Pandemic, Malay power lend popularity boost to Malaysia PM: Poll

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin smiles during a session of the lower house of parliament, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia July 13, 2020.Muhyiddin Yassin has been rated highly by voters, according to a poll published on Wednesday, on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and greater representation of the ethnic Malay majority in his administration. (Reuters/Lim Huey Teng)

thejakartapost.com | 02-Sept-2020 – Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been rated highly by voters, according to a poll published on Wednesday, on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and greater representation of the ethnic Malay majority in his administration.

Muhyiddin received a 69% approval rating in a survey run by independent pollster Merdeka Center, six months after taking office in March following a power struggle that saw the collapse of the previous multi-ethnic government led by Mahathir Mohamad.

Survey respondents also gave a 93% approval rating for the government’s handling of COVID-19 and rated it highly for helping the needy and managing the economy during the coronavirus-induced crisis. Malaysia has reported just over 9,300 coronavirus infections.

In the last popularity poll https://reut.rs/3hSwxEP published by Merdeka Center in April last year, less than half of Malaysians approved of then-premier Mahathir as concerns over rising costs and racial issues plagued his administration.

Merdeka Center Executive Director Ibrahim Suffian said Malay voters indicated a strong preference for the administration’s management of the pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout and for bringing together long-feuding Malay political parties.

“The results also indicate a significant swing of support of Malay voters towards a unified Malay political coalition,” Ibrahim said in a statement.

Ethnic Malays account for some 60% of Malaysia’s population of about 32 million, with the rest comprised mostly of ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities.

Muhyiddin, who leads the Malay-based Bersatu party, secured the premiership backed by two of the largest parties representing Malay interests – the scandal-tainted former ruling party, United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party.

But he holds a razor-thin majority in parliament. In July, UMNO, which forms the largest bloc in Muhyiddin’s administration, withdrew from the prime minister’s political alliance, though the party said it would continue to support the government in parliament.

Survey shows just over half of Malaysians think country is heading in right direction

The Jalur Gemilang is displayed in Putrajaya in conjunction with Merdeka Day. ― Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

malaymail.com | 02-Sept-2020 – KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 ― A survey conducted by independent pollster Merdeka Center showed a declining approval rating from voters regarding the direction the country is currently headed.

From a size sample of 3,415 voters, 51 per cent said they felt the country is heading in the right direction, a seven percentage points drop from May, while 34 per cent think it is heading in the wrong direction, an increase of four points since May.

“For those who answered the country is in the right direction, 26 per cent of them have attributed it to good administration of the government while 21 per cent were happy with the leadership.

“Meanwhile, 34 per cent of respondents feel that the country is on the wrong track,” said Merdeka Center programme director Ibrahim Suffian.

“Almost one-third (31 per cent) are frustrated because of the perceived political instability, and 17 per cent complained about economic problems such as unemployment and an adverse business climate.”

Out of the 34 per cent who felt the government was heading in the wrong directions, 32.7 per cent put it down to political instability, 9.9 per cent said it was due to unfavourable economic conditions while 6.3 per cent said it was due to poor leadership.

The survey was conducted from July 15 until August 10 to gauge voters’ perceptions towards the economy, leadership and current issues. Of the 3,415 respondents 52 per cent were Malay, 29 per cent Chinese, 7 per cent Indian, 6 per cent Muslim Bumiputera and 6 per cent Non-Muslim Bumiputera (from Sabah and Sarawak).

The survey showed that Malays had the most significant drop in approval rating for the direction the government is heading. It dropped from 82 per cent in May to 72 per cent in August.

The rating from ethnic Indians dropped two percentage points to 39 per cent while the ethnic Chinese approval ratings dropped five percentage points to 14 per cent in the same time period

57% Malays agree Najib guilty, says survey

Supporters of Najib Razak weep after the Kuala Lumpur High Court convicts the former prime minister of power abuse, money laundering and criminal breach of trust, on July 28, 2020. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, September 2, 2020.

themalaysianinsight.com | 02-Sept-2020 – NEARLY six in 10 Malay voters agreed with the Kuala Lumpur High Court that Najib Razak is guilty of abusing power and money laundering, said pollster Merdeka Centre today.

