The Malay Mail Online | KUALA LUMPUR, 16-Jul-2014 ― The latest survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center has revealed an unlikely truth about the nation’s ethnic Malays: those in their 20s, with access to internet and alternative media, and earning more than RM5,000 a month are likely to support controversial hudud laws being implemented in Malaysia.

According to the survey results released today, 71 per cent of Malays polled said they supported hudud laws.

But for Malays between 21 and 30 years of age, the proportion swelled to 83 per cent.

Among Malays with access to alternative media, a whopping 90 per cent supported hudud while 86 per cent of Malay households with an income above RM5,000 a month also backed the controversial laws.

In comparison, only 61 per cent of Malays with a household income below RM1,500, 69 per cent of those earning between RM1,500 and RM3,000 and 80 per cent with earnings between RM3,000 and RM5,000 supported hudud laws.

However, 59 per cent of those polled said they felt the country was not ready to implement the laws, with 51 per cent saying they believe it would not be implemented fairly.Malays are by definition also Muslims.

In the wider population, the survey found that more than half support the controversial Islamic penal code at 53 per cent, including 31 per cent who said they strongly supported it.

The survey also found that civil servants and staff of government-linked companies are more likely to support hudud. Seventy-nine per cent of Malays in this category support the laws.

While urban Malays were more likely to support hudud, there were more supporters of hudud across the races in rural areas.

The survey polled 1,009 voters in Peninsula Malaysia via telephone in their preferred language between April 12 and 21 this year.

In Islamic jurisprudence, “hudud” covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy. Punishments for the crimes are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.

The debate over hudud is raging once more in Malaysia after PAS made known its plan to enforce the Islamic criminal law in Kelantan state which it has governed since 1990.

The news then led to baiting between the Islamist party and rival Umno over the controversial bid to amend the country’s laws to allow the introduction of hudud.

Last month, Selangor Umno assemblymen proposed a study on the feasibility of implementing hudud in the state, but withdrew it at the 11th hour.

Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) has allegedly proposed, in a working paper by its Shariah-Civil Technical Committee, that hudud to be rolled out nationwide in two stages.

In May, PAS said it will delay tabling two Parliamentary private members’ bills needed to pave the way for the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan, to allow a proposed bipartisan committee to study the implementation of the Islamic penal code.

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also said his party will push for a national-level committee on hudud.

Muhyiddin, who is also deputy prime minister, said both local and foreign experts on hudud would sit in the proposed committee. The specifics of the committee remain under wraps.

The Malay Mail Online | KUALA LUMPUR, 16-Jul-2014 ― A minister shrugged off today Merdeka Center’s hudud survey that showed a majority believing that the country is not ready for the Islamic penal code, saying one poll could not conclusively capture Malaysian sentiment on the matter.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan also said consultations would be held under the proposed national committee on hudud.

“It is not just about one survey,” Rahman told reporters at a function at PPR Desa Tun Razak in Cheras here today.

“This is a massive decision that must be made by the government or by the people of Malaysia. One survey should not be an indication of what the people want,” added the Sabah Umno secretary.

In the survey released by independent pollster Merdeka Center today, 59 per cent of respondents think Muslim-majority Malaysia is not ready to implement hudud.

Slightly more than half, however, support the controversial Islamic law at 53 per cent.

The survey polled 1,009 voters in peninsular Malaysia via telephone in their preferred language between April 12 and 21 this year.

In Islamic jurisprudence, “hudud” covers crimes such as theft, robbery, adultery, rape and sodomy. Punishments for the crimes are severe, including amputation, flogging and death by stoning.

astroawani.com | 16-Jul-2014 – Majority of Malaysians are not ready for the implementation of hudud and qisas, a recent study by Merdeka Centre revealed.

The study carried out among voters in Peninsular Malaysia found 58 per cent of Malays, 59 per cent of Chinese and 61 per cent of Indians were of the opinion that Malaysia is not ready to implement Islamic criminal laws.

“The study found that only 25 per cent of the whole respondents and 30 per cent of the Malay respondent who believed that the country is ready for the implementation of hudud laws,” said Merdeka Center for Opinion Research in a press statement, released today.

