. In other words, byunderstanding the dynamic processes of howindividuals or community members organisethemselves, participating to achieve the felt needshelp to explain community empowerment. Thisarticle focuses on the women's empowermentthrough participating in the local group-basedorganisations organised by them to meet theircommon needs or to overcome their perceived

problems. It is important to note that theinitiative taken to affect change may not involvethe whole people in a community. Nevertheless,the women participation in this study is treatedas an exemplar of people's empowerment asthe women in the study area is part of thecommunity as a whole.

In relation to empowerment, subjectiveaspect of the quality of life in terms of people'scapabilities to affect changes in their life hasnot been explored qualitatively. Though therehave been studies on empowerment, they arepurely discussed in respect to learned behaviour(Zimmerman 1990; Abramson Seligman andTeasdale 1978), psychological empowerment(Zimmerman 1995; Chavis and Wandersman1995), developmental perspective (Kieffer 1984)and skills development (Rappaport 1987) usingquantitative approach. The whole notion aboutthe subjective element of how people on theirown initiative upgrade their living quality is yetto be explored further by social scientist. It isabout understanding how the individuals ascommunity members learn to organisethemselves, identify common needs, work witheach other towards achieving a common goaland taking decision to bring about change intheir community life. These people's capabilitiesare the subjective element to quality of life inSen's terminology (Sen 1993) that is closelyrelated to the element of empowerment whichwill be explored further in this study.

Having said that, this study has three mainaims; (i) to understand the individual's ability;(ii) to explain how such ability encouragesindividuals to affect change in their communitylife so as to upgrade their quality of life; and(iii) to discuss the relationship between theindividual's ability and empowerment.

Quality of Life, Community Development andCommunity Empowerment: A Theoretical Underpinning

Quality of life and community development arenot separate entities. Literally, communitydevelopment is about a process of workingtowards achieving the betterment of the people(Batten 1957) by the people. In the phrase"achieving the betterment of the people", liesthe notion of the quality of life. In fact, it is verymuch related in that the aim of communitydevelopment is to upgrade the well-being ofthe community, which covers the economic,social and cultural aspects of the people through

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their own initiative or through a joint effortwith the authority (United Nation 1960). Toachieve this, the emphasis is on the participationof community members that can be seen through'their effort to mobilise the people...into groupsand organisations to enable them to take actionon the social problems and issues which affectthem' (Kramer and Specht 1969:10). Thus,community development is a process to developa community with the goal of improving thequality of life of its members (Rahim andAsnarulkhadi 2003) by the communitythemselves or with the assistance fromdevelopment agencies. In relation to this,Labonte (1993) suggests that communtitydevelopment is more about supportingcommunity groups to identify and meet theirneeds and community-based projects areconcerned with involving the communitymembers, while Hawe (1994) used the termcommunity development to describe severaldifferent project types such as community-basedinitiatives that have varying degree of people'sparticipations.

There are two main themes embedded inthe community development effort to improvequality of life. First, the 'product' of communitydevelopment that is to provide betterment forthe people by the people, which enhancing thequality of life of the community. Second,'processes' towards achieving the product, whichinvolves community participation. It is throughparticipation that individuals or communitymembers exercise their ability and portray theirself-determination to achieve their need andovercome problems to affect change. It is withinthis dynamic process embedded thecharacteristics of empowerment. Hence,empowerment implies more participatory, socialinclusion, bottom-up approaches and freedomto make decision. It is about achieving quality oflife and human dignity (World Bank 2002) andhelps in promoting wellness and humancompetence (Friedmann 1996; Parsons 1991).

The community needs vary from onecommunity to the other. Even within the samecommunity, the needs may differ from time totime or between groups. The needs may not beonly the tangible ones such as the economic-related needs, but also the instrumental orsupportive needs which are of equal importanceto the community. The importance of the certain

needs to certain community which can betranslated as the felt needs that the membersperceived and expected to achieve, embodiesthe element of the well-being of the community,epitomising the people's quality of life.

The ability of community members to realiseand think about themselves, initiate an actions,plan and further decide for themselves infulfilling their needs is the functioningcharacteristic of being a human. Thus, the abilityis the functioning power of individual (s) toimprove their condition individually orcollectively, from one state to the other inwhich one can see the improvement or progresstowards their quality of life. This ability is theactual empowerment which refers to the ongoing capacity of individuals or groups to act ontheir own behalf in achieving a greater measureof control over their lives and destiny (Staples1990:30). In Sen's words, "functioning"represents parts of the state of a person that heor she manages to do or be in leading a life.The capability of a person reflects the alternativecombinations of functioning the person canachieve (Sen 1993: 31), and these alternativecombinations portray the person's ability to dovaluable acts or reach valuables states of being(p. 32). In the process to achieve an improvedcondition of living so as to enhance their qualityof life, they (community members) are definitelyinvolved in the process of making choices. Theprocess of making a choice or in Sen's words,'the evaluative space' by the communitymembers requires some decision-making skills.Thus, the people's ability to identify andprioritise their needs, plan their actions andstrategise to meet the common needs portraysthe empowerment of the community membersto take control of their life. In short, how thepeople i.e. community members organisethemselves and to take actions to upgrade theirliving conditions is about understanding thesubjective aspects of how people improve theirquality of life, in which also embeds the notionof people's or community's empowerment viacommunity development endeavour. It istherefore, through community development"people strengthen the bonds within theirneighbourhoods, build social networks, and formtheir own organisations to provide a long-termcapacity for problem solving" (Rubin and Rubin2001: 3) towards achieving better quality of life.

