So you think you know the voters

Source

About 61 percent of Malays considered themselves Muslims first, with only 28 percent identifying themselves first as Malaysians. When asked whether they rely upon their religion when making major life decisions, 92 percent of Malays and 85 percent of Indians answered affirmatively, while only 37 percent of Chinese agreed.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

In October 2006, the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur sent the report below to Washington. This was, of course, six years ago and a year before the first Bersih rally of November 2007 and about 17 months before the 12th General Election in March 2008.

We would like to believe that this report is already outdated and that Malaysians have generally changed since then. But have they?

This opinion poll, funded by The Asia Foundation (http://asiafoundation.org/), surveyed more than 1,500 young Malaysian adults aged 18-32. The results showed sharp differences of views on religion and national identity and the relation between state and religion among the country's three largest ethnic groups - the Malays, Chinese and Indians.

Maybe you should read the report below and unless things have changed drastically over the last six years, which I feel they have not, then you are going to be in for a surprise this coming general election.

The salient points you should take special note of are the following:

1. About 61 percent of Malays considered themselves Muslims first, with only 28 percent identifying themselves first as Malaysians.

2. Only 31 percent of Malays agreed that ‘all cultures and religions should be given equal rights’, compared with 61 percent of Chinese and 66 percent of Indian respondents (which means 69 percent of Malays support ‘Ketuanan Melayu’).

3. The Chinese put ethnicity first (47 percent), followed by nationality (44 percent) and religion (5 percent).

4. Indians were the most nationalistic, with 75 percent identifying themselves first as Malaysians, followed by their ethnic group (14 percent) and religion (5 percent).

5. When asked whether they rely upon their religion when making major life decisions, 92 percent of Malays and 85 percent of Indians answered affirmatively, while only 37 percent of Chinese agreed.

6. Only 9 percent of Malays agreed ‘it is not wrong for unmarried couples to hold hands in public places’, compared with 96 percent of Chinese and 58 percent of Indians.

7. With regard to the connection between government and religion, only 3 percent of Malays agreed that ‘government and religion should be kept separate’, compared with 64 percent of Chinese and 47 percent of Indians.

8. About 30 percent of Malays hoped Malaysia would become ‘more Islamic’, while that outcome was supported by 0 percent of Chinese and 4 percent of Indians.

9. About 34 percent of Malays agreed that ‘government should increase the implementation of Islam by introducing Hudud laws for Muslims’, compared with only 2 percent of Chinese and 0 percent of Indian respondents.

10. A majority of Malays (53 percent) stated that they would not accept a woman as prime minister, compared with only 11 percent of Chinese and 6 percent of Indians.

11. Over 40 percent of respondents (of all races) would forgo elections in exchange for government-guaranteed peace, stability and economic growth (which means ‘democracy’ is not as important as peace, stability and economic growth).

Those who do not understand the method that opinion polls are done would probably argue that 1,500 respondents do not reflect the opinion of 15 million registered voters or 28 million Malaysian citizens. Those who do, however, would know that in a properly conducted poll, 1,500 respondents are all you need to get a plus-minus 5% accuracy result, and even if you increase the number of respondents to 15,000 or more, the accuracy would only improve by 1-2%.

Anyway, the bottom line is, we think we understand the psyche of the Malaysian voter, in particular the young or first-time voter. But do we?

Note that some within the age group of those polled back in 2006 were not yet registered voters or of the age where they could vote. This time around, however, many are able to vote and/or have registered to vote and will be voting in the coming general election, maybe three million or so.

Are you surprised to learn how Malaysians think and the sentiments they have and did you suspect this is what they think? Yes, that is the million dollar question and going by the comments posted in Malaysian Today, which I have been monitoring these last few years since 2008, I can see that many of you do not really know what is in the mind of most Malaysians and you are of the view that other Malaysians think exactly the way you do.

Can you now see how wrong you were?