Using Multiple Regression Approach to Study Youth’s Patriotism Tendency

This study aims to identify the relationship scores of youth's patriotism tendencies before and after attending Ethnic Relations Subject (ERS) and analyse whether there is a relationship between the value of ethnic harmony, identity and spirit of volunteerism with students' patriotism tendencies that are blind patriotism and constructive patriotism. The study locations were at three public universities randomly selected in a group of focused universities, research universities and comprehensive universities. The research approach conducted is through a quantitative approach that uses a survey method through a questionnaire instrument and involves a total of 351 samples (N = 351). Further information obtained from the questionnaire was analysed multiple regressions. The analysis results are expressed in the form of percentages and significant values. Overall, the results of the data analysis showed that there is simple relationship between blind patriotism, ethnic harmony and volunteerism and a simple relationship between constructive patriotism, ethnic harmony and identity.


Introduction
The spirit of patriotism needs to be nurtured, sown and fertilized because it is affective which involves feelings and cannot be inherited from one generation to another (Samsu & Nor, 2011). In this regard, the formation of the spirit of patriotism evolves according to the passage of time, situation and form of struggle (Bar-Tal & Staub, 1997). The formation of patriotism in Malaysia is sown through education where the main value is the availability and willingness to sacrifice for the country (Gill, Ramli & Talib, 2015). Educational institutions play a role as socialization agents in cultivating, nurturing and invigorating the spirit of patriotism among society in general and youth in particular (Ahmad, Ling, & Abdullah, 2014;Samsu & Nor, 2011). This measure is realized by offering Moral Education, Civic Education and Citizenship subjects at the primary and secondary school levels. the subjects of Islamic education and Moral education are taught in shaping the understanding and noble personality among the students.
Moral ethics is a form of value that forms the basis of religious teaching and moral education in formal educational institutions. A deep understanding in religious teachings will form a good and moral society .The continuation of fostering the spirit of patriotism was continued by introducing the General Subject of Ethnic Relations and made compulsory for all students in the Institute of Higher Learning starting in 2013. Samsu and Nor (2011) stated that patriotism education at the level of Institutions of Higher Learning specifically introduced only-eyes to strengthen the spirit of patriotism.

Problem Statement
Undoubtedly, the spirit of patriotism among youths is much debated as they are aware of its importance in determining the future of the country (Samsu & Nor, 2011;Azizan, 2005;Gill, Ramli, & Talib, 2015;Bar-Tal & Staub, 1997;Kulchytskyi & Sopiha, 2018). Sheer and passive understanding does not describe patriotic youth in the true sense where understanding and inclination need to be translated with an appreciation of patriotism through concrete action (Ariely, 2016;Bahari , 2005). Youths are the focus group of the study because they are the backbone and future leaders in ensuring harmony, prosperity and progress of the country can be achieved and determinants of the strength and resilience of the country in the future (Bahari , 2005;Razak & Ali, 2013).
The spirit of patriotism is often associated with perception and understanding of pride in the country a sense of belonging or belonging to the country, loyalty to the country, discipline or good manners (Hussain, Nasarah & Othman, 2016;Ahmad, Ling, & Abdullah, 2015;Gill, Ramli & Talib, 2015). These values are the main values that form the basis of patriotism education in educational institutions from early education to higher education (Hussain, Nasarah & Othman, 2016). Patriotism education should help underpin the principles and behaviors of the youth as the desired Malaysian people. Recognizing the importance of having a patriotic society and ready to act, the government through education initiatives strives to nurture, cultivate and nurture the value of patriotism in Malaysian youth (Samsu & Nor, 2011). This effort continues relentlessly but are the results as expected?. According to Salleh (1995), the spirit of patriotism exists in line with human civilization through community living and the role of territorial boundaries and also the way to defend identity. Such patriotism exists by initially bringing the concept of loyalty and love to the community until it changes to loyalty to the country (Healy, 2017). A commonly overlooked question is, is it considered a positive or negative phenomenon? Even less is known how various individuals view patriotism as it is related to understanding, appreciation and practice. This makes it supported differently according to different individuals or groups influenced by ethnicity, history, education, religion, and even the policies and policies of a country (Ariely, 2016).
For proponents of blind patriotism, they often see their country as being threatened by foreign countries (Spry & Honsey, 2015). Threat is an ideology that has always been present in blind patriotic thinking. So much so that ethnic diversity due to the influx of immigrants is also seen as a threat that can disrupt the social identity of individuals as well as groups (Spry & Hornsey, 2015). The more likely an individual is to a blind understanding of patriotism, the higher their negative stigma against cultural diversity and immigrants entering their country. This is because those with blind patriotism tend to think that there will be a threat to their original culture and identity. Constructive patriotism was introduced by Schatz and Staub (1991) and this patriotism is more flexible and emphasizes critical thinking. Constructive patriotism prioritizes balance and consideration for the well -being of the nation without disregarding the rights and welfare of society either from the majority or minority (Staub, 1997).
According to him, the special feature of constructive patriotism is the tolerance to accept any criticism and evaluation from its members. However, the proponents of constructive patriotism do not reject the basic principle of patriotism which is loyalty and willingness to sacrifice for the country. It is this criticism and evaluation that keeps the group on the right path. Constructive patriotism should be more penetrating into our souls because this concept of patriotism remains loving and loyal to the nation by upholding the human values of tolerance and criticism (Bar-Tal, 1997). However, this constructive patriotism is different from the characteristics of blind patriotism, namely devotion and unwavering loyalty to government and national policies.
Constructive patriotism allows its society to be more open and critical in deciding whether to support or criticize government policies or actions. Among the processes involved are seeking and collecting information, asking questions openly, evaluating an action and being willing to urge an action to correct the policy taken. Kleinig, Keller and Primoratz (2015) state that, such patriotism is a sense of love for the harmony, development and well -being of the country as a whole and not necessarily loyalty to the ruling government. A society that has a spirit of constructive patriotism needs a courageous attitude because usually constructive patriotism is considered unpatriotic by the elites who shape government policy.