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METHODThis study employed a qualitative researchapproach. A total of 11 women were involved inthis study. All of them are members of the localcommunity group-based organisation such asDeath Fund Association, Crockery/Eggs andRice Association, and the Women's Self-helpGroup. This study was carried out in a smallhomogenous Malay village settlement situatedin the Sepang District, Selangor. It is a landdevelopment scheme officiated in 1962 by thestate government.

The snowball sampling technique was usedin this study. Despite the small number ofrespondents, it reached its saturation point.For a start, the few names suggested by theleaders of the group or association during thepreliminary informal conversation, a week beforethe actual data collection period, wereconsidered as a set of a sample. In order toavoid sampling bias from leaders, each namewas carefully cross-checked against the namessuggested by the previous respondents. Usingthe snowball technique of sampling procedure,the few suggested az,,*east three times by theirfriends were recruited as samples. By utilisingthis procedure, the validity of the data gatheredis assured. The rationale was that therespondents' experience is the authentic formof information. This type of theoretical sampling(Glaser and Strauss 1967) directed theresearcher to select appropriate sample by whichthe data (information) collected could bevalidated through the induction and deductionprocesses, as the number of samplesaccumulated. This interactive sampling strategyminimised the selection bias before going intothe field. Indeed, the method of data collectionand the sampling technique used also ensure asufficient phenomenological intensity withregard to understanding communityempowerment in this study.

Having identified the respondents, theresearcher visited their homes to conduct theinterviews. A four-week fieldwork using an in-depth interview technique was carried out. Priorto the interview session, a guideline wasprepared. This guideline consists of questionspertaining to the respondents' experiences ininitiating the local-based activities. It was a looselyand flexible kind of in-depth interview guidelinewhich could easily be adapted to the real settingand was applicable to the respondents '

experiences. The duration of each interviewsession ranged from a minimum of one hourand forty five minutes to three and a halfhours. The assurance of confidentiality was alsoemphasised. The names used in the article arenot their real names.

All interview sessions were carried out inthe afternoon, after the completion of theirdaily chores. Occasionally, if more than onerespondent were willing to be interviewed onthe same day, adjustments and negotiationswere made. All interview sessions were tape-recorded with the respondents' consent.Probing, paraphrasing or recapitulatingtechnique was used during the interviewing. Itallowed respondents to make some reflectionson their experiences and reasoned out certainactions taken. This eventually delineated andexplained the element of empowerment amongrespondents during their participation incommunity activities.

ANALYSIS OF DATAAfter each interview session, the recordeddialogue was reviewed by listening to the tapeand making notes. This induction process ofmaking notes on respondents ' factualdescriptions was then cross-checked andvalidated by comparing it with the deductiveidea/notes noted during the previous interviewsessions. Therefore, in an interview process, thethree elements of induction, deduction andverification took place simultaneously. Thevalidity and reliability of the informationgathered were checked during and betweeninterviews. Ideas or loose thoughts onempowerment that emerged from the firstinterview then underwent the same process inthe successive in-depth interview sessions.

After all interview sessions with therespondents were completed, the transcribingprocess took place. The verbatim transcribingprocess was done directly from the tape withoutediting, to maintain its originality. This processtook triple the time taken in each interviewsession. Then, the data analysis continued. Theanalysing process was carried out in a cyclicalmanner that could be summarised as follows:(1) indexing or listing tentative categories (andsub categories) based on the transcripts; (2)refining and revising the categories by lookingback at the information (transcript); (3)grouping the data under the tentative categories

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while revising, reassembling, and regroupingthe overlapping and redundant categories for a'permanent' categories; (4) choosing the themestatements that best described "the meaning"from the respondents' viewpoint by linking inand across the categories; (5) repeating steps 1-4 for the next respondents' interview tapes andcomparing the findings by making analyticalcomparisons and deductions to produce centraltentative themes at the end of the analysisprocess; (6) these central tentative themes orpropositions were then again checked againststep 4.

