READINESS OF RURAL COMMUNITY IN SARAWAK TOWARDS SMART RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Socioeconomic disparities can hinder a country’s development progress. Evidently, in Malaysia, there is a gap in the socioeconomic development between West and East Malaysia. Consequently, the government had initiated efforts to enhance development strategies by incorporating rural East Malaysian areas into the 12th Malaysian Plan (12MP). While the government has introduced strategies to address development gaps, smart rural development remains absent from policies. Additionally, there is a lack of research on the readiness of rural communities in Sarawak for smart rural initiatives. This paper aims to assess Sarawak's rural communities' readiness across social, economic, environmental, resource, and technological domains. The case study involves two villages in Marudi, Sarawak, and was studied using questionnaires and interviews, involving 266 respondents. The analysis indicates that both villages are not ready in terms of its economic aspect. However, they show promising readiness in the environmental, technology, and resources aspects, suggesting favourable conditions for the adoption of smart rural initiatives. Moreover, the communities in both villages demonstrate strong social readiness, indicating a high level of support for smart rural. Overall, neither village is fully prepared for smart rural development. It is hoped that this study can be useful for the local government to note which areas to improve or focus on for the rural community to become a smart rural community.