The Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research has conducted a poll to gauge the political awareness of Malaysian youths. The results are both promising and disappointing.

The results were released by Merdeka Centre programme director Suffian Ibrahim at a press conference in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

One of the questions posed to the 1,505 young people between the ages of 18 and 32 in the poll is this:

Are you willing to live under a government without having to go through elections if it can guarantee stability, peace and economic growth?

The response:

  • 14.8% are 'very willing' to forego elections

  • 41% are willing to do so

  • 27% are 'somewhat willing'

    • To another question: What are the most important values for the country?

    • 70% said peace and prosperity

  • 29% said freedom and justice

    • Unlike Malaysia, Suffian said youths in other countries such as in Europe were less willing to forego elections in similar surveys.

    Disconcerting as these preliminary findings may be, Suffian said that they form only part of a complex and seemingly contradictory picture of the youth's sense of self and community awareness and how these related to the political system and public life.

    More disheartening discoveries:

    • 44% of those over 21 (above voting age) admitted to not having registered to vote

  • 41% of them did not know the name of their member of parliament.

  • 66% perceived politics and the government to be 'so complicated that I cannot really understand what is going on'.

    • However, the survey also unearthed several promising results.

    • 93% agreed that voting in elections was important

  • 59% believed that the 'government's actions should be monitored' instead of leaving it to a government 'that knows what is best for the people'.

  • 73 % said criticising the government reflected 'love for the country' rather than disloyalty.

  • 69% said they were against detention without trial and believed 'a person should only be detained after having been tried and found guilty of a crime.'

    • Gap between ideals and principles

    Merdeka Centre suggested that the contradiction was in the gap between the ideals and principles of the political system as expressed by the youths surveyed and their perceived role and relationship to that system.

    While youths expressed a high appreciation for democracy in the form of elections and recognised the impact of government decisions on their daily lives, many believed they had little power to affect change through the actual exercise of political rights.

    • 8% said they could influence and felt empowered to have their say taken into consideration

  • 59% said they had only 'some' or 'little' influence

  • 33% percent said they had no chance to influence government decisions.

    • Apart from this, only 3% of the youths felt they were capable of contributing towards the resolution of issues.

    The survey also revealed that only 14% of youths discussed current issues and government policies with their families or acquaintances 'several times a week', while 43% said such topics were discussed 'at most once a week'.

    "Findings from focus groups indicate that there is discussion on political and current affairs but most times it simply constitutes idle talk as respondents feel that it leads to nowhere as they have no access to representatives to get their opinions heard," stated the poll.

    The survey was done by telephone and this was augmented with face-to-face focus group discussion.