RESULTSThe study revealed that the respondents in thestudy possessed some abilities which can belabelled under three main themes; which are(i) understanding the common problem; (ii)organising and planning; and (iii) implementingand managing. Within each theme, there arealso other sub-themes or categories as elaboratedbelow. Examining these themes and sub-themescritically and closely will epitomise the people'sabilities. These abilities as portrayed by thethemes are the 'building blocks' of the people'sempowerment, and they are interrelated. It iswithin the building blocks, other elements ortraits of individual as well as groupempowerment are embedded.

Understanding Common ProblemThe process of making a community in a newsettlement scheme (the study area) is not aneasy task. The respondents realised that in theprocess of developing the community, they facedbig problems or challenges. The commonproblem that they encountered was the realexperiences of living in this land developmentscheme, as there was no assistance or allocationfrom the authority to help them at the beginningof their settlement. The common problems thatthey faced during those times can be categorisedinto three categories: (i) Difficulties inorganising and preparing for communal activities;(ii) Difficulties during moment of crisis; and (iii)Expected problems and the need for mutualhelp.

(i) Difficulties in Organising and Preparingfor Communal Activities

The respondents were really concerned aboutthis problem. As settlers' wives, they shared the

responsibilities with their husbands. Thoughinitially together the problem was not a commonproblem at the beginning, they anticipated suchdifficulties to be attended quickly as they mightjeopardise the process of making a communityin the new settlement scheme. Reflecting onand consciously reasoning the problems thatthey faced, Mrs. Eton, who is the leader of theCrockery Association (Persatuan PingganMangjkok) elaborated:

Hah! At times it was difficult to hold a 'kenduri'(feast). I still remember Ali (not his realname)...wanted to marry off his son. His wife justpassed away a few months before the ceremony. He,like all of us here are from poor families...we ownedonly a few bits of crockery, pots and pans, notmany....Therefore we, the settlers' wives, agreedtogether to help him out... . From that incident, we,Mrs. Yati, two other friends and I then discussed anddecided to set up the Crockery Association. (Mrs.Eton)

Mrs. Yati, who was also involved inestablishing and mobilising their friends, recalledthe incident as a turning point for organisingthe group, as she expressed her deep concernabout the problem:

It was difficult building up a new life over here, inthis settlement. It was a problem when you wanted tohold any functions or feasts. Who is going to help usover here if we do not help each other? Even thoughwe wanted to compliant to the land scheme supervisor,there was no point..he could not do anything. Therewas no allocation for that sort of thing. That's wherewe started to think and decided to set up the CrockeryAssociation, to help out any families and friends thatneeded our services. (Mrs. Yati)

The descriptions above clearly showed thatthey were sensitive to their community life.They have the ability to understand thedifficulties that they face when organisingcommunal activities, and based on that, theyorganise and mobilise themselves to form therespective group.

(ii) Difficulties during Moment of CrisisAs the group developed the members learnedand became more matured, becoming moresensitive and attuned to their problems andneeds. They did not restrict themselves only toinitiating a group for solving problems facedduring seasonal occasions (such as weddingceremonies and communal feasts), but alsoduring time of crisis such as when a death

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occurs in the community. The establishment ofthe Community Death Fund Association {KhairatKematian) and the participation of the localpeople in this group exemplified the commonconcern felt by them. This was clearly expressedby Mrs. Anum, the leader of this group:

We initiated this Community Death Fund Associationin 1979...about ten years after the success of theCrockery Association. The fund we established wasmeant to help our members during moment of crisis- death of any family member...we provided money.For the last few years RM80 was given to the familiesof the deceased, and recently it was increased toRM100. We, the women, felt that this sort of help isa kind of support, a moral support to our friends whoare depressed. (Mrs. Anum)

Mrs. Eton, who was among the initiators ofthis group together with Mrs. Anum, recalledthe situation before its establishment:

I can still remember one incident that happened....Ourneighbour's wife passed away, his house was justdown the hill. At that time there was no fund like thisavailable. So we, the women, decided to collect moneyfrom house to house ...for the funeral services...tobuy white cloth (for the deceased) and planks formaking the coffin (Mrs. Eton)

Based on the reasons above, it can bededuced that people had some understandingsabout their problems in community life, and asa result of thinking about these problems theybegan to seek solutions. It was in this process ofself-reflection that the action of initiating thegroup and participating in the activity followed.

