MALAYSIA is a nation with “maximum worries”, scoring 0.77 on the National Worry Index (NWI).

The index, which gauges how worried people are at the national level, was released by Emir Research for the first time today.

Four things weigh heavily on Malaysians’ minds, namely the high cost of living, jobs, the economy and security.

A score of 0 to 0.25 on NWI indicates “minimum worries”, moderate (0.25-0.5), excessive (0.5-0.75) and maximum (0.75-1).

The Pulse From the Ground: Voices & Expectations of the Rakyat on Current Socio-economic Issues survey was conducted between September 5 and October 10, and saw 1,992 respondents with different racial, age, geographic and education profiles polled.

Under the “Perut Economy” portion, concerning bread-and-butter issues, 86% of respondents said the cost of basic needs and affordability of homes are a major source of their worries.

This is followed by a lack of job opportunities at 77%, youth unemployment (76%) and being in debt due to the high cost of living (76%).

Corruption and abuse of power – the people’s top concerns prior to the 14th general election – placed sixth.

“The reason for this relegation could be that the people are tired of the long and tedious process of putting kleptocrats from the previous regime behind bars,” said the study.

“They want the government to move on and focus on the ‘Perut Economy’, which is the main highlight of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto, rather than being distracted and continuously harping on the excesses of the previous regime.”

The poll found that 81% of Malays and Bumiputeras view corruption and power abuse as a major source of their worries, followed by Indians (65%) and Chinese (64%).

The top concern among Malays and Bumiputeras, at 81%, is the lack of job opportunities and youth unemployment. Indians, too, expressed worry over the lack of jobs.

Chinese youth, meanwhile, are mostly worried about unemployment and the failure of the sales and services tax to reduce the cost of living, at 67%.

On the government’s plans and initiatives, five of the 16 welcomed by those polled are combating corruption in government agencies (64%), a “clean and efficient policy” for civil servants (57%), East Coast Rail Link project (49%), teaching science and mathematics in English (48%) and autonomy of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (46%).

Not well received are the recruitment of African labourers (10%), flying car project (19%) and allowing the Lynas plant to continue operations (24%).

Emir Research CEO Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff said the group plans to conduct the poll on a quarterly basis.

“We want to carry out this research continuously.”

The research team was led by Professor Dr Mohamad Sahari Nordin, Professor Dr Tunku Mohar and Professor Dr Margarita Peredaryenko, with some 25 enumerators deployed. – November 28, 2019.