KUCHING, April 6, 2016 – Economic issues, comprising worries over
rising cost of living, economic hardship, jobs and other related matters were
reported by 33% of Sarawak voters as their top concern, according to a survey
conducted by Merdeka's Centre.
The center's programme director Ibrahim Suffian said this
was followed by the need for development gaps to be fulfilled (28%), state
administration (8%) and public safety issues (5%) as found in a survey among
Sarawak voters concluded at the end of January 2016.
"In the same survey, 55% of the respondents felt
that that Sarawak state was headed in the right
direction, representing stable outcome when compared to
an earlier survey conducted in April
2015 which recorded 56% of respondents saying the state was headed in the right
direction," he said.
Among the top three reasons for voters’ positive views on
the state direction included visible
improvement in the state’s development and
infrastructure, an economy that was still perceived
to be growing and positive state leadership.
He said 32% of respondents felt the state was headed in
the wrong direction, principal reason for their negative assessment hinged on
economic concerns (rising cost of living, jobs) and gaps in the provision of
infrastructure in the rural areas of the state.
The survey found that voters had mixed views about the
economy: 44% gave a favourable
response but 50% said current conditions were unfavourable.
Closer to home, 52% of the survey respondents reported
that they were able to make ends meet but 45% admitted to having some problems
in fulfilling their financial obligations.
Voters were very negative with respect to job opportunities
(unfavorable at 60%) and prices of consumer goods (unfavorable at 81%).
As such voters were also found cautious about the outlook
of the state economy, with 45% reporting
pessimism and 43% remaining optimistic.
Despite the guarded sentiments about the economy, a
majority (55%) of voters were satisfied
with the state government’s handling of the economy.
In terms of fulfillment of expectations, voters were
satisfied with the state government’s action
on issues such as protecting religious freedom (79% net
satisfaction1), providing basic amenities
(32% net satisfaction), education (34% net satisfaction)
but were more dissatisfied on areas such
1 Net Satisfaction = Satisfaction less Dissatisfaction as
expressed in percentages as providing
jobs (-11% net satisfaction), public transport (-6% net satisfaction),
eradicating corruption in public sector (-10% net satisfaction).
Mixed feelings about treatment by Putrajaya. A small
majority (54%) of voters felt that Sarawak had not been fairly treated by the
federal government in the past.
This sentiment is relatively higher among
younger and non-Bumiputera voters as well as among those with higher household
incomes.
Likewise the survey also found that respondents were
split 49%:34% on whether Sarawak had been better off or worse off being in
Malaysia.
The survey also found that voters were also split in
their support for autonomy advocacy group “Sarawak for Sarawakians” (S4S).
The survey found that
support for S4S was high at 65% among Chinese voters but diametrically opposed
by Malay voters (62% oppose) while the Non-Muslim Bumiputera community has its sentiments split 48% for and
28% do not support and 24% don’t know/refused.
"In our opinion, the issues that drive this election
remain rooted on fundamental pocket book issues (i.e. cost of living and jobs)
as well as demands for provision of basic infrastructure services in the rural
constituencies of Sarawak.
This provides latent advantage to the incumbent state
ruling party as compared to the opposition as the former remains best placed to
resolve such issues as compared to the latter.
The survey was carried out by the Merdeka Center for
Opinion Research between the 20th to 26th
January 2016 to gauge voters’ perceptions of current
developments in the Sarawak in the lead up
to the state elections.
A total of 815 registered voters comprising 27% Muslim
Bumiputra, 38% Non-Muslim Bumiputra and 36% Chinese respondents which was
reflective of electoral profile of Sarawak was interviewed via fixed line and
mobile telephones.
Respondents were selected on the basis of random stratified sampling
along age group, ethnicity, gender and state constituency.
The poll was funded by Merdeka Center’s internal
financial resources.
About Merdeka Center for Opinion Research Merdeka Center
for Opinion Research was formally established in 2001 as an independent
organization focused on public opinion research and socio-economic analysis.
Merdeka’s mission is to act as a bridge between ordinary Malaysians
and other stakeholders with the leading members of the nation – by collecting
public opinion studies and expressing them through survey results, analysis and
position papers
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