Asian Barometer Survey Wave 4 2014-2016 TECHNICAL REPORT (MALAYSIA) By Merdeka Center for Opinion Research for Asian Barometer Survey Center for East Asia Democratic Studies National Taiwan University October 2014 Contact Information Merdeka Center for Opinion Research 901B, Kompleks Diamond, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43650 Selangor, Malaysia. Tel: +6 03 8210 1488 Fax: +6 03 8210 1466 Email: [email protected] Asian Barometer Survey No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan Center for East Asia Democratic Studies, College of Social Sciences National Taiwan University Tel: 886-2-3366-8456 Fax: 886-2-2365-7179 Email: [email protected] 1. BASIC INFORMATION 1.1 LOCATION The Asian Barometer 2014 survey for Malaysia covered the entire country and the study areas were divided into two (2) principal regions- Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) 1.2 POPULATION In 2014, the current population1 of Malaysia in total is 30,267,367, a slight increase from 2013’s estimate of 29,791,949. Of this number, 50.7% (or 15,345,555) is the male population, and the remaining 49.3% (which is 14,921,811) is female population. According to Department of Statistics Malaysia 2010, the population of Malaysia was 28,334,135. Of this number, 91.8% were Malaysian citizens and the remaining were non-citizens (8.2%). Malaysia consists of people of different cultures and religions. Among the Malaysian citizens, the Malays were the predominant ethnic group in Peninsular Malaysia comprises of 50.4 percent of the population, and the rest is Bumiputera, Muslim, etc., including majorities and minorities. Moving to the population distribution, Selangor (5.46 mil) was the most populous state compared with others larger states in Malaysia, followed by Johor (3.35 mil) and Sabah (3.21 mil). 1.3 GOVERNMENT The Government of Malaysia refers to the Federal Government or national government based in the federal territories of Putrajaya. Malaysia is a federation of 13 states and federal territories which operating within a constitutional monarchy under the Westminster parliamentary system. The federal government adopts the principle of separation of powers and has three branches: executive, legislature and judiciary. The state governments in Malaysia also have their respective executive and legislative bodies. The judicial system in Malaysia is a federalised court system operating uniformly throughout the country. Elections in Malaysia exist at two levels: federal level and state level. Federal level elections are those for membership in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of Parliament, while state level elections are for membership in the various State 1 http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/malaysia-population/ Legislative Assemblies. The third level – local election was suspended in 1964 during confrontation with Indonesia till now. The heads of executive branch at both the federal and state levels, the Prime Minister and Menteri Besar/Chief Ministers respectively, are indirectly elected, usually filled by a member of the majority party/coalition in the respective legislatures. While any state may dissolve its assembly independently of the Federal Parliament, the traditional practice is for most state assemblies to be dissolved at the same time as Parliament, with the exception of Sabah and Sarawak, although these two states had held elections simultaneously with the rest of the country, as it is the case for Sabah in the 2004, 2008 and 2013 elections, and Sarawak in the 1969 and 1974 elections. At the federal level, voters elect the 222-member House of Representatives of the bicameral Parliament. Members are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population using the first past the post system. The party that has the majority of the House of Representatives will form the federal government. The Constitution of Malaysia requires that a general election must be held at least once every five years. However, the Prime Minister can ask the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) to dissolve the Parliament at any time before this five-year period has expired. A general election should be held no later than two months in West Malaysia and three months for East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) after the dissolution of the Parliament. Since independence in 1957, Barisan Nasional (formerly Alliance), a coalition of fourteen parties, had won all 13 general election. The 1969 election saw the first time the Alliance failed to obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament (two-thirds majority being the majority required to pass most constitutional amendments). BN again lost the 2/3 majority in the 2008 and 2013 elections, the latter also saw the BN losing the popular vote while retaining the majority of seats. At the state level, voters elect representatives to the Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly). The number of representatives varies between the different states, with as many as 71 electorates in