“Sixty-one percent respondents on the poll agreed with the court’s decision while only 18%  answered otherwise.

Malaysia Leader Maintains High Approval Rating on Virus Handling

A screen displays an image of Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photographer: Samsul Said/Bloomberg

bloomberg.com | 02-Sept-2020 – The approval rating for Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin remained high, as more than 90% of people were satisfied with how the government responded to the pandemic.

Support for the premier was sustained through months of virus-induced movement curbs and an economic contraction while his overall approval rating eased to 69% in August, from 74% in June and July, according to pollster Merdeka Center. His Perikatan Nasional alliance was viewed positively by 51% of respondents, twice what the opposition coalition received.

Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister by the king after he and several lawmakers defected from the government. His turbulent rise to power prompted his administration to be labeled a “back-door government” and led to calls for a fresh election by political parties from both sides of the divide. The premier currently controls a razor-thin majority in parliament.

Still, the survey results show that support for the prime minister is nearly double what his predecessors enjoyed during their final month in power. Mahathir Mohamad’s approval rating was at 37% in February when he stepped down, while Najib Razak’s was at 38% in the month before Mahathir ousted him at the 2018 general election.

Muhyiddin is most popular among the country’s biggest group, the ethnic Malays, according to the pollster. Nine out of 10 Malay and Bumiputera respondents gave him the thumbs up, while 57% of them agreed with the court’s guilty verdict for Najib over his role in the 1MDB scandal.

The survey involved a random sample of 3,415 registered voters across the country with an estimated margin of error of 1.68%, according to the Merdeka Center.

Merdeka Center finds only 25pc Malaysians view Pakatan positively

A Pakatan Harapan flag is seen along Jalan Sg Chua ahead of the Balakong by-election August 23, 2018. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon

malaymail.com | 02-Sept-2020 – KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — The ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance is approved by over half of Malaysians surveyed last month by independent pollster Merdeka Center.

Conversely, it found positive reception for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to be only at 25 per cent.

“Among the contemporary coalitions and political parties in Malaysia, PN is enjoying the highest positive perception from the voters today.

“More than half or 51 per cent of the respondents view it positively and only 27 per cent feel negatively,” said Merdeka Center programme director Ibrahim Suffian of the Bersatu-Barisan Nasional-PAS government.

“On the other hand, the positive view of Muafakat Nasional (MN) is only 37 per cent and the number is slightly lower than its component parties Barisan Nasional (BN) 40 per cent and PAS 39 per cent.

“Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, which has expressed to join MN recently, only scored 28 per cent positive views and 39 per cent are negative,” Ibrahim added.

PH consisting of DAP, PKR and Amanah scored the highest negative rating at 52 per cent.

Besides that, the Merdeka Center survey found 60 per cent of Malay voters backed PPBM’s inclusion in MN.

It found 65 per cent of Malays polled prefer Umno to be in PN, but 25 per cent think otherwise.

Similarly, the pollster said 68 per cent of Malay voters prefer PAS to be part of PN.

The Merdeka Center survey polled 3,415 voters between July 15 July and August 10, asking them about issues like the country’s economy, government and political leadership and other current issues.

Merdeka Center said the respondents comprised 52 per cent Malay, 29 per cent ethnic Chinese, 7 per cent ethnic Indian and 6 per cent other Muslim Bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak.

Majority of Malaysians polled in survey happy with PM By New Straits Times

69 per cent of Malaysian voters are satisfied with the performance of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) as the prime minister, according to a survey by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research completed on Aug 10. BERNAMA photo

New Straits Times | 02-Sept-2020 – PETALING JAYA: 69 per cent of Malaysian voters are satisfied with the performance of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister, according to a survey by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research completed on Aug 10.

“The survey found some significant ethnic variances, where nine out of 10 Malay and Bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak gave the PM the thumbs up, while 65 percent of Indians and only 33 percent Chinese were satisfied with him.

“The prime minister’s approval rating continues to be in a comfortable, positive territory considering that he has held the position since March 2020. The similar tendency was also found in the public evaluation of the federal government.

“58 percent of voters are happy with the performance of the Perikatan Nasional government led by the PM while 28 percent were dissatisfied and angry,” said Merdeka Centre co-founder and programmes director Ibrahim Suffian in a statement today.

