In The News

The Malaysian Insider | KUALA LUMPUR, 07-July-2009 – When he entered office in early April, he owned one of the lowest approval ratings of any incoming Malaysian Prime Minister.

One hundred days later and after a slew of measures to reform the economy, Malaysians appear to be warming up to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, a latest survey by an independent polling house shows.

The poll by the Merdeka Centre shows that his approval rating is 65 per cent, a spike from the tepid 46 per cent in mid-May and 42 per cent just before he became the country’s sixth leader.

Twenty-two per cent are dissatisfied with his performance while 13 per cent were undecided.

The survey findings will present further evidence to the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) that the days of it contending with a weak and unsure leader in Putrajaya are over.

Ibrahim Suffian, head of the polling institute, said: “Quite clearly, a growing number of Malaysians like some of the policy initiatives of the PM and his inclusive message.

“Some have begun to trust his leadership and some are giving him the benefit of doubt. This has translated into a higher approval rating.”

Some 1,060 selected registered voters were surveyed between June 19 and July 1.

They were asked a range of questions to gauge the PM’s performance, sentiment on the country and economy and measures to liberalise the economy.

The margin of error is about +/- 3 per cent. The survey was jointly commissioned by Merdeka Centre and a research house.

Since becoming PM on April 3, Najib has tried to stake out his credentials as a reformer and architect of a new economic model for the country.

He liberalised the financial services sector, allowing foreigners to own larger chunks of investments banks and insurance companies.

Last week, he dropped the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity requirement for Malaysian firms seeking listing and trimmed the role of the powerful Foreign Investment Committee (FIC).

In addition, he also announced that from next year, a new category of merit-based scholarships will be awarded to Malaysian students.

These changes and policy initiatives are aimed at making Malaysia an attractive destination for foreign investment, nurture the services sector and help the country retain its best brains.

There is also a political imperative.

The moves proposed by the Najib administration are also aimed at regaining some of the support Umno/Barisan Nasional lost in Election 2008, particularly among the non-Malays.

The Merdeka Centre survey shows that Najib’s support is strongest among the Malays.

Some 74 per cent of Malays polled are satisfied with his performance as PM, while the level of support among Chinese and Indians is 48 per cent and 74 per cent respectively.

This finding will provide comfort to the PM at a time when his critics in the Malay community are accusing him of being too eager to remove affirmative action quotas at the expense of the Malays.

Both former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Parti Islam SeMalaysia (Pas) president Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang have disagreed with the decision to liberalise the economy, arguing that Malays still need special treatment from the government.

Najib has said that the move to open up the economy will benefit Malaysia and Malays in the long run.

Economists have hailed the measures, noting that Malaysia had to become more competitive to attract foreign direct investment at a time when FDI around the world is declining.

The survey suggests that the majority of Malaysians accept the need for economic liberalisation.

Some 62 per cent respondents believe that liberalisation will help Malaysia in the long run, with 21 per cent not confident that it will help the country and no response from 17 per cent of those polled to this question.

In addition, 60 per cent of those polled believed that liberalisation will help Malays in the long run.

The survey also showed that despite facing one of the steepest contractions of the economy since the Asian Financial Crisis, Malaysians are fairly optimistic about the state of the economy and the ability of the Najib administration to steer the country down the right path.

Six out of then Malaysians are confident of the PM’s ability to manage the economy and lead Malaysia out of the recession.

Generally, the findings of the survey indicate strong levels of support among Malays and Indians for the new PM but the Chinese remain ambivalent.

Ibrahim said: “The general sense is that the Chinese community likes what they have been hearing but want to see the policies and initiatives to be executed.

“If the PM ensures that his agenda is implemented quickly and effectively, his goodwill will only grow.’’

But as the Abdullah years showed, if there is a yawning gap between press statements and execution, Malaysians can be an unforgiving lot.

nutgraph.com | 03-July-2009: ON 25 Nov 2007, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) burst into public consciousness through a mammoth street rally. Few doubt that Hindraf was pivotal in swinging Indian Malaysian votes away from the Barisan Nasional (BN) three months later in the March 2008 general election.

On 2 July 2009, Malaysiakini reported that Hindraf has submitted an application to the Registrar of Societies to found a new party known as Parti Hak Asasi Manusia (Paham).