The study was carried out from Apr 12 to 21, involving 1,009 registered voters out of which 60 per cent were Malays, 31 per cent Chinese and 9 per cent Indians. They were picked randomly and interviewed via telephone.

Despite saying the country is not prepared to implement hudud, a total of 53 per cent of the respondents said they supported the Islamic laws while 56 per cent said they understood hudud.

The majority of those who supported hudud were the Malays, at 71 per cent while the majority of those who did not support hudud were the Chinese (65 per cent) and Indians (69 per cent).

The Merdeka Center survey also found that 83 per cent of the Malay respondents who supported the implementation of Islamic criminal laws are those aged 30 and below. This is in line with the survey carried out by the same firm in 2011 on young Malays and hudud.

Meanwhile, the survey also showed that only 32 per cent of the respondents believe that hudud laws can be carried out fairly. They were asked to give their perception on the ability of the judicial institution and enforcement in ensuring that hudud laws will be carried out fairly.

The Malaysian Insider | 16-Jul-2014 – A majority of Malaysians are not ready for Islamic penal code, or hudud, to be implemented in the country, a survey by Merdeka Center for Opinion Research has found.

The survey, carried out among Peninsula Malaysia voters, saw 58% of Malays, 59% Chinese and 61% Indians agreeing that Malaysia was not yet prepared for the law.

“The survey found that only 25% of the total respondents and 30% of Malay respondents believe that the country is ready for hudud laws implementation at this time,” Merdeka Center said in its release today.

The survey was conducted between April 12 and April 21, 2014, involving 1,009 registered voters comprising 60% Malay, 31% Chinese and 9% Indian respondents interviewed by telephone.

They were selected on the basis of random stratified sampling along ethnicity, gender and state of residence.

The interviews were carried out in the preferred language of the respondents.

However, the survey found that there was high support for hudud (53%) and only 3% were not in favour of the Islamic law.

The support was especially high among Malay voters. A whopping 71% of Malays were all for hudud law as opposed to only 20 who were against it.

Conversely, 65% and 69% of Chinese and Indians respectively were against the implementation of hudud law. Only 26% from both ethnic groups supported it.

“Among Malay respondents, the survey found high support for hudud and yet at the same time a low level of readiness to see it implemented,” Merdeka Center said.

“In our opinion, this possibly reflects their desire to conform to established norms about the primacy of the shariah laws at a personal level but at the same time indicates hesitation to see it fully implemented publicly.”

It also noted that Malay voters under the age of 30 years registered the highest level of support at 83% compared to other older age groups – a result consistent with the think tank’s earlier findings in a 2011 study of Muslim youth sentiments on hudud.

The Merdeka Center survey also found that only 56% understood what hudud is about as opposed to 43% who did not.

It showed that those with a higher household income had a better understanding of hudud (62% of those who earned RM5,000 and above understand versus 39% who did not).

Also, just half of those polled (51%) believe that hudud law would not be fairly implemented while only 32% believe otherwise.

The hudud debate came about after Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob revealed that the state intended to table a private member’s bill to allow the implementation of hudud.

The bill would enable the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II, which was passed in 1993 by the state assembly, to be enforced.

Ahmad’s announcement closely followed the statement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom that Putrajaya would back the state’s move to implement hudud.

Deputy Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Mohamad Amar Nik Abdullah added fuel to the fire after he said that the state government did not need the blessings of PKR and DAP to implement hudud.This caused a rift between PAS and its Pakatan Rakyat allies, in particular DAP. DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke had even suggested that PAS leave the PR coalition if it was intent on implementing hudud in Kelantan.

However in May, following protests and severe criticism, PAS decided it would postpone the tabling of the bill to allow sufficient time for a joint Putrajaya and Kelantan government technical committee to study the implementation of the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II. – July 16, 2014.

The Malaysian Insider | 22-Apr-2014 – A recent survey which showed that only 26% of 1,029 respondents believed that Putrajaya had been truthful about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 saga is an indication of the public’s perception on the way the government is handling the tragedy, says pollster Merdeka Center.

Responding to acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s dismissal of the poll’s results, Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian said while Putrajaya might be doing its best to handle the tragedy, the numerous conspiracy theories as well as the slow release of information from the authorities had contributed to the negative perception.