(iii) Expected Problems and the Need for MutualHelp

The problems faced were not personalised, and,as such, specific critical events (problems)associated with social life were not treated asindividual problems. In fact, the reason peoplevoluntarily became members in such associationswas to help their friends. It is common in thisvillage, among the community - especially thenearby neighbourhood - to practice mutualhelp activities as a way to lighten their burdenor work load, regardless of whether this is whencelebrating a significant day in family life, or insorrow. Giving and receiving help to and fromanother person is a mutual practice amongthem, as well as being sensitive to their real lifesituations and past experiences in a self-contained village where mutual help is an

essential practice, this is also in anticipation ofthe realisation that they might face similarproblems in the future. This was clearly describedby an ordinary member, Mrs. Maria:

We live together...as neighbours...our friends'problems are also our problems. We share in times ofdifficulty and also in times of leisure. Helping eachother, that's our lifestyle in this settlement scheme.Today, if one of our friends has a problem, we helpher. Next, in future, if it is our turn to face aproblem, our friend will help us out. That's why weset up this association...it helps us here. Five years agoI used the services provided by the CrockeryAssociation...when my daughter got married....thoughI was a member of this association more than tenyears ago. (Mrs. Maria)

The same response was also illustrated byMrs. Fira, who is also a member in the CrockeryAssociation/The Rice and Egg Cooperative,during a personal interview:

Over in this scheme, we help each other. Today wehelp them; maybe tomorrow they will in turn help us.All of us here are facing the same hardship andproblems...not much different. That's why I joinedthis Crockery Association/Rice and Egg Cooperation.We can help each other in times of need. (Mrs. Fira)

The above quotations describe the realsituations faced by them. They were not onlyaware about the existing problems but alsoforesee the future problem as well. This showedthat they were able to forecast certain futureincidences in their life, and for them to takeimmediate actions is a necessity during thosedays. In other words, they were proactive, whileat the same time possessed elements of self-initiation.

Organising and Planning Stage

The ability to understand common problem iscrucial at the outset of the group formation.Without understanding what the real problemis, it is difficult to identify a common need. Thisis important because common needs couldencourage concerted effort among communitymembers to focus on their undertakings so thatthe targeted goal could be achieved. Based onthe verbatim statements expressed above thedata shows that they have the capability to thinkfor themselves. This capability encouraged themto affect change in their community life. Thepeople's capabilities to affect changes in theircommunity life can be clearly seen in the

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organising and planning stage. In fact, theseare the emerging themes deduced from theinterviews. Within these themes there are severalcategories which denote the level of actionsthat they performed. Again, the actionexemplified their ability to affect changegradually in their social life as explained below.

i. Pre Group Process - Inviting FriendsBefore deciding on any activity, it was a commonpractice among the groups to invite membersto attend a group meeting or discussion. Mostof the group leaders interviewed mentionedthat they had invited their group members toplan and organise the activities such as theWomen Self-Help Group, Death FundAssociation, and Crockery Association/Rice andEgg Cooperative as narrated by Mrs. Yati(Women self-help group leader) and Mrs. Anum(Community Death Fund Association).

When we wanted to help our friends, for example,our neighbour who planned to hold a weddingceremony, we would first meet. Normally, I will callall our friends and neighbours, either by phoningthem or going personally to their houses. As forthose friends who lived on the other side of the hill,I asked our representative to inform them....Myclose friend, Mrs. Eton, usually assisted me....Wehave been practising this since we started this grouptwenty five years ago. (Mrs. Yati)

I always invited my friends, our group members,before deciding on any activity. I told them, "pleasecome over this Sunday, we are going to have ameeting"....for our Community Death FundAssociation or Crockery Association meeting this iswhat I normally do. I also informed and invitedthem to come along. (Mrs. Anum)

This practice was confirmed by the groupmembers who had experienced the planningprocess, as shown from the statements below:

I have been a member of this Women's Study Circlegroup for almost twenty years. When we want tocarry out certain activities, the leader will inform us.It's the same when we are going to conduct a self-help group for a communal feast...the leader willinform us. She will say, "please come...we will discusstogether". When I know about this, I will then informmy next door neighbours. (Mrs. Maria)

In our association, we don't send letters invitingmembers to the meeting.... Normally Mrs. Anum,our leader, will invite them verbally. That's what wenormally do for the Crockery Association, CommunityDeath Fund Association Study Circle. (Mrs, Yati)

From the above statements, it can beinferred that, as a group, the members have theskills and ability to organise themselves for theplanning activity. They are also aware of theimportance of inviting and informing othermembers of the group. This can be seen bytheir self-initiated actions in informing or callingtheir friends to attend the meetings; either bywriting invitation letters, sending them out ortaking the initiatives to go to their friends'houses, showing that they have the ability toperform the task. This exemplifies that they areself-motivated, and prepared to take part inconducting the group activities. This situation ispossibly related to the importance of having asmany members as possible attending the groupmeeting or discussion (as a group process). Thereason for this is that they can easily plan theaction and divide the workload among themembers. Hence, it is clear that they value thegroup process in organising, planning anddeciding on an activity.

ii. Group ProcessThe actual group process normally takes placein a meeting. As informal groups, informalmeetings are usually practised by the threeneighbourhood groups. Group meetings are afocal point for most group members to sittogether in discussing, planning and decidingon their group activities. In general, from theinformation gathered, it can be deduced thatthere are two functions of having a groupmeeting that can be categorised or labelled as(a) a medium for making decisions about theactivity, and (b) as a medium for giving ideas.These two distinctive functions of groupmeetings employed by the community groupseventually influenced the group members'participation in the decision making process, asexplained below. In other words, it is withingroup meetings that the process and level ofpeoples' participations in planning emergesimultaneously.

