FEWER people are proud to be called Malaysians as the country gears up for Merdeka celebrations, a survey revealed.

Selangor-based Kajidata Research found in its survey on public perception of patriotism that only 75.7% of 1,007 respondents professed to be proud to be Malaysian, compared with 98.3% in last year’s poll.

Of this group, 50.7% were “extremely proud” and 25% just “proud” of their nationality. Malays took the most pride in being Malaysian at 52.3%, followed by Chinese (29.7%), Indians (7.6%), Bumiputera Sabah (4.7%), Bumiputra Sarawak (4.4%) and Orang Asli (0.5%), and others (0.8%).

Respondents not proud of their national identity stood at 13%.

Research team member Mohd Faris said while the study did not delve into the reasons for the respondents’ answers, he believed the differing methodologies of this and last year’s surveys could have a bearing on the big difference in results.

“This year we used what we call an interactive voice response (IVR) phone interview. Respondents just pressed the keys on their phones to answer,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“Last year, we did a sort of face-to-face interviews.

“We believe people are not so truthful with their answers in “face-to-face” interviews for obvious reasons compared to when just pressing buttons on the phone.”

The survey was conducted on August 24-28.

Faris said the results of next year’s survey, which would also be conducted via IVR  would be able to draw a more accurate insight into Malaysian’s perception of patriotism.

“The 22.6% drop actually had us thinking why,” he said of the apparent drop in national pride.

“But since the data collection methodology used does not require the respondents to say why they are proud or not proud to be a Malaysian, there is no way of telling why people are less proud this year.”

The survey found 67.5% routinely celebrated Independence Day on August 31 while 15.2% said they did not mark it at all.

“Attempts to assess and gauge how much August 31 means to Malaysians have revealed that Independence Day has substantial meaning for and impact on 71% of Malaysians,” Kajidata said in a statement.

It said 11.5% indicated the day had no meaning or impact and 17.5% were on the fence.

“Based on previous studies conducted by Kajidata and recent events in Malaysia, it is clear that Malaysian patriotism is not significantly affected by political changes such as the (results of the) recent 14th general election,” it said. – August 29, 2018.