But apart from Hindraf, the emergence of other Indian Malaysian political parties is a trend that warrants attention. All claim to want to represent and improve the lot of Indian Malaysians. What does this say about the community itself? And what impact do these divisions have on BN and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)?

A few months before Hindraf, there was the Malaysian Indians United Party (MIUP) started by Datuk KS Nallakaruppan, a former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) stalwart and close friend of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

This year saw the birth of Hindraf splinter group, the Malaysian Makkal Sakthi Party (MMSP), and the Malaysian Indian Democratic Action Front (Mindraf) founded by former journalist Manuel Lopez.

And in PAS, the party’s supporters club has seen the Indian Malaysian faction, which outnumbers Chinese Malaysian members, demand that the club be split according to racial lines.

Developments in the community’s political scene will shape the battle for Indian Malaysian votes in the 13th general election due in 2013. Already, there are early and subtle signs that the ground is shifting.

Moving quickly

Consider a few things which have happened since 3 April 2009, when Datuk Seri Najib Razak became prime minister.

The Tamil press play up criticisms of the PR by Hindraf leaders, though the organisation is banned. In Penang, Hindraf is butting heads with the DAP-led state government on behalf of Kampung Buah Pala residents whose land is to become the site of a luxury housing project.

Hindraf protesters

About two weeks after Najib took office, former Hindraf national coordinator RS Thanenthiran met with the premier to talk about the Indian Malaysian community’s grievances. By this time, two Hindraf leaders had already been released from Internal Security Act detention in one of Najib’s first moves as premier. Three other leaders would later be released on 9 May.

Thanenthiran confirms with The Nut Graph that he met Najib, remarking that his predecessor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, did not once entertain Hindraf’s requests for a meeting or acknowledge their memorandums. A month after the meeting with Najib, Thanenthiran launched MMSP.

On the ground, BN has not wasted time wooing the community, according to reports in the Tamil press.

Take the Cameron Highlands constituency, for example. Its Member of Parliament Datuk SK Devamany says, in a phone interview, that since April, two Tamil schools have received RM500,000 and RM700,000 each. Indian Malaysians have also been promoted to head a primary school there, and the local Drainage and Irrigation Department.

Indian Malaysian sentiment towards the BN government also appears to be on the uptrend although it is still early days in Najib’s administration.

In the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research’s 2008 fourth quarter poll on Peninsula Malaysia sentiment, 56% of Indian Malaysians surveyed disagreed when asked if Najib would make a good prime minister.

In another poll in May 2009, the first survey since Najib became prime minister, 64% of Indian Malaysians said they were satisfied when asked about his performance as premier.

Divide and conquer?

Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, the former executive director of MIC’s Yayasan Strategik Sosial, says the emergence of different Indian Malaysian political parties indicates that the community still feels sidelined from the mainstream economy. This discontent gives room to individuals with the means and backing to start new parties.

Another cause is the lack of grassroots leaders who can identify with the rural and plantation communities in a way that western-trained leaders like PKR vice-president R Sivarasa or the DAP’s Charles Santiago cannot. Denison says these leaders are not seen as representatives of the Tamil grassroots, and believes this played a part in allowing Hindraf, and parties like MMSP to rise.

Najib’s tacit acceptance of MMSP by meeting them indicates his seriousness about winning back the non-Malay Malaysian vote. Denison observes that Najib knows BN cannot afford to be over-protective of MIC, which is embroiled in infighting and is no longer able to defend its position as the main representative of Indian Malaysians.

And while things appear quiet with MIUP and Mindraf, Najib only needs to engage the most attractive alternative to the illegal Hindraf.

As such, the speed at which MMSP’s registration was approved in May, three months after its application, gave rise to talk that the fledging party had the BN’s backing and funding.

Thanenthiran denies this and when asked again, said: “It is not important whether we support BN or PR but that we work with the party that is doing things to help the Indian [Malaysian] community.”

He claims that MMSP, which has over 30,000 members now, is self-funding.

The party has been given further legitimacy by BN, even though it is not part of the coalition, through a campaign launched in early June to find stateless Indian Malaysians—- those without birth certificates or MyKads. MMSP is tracking these cases through announcements in the Tamil press and through its grassroots network, and is forwarding the individuals’ details for the National Registration Department’s further action.

