Trust is fundamental in society as it binds members to be together. We trust our friends to get along and our colleagues to work together. At a higher level, employees trust the management to take care of their welfare and protect the workplace. Citizens place trust in the police to secure against personal threats. We place trust in our political leaders to fulfil their promises made during elections or, if they cannot do so, to tell us their constraints so that, as voters, we can understand them. At a more personal level, we trust our parents and siblings to give us the space to grow and enjoy as family members. Trust is important in our multi-racial society as we greatly value our friends from different races to make society function well.
Trust is a relationship of expectedness. We expect the trust to derive from the person or institution we relate to. We trust the media to provide us with credible information so that they can be the bits that will guide us in making our decisions. We trust our banks to care for our money and not be part of the scammers.
We lose confidence in the related person or institution when trust is not provided. But it could also be perceptual. We could perceive that our colleagues are not helpful; hence, we lose trust in them.
Trust becomes significantly important in times of uncertainty because of the confidence placed in institutions. The uncertain situation is a test of our faith. If people have faith in their government, they can expect assistance from the government on the problems they face. They trust their government to provide them with the correct information on the true situation of the country.
To learn more about our institutions, we conducted three surveys asking ordinary Malaysians about their trust level in social and political institutions. We noted that other agencies occasionally ask Malaysians how much trust they have in certain institutions as part of their global survey. Edelman Trust Barometer, Gallup Polls, and Pew International occasionally or annually survey people's trust in specific institutions.
Academics in their study associate trust with other factors in their findings.
Generally, the trust level has been low over the years, and in some institutions, they are getting lower. Seldom do institutions record an increase in their trust levels over the years. International agencies with the ability to pool resources have conducted surveys on trust covering several periods and in different countries, which provide them with longitudinal data on the changes in the trust level. Such changes provide some underlying reasons for what was happening to these institutions during those periods.
The Edelman Trust Barometer 2024 shows changes in trust in some countries. The trust index increased in Malaysia, from 62 points in 2023 to 68 in 2024 (+6), while there was a decrease in trust in the UK from 43 down to 39 (-4).
The present findings are from three face-to-face nationwide interviews with 1,093 respondents in December 2023 and 1,638 in October 2022, while an earlier study with 1,102 respondents was completed in 2019.
Respondents were given some Institutions for them to rate their trust. We changed some of the institutions throughout the years. For example, we did not always ask the question of trust in several institutions (siblings, neighbours) but instead we asked respondents in 2023 and 2024 about trust in their doctors and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Generally, Malaysians have more trust in Institutions in 2023 than in previous years.
Without any surprise, the top institution Malaysians placed their trust in were parents, but the percentages in 2022 (80%) and 2023 (80%) were lower than that in 2019 (91%). Religious teachers came close to being the institution Malaysians highly trusted. The medical and teaching professions are noble in Malaysia, which Malaysians duly acknowledge. Doctors and Teachers are placed in high trust (over 70%), followed by the Police (72%) and Military (70%).
The other institutions scored above 60 to 70%, which qualified them to be placed in the Medium Trust level in December 2023. Malaysian Big Companies, Civil Service, and Parliament were among some of the institutions at the Medium Trust level. Moving up from October 2022 were Parliament (from 59% to 65%) and SPRM (57% to 64%) in 2023.
Political leaders and political parties that scored low in 2019 moved up the trust level in 2023. The trust in political leaders was 57% in 2019, but this increased to 59 % in 2022 and 62% in 2023, and it was likewise for political parties (54% in 2019 to 65% in 2023) and Police (65% from 2019 to 72% in 2023).
Trust in Institutions
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Trust declined for some institutions. Trust for Teachers (dropped from 79% in 2019 to 71% in December 2023, Judiciary (66% in 2019 to 62% in 2023), Military from 76% in 2019 to 70% in 2023, and Civil Service (67% to 65%).
Taking the mean of four institutions (Government, Mass Media, Big Companies and Judiciary), the general trust would be 63% in 2019, 65% in 2022 and 2023. Hence, there was an increase in trust of +2 from 2019 to 2022 and 2023.
The increased confidence in the political institutions needs more attention as many events unfolded after 2018, leading to the appointments of three prime ministers. The events in 2019 and 2020, which saw rapid changes in the government, had given way to a more stable government in 2023, but this must be given closer focus.
Malaysians voted in November 2022, and the situation of a hung parliament was resolved with the setting up of the Unity Government. Uncertain events would cause Malaysians to reassess their trust in these institutions. The trust in institutions provides the confidence Malaysians need for a stable society, but any uncertainty might influence the level of trust.
Syed Arabi Idid
Department of Communication,
International Islamic University Malaysia
- Star
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