Literature Review
Tendency can be interpreted as indicating an inclination, liking or tendency to a thing or behaviour. Society's tendency towards patriotism is a sense of love and attachment to something we love and is an emotion that involves a sense of liking, loyalty, sympathy and it is intrinsic. In this regard, Primoratz (2002) asserts that the definition of patriotism as 'love of country' alone is too general and superficial. According to him, the things that need to be emphasized in determining a person's love for his country are: What will be done for his country and is the community willing to sacrifice for his country? The direction of these two questions is to see how the community implements and proves its spirit of patriotism. According to Samsu and Nor (2009), in fact, the measurement of the spirit of patriotism for the community in a country is subjective because the spirit involves feelings and emotions. However, the existence of such a spirit can be manifested through their reactions, behaviours or actions. The general perception of Malaysian society towards the spirit of patriotism is that the struggle for independence is a struggle that is underpinned by a feeling of love for a homeland that is so infinite that it is willing to do anything in an effort to free the beloved homeland from being colonized and manipulated by the colonialists.
Today youths play a major role in nation building and in turn drive the nation into the future (Mohamed, Sulaiman, Othman, Yang & Haron, 2011). Razak, Jawan and Halim (2013) argues that the emphasis on patriotism, especially to the youth is one of the aspects evaluated to ensure that the spirit or feelings like this exist continuously in them. Thus, the perception of patriotism from the point of view of youth especially to the students of Public Higher Education Institute is someone who has high criteria or spirit of patriotism, loyalty to the country, hardworking and disciplined (Idike & Okechukwu, 2015). These criteria are in line with the Youth Development Series: Youth and Human Capital Development which explains that youth must have positive characteristics such as energetic, agile, creative and innovative (Sabri, Abu & Hamzah, 2014). Thus, the importance of appreciating the spirit of patriotism is closely related to the criteria for the sustainability of this generation to be more geared towards the national idea in strengthening the identity of a country. Embi (2009) the tendency of patriotism among youths is not just an expression of feelings but demands appreciation from every citizen. He assumes that patriotism is not just a passion, but it is something sublime that involves questions of confidence, loyalty, citizenship, courage, independence, identity and sovereignty. Therefore, every Malaysian citizen should have the spirit of patriotism because the independence gained is not something easy, in fact it happens in a dramatic atmosphere. These values of patriotism must be nurtured so that it is always fertile in every citizen so that the next generation of leaders continue to maintain the continuity of independence that is being enjoyed. For Kardi (2009), he states that patriotism from the point of view of youth is often associated with one's loyalty and love for one's own country. A person is considered a patriot when his actions and practices conform to the characteristics of patriotism based on love and loyalty to the country. Thus, to cultivate the practice of the spirit of patriotism, the youth, especially students at the Institute of Higher Education is a suitable place to be given an understanding of the elements of history on an ongoing basis. Such an implementation is able to produce a generation that is not blind to history as well as a generation that always loves unity and respects all religions and ethnic cultures in Malaysia. They have a spirit of love and loyalty to the country, always defending the sovereignty of the nation and country while striving to develop the country (Gill, Ramli & Talib, 2015).
At the tertiary level, a study in all 20 public universities nationwide involving 1978 students showed that students' perceptions of the spirit of patriotism should be nurtured among them, especially in terms of objectives, benefits and interest, interest is positive. The majority of students also agreed that nurturing the spirit of patriotism affects their thinking and knowledge as well as the formation of their attitudes in order to be responsible citizens and loyal to the country. Thus, the appreciation of the spirit of patriotism must be applied deeply so that the role and function of this spirit becomes a priority and important in explaining the idea of nationhood and governance as the legitimacy of a claim in the country and the nation today (Latiff, 2012), especially in forming unions in the existing ethnic diversity. Hamid, Embi and Aziz (2005) explained that the national goal of creating patriotic youth is to excel in education, sports, technology and obtain international awards and recognition, thus making Malaysian youth have superior youth personalities. The strength of superior character will be built through the active involvement of youth in social activities and volunteerism. The practice of volunteerism has great potential to lead the multi -racial Malaysian community towards a prosperous life together. Conflicts in a society or a community as well as the internal security of a country should be addressed jointly from various authorities together with the community by shouldering responsibilities as volunteers (Alias & Balakrishnan, 2016). In fact, Wilson (2000) also thinks that the spirit of volunteerism is one of the basic values that must exist and should be nurtured among the younger generation. A person who engages in volunteerism is one who has social concern, high fighting spirit, loves the universe and is willing to sacrifice for the good and welfare of others (Bahari, 2016). Ludden (2011) argues that youth involvement in volunteer work can distance themselves from antisocial activities as well as criminal behaviour and make them responsible for maintaining the dignity of family, society and the good name of the country. This is because this group will determine the progress or backwardness of a country.