Structural change

The political divisions among Indian Malaysians may be beneficial to BN, but problematic for PR which is still learning the ropes of state administration and coalition politics.

Petaling Jaya City councilor A Thiruvenggadam, who is from PKR, feels that PR could be doing more to fill the void by introducing faster changes in certain policies.

He says the PR-led Selangor government still has not dismantled past BN policies on the procurement and awarding of contracts, which, he says, still favour Malay Malaysians. He has also angered his party leaders for going public with claims of political interference in certain council dealings, and knows he is likely to be dropped when the state government announces councilors for the new term in July.

“The Selangor PR government is still adopting all the BN policies of the past to favour one community. We are seeing BN giving aid to Tamil schools and temples but PR is doing nothing to change such policies. Indian [Malaysian] support for PR will reduce if PR doesn’t correct this,” he warns in an interview.

BN, being in federal power, has the resources to court the community. But structural change is also underway, promises Devamany

, who is Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and whose portfolio includes policies on Indian Malaysian community issues for the Economic Planning Unit.

“The government is aware that piecemeal handouts to Tamil schools and temples are insufficient,” he tells The Nut Graph.

Changes in education, civil service recruitment, poverty eradication, housing, and wages, among other areas, must take place with the results documented to give visibility to the government’s efforts.

Devamany, who sits on the cabinet’s sub-committee on Indian Malaysian affairs, says this must be done because people still believe “the government doesn’t help non-Malays”.

Personality vs community

Denison notes that the history of Indian Malaysian political parties has been fraught with splits and the formation of new parties. MIC has faced competition for Indian Malaysian membership even from parties in the BN fold or those friendly to BN, such as the People’s Progressive Party, Gerakan, the Indian Progressive Front, and the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma).

“It can be taken as a sign that the Indian [Malaysian] community is most active politically. They are in every party, whether pro-BN or pro-PR. Their common problem, however, is that these parties tend to be personality-based which explains the splits and emergence of new parties,” he notes.

Denison believes that Indian Malaysian parties have to change from being personality-driven to community based.

“The truth is, Indian political activism in Malaysia has not thrived unless there are other races to help it,” he says, noting that just as MIC cannot go it alone without the rest of the BN coalition, PKR too, needs a multiracial platform to survive.

“I don’t think Indian [Malaysian] unity is necessarily the way forward,” he says.

But who eventually wins over the Indian Malaysian vote in the coming elections is still left to be seen.

– deborahloh@thenutgraph.com

The Edge | KUALA LUMPUR, 01-July-2009: A survey carried out by public opinion pollster Merdeka Center found that Malaysian youths have become less confident that their vote can influence the government.

The National Youth Survey 2008, which polled 2,518 Malaysians aged 20 to 35 years old, found that while a higher percentage of youth — from 72% in 2007 to 77% in 2008 — are aware of the impact of government decisions in their daily lives, they are also less confident that their vote can affect change. When asked how much of a difference their vote makes in influencing the government, only 64% of respondents last year said their votes could make a difference, a 16% drop compared to 80% in 2007.

Political apathy was also prominent among the youth surveyed. Among those polled, 44% were not registered to vote, and when asked why they had not, half of them replied that they were busy or have other commitments, while just over a quarter replied that they were indifferent or negative towards national politics.

Distrusting of mainstream media
The survey also found that while most Malaysian youths were up to date with current news, almost half of respondents said that they do not trust the mainstream media when it comes to news on political and current affairs.

The survey found that about half of the respondents read newspapers or watched television news programmes at least four times a week, but 49% of them did not trust the reporting carried out by mainstream media, as they perceive the reports to show bias towards certain political parties.

Contrary to popular sentiment, however, only 44% of respondents said they relied on the Internet for their news, even though 70% of them had access to the Internet. Of those who surfed the Internet for news, only half of them said they access the news at least four days a week. Among the news sites, 39% said that mainstream Malay-language sites like Bernama and Berita Harian were their favourite sites, compared to only 9% who preferred alternative news sites like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider.

The survey about the views, values, and consumption habits of the nation’s youth was carried out via telephone between November and December 2008.

For a full report of The National Youth Survey, visit the Merdeka Center website.

