Because it takes about 50 years for Malaysian society to resemble America in the 1960s, a new global online survey has revealed that Malaysians’ trust in the Federal Government in Putrajaya eroded last year, likely due to a perceived lack of transparency on subjects like corruption and the Sulu intrusion in Sabah.
The Edelman Trust Barometer 2014 survey recorded a six-point drop in public trust for the government from a rating of 60 per cent in 2013 to 54 per cent this year.
Edelman Malaysia managing director Raymond Siva said, however, that there appeared to be a general decrease in public trust in their elected governments worldwide this year, with 17 out the 27 countries polled in the survey registering similar declines.
He added that despite the statistical erosion, Malaysia largely remains a “trusting nation”.
“We are among the 10 countries that are still in the positive territory,” Siva said at the unveiling of the survey here, highlighting that over half of the 1,200 local respondents still trusted the Malaysian government.
Despite the overall six-point drop in Malaysians’ trust towards the government, the survey saw a two-point increase in the number of those who placed a “great deal” of trust in Putrajaya, with 23 per cent respondents saying so in the 2014 survey compared to 21 per cent a year earlier.
The survey polled 1,200 respondents in Malaysia between October and November last year. Of that number, 1000 respondents were categorised as the “general public” while the remaining 200 represented the “informed public”. Members of the “informed public” are defined as those with a college education, higher income and above average news consumption habits.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) remained the most trusted institutions in the country in this year’s survey, dropping one point from last year to a 75 per cent trust rating.
Businesses came in at second place, with a significant increase of 10 points to 72 per cent, while the media was the third-most trusted insititution in Malaysia, with a one-point drop to 59 per cent.
Siva suggested the uptick in trust in businesses could be a result of Malaysia’s perceived positive economic growth, coupled with the effects of the government’s anual financial aid to poor households through the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) programme.
Only 18 per cent of respondents, three points less than last year, believed that the government would tell the truth irrespective of its complexity or upopularity.
Zainal Amanshah, the CEO of government agency InvestKL, said Putrajaya needs to be more transparent and match its delivery with the information provided to the public.
“Information transparency and consistency of the information as government whilst embracing the new media is absolutely critical,” Zainal said during a discussion by five panellists on the 2014 survey results.
Photo: Firdaus Latif / Flickr
Source: The Malay Mail Online
