Too many unfulfilled promises from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has led the Chinese community to question his leadership.

This is the general view of Chinese academicians and guild leaders when asked to comment on the fall of the premier's approval rating, especially among Chinese Malaysian voters, in a recent survey by Merdeka Centre.

Here is what some of them had to say:

Dr Kua Kia Soong, principal of New Era College

When Pak Lah (Abdullah) came into power, he promised reforms and this included implementing the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and other recommendations from the Royal Police Commission. Up to today, nothing is being done.

One of the concerns of the people is the break down in law and order. With the rise in rape, snatch thefts and violence, the confidence in the police is gone. Even the allegation about the IGP's (inspector-general of police) involvement with the triads, there's not even a response from the PM to challenge that statement.

There is also a loss of confidence in the economy. It (the Malaysian economy) is not healthy compared to our neighbours who have gone past us. There's also the NEP (New Economic Policy) where basic racial equality has not been resolved. Also there were the seditious and racists utterance by Umno leaders in the 2006 Umno general assembly. The fact that the PM let's it go on shows that he is not in charge.

He says one thing about national unity and does another - the Chinese community is sick. It's not good enough. There's also the problem with Chinese schools and the population numbers dwindling. These issues are of great concern to the Chinese community.

Ng Lip Yong, Gerakan vice-president and deputy minister

I can't say if Merdeka Centre has done the survey correctly or incorrectly. I cannot comment on the results of the survey. I studied Maths and I know that statistics can be abused. If you give me some numbers I can churn out something for you. I respect what Merdeka Centre does but based on their sample (of 1,022 respondents out of 27 million people of the population), I don't know how you can draw a conclusion from it.

It really depends on how the survey was done. A report is a report. Even in the 'world competitiveness report', Malaysia was said to be lagging behind in education and healthcare compared to Indonesia. Can you believe this? All I can say is that we should take this Merdeka Centre report with a pinch of salt.

Tang Ah Chai, Kuala Lumpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall CEO

After Pak Lah came into power, he promised to fight against corruption and reform the police but until now, there are no obvious signs that show that his objectives have been realised. There is no follow up and there's a lack of political will. All we hear are just slogans.

The Chinese community is very practical. We will judge (him) based on what we see is being done. The Chinese are starting to miss (former premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad because he had the force to push for economic activities. Compared to him, the current economy under Pak Lah is sluggish and slow.

Although we don't see the effect (of PM's promises) immediately, we are still able to gauge the trend of his policies whether it is progressive, stagnant or regressive. If it's so hard to hold an inter-religious dialogue, we are worried how much more time do we need to give him.

I know we cannot demand for something to be done immediately but we cannot give unlimited time for him to prove himself. Are we going to give him 20 years to see what he's done? If there are no obvious improvements in his one term tenure as PM, this reflects the lack of political will and administrative force.

Soon Hoh Sing, political commentator

Although Abdullah promised to be the PM for all Malaysians, he has not changed the economic policies left by Mahathir. The old policies to increase bumiputera participation and weight in the economy carries on till today. If they are not doing this, they are using foreign investment to decrease the weight of non-bumiputera investors. For example, in the retail sector, many giant hypermarkets cooperate only with a certain class of Malay businessmen so the Chinese traders in the industries are sidelined.

I don't think it is PM's intention to neglect the Chinese, it's just that he has no strategic long- term economic vision. The Iskandar Development Region (IDR) is focused on foreign and not local investment. The two mega-projects (the other being the North Corridor Economic Region) is seen as one big project and does not reflect as a long-term project. The NCER which focuses on agricultural development does not benefit the ordinary farmer. It only attracts cheap foreign labour because young Malaysians are not interested in the agricultural sector.

I'm pessimistic about Malaysia's economy because it lacks long-term strategies and I expect more local graduates to fail in getting good quality jobs unless they want to work in the construction or farming sectors. The government is not seeing past this cheap foreign labour problem and the industrial structure cannot be upgraded until they do.