A significant number of Chinese respondents in a recent survey believe that hudud law would be fair to all and reduce crime.

The results seem to indicate that the several decades-long campaign to spook the ethnic Chinese with the hudud card, perpetuated by MCA and to a lesser extent Gerakan, seem futile.

According to the latest survey by the Universiti Malaya Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMCEDEL), 42 percent of Chinese respondents agreed that the law would be fair to all.

Only 25 percent of Chinese respondents disagreed while 33 percent were unsure.

The majority of Malay respondents, 62 percent, agreed while only 14 percent disagreed. In addition, 24 percent said they were unsure.

Indian respondents were mostly sceptical, with only 26 percent believing that the law would be fair to all, while 30 percent said that it won’t. Another 44 percent were unsure.

The reactions were similar across the board when respondents were asked if hudud law can stop the spread of crime.

Of the Chinese respondents, 41 percent replied in the positive, 27 percent replied in the negative while 32 percent were unsure.

Malay respondents were much more receptive of this statement with 66 percent in agreement, 15 percent in disagreement and 19 percent who were unsure.

Only 27 percent of Indian respondents agreed, 23 percent disagreed while 50 percent were unsure.

Of the 1,536 respondents selected through random stratified sampling, 1,041 are Malay, 385 are Chinese and 110 are Indian.

Hurdle for Pakatan?

Meanwhile, 51 percent of Chinese and 54 percent of Indian respondents agreed with the statement that hudud law cannot be implemented because of Malaysia's multi-ethnic make up.

On the contrary, 48 percent of Malay respondents believe that it should not be a hurdle, while 31 percent agreed with the statement posed by the survey.

Asked if the implementation of hudud law would become a stumbling block for Pakatan Rakyat's cooperation, the results were not clear.

Nearly half of the respondents agreed with the statement while about a third disagreed and the rest unsure.

Slides for the survey results can be downloaded from UMCEDEL's website .

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