CAN U TRUST THIS?

thestar

PETALING JAYA: All three major races in the country are against demonstrations and illegal gatherings in Kuala Lumpur, an election survey revealed.

Respondents were asked to choose among “disagree,” “don’t really agree,” “agree,” or “fully agree” on their views on demonstrations and gatherings in the city.

A total of 58% of respondents from the three races disagreed with the demonstrations while 2% said they fully agreed.

Disagreement with holding street demonstrations was highest among the Malays (63%) and lowest among Indians (37%). However, 44% of the Indian respondents replied that they “don’t really agree” with the demonstrations.

The opinion poll was commissioned by The Star and conducted by the International Islamic University of Malaysia.

Headed by the university's Communications Department Professor Datuk Dr Syed Arabi Idid, it involved 2,930 respondents and was conducted in 58 clusters in 12 states in the peninsula from Dec 8 to 29 last year. The survey has a margin of error of less than 4%.

Among the three races, the Indians made up the highest number of people who “agree” with the demonstrations – at 16%. Three percent of Indians chose “fully agree,” while 1% had no response.

Nine percent of the Malays and 10% of Chinese responded “agree”.

A total of 63% of the Malay respondents disagreed with the demonstrations, followed by “don’t really agree” (25%), “agree” (9%) and (2%) “fully agree”.

As for Chinese respondents, 53% disagreed with the demonstrations while those who “don’t really agree” made up 36% and those who “agreed” only 10%.

Asked on their rate of agreement if demonstrations were to be held in the future, 20% of the Indian respondents expressed their agreement.

An equal number – 38% of the Indian respondents – ticked either “fully disagree” or “don’t really agree” on future demonstrations, while 4% chose “fully agree” that future demonstrations should be held.

A total of 65% of the Malays expressed their disagreement on future demonstrations. The Malays who did not agree with future demonstrations stood at 21%, compared with 11% who agreed and 2% who were in full agreement of them.

For the Chinese, 54% fully disagreed, while 30% don’t agree, compared with 13% who agreed and 3% who fully agreed.