Poll finds Malaysians divided over blanket ban on 3R discussions

 

Projek Sama founding members Wong Chin Huat (third from left) and Thomas Fann (second from right) with Projek Sama convener Ngeow Chow Ying (third from right) and Invoke CEO Adib Iliya Azlan (right) during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

A recent survey conducted by an advocacy group reveals that Malaysians in the peninsula are divided in their opinion about a blanket ban on 3R discussions (concerning race, religion and royalty).

The survey, which was commissioned by Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek Sama) and conducted by pollster Invoke, took place from Oct 1-28 with financial assistance from an unnamed funder.

Invoke CEO Adib Iliya Azlan said the survey’s results were based on data from eight questions which were collected from 611 respondents, aged 18 and above through calls to randomly generated phone numbers.

Projek Sama founder Wong Chin Huat said those who agreed with a blanket ban on 3R discussions, even if they were civil and rational, stood at 36.62%.

Wong, a political analyst, told a press conference here that approval for such a proposal stood at 40.52% for Malays, 26.50% for Chinese and 34.28% for Indians.

He added that 36.3% disagreed with the ban while 27.09% were neutral.

He pointed out that the percentage of Malaysians who supported the blanket ban was actually lower than those who supported a prohibition on hate speech in 3R discussions (60%) and those who agreed that the government should take stern action against violence regardless of its relation to 3R (71%).

“From the survey, it’s clear that what Malaysians actually care for is action on violence, because that will tear apart our social fabric and destroy our society,” he said.

“If you trust Malaysians to be mature, we can actually talk about any difficult issues in a civil, rational and harmonious manner.”

Wong said the survey revealed that the majority of Malaysians in the peninsula felt that respect for both Islam and multiculturalism should go hand-in-hand.

He said in Malaysia, certain quarters were of the view that respect for both Islam and multiculturalism could only be feasible “up to a certain extent”.

“After that, (they feel that) one has to take precedence because there’s bound to be a trade-off,” he said.

“The data is very positive because it shows that 76% of the respondents want respect for both Islam and multiculturalism to go hand-in-hand, while 16% want respect for Islam to take precedence over multiculturalism and 8% want to prioritise multiculturalism over Islam.”

Wong said the survey’s result was important as respect for Islam and multiculturalism could not be seen as a zero-sum game in Malaysia. - FMT