Factors that influence public non-participation in local government: a case study at Taman Indah Seksyen 3, Bukit Baru, Melaka / Yusof Hasnol and Syasya Mohamed Sharif

Participation are referred to as means by which people who are not elected officials of government influence decisions on programs and policies that later affect their lives. Over the last two decades, researches on public participation have extensively amplified. In instilling and enhancing transparency in government, public participation is utmost important. In Malaysia, our government had been committed in improving the quality of public services as it falls under the fundamental condition in achieving our National Mission. Local authorities in Malaysia are the third tier of government which is also the closest to the people and are having difficulties in getting the community to participate in decisions-making. This study scrutinizes the factors that lead to public non-participation in local government. The researchers analyzed on the association between public awareness, bureaucracy red tape, information gap and level of transparency towards public non-participation in local government. The research is carried out on individual public who resides in Bukit Baru, Melaka. A stratified sampling technique is used in dividing the respondents into 10 groups that come from different roads in Taman Indah, Seksyen 3, Bukit Baru. Unsurprisingly, it is gathered that factors such as awareness, bureaucracy and transparency indeed contributes to the non-participation of the people in local government planning activities. The study provides evidence that there exist a significant relationship between the independent variables and public non-participation thus urging the government to work in getting more participation over at local government through the elimination of the lengthy processes, enhancing transparency of the government and the likes.