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Peninsular Malaysians reject corrupt leaders

By Jacqueline Ann Surin

October 8, 2009

PETALING JAYA, 8 Oct 2009: A new Merdeka Center for Opinion Research poll has found that the majority of Malaysians reject political leaders who have been tainted by money politics or sex scandals.

In a press release today, Merdeka Center said a total of 87% of respondents in a poll conducted in Peninsular Malaysia from 29 Sept to 4 Oct did not want leaders who have been involved in money politics to stand for elections.


Rohaizat (Courtesy of theSun)
In the Permatang Pasir by-election, Umno’s Rohaizat Othman, who was disbarred by the Bar Council for swindling a client, was trounced by PAS.

Whether the same sentiment towards less-than-honest candidates will have a bearing on the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s performance in the 11 Oct Bagan Pinang by-election is left to be seen. The BN candidate is former Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Tan Sri Isa Samad, who was previously suspended from Umno for money politics.

The same Merdeka Center poll also found that 75% of respondents rejected leaders who were tainted by sex scandals. At the same time, 25.2% of respondents said Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should lead the MCA, while only 5.8% threw their support behind Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

Chua was scandalised by a secret video recording of his affair with a woman who was not his wife, and was sacked from the party for damaging the party’s image.


Ong
The majority of respondents (39%) also said the MCA should resolve the infighting between Ong and Chua. This was followed by wanting the party to focus on winning back the confidence of all Malaysians (27%).

The MIC fared much worse in public perception. According to the poll, 59% of respondents viewed the party unfavourable after its September polls; 26% had no opinion; and only 15% viewed the largest Indian Malaysian party in the BN favourably.

The highest percentage of Malaysians who viewed the MIC negatively was Indians (68%), followed by Malays (63%), and Chinese (49%).

Najib’s performance

In a survey conducted from 4 to 14 Sept among 1,027 respondents, 56% of Malaysians said they were satisfied with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s performance in his sixth month in office.

While Najib remains in positive territory, his popularity has dipped from the 65% approval rating he received in mid-June 2009, Merdeka Center noted.

Among the respondents, the highest percentage of satisfied Malaysians were the Malays (63%), followed by the Indians (62%), and the Chinese (40%). In fact, more Chinese Malaysians were dissatisfied than satisfied with the premier.

Overall, however, the survey found that the number of people who were dissatisfied with his performance remained similar at 23%, compared with 22% in June 2009.

The survey also found that a majority of people were satisfied with the prime minister’s efforts to improve the education system and government efficiency, and in managing the economy. But many found the efforts in reducing crime and corruption still wanting.

At the same time, Malaysians remained split over the country’s direction, with 47% saying it was in the “right direction”, while 34% saying it was in the “wrong direction”.

Coalition performance

“With respect to the Pakatan Rakyat, the survey [from 29 Sept to 4 Oct] found that 47% of the people were not convinced that it could be ‘a viable alternative’ to the BN at the federal level,” Merdeka Center said.

At the same time, the survey also found that 46% of the people were satisfied with the performance of the four Pakatan Rakyat-held states of Kedah, Penang, Selangor and Kelantan.

With regard to reforms within the BN, the same survey found that a majority of respondents (34%) felt that “unless Umno reforms extensively, changes in other component parties mean little”.

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Barisan Nasional, corrupt leaders, infighting, MCA, Merdeka Center, MIC, Najib Tun Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, poll, popularity, sex scandals, Umno

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ong Eu Soon says

    October 9, 2009 at 2:13 am

    Anwar can forget about his dream of becoming the PM of Malaysia if the Pakatan state governments still [fail] to [perform], and [instead] try to outdo BN to be more BN than Pakatan. Some of the Pakatan state governments appear to be very keen to carry on what BN has left behind. Doing all the [worst] things with [a zeal] that shocks those who voted for change […]

  2. rudy says

    October 9, 2009 at 2:22 am

    Wow. This report is timely indeed!

  3. Lim Goh Tong says

    October 9, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    If any tainted and corrupted politican starts promising more money, schools, roads, mosques, temples, churchs, scholarships, tenders – most Malaysians mudah lupa.

  4. Anak Kampung says

    October 9, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Shouldn’t the title say “Peninsular Malaysians”? The survey is not representative of Malaysia if it didn’t take into account Sabah and Sarawak…

    =================================================

    You are so right! Again, our pensinsula-based bias is obvious. Thanks for taking us to task for it and will do better the next time.

    Jacqueline.
    Editor
    The Nut Graph

  5. MAT SALLEH says

    October 9, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    Jika orang India dan Cina mahu hidup selesa di negeri ini, undilah […] Isa kerana korupsi akan menyelamatkan anda semua.

  6. Merah Silu says

    October 9, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    As far as I know, corruption is not part of [the] traditional culture and lifestyle of [the] Malay [Malaysian]. Of course, they accept hadiah as part of appreciation. This social virus of corrupt practices was introduced by these economic-seeking immigrants of Chinese and Indian descent. They do whatever they can, including giving [bribes], to Malay [Malaysian] administrators. Once they reach [a] certain level of prosperity, they are the ones who condemn the Malay [Malaysians] for corrupt practices.

    I [pay] my traffic penalties, RM300 or RM150, faithfully. But I saw myself that a Chinese [Malaysian] paid RM50 to avoid [a] traffic summon. Even one Indian [Malaysian] “tarik kereta” at [the] highway paid RM10 to [the] police for duit minum. I scolded these Indian and Chinese [Malaysians] for their corrupt practices. In fact, I was told these things are rampant.

    So nobody prefers corrupt persons to represent them in the Dewan Rakyat [or] DUN. But many of these decendants of immigrants prefer the practice to continue, as they are the ones who benefit a lot in term of securing projects.

    ==================================================================
    @Merah Silu

    You’re kidding, right? What’s stopping the Malay Malaysian from taking these bribes if they are as upright and blameless as you argue them to be?

    Surely, pinning the blame on others and not taking a look at how an entire system, one which Malay Malaysians mostly head, I might add, is a convenient way to demonise Malaysians of other descent as migrants who have polluted Malaysian society. Tsk, tsk, if I were Malay Malaysian, I would be insulted by your thesis at how easily I can be bought over by these corrupt “migrants”.

    Jacqueline.

  7. orang utara says

    October 14, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    Seems like only northern peninsular [Malaysians] reject corrupt leaders. The majority of southerners never seem to be bothered about having a corrupt leader. From Negeri Sembilan to Johor, corrupt ministers are still able to find support. The recent landslide win in Bagan Pinang by another corrupt leader proves it.

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