“Pemuda zaman kini sangat memilih kerja”: An Appraisal Analysis of FELDA Youth’s Attitudes Towards the Palm Oil Industry

Abstract

Oil palm production, being the fourth largest contributor to Malaysia’s national economy, has seen significant progress and rapid development over the past few decades. Despite concerted efforts being placed to promote and create more awareness among the youths of the potential of this sector, most of them are not interested to serve the industry, choosing instead to work in the manufacturing and retail sector. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics Appraisal theory, in particular its system of Attitude (Martin & White, 2005), this paper presents a linguistic analysis of interpersonal meanings expressed by 5 FELDA youths towards the palm oil industry. This study investigates the attitudes of the youths and how these highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the industry’s current practices. 5 interviews were analyzed and coded in terms of Affect, Judgement and Appreciation, capturing the ways in which each respondent conveyed positive and negative evaluations according to the value they perceive the industry possesses and the behavior of the FELDA community. The analysis highlighted three areas of strengths and weaknesses involving the industry’s sustainability and significant socio-economic contribution to the FELDA community. Despite these positive evaluation, most respondents displayed disinterest in the sector, indicating the need for new and modern ways of engaging these youths with palm oil through technology and the social media.