(a) Making decision about the activityAfter the group members have agreed anddecided on an activity or project, they thendiscuss and share ideas about it. Most of themembers interviewed said that they had someexperience in discussing different issues relatedto organising an activity. These experiencesvaried from one person to another, depending

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on the group they were engaged with. Theissues discussed also vary according to theactivities, from a very simple matter such asdeciding on the date of the activity, to a morecomplex one such as determining the tacticsand strategies in pursuing the agreed matters.

Deciding the dateThrough in-depth interviews in an effort tounderstand people's participation process inthe planning stage, the researcher noticed asignificant element occurring at this preliminarystage - it was found that all the communitygroups emphasise the importance of decidingthe date for activities. This is usually the firstissue being raised and decided upon in thediscussion, as can be seen from the statementsgiven by Mrs. Wani, Mrs. Maria and Mrs. Hasif,consecutively. "Whatever it is, the date must beconfirmed first", "In the discussion, we wouldagree on the date first." and "Long before thelaunching of an activity, a suitable date is chosenand must be agreed by the members. This wedecide during the group meeting."

Deciding the date is much more importantthan the time and venue for several logisticreasons, as perceived by the respondents, whenthey said, "When the date is confirmed wewould then plan among ourselves...to do thepreparation early... (Mrs. Mona)" and "All ofus have our own work to attend to. This activityis a voluntary work. Once the date is fixed, thenit would be easy for us to prepare. (Mrs. Lina)"

The reasons given by the respondents aboveon the importance of deciding on the dateshowed ttttheir willingness to contribute. It wasalso revealed through the interviews that thevalue and quality of group members*participations depend very much on thesuitability of the date of the projects, asmentioned by Mrs Eton, "Our group activitystressed participation. If we are late in decidingthe date, then the turn out will be poor". Onthe same tone, Mrs. Yati said, "We perform thework in a group. So, it is better to informmembers early. When they know well in advance,they then can plan to come and help...". Mrs.Wan, who was also involved in the group activity,also said:.

Since we have decided on the date and time, thatwould mean we have already committed ourselves to

participate from the beginning to the end...arrangingback the tables and chairs after the activity hasended. (Mrs. Wan)

The reasons given above show that thesemembers have the knowledge to make use oflocal resources that they possess, and the groupmeeting is used to enable them to organisethese resources. Their concern about the dateto conduct the activity is practically importantto the group because most community membersare working to earn their living, especially theyounger generations, who work in the nearbyindustrial estate. Consequently, only a fewcommunity members and group members areable to participate. In this regard, it is clearthat some group members have the ability tothink and project their ideas to affect otherpeople's behaviour, i.e. their friends toparticipate in helping to conduct the activity.

'Content' of the activity

The group members ' involvement indetermining and identifying the 'content' ofthe activity of each group is also crucial. In thiscontext, content refers to any sort ofprogrammes and type of events. In order toachieve the targeted goal, group members trytheir best to ensure that the content of theactivities is related to and geared towards thosegoals. This can be clearly seen from thecomments made by Mrs. Fizi, when she said"Like I said earlier, we must be clear about ourneeds. Likewise in our meeting, we want tohear from the women, the members, what theywant...later we can decide the activities theylike".

(b) Giving ideasIn the community-initiated activity characterisedby self-directed participation, the members'involvement is more active especially inexpressing and sharing ideas in the groupmeetings. This can be seen by examining thestatements of members' experiences. Thedynamics of the group process in giving ideasto decide an activity was confirmed by Mrs. Fiziduring the interview, a few days after theirgroup meeting, when she said, "...It wasn't mewho suggested the activity. The members wantedthem. They suggested it in the meeting andrequested me to handle it together with them...".

