Umno members are satisfied with Najib Razak's performance since taking over the helm as party president as they feel that he is leading the country in the right direction.

A survey conducted by an independent research firm, Merdeka Centre, on 358 delegates to the recent Umno general assembly showed that about 95 percent of them expressed satisfaction with Najib's performance, largely due to the improvement in leadership qualities.

azlan They felt that Najib, who is prime minister, had the quality of national leadership and had come up with attractive ideas to gain public favour, such as the ‘1Malaysia’ concept, emphasising solving the people’s problems and strengthening the economy.

"Satisfaction with the party president among delegates was very high at 95percent with 60 per cent of them saying 'very satisfied' with his performance since taking over the leadership of Umno.

"The main reason for the strong approval stems from the perceived improvement in leadership qualities," the Merdeka Centre said in its summary and highlights of findings of the survey of the 2009 Umno general assembly delegates.

The survey was conducted between Nov 4 and 11, where coverage included at least one individual from each division in the party.

The interviews were conducted via telephone and the sampling frame was based on the General Assembly participants' listing.

Umno’s image ‘generally positive’

The Merdeka Centre also said that the delegates gave high approval to the two measures introduced with 81 percent in support of the liberalisation of the economy while the 1Malaysia concept received 94 per cent support.

The survey showed that 91 percent of the delegates surveyed believed that Umno's image with the public was generally positive while 97 percent believed it was the only party that could take care of the Malay interests.

They were also upbeat about the party's prospects in future elections where 66 percent felt that Umno had recovered from the problems that led to its poor performance in the last general election.

- Bernama