Poll: Chinese M'sians want civic-based political party

Chinese Malaysian youths prefer a multi-ethnic and civic-based political party to represent them.

According an opinion poll by Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) group Mypoll, 70.2 percent of the youths supported civic-based political parties, while only 7.1 percent chose ethnic-based parties.

Mypoll member Dr Chin Yee Mun (left) said civic-consciousness determined the political decisions of the Chinese youths.

“They are looking for a political party that can protect them and voice their concerns effectively.

“As such, Chinese Malaysians’ political decisions are influenced by their vision to live in a progressive country and a country that fully embraces them as citizens,” Chin said when presenting the results of the survey today.

The survey was conducted between July and August this year, with 820 respondents aged from below 21 years to those above 35 years taking part.

The results have also shown that a high number of Chinese Malaysian youths feel that Chinese in Malaysia have been mistreated.

'Malaysian means mullti-ethnic nature of the country'

As for their ‘Chineseness’, they relate it to their language, tradition, beliefs and other cultural elements, but at the same time, they strongly identified themselves as Malaysians.

Chin further explained that the data had also reflected that Chinese accepted Malaysia as their nation.

"When asked to elaborate on the meaning of ‘Malaysian’, most of the respondents pointed out that it was about accepting the multi-ethnic nature of the country," he said.

The respondents scored well in terms of "basis to form civic collective action" with a mean value as high as 78 points out of 100 as full mark.

"This indicates that the respondents are worried about their country's future and will not hesitate to work collectively with other Malaysians to preserve the well-being of their country," Chin said.

The issues that ranked high in the respondents’ thoughts on matters that would affect the country's well-being were security, education, economy, human rights and integrity.

'Chinese should unite to face unfair treatment'

In terms of ethnic consciousness, Chin said the poll had also shown that many perceived that the position of the Chinese in Malaysia had been compromised and therefore they should unite to face unfair treatment.

The recommendations in the report suggest several considerations for Chinese-based political party in to retain their identity, among them:

1) Convincing the Chinese that the party is able to safeguard Malaysia's well-being;

2) Fulfilling the hope of the community to live in a multi-ethnic country; and

3) Ensuring their parties are not subservient to dominant component parties within the BN.

The report has also suggested a merger of the different parties to form a civic-based party if any racial party decided to transform into a multi-ethnic entity.