A periodic study on Merdeka and current issues, conducted by Syed Arabi Idid of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) this year, found that about 95% of the respondents were proud to be Malaysians, the same level recorded when the study was first done in 2009.
“Being a proud Malaysian cuts across race, age and educational level and the same feeling extends to the people in Sabah and Sarawak,” said Syed Arabi.
On Malaysia’s future, all races showed greater optimism (above 80%) during the period of study from June to August this year compared with the same period in 2017 (about 70%).
“However, it is the middle-age group (36-50 years old) and the young (21-35 years old) who expressed the highest optimism, with the two groups expecting the most from the new government in charting the future of the country,” he said to Bernama.
He added that there is not much change in the view of the older group (51 and above).
Syed Arabi’s study was coordinated by Azrul Hisyam Wakichan and involved 1,500 respondents throughout the country who took part in face-to-face interviews.
The respondents were chosen based on population density, racial composition, different educational background, age group, gender and location.
As it is the first time the country will be celebrating Merdeka under a new government, after the Barisan Nasional (BN) that had ruled since independence was voted out in favour of Pakatan Harapan (PH), the study also looked at the sentiments over the new government from May to August.
“When asked which party the respondents would vote if elections were held tomorrow, more than half answered PH,” said Syed Arabi, who is also the head of the IIUM Electoral Studies Research Unit.
He pointed out that in May this year, the study found that only 50% of the respondents indicated PH as their choice but when asked again in August the figure went up by 5%. Popularity-wise, PH still has to cover more ground among the Malays whose support for PH increased from 40% to only 42% during the period.
Some 62% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the new government, with the Chinese (74%) and Indians (65%) being the most satisfied. The Malays expressed the least satisfaction (52%).
Interestingly, the middle-age and the older-age groups appeared to be more satisfied than the younger group which probably had very high expectations, said Syed Arabi.