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Regardless of their age, whether a seniormember or a new member (young member)they were actively involved in discussion andgiving suggestions based on their previousexperience of handling the same task. In fact,this phenomenon was clearly observed in theirgroup meeting when the researcher was invitedto meet and attend their group meeting todiscuss the preparation for the Hari Rayacommunal gathering. The practice of giving,sharing and discussing ideas before embarkingon the activity is also reflected in Mrs. Maria'swords:

I always give my opinion on the type of dishes thatwe can cook for the feasts, whether for the religiousor the communal feasts...because that's the type ofwork, we, the women can help with, isn't it? (Mrs.Maria)I told Mrs. Eton not to use the Crockery fund for ourfeast [but] I suggested that we collect money fromthe members. No matter how much, they are willingto pay... [Because] maybe there are some friends whoare not members in the Crockery Association whowill come to the feast... That way, we can save moneyto buy some more crockery. ( Mrs. Anum)

Giving and sharing ideas in the communityinitiated activities, as shown above, allowsmembers to be directly involved in the decisionmaking process democratically. During thisprocess, they learn to make suggestions andwork together as a group to achieve their goals.Learning to give and accept suggestions aremotivating factors for the members to continuecontributing ideas, which later benefit the group.Moreover, it is a personal reward if an idea iswell received and used by the group. Thispersonal satisfaction encourages people tofurther contribute ideas and suggestions, whichsimultaneously develops and improves theircompetency and confidence in helping toorganise a group activity. One important aspectin the whole process of contributing ideas is thedevelopment and formation of self-judgement,which is the ability of members to put forwardideas which are relevant and suitable for theirgroup. All in all, the collective actions by thepeople in the organising and planning stageportray that they have the abilities and exercisethose capabilities so as to create a better livingenvironment according to their needs. Suchendeavour is about people taking action throughparticipation to upgrade their quality of life.

IMPLEMENTING AND MANAGINGThe self-directed endeavour can be furtherexamined in the implementing and managingstages. This is the third main theme emergedfrom the analysis. In comparison to the planningstage, people's participation in carrying out theactivity is more active in both the implementingand managing stages. If at the planning stagesome members only attend the meeting "tohear or listen" to the discussion, at this stage allmembers interviewed consciously described howthey participate: helping in contributing theirenergy and materials to carry out the activity.From the respondents' statements, participatingin implementing an activity is the 'heart' or thecentre of their involvement. It is important tonote here that in understanding the way theyare involved in implementing and managingthe group activities, the fundamental issue is toappreciate the capability of the members tocarry out certain tasks or responsibilitiesvoluntarily in their attempt to achieve groupgoals.

Contributing Energy

'Contributing energy' is the most frequentphrase used by the respondents in describingtheir involvement at this implementing stage.Literally, it means giving a helping hand, andhas a close relationship to the mutual-help andself-help principle of conducting the activity. Itconcerns the work, tasks and responsibilitieswhich each individual member have beendecided upon and assigned at the earlierplanning stage. This sharing of the workloadbetween members is clearly expressed by therespondents below:

Oh yes, helping Mrs. Yati cook 'mee goreng* andcookies for the feast is my favourite job. I like to dothis.... This is the only way I can contribute my energyto the group. I can't do other than that because I'mgetting older and weaker. Normally, we join with theWl (Women Institution) members to do this work.(Mrs. Maria)

Collecting money from house to house is myresponsibility when there is a death in this village.The money collected will be added to the moneyfrom our Community Death Fund collection,[because] each time our members or their closerelatives pass away, our group contributes RM100 tothe deceased family. If I didn't take this responsibility,didn't want to collect from members in our area,later the fund would decrease. (Mrs. Fira)

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For the preparation of the competition, I went toBangi to get materials for the members. I went on mymotorbike but I did not claim the money for petrolfrom my group. To me, this is small matter...what'simportant to me is that I can contribute to my group.(Mrs. Nor)

This people empowerment, i.e. the capabilityto carry out the task or responsibility towardsachieving the goals as described above by thegroup members were also confirmed by theleaders. The role or task performed by themembers which involves giving energy to supportgroup activities shows their commitment tohandle and manage the activity. The ability toshare and perform the task together with, andfor their friend reveals that they have to learn towork together as a group. This experience is animportant element in the group work process,in which by possessing such abilities one canhelp to maintain the existence of the group,and such experience can be used whenperforming future group activities. In short,they are empowered in taking action to fulfiltheir needs and achieve their objectives.

Contributing Money and MaterialsThe member's commitment to support theirgroups (and group activities) to ensure theachievement of their common goal can also beexamined through their collective action incontributing money to the project or activity.Again, their action is primarily based on theprinciple of sharing the burden. In some cases,the contributions made have a direct impact orbenefits to the contributors, such as in theDeath Fund Association and CrockeryAssociation/Rice and Egg Cooperative. In orderto ensure continuity, and to maintain groupactivity, there is some sort of mutual agreementamong members to give 'donations' to theirgroup. The statements below are some exampleswhich illustrate their contribution and concernsmaintain the group activity:

Since I joined the Community Death Fund Association,I have had to contribute RM1 for every death thatoccurs, besides the RM4 annual fees. This is theregulation of the Association... [and] that's our promiselast time. If we didn't pay the money, how could theAssociation survive or be maintained? (Mrs. Rosi)

