Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), with '*its mission to establish marine and wildlife research and education centre*' (respondent 17).

Public-public partnerships were formed between LADA and other government agencies such as TEKUN, MARA, Bank Pertanian, MARDI, PELADANG, and PERIKANAN to provide financial support for the local communities to be involved in small and medium industries (SMI). According to respondent 6 from Community Development Unit, the main purpose of building these partnerships is to give opportunities for local people to do business. He explained that '*LADA is a moderator between people and the related agencies, we give consultation for locals to improve their business…improve their products through marketing and promotion strategies*. *While government is helping the locals, we also develop tourism products*'. In addition, partnerships between private companies with several NGOs were formed, for example, respondent 16 explained that Frangipani Resort has collaborated with *MareCet* group in marine mammals' conservation, and *Ecoknights* in environmental education. '*The sea is polluted and all the stakeholders should cooperate and solve the problem*,' said respondent 16. For partnerships between NGOs and NGOs, the LTGA has collaborated with Kilim NGOs and '*every year on 1st of February which is the National Tourists Guide Day, the LTGA provides free tours to local students to encourage more youngsters to be involved in the tour guide industry*,' explained respondent 11. At the same time, partnership between *Komuniti Pengurusan Ekosistem Perikanan (KPSP) Tanjung Rhu* and Koperasi Orang Muda (Komuda) was formed with the aim to '*solve the issues faced by our communities in resource management*', stated the chairman of KPSP (respondent 13).

In order to ensure effective communication between all levels of stakeholders, a strong partnership is crucial as a mechanism to gain trust among communities. Communities' trust is significant for policy and project implementation as it refers to 'confidence that political institutions will not misuse power' [44, p. 478]. Once trust is established, partners are willing to commit more time and resources to develop the relationship and thereby reduce conflicts in the planning and development processes [45].