Interestingly, he said, the income gap was one of the indicators to differentiate who agreed or disagreed with the performance of the government.

He said around three-quarter of respondents whose household income was less than RM2,000 per month expressed positive views towards the federal government but only 40 per cent were positive among those whose household income were higher than RM7,000 per month.

At the same time, 51 percent of respondents felt the country was headed in the right direction. The number is slightly lower than May this year, but it was still significantly higher than the last six months, he said.

“Between July 2019 and February 2020, only a quarter of Malaysians thought the country was moving on th

Pandemic, Malay power lend popularity boost to PM Muhyiddin — poll

theedgemarkets.com | 02-Sept-2020 – KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has been rated highly by voters, according to a poll published on Wednesday, on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and greater representation of the ethnic Malay majority in his administration.

Muhyiddin received a 69% approval rating in a survey run by independent pollster Merdeka Center, six months after taking office in March following a power struggle that saw the collapse of the previous multi-ethnic government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Survey respondents also gave a 93% approval rating for the government’s handling of Covid-19 and rated it highly for helping the needy and managing the economy during the coronavirus-induced crisis. Malaysia has reported just over 9,300 coronavirus infections.

In the last popularity poll published by Merdeka Center in April last year, less than half of Malaysians approved of then-premier Mahathir as concerns over rising costs and racial issues plagued his administration.

Merdeka Center Executive Director Ibrahim Suffian said Malay voters indicated a strong preference for the administration’s management of the pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout and for bringing together long-feuding Malay political parties.

“The results also indicate a significant swing of support of Malay voters towards a unified Malay political coalition,” Ibrahim said in a statement.

Ethnic Malays account for some 60% of Malaysia’s population of about 32 million, with the rest comprised mostly of ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities.

Muhyiddin, who leads the Malay-based Bersatu party, secured the premiership backed by two of the largest parties representing Malay interests — the scandal-tainted former ruling party, United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party.

But he holds a razor-thin majority in parliament. In July, Umno, which forms the largest bloc in Muhyiddin’s administration, withdrew from the prime minister’s political alliance, though the party said it would continue to support the government in parliament.

Poll finds 51% of Malaysians view PN positively

theedgemarkets.com | 02-Sept-2020 – KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): A poll by the Merdeka Center found that Perikatan Nasional (PN) has the highest positive perception among voters currently, with 51% of respondents viewing the coalition positively, versus 27% that see it negatively.

However, only 37% of respondents view the Muafakat Nasional (MN) political pact positively, slightly lower than its component parties of Barisan Nasional (40%) and PAS (39%).

Meanwhile, 28% of the respondents viewed Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), which has expressed its intention to join MN, positively, while 39% are negative. About 60% of Malay voters support Bersatu joining MN.

About 65% of Malay respondents prefer to see Umno in PN, while 25% do not. Meanwhile, 68% of Malay voters prefer PAS to be part of the coalition.

The opinion research firm found that Pakatan Harapan (PH) scored the highest negative rating at 52%, with only 25% of respondents viewing the PKR-DAP-Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) coalition positively.

“The survey findings illustrate the strong preference and approval particularly, among Malay voters, towards the present ruling coalition Government headed by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin,” said Merdeka Center.

“The results also indicate a significant swing of Malay voters towards a unified Malay political coalition as exemplified by the large majority of approval gained by PN and MN — notwithstanding some contrary views put forth by some leaders in the coalition,” it added.

The survey was carried out by Merdeka Center between July 15 and Aug 10 to gauge the perception of voters towards the economy, leadership and current issues.

A total of 3,415 registered voters (who were picked randomly), comprising 52% Malay, 29% Chinese, 7% Indian, 6% Muslim Bumiputera, and 6% Non-Muslim Bumiputera (from Sabah and Sarawak) were interviewed. Merdeka Center said this is reflective of the national electoral profile.

Edited by S Kanagaraju

In latest survey, Muhyiddin gets thumbs-up from 69pc Malaysians

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin attends a Perikatan Nasional event at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur September 1, 2020. ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

malaymail.com | 02-Sept-2020 – KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 ― Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin appears to have a high rating among Malaysians with 69 per cent recently surveyed by independent pollster Merdeka Center saying they were happy with his performance.