Research Methodology
Populations from the three core universities of IPTA were selected to enable a homogeneous group to be formed in obtaining diverse data (Suri, 2011). The focus of each university core is also different where the research university focuses on research, the comprehensive university offers various courses and fields of study, while the focused university focuses on specific areas related to its establishment. The core grouping of universities is based on different roles, namely research universities are responsible for experimenting and exploring new ideas and developing knowledge, focused universities pay attention to specific industries such as engineering, education, management and defence, while comprehensive universities provide programs in various fields. This diversity of characteristics gives an understanding of patriotism from different backgrounds as opposed to just focusing on specific areas. This study will only take respondents of one university for each category i.e. one university from the focused category, one from a comprehensive university and another from a research university as the research sample. University selection is done by random selection in groups because it is more open in giving equal opportunities to each population to be involved in this research (Konting, 2012). Researchers used the formula proposed by Krejcie and Morgan (1970) where the sample used was 351 students from a total population of 3107 people.

Research Objectives and Hypothesis
Analysing the three constructs of patriotism in Ethnic Relation Subject (ERS) that form the tendency of youth's patriotism type. What are the elements in the three values of the ERS module that build youths patriotism tendencies?
Ha: There is a significant relationship between the constructs of ethnic harmony, identity and the spirit of volunteerism in ERS on the formation of youth patriotism type

Finding
To test this hypothesis, a multiple regression test between the independent variable that is constructive patriotism and blind patriotism with the dependent variable that is the construct of patriotism found in ERS that is ethnic harmony, identity & volunteerism. Table 1 summarizes the results of multiple regression tests before students occupy the ethnic relations module. The types of patriotism, namely blind and constructive patriotism, explained 48.1 percent of the variance in the construct of ethnic harmony (R2 = 0.481, F = 161.304, p <0.01), 38.7 percent of the variance in the construct of identity (R2 = 38.7, F = 109.767, p <0.01 ) and 25.6 percent of the variance in the volunteer spirit construct (R2 = 0.256, F = 59.978, p <0.01). Subsequent observations found that the type of constructive patriotism showed a significant relationship with the construct of ethnic harmony (B = 0.607, t = 11.477, p <0.01), the construct of identity (B = 0.342, t = 5.942, p <0.01) and the construct of volunteerism ( B = 0.314, t = 4.955, p <0.01). Similar results were also found for the type of blind patriotism which showed a significant relationship with the three constructs in ERS namely ethnic harmony (B = 0.188, t = 2.235, p <0.01), identity (B = 0.336, t = 5.842, p <0.01) and volunteerism (B = 0.314, t = 4.955, p <0.01).  Table 2 shows the results of multiple regression test to test the relationship between the types of patriotism with the value of patriotism in ERS, namely the construct of ethnic harmony, the construct of identity and the construct of volunteerism after students sit for ERS. The test found that the types of patriotism namely constructive and blind managed to explain 33.7 percent of the variance in the construct of ethnic harmony (R2 = 0.337, F = 88.623, p <0.01), 26.6 percent of the variance in the construct of identity (R2 = 0.266, F = 63.040, p <0.01), and 22.5 percent variance in the volunteer spirit construct (R2 = 0.225, F = 50.654, p <0.01). However, the results of multiple regression tests before and after occupying the module were different when the type of constructive patriotism was only related to the value of ethnic harmony (B = 0.514, t = 9.211, p <0.01) and the value of identity (B = 0.184, t = 3.137, p < 0.01). While blind patriotism was only significantly related to the value of selfidentity (B = 0.381, t = 6.485, p <0.01) and the value of volunteerism (B = 0.420, t = 6.965, p <0.01).