“This is a media-driven issue and there is no way the public will know anything beyond what’s reported by the media and in social media.

“The results of the survey are reflective of what’s on the public’s minds. It might not be reflective of the truth, perhaps, but it is reflective of their perception, driven by the sources of their information,” said Ibrahim.

The survey found that 26% of respondents believed that the government was being truthful, while 54% said the government had been hiding the truth about flight MH370.

Out of the 1,029 respondents polled, 54% said Putrajaya was not transparent in releasing information about the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft which vanished from the radar en route to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

The plane was inexplicably diverted and is now believed to have crashed in the remote Indian Ocean. A multination search and rescue effort is under way and so far, no trace of the wreckage has been found.

In dismissing the survey results as purely speculative and irresponsible, Hishammuddin had said that the opinion poll was not true and did not represent the views of the majority of Malaysians, adding that the people had wanted the government to continue “and we have done so with friends from all over the world”.

“There is a small group of people who may be cynical about how we are going to move forward, but the truth will always prevail. We have nothing to hide,” he was quoted as saying at a press conference on Saturday.

Ibrahim said the belief that the government was hiding something with regards to the tragedy is higher among those aged 40 and below, as these people were the ones who are constantly connected to the Internet.

“There are a lot of conspiracy theories and speculations on the Internet on the missing plane and these are widely shared, so it does influence public perception.”

In explaining the methodology of the survey, Ibrahim said it was conducted via telephone among random samples structured along age, ethnicity and gender.

“The poll was conducted the same way like we conduct our previous polls, where the respondents reflect the typical cross section of the public in Peninsular Malaysia. It also represented the urban and rural distribution.” – April 22, 2014.

The Sun Daily Online | 01-Apr-2014, – MERDEKA Center’s recent survey is insightful and shouldn’t be dismissed by those who disagree with its conclusions. Nevertheless, as American politicians have discovered, all opinion polls should be treated with circumspection – as just an indicator of voters’ current views.

Furthermore, because questions asked by pollsters often require either a “yes” or “no” answer, this could gloss over responses that are more nuanced. Including the “yes, but …” into either category could distort the overall finding.

According to Merdeka Center, its latest survey showed 56% of respondents were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the economy while the satisfied segment comprised only 33%.

Additionally, four issues that require the federal government’s urgent attention are corruption, inflation, safety and security issues as well as affordable housing.
Confined to Peninsular Malaysia, the 1,005 respondents polled by Merdeka Center comprised 60% Malays, 31% Chinese and 9% Indians – a demographic similar to that of the country.

Among those surveyed, the three largest age segments were those aged 31 to 40 years who accounted for 30% of respondents, those between 41 and 50 years (24%) and those between 21 and 30 years (20%). This means individuals below 40 made up half of the respondents.

That 65% of respondents have internet access also suggests this demographic group lives in urban areas.

A heavy weightage of urbanites and the young may explain one curious disconnect. Those who are less well-off cited corruption as a major concern. This is puzzling as they are less likely to have the means to pay bribes.

Equally mystifying, although the cost of living is one of four major concerns of respondents, those who earned a monthly income of less than RM1,500 were happier with the government’s economic performance compared with their higher-paid counterparts.

“Perception towards the government improved the most among rural voters and those living in households earning under RM1,500 per month,” Merdeka Center suggested. “In our opinion, the improvements could be attributed to the BRIM cash transfer payments to 5.4 million recipients nationwide which began at the end of February and through March 2014.”

While the BRIM payments may explain the government’s higher favourable rating among rural folk, it would be unwise for political leaders to assume cash disbursements can be relied on continually to secure political support. More worrying is another statistic.

Although 49% of those working for the government and for government-linked corporations (GLCs) were satisfied with the government’s handling of the economy, this is marginally higher than the 46% that were dissatisfied.

Additionally, the gap between the two groups is just 3% – close to the survey’s estimated margin of error of 3.09%.

In contrast, detailed analysis of respondents’ perception towards Barisan Nasional show only 40% of civil servants and GLC employees are happy with the federal government – much lower than the 45% who are dissatisfied or angry.