If we just expect donations from our friends whoattend the class, of course it's not enough. Therefore,as their leader, I have to contribute at least RM10 permonth. The money collected is used to pay the

'ustazah', water and electricity bills for this women'ssurau. I don't force them to pay...if we force themand they don't have the money, next time they areashamed to attend. If the attendance is low, mostprobably the class will close. That's a loss to us..justbecause of few cents or ringgit, we would have toclose this class. (Mrs. Anum)

...five eggs and three 'kati' of rice is not much, is it?That's the amount I normally contribute to friendswho are going to marry off their son or daughter. Wedecided this a long time ago...so, the next time Iwant to have the same occasion, they will also helpme. (Mrs. Yati)

The money contributed by the members ismainly to support the financing of the projector activity which also means that it maintainsthe group itself. It was also noticed that for asmall project or activity, group members triedtheir best to solve the financial problems atgroup level. This commitment and the self-reliance spirit can be seen among the memberof the self-help group in organising thecommunal activities. Below are some exampleswhich depict their attempts to maintain andsustain the activity at this stage:

... to contribute RM10-15 for running the communalfeast and self-help activity to clear the grave yards orschool compound, is normal for me... We can'texpect so much assistance from the DistrictOffice...how much they can give? (Mrs. Sidi)

Yes, we contribute some amount of money, normallyabout RM10 to buy materials for the women to cookfor our 'gotong-royong* activity.... For the orphanageproject, each of us in the VDSC (Village Developmentand Security Committee- fawatankuasa Kemajuan danKeselamatan Kampung) contributes about RM15 to thefund....I know the District Officer can give us someallocation, but we can't depend on them very much.(Mrs. Wan)

The above descriptions are notexaggerations. Indeed, from close observationby attending the activity, for example in theWomen Self-help group, the practice of givingdonation is the norm. Since giving a donationis normal practice not only among leaders butalso group members, it is not surprising thatgroups such as the Death Fund Association andCrockery Association have a stable flow ofaccounts.

Hence, from the above illustrations, andsupported by evident obtained from group'sleader during the study period, it is obvious

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that contributing money or other materials tothe group for community feast or its memberswho are in need (such as for preparing awedding feast) is voluntarily practised incommunity-initiated group activities, and is theway they keep the activity going. Their willingnessto sacrifice their money to run the activitywithout depending on external assistance showsmembers' commitment to the group. Inaddition, it also shows that they have thecapability and skills to manage other groupactivities themselves. They are self-reliant andthrough this participation process (bycontributing the money and materials) theyactually enable the group to survive. The skillsand capabilities that are developed together, intheir attempt to sustain the group (and groupactivities), are another product of people'sempowerment, important element in theparticipation process.

DISCUSSIONParticipation is a dynamic process. Hence, it isdifficult to predict or even to quantify using astandard measurement. Participation is rathermoulded by, and originates from, individuals'experiences in participating. In this research,the people's participation is viewed as a processby which individuals are involved in initiating,deciding, planning, implementing and managingthe group and its activities. Participation is alsoa process in which people, as subjects in theirown environment, seek out ways to meet theircollective needs and to overcome their commonproblems so as to upgrade their quality of lifeand well-being. In pursuing the collective action,the self-help and mutual-help spirit that underliesthe Asian traditional community spirit ofworking, helped to hasten the achievement ofthese shared interests through group-based-activities. Thus, by understanding this collectiveaction in which members participate, it ispossible to comprehend the aspect of people'sempowerment.

The main reasons which motivate people toparticipate are the common problems that theyfaced and the common needs felt in theircommunity lives. The responses given by themshowed that they are capable to reflect pastexperiences and difficulties and furthercomprehend the problems, shared themtogether, and later organise themselves in their

own way in the respective groups to establish,initiate and conduct various community-basedactivities. These reflections, which highlight thereasons for participation, include both theirreaction towards overcoming past negativeexperiences, and intentions for fulfilling theirfuture needs. The reflections are about people'sreal consciousness in understanding problemsthat they encountered, and their needs in thecontext of their everyday lives. These are thepeople capabilities which further developed intoan action. This quality is an element of people'sempowerment. In this case, the experiencesundergone by the community members is notmerely about psychological empowerment(Zimmerman 1995; Chavis and Wandersman1995), rather it is the actual peopleempowerment when they are able to exercisetheir ability to take control over their lives(Staples 1990; Adam 1990).