Malaysiakini | 01-July-2009: Race or religion shouldn’t be a criteria and if the candidate was a she, they really wouldn’t mind. This is the opinion of Malaysian youths when asked on the specifics of who should occupy the prime minister’s seat.

The Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research’s latest poll released today revealed that more than half of the Malaysian youths were open to having a prime minister who was not a Malay Muslim and that gender does not matter.

Slightly less than half of those polled said they don’t see being a Muslim a priority in selecting the country’s prime minister.

The Centre’s National Youth Survey was carried out last year among 2,518 youths whose age ranged from 20-35 years.

The poll proved that Malaysian youths are well-informed, with nearly half of those polled reading the newspapers more than four days a week.

The results also revealed that 53 percent of Malaysian youths tend to obtain their news and information from watching television.

Malaysian youths’ use of the Internet skyrocketed from 57 percent in 2007 to 70 percent in 2008. However, only 44 percent of them obtained their news and information from the web, spending an average of 45 minutes to two hours daily online.

Reactions towards the mainstream media tipped towards the more unfavourable side with 49 percent of youths claiming that they do not trust the mainstream media’s reporting as opposed to the 46 percent who do.

When asked whether they felt they could make a difference in solving community problems, only 36 percent of them thought that they could make an impact. This is a marginal decrease from the 39 percent registered in the 2007 polls.

Youths still not voting

Voting is still not a high priority for Malaysian youths, with a whopping 44 percent of them still unregistered.

Interestingly, the number of unregistered voters declines as the age bracket goes higher. Asked why they had yet to register, the respondents said they were ‘too busy’ or were ‘indifferent towards politics’.

The trend of having multiracial political parties seems to have been heartily embraced by Malaysian youths with 77 percent of those could vote saying they voted for a multiracial party which could represent all Malaysians regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Forty-six percent of youths want a political party that could improve the state of the country by managing the economy effectively followed by 29 percent who wanted corruption to be curbed.

On another front, most of the non-bumiputera youths polled expressed an interest in migrating to another country with Chinese and Indian youths leading the pack. This represents one in four youths who have thoughts of residing elsewhere.

A majority of the youths identified themselves as Malaysians first and foremost, followed by their religion while only a small fraction identified themselves based on their ethnic group.

There was also a slight increase of five percent of youths who believed that any government decision would impact their lives.

The poll also revealed a significant decrease in the number of youths who believe that their votes would make a difference in influencing the government. This constitutes a 16 percent fall.

New Sabah times | KOTA KINABALU, 01-July-2009: Malaysian youths in general appear to be well informed on current issues but they remain politically disconnected as found in a nationwide opinion poll released yesterday.

The poll found out that much as our youths felt that government decisions have a lot of impact in their daily lives, there is little their votes could do to influence the government.

The National Youth Survey 2008 was conducted by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research funded by the Asia Foundation to gauge youths views on lifestyle, values, current issues and politics, and their own levels of civic and social involvement.

The poll was carried out from Nov 13 to Dec 9 last year on a total of 2,518 randomly selected youths nationwide aged between 20 and 35 years old.

“This is the third consecutive year we have conducted this poll and we hope the data would help policymakers, grassroots advocacy groups and youth organisations to understand the needs of young people and address their concerns based on factual findings,” said Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research programme director Ibrahim Suffian.

On self-efficacy and politics, the poll identified 74 per cent of youths as having low and moderate levels of self-efficacy.

“Although the perceived impact the government had on their daily lives increased from 72 per cent in 2007 to 77 per cent last year, the confidence youths had in elections saw a decline of 16 per cent, in which 64 per cent believed their votes would make a difference last year compared to 80 per cent in 2007,” he said.

Ibrahim said ethnicity and backgrounds contributed to significant differences in the level of self-efficacy among the youths.

For instance, he said the majority of ethnic Chinese who attended Chinese schools were found to express lower levels of self-efficacy, where some felt there was not much they could do for the community.

“On the other hand, Indian respondents who attended Tamil schools and embraced Hinduism showed the highest level of self-efficacy; they felt there is much they could do.

“Malays and other Bumiputera held moderate views in regards to their ability to influence the government,” he said.

He said if voter registration was taken as an indicator of political involvement, the poll showed that such involvement was considered moderate as only 55 per cent of the youths interviewed were registered voters.

The poll also showed that young Malaysians had mixed views on political pluralism.

