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Economy & race top concerns for voters: Poll
02-Feb-2009, New Straits Times

Economic and race-related issues were the top concerns for voters in Peninsular Malaysia as they entered the new year, a poll released yesterday revealed.

More than 430 people, or 43 per cent, of the Fourth Quarter 2008 Peninsular Malaysia Voter Opinion Survey respondents ranked “unfavourable economic conditions”, “rising cost of living” and “unemployment” as the three most troubling issues.

Race-related concerns such as “racial inequality”, “worsening ethnic relations” and “lack of unity among Malaysians” followed closely with 17 per cent.

The survey carried out by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, between Dec 26 last year and Jan 2 this year, also found governance-related issues came in third, with many respondents citing “corruption” and “ineffective or unconcerned government” as worrisome.

The survey also showed voters’ confidence in the effectiveness of the newly-established Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to be cautious with only 43 per cent expressing confidence in its ability to fight corruption.
But, as the Merdeka Centre pointed out, the survey was carried out before the multiple arrests by the MACC recently.

Interestingly, 468 out of 1,018 voters or 46 per cent who took part in the survey were satisfied with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s performance.

Asked whether Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would make a good prime minister once he succeeds, 41 per cent responded positively.
The survey, which also looked at public perception of MCA following the party elections, revealed that the majority of the respondents wanted MCA to “pressure the government to treat Malaysians fairly irrespective of race”.

Another 19 per cent expected the party to address the recession.
But voters were split along ethnic lines when asked whether they felt component parties such as the MCA were fairly treated in the Barisan Nasional coalition.

More than half of the Malay respondents felt the parties were treated equally although 66 per cent of Chinese said otherwise.