Regardless of the mixed message these two sets of data present, this statistic is important. If BN cannot rely on civil servants and GLC employees to provide the base of electoral support, is there another growing bloc of voters it can count on to secure victory in the next general election?

Ironically, if the economy continues to expand, BN’s electoral support base, as the Merdeka Center’s poll suggests, – those less well-off, living in rural areas and who don’t have internet access – will continue to shrink.

Because the survey was carried out from March 7 to 20, Merdeka Center believes issues such as Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s conviction for sodomy and declining racial relations could have influenced respondents.

Like all pollsters, a major challenge for the Merdeka Center is this: can it identify turning points in voter perception?

One event that underscores the limitations of opinion polls is Barack Obama’s re-election as US president in November 2012.

In the months leading up to the November 2012 election, newspapers harped on the sluggish American economy, in particular continuing high unemployment, and Obama’s failure to effect change – the platform that won him an unprecedented victory as the first African-American president four years earlier.

On the eve of polling in November 2012, among likely voters, Gallup found Obama’s approval rating in handling the US economy was just 42%. In response to a question whether Obama deserve to be re-elected, Gallup found 51% of respondents said he did not.

Based on its findings, Gallup predicted a close fight while other pollsters indicated the Republican challenger Mitt Romney would win.

Strenuous efforts to lift the turnout rate among key Democratic constituencies – women and minorities – plus a targeted campaign to win critical electoral states like Ohio – coupled with Romney’s complacency earned Obama a decisive victory in the electoral college and popular vote.

As the name suggests, opinion polls are opinions, not cast-iron predictions.

Opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the writer and should not be attributed to any other organisation she is connected with. She can be contacted at siokchoo@thesundaily.com

Malaysiakini.com | 01-Apr-2014 – A growing number of Malaysians are dissatisfied with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s leadership, according to a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Centre.

Its survey showed that 44 percent of the 1,005 respondents, surveyed between March 7 and March 20 are dissatisfied with Najib’s leadership, up four percent from December.

Despite this, Najib’s approval rating remains unchanged at 52 percent, which is an all-time low.

This is because the number of those who were unsure or had refused to respond to the question had gone down.

At 44 percent, the level of dissatisfaction against Najib is the highest since Merdeka Centre first tracked his performance in May 2009, a month after he took office.

It is likely driven by concerns over the economic situation, followed by crime, racial issues and political issues.

Most of those surveyed believe that corruption is the top-most issue to be addressed.

Despite Najib’s dismal ratings, more people surveyed said they are happy with the government and the BN.

While 42 percent said they are “happy” with the government, up four percent from December, another 38 percent are happy with BN, an increase of three percent.

“In our opinion, the improvements could be attributed to the BR1M cash transfer payments to 5.4 million recipients nationwide which began at the end of February and through March,” Merdeka Centre said in a statement today.

BR1M – or Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia – may have raised happiness levels, but pessimism over the nation’s direction continues to grow.

Since June 2013 – a month after the 13th general election – fewer and fewer believe that Malaysia is heading in the right direction.

In March, only 38 percent of those surveyed believed Malaysia is going the right way, compared to 54 percent last June, 49 percent last August and 42 percent last December.

Those who feel that the nation is headed the wrong way remained at slightly under half of those surveyed in 12 states and 165 parliamentary constituencies.

‘Indians in a state of disillusionment’

Interestingly, compared to other communities, Indian Malaysians appear to be in pronounced headlong disillusionment over Malaysia’s direction.

Only 30 percent of Indians believe Malaysia is moving in the right direction, a deep plunge from 52 percent in December and 63 percent in August.

A huge 63 percent believe Malaysia is going the wrong way.

The dip was not as steep among Malay and Chinese respondents. On the whole, however, more Malays think the nation is heading the right direction. Only 33 percent think the nation is going the wrong way.

Most of those surveyed are employed in the private sector and earn below RM3,000 a month.

However, it is noted that more civil servants or employees of government-linked companies and those who are not formally employed are happy with the government.

Most – or 63 percent – of private sector employees take a dim view of the government, while those who are self-employed are split down the middle on their perception of the state.