Politics of development (POD) in the rural areas

Abstract

Politics of Development (POD) was introduced in early 1980s as an alternative to ethnic politics as ethnic sentiment will be an impediment to development. The main concept of POD is for politics to be utilized to bring development for the people to ensure that no community will be left behind in the development process. Among the objectives of this paper is to see how far the concept of POD influenced the voting behaviours of the rural community. Previous voting results and changes in level of development in the rural area are then compared for any differences in the level of standard of living. The issues of disparities between rural and urban development raised the questions on the effectiveness of the POD in raising the standard of living of the rural community in Sarawak.