Muhyiddin has been PM for about six months since replacing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in March. The survey was completed on August 10.

According to Merdeka Center’s findings, nine out of 10 Malays and Bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak gave Muhyiddin the thumbs up. He was approved by 65 per cent of ethnic Indians while only 33 per cent of ethnic Chinese were satisfied with him.

“The prime minister’s approval rating continues to be in a comfortable, positive territory considering that he has held the position since March 2020,” Merdeka Center programme director Ibrahim Suffian said in a statement today.

Merdeka Center also found 58 per cent of Malaysians were happy with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government led by Muhyiddin while 28 per cent expressed dissatisfaction or anger.

“Interestingly, the gap of income is one of the indicators to differentiate who agrees or disagrees with the performance of the government.

“Around three-quarters of the respondents whose household income is less than RM2,000 per month expressed positive views towards the federal government but only 40 per cent were positive among those whose household income were higher than RM7,000 per month,” Ibrahim said.

He noted that part of Muhhyiddin’s high approval rating stems from the 93 per cent overall satisfaction rate on how the PN government is handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey showed that 68 per cent Malaysians agreed that the government has been helpful to those in need, while 61 per cent felt the government had been managing the economy well.

“In our view, this increase of Malay voter support takes place on the back of a positive management of the Covid-19 pandemic, rapid response in dispensing financial aid to affected low income households and businesses, as well as the latent satisfaction at seeing Malay political parties which had been in decades-long competition with one another finally coming together in a pact,” added Ibrahim.

The survey polled 3,415 voters between July 15 July and August 10, asking them about issues like the country’s economy, government and political leadership and other current issues.

Merdeka Center said the respondents comprised 52 per cent Malay, 29 per cent ethnic Chinese, 7 per cent ethnic Indian and 6 per cent other Muslim Bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak.

Survey: Nine out of 10 S’wak, Sabah bumiputera give thumbs up to Muhyiddin as PM

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin delivering a televised address from Merdeka Stadium in conjunction with the National Day recently. – Bernama photo

theborneopost.com | 02-Sep-2020 – KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin appears to have a high rating among Malaysians with 69 per cent recently surveyed by independent pollster Merdeka Center saying they were happy with his performance.

Muhyiddin has been PM for about six months since replacing Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in March. The survey was completed on August 10.

According to Merdeka Center’s findings, nine out of 10 Malays and Bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak gave Muhyiddin the thumbs up. He was approved by 65 per cent of ethnic Indians while only 33 per cent of ethnic Chinese were satisfied with him.

“The prime minister’s approval rating continues to be in a comfortable, positive territory considering that he has held the position since March 2020,” Merdeka Center programme director Ibrahim Suffian said in a statement today.

Merdeka Center also found 58 per cent of Malaysians were happy with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government led by Muhyiddin while 28 per cent expressed dissatisfaction or anger.

“Interestingly, the gap of income is one of the indicators to differentiate who agrees or disagrees with the performance of the government.

“Around three-quarters of the respondents whose household income is less than RM2,000 per month expressed positive views towards the federal government but only 40 per cent were positive among those whose household income were higher than RM7,000 per month,” Ibrahim said.

He noted that part of Muhhyiddin’s high approval rating stems from the 93 per cent overall satisfaction rate on how the PN government is handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey showed that 68 per cent Malaysians agreed that the government has been helpful to those in need, while 61 per cent felt the government had been managing the economy well.

“In our view, this increase of Malay voter support takes place on the back of a positive management of the Covid-19 pandemic, rapid response in dispensing financial aid to affected low income households and businesses, as well as the latent satisfaction at seeing Malay political parties which had been in decades-long competition with one another finally coming together in a pact,” added Ibrahim.

The survey polled 3,415 voters between July 15 July and August 10, asking them about issues like the country’s economy, government and political leadership and other current issues.

Merdeka Center said the respondents comprised 52 per cent Malay, 29 per cent ethnic Chinese, 7 per cent ethnic Indian and 6 per cent other Muslim Bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak. – Malay Mail

Merdeka Center