The people's awareness was manifestedthrough their actions in mobilising members,establishing groups, and participating in groupactivities. Their initial impetus to participatemay not have materialised had the problemsthey encountered been personalised rather thanshared. It was in the process of sharing theproblems that previous negative experiencesbecame a new knowledge that stimulated theminto finding solutions. This complex interactionbetween them and their world involves thepeople's awareness and consciousness aboutproblems, which eventually translated into groupconscientisation (Freire 1972) in the form ofestablishing the group and initiating groupactivities. It can be suggested, therefore, that itis the people's ability, first, to perceive andunderstand their needs, and secondly to actupon it within their means which showed that,collectively, they have the potential to takecharge of their lives. The effort to change theirlives is the whole notion about how throughparticipation, the people could improve theirquality of life. Therefore, all the reasons givenreflect the conscious intention of the people toliberate themselves from various kinds ofproblems and situations, and to achieve certaintargeted social goals to fulfil their expectedneeds. This impetus towards organising andparticipating in community groups (andactivities) is the first step in the grassrootsmobilising process towards people'sparticipation.

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In summary, at this stage it can be said thatthe learning ability of the people to identifyand to reason out their problems, needs andexpectations which was later translated into anactive process by to integrating and organisingtheir efforts to decide, to influence and toengage in various community groups andactivities, demonstrates that they wereconsciously aware of the internal communityaffairs, demonstrate the people's empowerment.Their energies fostered and engendered theirparticipation in conducting, planning, managingand sustaining the various groups and theiractivities. People's empowerment therefore,constitutes the complex and continuous processof interaction between people themselves andtheir community life, and throughunderstanding the situation (needs andproblems) or by reflecting on their pastexperience based on those interactions, theycollectively mobilised and organised themselvesinto various types of community-based groupsto seek ways to overcome the problems and toachieve their shared needs and expectations (asrevealed in the reasons given for participating).Hence, empowerment developed whenindividuals are able to comprehend theirsituation and their interaction with the livingenvironment reciprocally influence theiremotions, cognitive as well as behaviour whichis translated in participation (see also Speer2000).

The product of empowerment is manifestedin their success in establishing the groups andconducting the activities, which resulted fromtheir awareness of the situations and thecapability to participate, manoeuvre, andnegotiate and to take further action with theaim of improving general living standards, thus,the quality of life. It is the ability of the membersto organise themselves in planning and decisionmaking shows that they, as individual membersand as a group, have the skills and capabilitiesto integrate their efforts and take personalresponsibilitiy to achieve their social or groupgoals. It also depicts that the knowledge theyhave for using the group meetings as the focalpoint to mobilise their members' participationto decide about the activity and subsequentlycontributing energy and money to ensuremeeting their targeted needs. The whole processis about the interactional competence ofempowerment in Speer's term (2000). The

interactional characteristic is the individual's(or people's) ability that is the functioning ofindividual members as manifested in theirparticipation to effect change. Here, people'sempowerment is their 'power to' or ability tothink, rationalise and then act according to thesituation and structure where they live. The endproduct of this empowering endeavour exercisedby the people is the launching of the activitiesor actions to achieve their needs andexpectations. Hence, the experiences gainedby individuals in this village go beyond theperceived control (Chavis and Wandersman1995). In the village, the people's empowermentthrough participation is resulted in a moretangible thing.

The self-directed groups and its activity orprogramme could not have materialised andbeen sustained to the present day if communitymembers were not empowered to initiate andparticipate to support them. The creation andexistence of these community self-directedactivities emerged from their awareness aboutthe needs and problems faced by communitymembers as a whole. Various efforts have beenmade to alleviate problems and also to achievegroup members' expectations by participatingtogether. This resembles the idea of localitydevelopment model of Rothman's (1973). Sincethis empowering endeavour is generated fromcommunity members for the sake of developingthemselves and other the community membersas a whole, it demonstrates the principle of self-reliance. As such, this is in line with theconsensus approach to community developmentas propagated by the state. Culturally and sociallyit has helped to develop themselves through thecommunity self-help spirit and principle, andeconomically, at the same time has assisted thegovernment in providing much needed services.In this regard, it can be suggested that anempowered community is taking the chancesavailable within the structure in which they liveand is confidently making use of their inherentability to bring changes to their community life,and in those processes, by and large they arealso contributing to national progress.

CONCLUSION

Human beings are creative creatures. Given thema chance and opportunities, they were able todo something to change their life conditions.This can be achieved through participation.

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This denotes that participation can act as ameans towards uplifting their standard of living,thus their quality of life. Also throughparticipating in community life, communitymembers exercised their abilities. However, firstand foremost they should be aware aboutthemselves, their problems and needs. In factthe people's awareness is the simplest form ofpeople's ability. Afterward this ability grows intoan action process via participation whencommunity members progressively andcollectively gaining more control over their lives,which underpin the notion of people'sempowerment. In this respect, participation thusstrengthened and intensified people's ability tomaster their lives. It was within the continuouslearning process of participation that the people'sempowerment was is embraced and developedwhich enable them to improve their quality oflife gradually at their own pace.

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