Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email The survey report can be downloaded from Merdeka Centre’s website or click here to directly access it (PDF form).
First, a bit of background on the survey:
– 1026 randomly selected registered voters aged 21+ in Peninsular Malaysia were interviewed via
telephone for the survey.
– Respondents were selected via random stratified sampling method along the lines of state of
residence, ethnicity, gender and age.
– Survey was carried out between 14th to 19th December 2007. (2-3 weeks after HINDRAF rally)
Key Findings:
– Inflation and crime remain top issues of concern but dissatisfaction over treatment by government has come to the fore, especially AMONG ETHNIC INDIANS.
– Concerns over the economy remain high with sentiments mixed over prices, jobs and business opportunities. Economic optimism for 2008 shows some decline, Malay voters remain positive but less upbeat.
– Confidence in the government in running the economy remains high among Malays but VERY LOW AMONG CHINESE.
– Approval rating of the Prime Minister has DECREASED FROM 71% to 61%.
– Indian voters sentiments have turned VISIBLY MORE NEGATIVE but non-Indian sentiments have improved probably due to calm after the recent spate of demonstrations and police action.
Now, for the contents (I’m summarizing the details from the graphs and text in the report).
– Overall satisfaction with situation in the country is 15% – very satisfied, 48% – somewhat satisfied, 27% – somewhat dissatisfied, 9% – dissatisfied, and 1% don’t know. (means satisfaction is 63%, while dissatisfaction is 36%).
– 44% of indians SATISFIED with things going on in the country, DOWN from 62% in November, while the 54% of chinese (47% in november) and 71% of malays (76% in november) were satisfied. For indians, that’s a whopping 42% DROP from November 2006!
ECONOMY
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– 54% Indians think economic condition is WORSE than 3 years ago, while 33% of the Chinese say its marginally improved. Overall sentiment is the same as in November 2006.
– 58% of respondents say personal income is very/somewhat favorable while 37% say its somewhat/very unfavorable.
– 84% respondents say prices of consumer items/services are somewhat/very unfavorable.
– 47% of respondents say job opportunity is very/somewhat favorable while 45% say its somewhat/very unfavorable.
– 41% expect economy to improve in a year, while 8% say it will remain the same. 35% say it will decline, while 19% don’t know. For Indians, the expectation that economy will improve DROPPED from 47% (oct 2007- before rally) to 43% (dec 2007). For chinese, it remained at 19%.
– 55% are vey/somewhat satisfied with the way govt is managing the economy, while 41% are very/somewhat dissatisfied. 35% of chinese were satisfied (31% in oct 2007) while 49% on indians were satisfied (54% in oct 2007).
NATIONAL ISSUES AND CONCERNS
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– “Ethnic and inequality” is ranked 2nd (17%) in the list of problems affecting Malaysia. 1st is “price hike and inflation” (20%), 3rd is “crime/public safety” (12%) and fourth was “social problems” (9%). Fifth waS “demonstration” at 7%.
– for “price hike and inflation”, 78% were very/somewhat dissatisfied with govt’s effort to solve it, while only 28% were very/somewhat satisfied.
– for “ethnic and inequality”, 63% were very/somewhat dissatisfied with govt’s effort to solve it, while 35% were very/somewhat satisfied.
– for “crime/public safety”, 66% were very/somewhat dissatisfied with govt’s effort to solve it, while only 32% were very/somewhat satisfied.
– for “social problems”, 50% were very/somewhat dissatisfied with govt’s effort to solve it, while 49% were very/somewhat satisfied.
– for “demonstation”, 32% were very/somewhat dissatisfied with govt’s effort to solve it, while 65% were very/somewhat satisfied. (means generally people agree with govt action of using water cannons and tear gas?)
– 50% strongly/somewhat believe the mainstream media reports on the HINDRAF rally, 37% strongly/somewhat do not believe. 2% did not follow the news, 9% don’t know. For the BERSIH rally it was 44% strongly/somewhat believe, 43% strongly/somewhat do not believe, 3% does not follow the news, and 9% don’t know.
– 64% believe “meet and discuss with protest leaders” is the most appropriate action to be taken by govt, while 16% say protest should be allowed with police permit. 8% say continue with arrest of demo supporters.
APPROVAL RATINGS
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– approval rating for PM dropped 10% within a month. 61% strongly/somewhat approve the way PM is doing his job (71% before rally in nov 2007) while 30% strongly/somewhat disapprove. 7% don’t know. (This is the LOWEST rating he has received so far)
– Badawi’s approval rating dropped 11% (85% to 74%) in aug 2005 when he announced 20 sen petrol price increase. it dropped 15% (83% – 68%) in march 2006 when he announced 30 sen petrol price increase. After Mahathir’s criticism began in April 2006, Badawi’s ratings slid from 78% to 63% (15% drop) in sept 2006.
– the 10% drop in approval ratings is caused by 41% DROP (79% to 38%) in approval among Indians, 5% drop (47% to 42%) among Chinese, and 8% (84% to 76%) drop among Malays.
The respondents are just 0.0095% of the total voters in Malaysia, so I’m not sure how much this will alarm the govt. Obviously its an indication that something is not right. Furthermore, it is clear that the Indians believe that they are treated unequally and support the rally. They just needed someone to lead the way to show their dissatisfaction. If it was not HINDRAF, someone else would have come along in the future. It was inevitable.
Malaysiakini’s report is provided below. I’m not sure what version will appear in NST and Star.
| Indian’s approval of Pak Lah plummetshttp://malaysiakini.com/news/77480 |
| Andrew Ong | Jan 26, 08 4:47pm |
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s standing among the Indian community has taken a severe beating according to a survey released recently. Based on the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research survey, Indians approval for Abdullah had dropped from 79% in October to only 38% in December.
This has dragged Abdullah’s overall approval rating to an all time low of 61% since a high of 91% in November 2004. Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian said the sudden drop in approval ratings was due likely to the Hindraf issue since an earlier survey before November did not capture a negative swing among the Indians. “It is likely the Hindraf rally has changed the mood of Indian voters,” said Ibrahim, adding that the survey however did not provide conclusive explanation for the drop in approval. Hindraf became a household name among Indians after the movement’s mass rally on Nov 25 which saw 30,000 Indians demonstrating for equality and an end to discrimination. The survey was carried out for five days starting on Dec 14 – a day after the detention of five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act – and involved 1,026 registered voters selected via random stratified sampling.
The Chinese were the least optimistic as only 19% of respondents believe they will see improvement in the economy while the Malays (53%) were the most optimistic. On average, only 41% of respondents believe that the economy would improve. The survey also showed top three issues affecting voters were price hikes and inflation (20%), racial issues and inequality (17%) and crime and public safety (12%). Asked if they were satisfied with the government to solve the price hikes and inflation problem, 70% of respondents replied “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied”. |
Other than the Indians, the survey showed Abdullah losing the approval of the Malays and Chinese which saw a reduction of 8% and 5% respectively when compared to the October survey.