56 per cent said they would accept a female becoming prime minister and 57 per cent could accept a non-Malay Muslim prime minister.

On political diversity, 51 per cent of youths from the Peninsular favoured political diversity whereas 58 per cent of East Malaysian respondents favoured the idea of being united under the Barisan Nasional.

“Nonetheless, the survey finds that 77 per cent youths showed a stronger preference for a multi-racial party that is able to represent the interests of Malaysians regardless of ethnicity or religion,” said Ibrahim.

New Straits Times Online | KOTA KINABALU, 01-July-2009: Malaysian youth today are less interested in inter-racial issues and would like to see politicians deal with other issues like managing the economy, fighting corruption and listening more to the people.

They are also more likely to support a multiracial party that represents the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of religion or race.

These were the findings of a national youth survey carried out last year among 2,518 people aged between 20 and 35, of various backgrounds based on the national population profile.

The survey showed that although the youth were well-informed on current issues from various media, many remained politically disconnected and felt there was little they and their vote could do to make a difference to their communities.

This was due to a 16 per cent decline in confidence in elections from 80 per cent from the previous year’s survey to just 64 per cent this time.
The young were also not against the idea of a female prime minister as 56 per cent indicated acceptance.

About 57 per cent were agreeable to a non-Malay Muslim as prime minister while 45 per cent were willing to accept a non-Muslim premier.

Racial or religious polarisation was more likely in the peninsula as 38 per cent still identified themselves first as a follower of a religion.

The majority, at 43 per cent, mostly in Sabah and Sarawak, considered themselves Malay-sians first.

As many as 44 per cent of the youth were not registered to vote. The reasons given ranged from their busy schedule or commitments to an indifferent or negative attitude towards politics.

In the poll, 79 per cent of the youth did not belong to any organisation. The 511 respondents who did would rather join a sports or recreational club.

Based on the condition of the country at present, the youth were split between deciding whether the country was on the right or wrong track. But many were grateful for the relative peace and increased democratic competition in politics.

But they also felt the political bickering and economic downturn were signs of a weak leadership.

Research officer Lee Lih Qing presented the findings to the media here yesterday.

The poll was conducted by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, with support from the Asia Foundation.

It was the third consecutive year the survey had been carried out.

Notice: Click Continue button to go to the post where you want to download the file. You can see the Download button next to the filename, click the button to start the download.

NEWS RELEASE 30 JUNE 2009: Merdeka Center poll: Youth well informed but politically disconnected

1 file(s) 41.31 KB

Download

Notice: Click Continue button to go to the post where you want to download the file. You can see the Download button next to the filename, click the button to start the download.

NEWS RELEASE 9 JUNE 2010: Malaysian voters have mixed views on government KPIs - survey.

1 file(s) 52.97 KB

Download

Bru Direct – Brunei | 04-June-2009

Pg Kasmirhan Pg Hj Tahir. – P. MARILYN

Major Shift Seen

Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei’s anti-corruption cops are to put the screws on crooked businessmen instead of civil servants who are comparatively clean.
Findings showed that the business and the private sector in Brunei are perceived to be the most affected by corruption, which stands at 44 per cent as opposed to public officials and civil servants at 33 per cent.

Brunei’s Anti Corruption Bureau Chief Pg Kasmirhan Pg Hj Tahir said in view of this, Brunei’s ACB has plans to revamp its legislations and strategies for the next five years to shift its anti-corruption focus towards the private sector.

Meanwhile a global survey has placed Brunei third in fighting corruption.

Brunei’s Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has added another feather on its cap as findings from the Global Corruption Barometer, the only worldwide public opinion survey on views and experiences of corruption, ascertained that Brunei is generally ranked second behind Singapore in terms of corruption.

Classified under the Asia-Pacific region, Brunei achieved an average score of 2.3 while Singapore, one of the cleanest and corruption free countries in the world, achieved an average score of 2.2. A score of 5 signifies extremely corrupt.

Brunei Darussalam also ranked third in terms of effectiveness in current government action in the fight against corruption after Singapore and Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific region.

Director Pg Kasmirhan credited this positive ranking to ACB’s zero tolerance on corruption and its continuous efforts to educate people and civil servants on the dangers of corruption and help them understand loopholes, especially in the public sector where services and processes are prone to corruption.

