Minorities view Najib, BN favourably - UPM survey

KUALA LUMPUR- Youths from Malaysia's six minority groups - Indian Muslims, Portuguese, Baba Nyonya, Orang Asli, Siamese, and Chitty - view favourably Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his populist approach.

This is the finding from a maiden study conducted by University Putra Malaysia's (UPM) social anthropologist Dr Sarjit Singh Gill to evaluate the political knowledge and inclination of the group.

The study on Minority Perception and Acceptance on the Ruling Party also revealed that this group, representing 8% of the country's 28 million population, are very observant of the political on-goings though they are not active participants in the mainstream politics.

In the study, 54.2% of the respondents observed Najib as being the best choice for the prime minister's post.

He came ahead of PKR's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS' spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat, DAP chairman Karpal Singh, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, DAP's Lim Kit Siang and MIC president Datuk G. Palanivel.

Sarjit's survey also found that an average of 82% of the 850 respondents would vote for the ruling Barisan National (BN) in the coming election though a substantial number of Baba Nyonya indicated their preference for PKR.

"The minorities' vote will definitely count in the 13th General Election especially when looking at 66.5% of the respondents were registered voters with 53.1% having voted in the last general election," said Sarjit.

-TheStar