Discussion and Conclusion
In measuring students 'patriotism spirit, it is not as easy as comparing positive and negative, low or high but involves complex emotional measurements (Wang, Khoo, Goh & Gopinathan, 2006). The analysis was conducted on the tendency of the types of patriotism, namely blind patriotism and constructive patriotism as independent variables and dependent variables consisting of three values of patriotism in the ERS module, namely ethnic harmony, identity and the spirit of volunteerism. Nevertheless, the results of tests conducted by comparing before and after occupying ERS found, for blind patriotism is only related to the value of identity and the spirit of volunteerism but not to the value of ethnic harmony. While constructive patriotism it is only related to the value of ethnic harmony and the value of identity only but not to the value of the spirit of volunteerism.
Blind patriotism is often associated with undivided loyalty to the country with the habit of comparing one's own country with other countries. Druckman (1994) states whether a positive view of one's own country will cause us to view other countries from a purely negative angle. The findings of this study are in line with a study conducted by Marzecki (2019) which showed a significant relationship between patriotism with the formation of Poland students' identity. Patriotism helps in the formation of students' identity and in turn causes students to strive to show a good moral code to maintain the good name of the country. Moreover, the findings of the study indicate that blind patriotism has no relationship with ethnic harmony. Its explains patriotism behaviour is sentimental behaviour that preserves and prioritizes members of one's own group over outside groups. In the context of this study, the group in question is an ethnic group. Some informants stated the occurrence of polarization in the ERS class. They stated friends tended to prefer to sit and mingle with the same ethnicity rather than mixing and mingling with different ethnicities. Then TIS can explain that a person will categorize himself in the group that shelters him.
The spirit of volunteerism is an integration between feelings of love for the country and responsibility for the country. It is a high patriotic behaviour in which the emergence of awareness and desire is then translated into participation to serve and contribute to the country. A study conducted on Poland students found that the perception of patriotism has a positive relationship with emotional attachment such as a sense of love for one's country while encouraging a person to engage in social, political or moral activities (Marzecki, 2019). They understand that a constructive spirit of patriotism is engaging in community activities, volunteering activities as well as charitable activities. This activity although small scale but it is a moral task that can be done by a good citizen (Bahari, 2016).
Findings from this study indicate that constructive patriotism has an insignificant relationship with the spirit of volunteerism. Among the factors that cause students not to be interested in volunteer activities are due to time management factors, fatigue, volunteer activities that are biased and involve only one race and there is not enough information about increasing the spirit of volunteerism in Malaysia in general and universities in particular. This is in line with a study conducted by Marzecki (2019) on Poland students. Although constructive patriotism is often associated with volunteering but the studies conducted failed to link constructive patriotism as a cause of making students active or participating in volunteering activities. Even students have a blind spirit of patriotism nor is it constructive, it does not make the student interested in political involvement nor volunteer activities (Marzecki, 2019).
These findings indicate that the ERS module does not form perceptions of blind patriotism or constructive patriotism in isolation but ERS builds an understanding of blind patriotism and constructive patriotism simultaneously. Researchers try to make a clear comparison that patriotism is distinguished by two opposite concepts, namely blind patriotism which is extreme and constructive patriotism which is more moderate and constructive. Wang, Khoo, Goh, Tan and Gopinathan (2006) and Altikulac (2016) have clustered the types of patriotism into two namely constructive patriotisms in high patriotism clusters and blind and symbolic patriotism in low patriotism clusters. Davidov (2010) explained that the classification of patriotism can be made based on blind patriotism that tends towards military nature, servitude or natural patriotism that forms a tendency to constructive, critical, civil and reasonable values. Yet the fact is that they cannot be compared differently and separated because the basic values in the concept of blind patriotism as well as constructive patriotism are the same. For example, the inseparable elements of blind and constructive patriotism such as feelings of affection and love for the country, are willing to sacrifice for the country even in different forms.