Young Malaysians are open to more multi-racial socio-economic policies as opposed to race-based ones, a study has found.

It was among the more surprising finds of the ‘Minda Muda (Mind of the Youth) Research Study’ by Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) and the National Young Lawyers’ Committee (NYLC) released at the Bar Council building in Kuala Lumpur today.

CPPS and NYLC belong, respectively, to the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) and the Bar Council.

On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is “fully disagree” and 5 is “fully agree”, the youths interviewed gave an overall average of 4.4 to the statement that “government policies to help the poor should apply to all races in Malaysia”.

On the statement that socio-economic policies should be changed to help integrate society better, the study said that the youths interviewed gave a rating of 4.2.

The study also found that Malaysian youth overall have a positive outlook for national unity for the next decade.

The good news, however, seems to stop there.

cpps bar council roundtable 030407 tricia yeoh Representing CPPS at the launch today, its director Tricia Yeoh ( right ) said there exists “disturbing trends” and “inter-ethnic tensions” which must be addressed to avoid further polarisation.

The underlying currents of inter-ethnic tension are reflected in the “disparate and differentiated” responses elicited by the ethnic groups when asked about communal unity, harmony and peace, said Yeoh.

Significant differences

The study found the responses were related to the interviewees’ perceptions about educational, economic and religious issues, she added.

“The Chinese were quite pessimistic about their future, followed by the Indians. The Malays were generally satisfied with their lives in the country,” she said.

The study also found that those aged between 18 to 24 are less likely to mix with others of different ethnicity as opposed to those aged between 25 to 35.

“The younger age group prefers to mix more within their own ethnic and religious groups, relative to the older age groups, indicating increasing racial and religious polarisation,” it said.

Another trend that became apparent from the study include the significant differences in responses between the youth living in the rural areas and those in the urban areas.

‘Rural respondents’ were more optimistic about unity in the country and gave generally higher scores and ratings to perceptions of harmony and peace, while ‘urban respondents’ showed a greater level of dissatisfaction.

There were also regional differences as respondents from the central (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negri Sembilan) and southern (Johore and Melaka) regions of peninsular Malaysia expressed less optimism about unity than those in eastern (Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu) and northern (Penang, Perak and Kedah) regions.

Perception of unfair treatment

cpps bar council roundtable 030407 edmond bon Representing NYLC, its chairperson Edmund Bon ( right ) said the government must spend less time and resources on “surface” and “superficial” attempts at fostering national unity.

It must instead address the underlying problems and inter-ethnic tensions caused by the perception of unfair treatment in the spheres of education, economics, race and religion, he said.

Bon, who also heads the Bar Council’s human rights committee, also called on the government to ratify and implement the various international conventions relating to human, civil and political rights.

Yeoh said the findings of the CPPS-NYCC study had been presented to and was well-received by the office of the former minister in charge of national unity Dr Maximus Ongkili.

She added that CPPS hopes the findings of the study will be incorporated in the efforts of the present Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage to bring about greater national unity.

Conducted between July and August last year and consisting of interviews with about 1,000 youths from Peninsular Malaysia between the ages of 18-35, the study was aimed at understanding their attitudes towards and aspirations for national unity.

It was also meant to unearth young Malaysians’ values and hopes and understand their attitudes towards educational and economic policies, racial, religious and social integration, and how these attitudes contribute to national unity.