All praises go to Allah; it is with His blessings that I managed to complete this thesis.
My sincere gratitude goes to my supervisor, Professor L H S, who has shared a lot of his expertise and research insights. I am also indebted to various GSAPS lecturers for their guidance and assistance, and I warmly thank Professor S S, for useful advice and thoughts shared while attending his class on Globalization of Cultures. Yes sir, I agree that often “cultural diversity should come first”.
I especially owed it to Normizan Abu Bakar and Ganjar Nugruho for thoughtful advice and constructive criticisms which often helped me to find the “jigsaw frame” for this thesis and the pieces of puzzles to fit in the said frame.
My gratitude goes to the people and committee members of Homestay Pelegong Cooperative, especially Puan F B, Pak Wan, and Encik B S for sharing extensive discussions and interesting points to ponder upon. I must also thank the girls at the Tourism Services department of the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism; Izamalina, Siti Afeefah and Hamdiah Ismail for friendly help and valuable inputs.
My heartfelt thanks go to all my friends, old and new, near and far. Still, some special ones deserve mentioning here – Che Nah and Sarina for sharing tips on how to simultaneously manage both graduate school and growing family, Kak Marsita Yunus for sharing insights on homestay tourism, Iffah, Jue, Masni, Yam, Nita and Kamarol for distant support and encouragement, and last but not least, Siyi, Mega, Hien, Emi, Yuko, members of Professor Lim’s zemi and the usual lot at GSAPS library whose concern and presence had given me the constant moral and practical support I needed, particularly during the eleventh hour.
My family have been a long lasting source of energy during this exhaustive research. Grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins, in-laws all have given me a loving environment where to develop. Brothers, Azrul and Amirul, sister-in-law Sarah, half-sister Ameera, half-brother Abdul Karim and almost-brother Faizly included. My parents, Baharom Hassan and Ngasobah Seliman have always supported and encouraged me to go further than I had thought possible. Lastly, I owe my loving thanks to my husband Mohd Amin Mohd Tahir, and my sons Muhammad Azmi Huzaifah and Muhammad Akif Humaidi for being a source of inspiration and motivation for me. To them I dedicate this thesis.