Despite Brunei’s positive ranking on corruption worldwide, the Global Corruption Barometer, however, discovered a change in trend whereby the public sector in Brunei is no longer considered the most affected by corruption.

Findings showed that the business/private sector instead is perceived to be the most affected by corruption, which stands at 44 per cent as opposed to public officials/civil servants at 33 per cent.

In view of this, Brunei’s ACB has plans to revamp its legislations and strategies for the next five years to shift its anti-corruption focus towards the private sector.

“This is a very interesting finding as it correlates very much with countries that are usually regarded as more developed such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, where the public sees that it is not government officials that are more corrupt but instead the business people,” Pg Kasmirhan said during a press conference yesterday.

“This in fact tells us that we should now shift our focus to private sector corruption rather than just focusing on corruption in the government sector.

“We are now reviewing our strategy for the next five years and are shifting our focus to include private sector corruption as well,” the director said.

“When the ACB was first set up in 1982, our main focus was actually to ensure that there is no corruption in the government sector but now the private sector plays a very important role in the diversification of our economy and we are now seeing that the private sector is an important stakeholder in our fight against corruption,” he added.

However, this should not be completely seen as a setback as the increase in corruption in the business/private sectors denotes a trend when a country moves forward from developing to developed, private sector corruption is bound to increase.

In other words, business activities are picking up in the private sector in Brunei as experienced by Singapore and Hong Kong and other developed countries.

The director also took into account the lack of governance, lack of internal control and greed that contributed to the increase in business/private sectors corruption.

“That’s the reason why we are revamping our legislation. We are extending our jurisdiction of government linked companies for which the bureau has power to investigate.

Corruption in Brunei only second to Singapore “This does not mean that we were not able to investigate private sector corruption before. We have been investigating but our main focus before was very much on the government sector,” the director explained.

In terms of bribery, Brunei also has a positive ranking of six per cent or less, together with Singapore, Denmark, countries that are seen to be least corrupt.

“I am very pleased with the findings and as far as Brunei is concerned, it is a very positive result. We always benchmark ourselves with the least corrupt country in the region, Singapore and Hong Kong. Brunei’s ACB is very committed to improving this ranking and hopefully as time goes by, we can improve this further,” he added.

As of May 2009, the ACB has opened 70 investigation papers, out of which 57 were completed and 48 sent to the Attorney General for prosecution.

In comparison, 59 investigation papers were opened, 41 were completed and 17 were sent to the Attorney General for prosecution in 2008.

Though there is an increase in numbers, this however signifies the public’s courage in reporting incidences of corruption through channels such as the ACB website, hotlines, Facebook and others.

This year marks Brunei’s first entry into the Global Corruption Barometer Survey Report, put together by Transparency International; a global civil society organization with more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation, headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

The global corruption barometer is a public opinion survey that actually assesses the general public’s perception and experiences of corruption and bribery.

Altogether, 73,132 individuals worldwide responded to the survey.

As a public opinion survey, the barometer reflects the views of a representative sample of each country’s population aged 16 and above.

The survey in Brunei was conducted by Merdeka Centre through telephone between February 20-25 2009 involving 820 respondents. – Adapted from Borneo Bulletin

The Star online | PUTRAJAYA, 03-June-2009 : Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is confident the National Economic Advisory Council can help the Government turn Malaysia’s economy from middle to high income.

The former prime minister, who described the setting up of the council as a “wonderful idea,” said the aim to have a new economic model would be possible with the help and advice of experts in the body.

He was speaking to reporters at the “Nurturing the Minds of Future Leaders” essay contest at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here on Wednesday.

On April 9, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the setting up of the council, to be headed by a chairman with ministerial status, while its members would comprise local and foreign economic experts.

The council, headed by former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz, will advise the Government in creating a new economic model for Malaysia based on innovation, creativity and adding high value.

On the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research survey where 45% of 1,067 registered voters in peninsular Malaysia were satisfied with Najib’s performance in politics, the economy and social issues, Dr Mahathir said it was good and must be seen as an “indication” of his popularity as leader since he took office.

He said many things could be done to spur the economy but declined to comment when asked if the Government was doing enough.

Dr Mahathir also said that the Government should not relent to pressure by certain quarters in calling for the return of the 85-year-old former communist leader Chin Peng.