Sarawak and as little as 15 in Perlis. Members are elected from single-member constituencies drawn based on population using the first-past-the-post system. State assembly constituencies are usually smaller (in area and population) than the parliamentary constituencies. The party that forms the majority of the state assembly will form the state government. Malaysia held 13th general elections on 5 May 2013 following the dissolution of the Parliament announced on 3 April 2013. Both the House of Representatives and 12 out of 13 state legislative assemblies (with the exception of Sarawak) were renewed. The federal ruling coalition - Barisan Nasional (BN), which dominated by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, managed to form the government with 60% of the parliament seats even though it won just a mere 47.48% of the popular votes. The opposition coalition – Pakatan Rakyat (PR) which lead by charisma leader Anwar Ibrahim failure to gain majority seats in the parliament to form the government although his coalition won the popular votes (50.87%) in the 13th GE. The election result is the worst ever showing for the ruling coalition BN (before 1970 was Alliance) , outmatching the 1969 election that triggered the May 13 riot. For state legislative assemblies’ elections, Barisan Nasional won 9 out of 12 states, including Kedah and Perak which were won by Pakatan Rakyat in the 2008 elections. Pakatan Rakyat retained state government in Kelantan, Penang and Selangor with better result. 1.4 ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE According to MITI Report 2014, Malaysia posted a strong GDP growth of 6.0% for 2014 and this growth has been the highest achieved since 2010. Malaysia is a highly open upper-middle income2 economy. Malaysia was one of 13 countries identified by the Commission on Growth and Development in its 2008 Growth Report to have recorded average growth of more than 7 percent per year for 25 years or more. Economic growth was inclusive, as Malaysia also succeeded in nearly eradicating poverty: the share of households living below the national poverty line (USD 8.50 per day in 2012) fell from over 50 percent in the 1960s to less than 1.0 percent currently. 1.5 IMPORTANT POLITICAL AND SOCIAL EVENTS A year before the survey was started; a few controversial events were highlighted in Malaysia socio-politics scene. 1. On the Oct 14, 2013, Federal court had made their decision that the Non-Muslim in Peninsular Malaysia cannot use the word ‘Allah’ in the publication to refer to ‘God’ which disappointed the editor of The Herald Father Lawrence Andrew. Back in Dec 31, 2009, KL High Court judge Justice Lau Bee Lan had ruled that the Home 2 http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/overview Ministry’s ban on the use of the word was unlawful and unconstitutional as it violated Article 11 of the federal constitution. On Sept 10, 2013, the Home Ministry and government had submitted the grounds of their appeal against the decision. The chronology of Roman Catholic Church's case of over the usage of 'Allah' issue becoming a sensitive issue between the Malay-Muslim and the Non-Muslim community in Malaysia begin from 2009 to 2014 as reported in Astro Awani. In April 2011, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, endorsed the government's 10-point solution, to allow the publication and importation of the Bible in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia for use by the Christian community just before the Sarawak state election. The court ruling in October 2014 just contradict which the 10-points solution proposed by PM Najib. 2. A large number of Malaysian public consider Lynas rare earth processing plant as an unwelcome investment in Malaysia. As reported in Malaysia Insider News, the experts said the prevailing problems in waste management, storage, disposal facility and waste cleaning at the Lynas factory can lead to radioactive leakages if the Australian firm fails to address the issues. According to earlier reports, the Gebeng refinery known as Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) produces a by-product known as Thorium (Th), a radioactive element that can causes cancer and is easily transported through wind and water. The public also lack of confident on the public institution that supposed to safe guard the safety of the plant. Back in 2012, about 3,000 Malaysians and global environmental activist have staged a protest against the refinery for rare earth elements being built by the Australian mining company Lynas over fears of radioactive contamination. It was the largest rally so far against the £146m plant in a Pahang state of the Malaysian peninsula. In 2014, it was the 4th year of protest of Malaysian residents against the Australian’s rare earth processing facility. 3. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on 8 March 2014, bound from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 passengers and crew members on board. The slow response and handle for the search and rescue attracted heavy criticize from local and abroad.