PETALING JAYA: The majority of those who responded to a survey conducted by social activist Fahmi Reza rejected the possibility of Malaysia having a non-Muslim prime minister some day.
According to a Malay Mail Online report, out of 1,344 respondents, 39% said they could accept such a situation, while 31% said that as long as the prime minister was a Muslim, they would be agreeable to it.
The other 30%, however, completely rejected the possibility of having a non-Malay premier.
The one-day survey conducted on Fahmi’s Twitter account revealed the prevalence of mistrust among the Malays towards those of other ethnicities which he said portrayed Malaysians’ failure as a society.
Speaking to the English news portal, he said the country’s education and political systems, which had increasingly become polarised based on race, were not helping the situation.
“But at the same time, this problem exists because there is a lack of interaction and sharing among races and an in-depth understanding among ourselves in society.”
Targeted only at Malays, Fahmi said he conducted the survey because he was interested in finding out their views over such a possibility.
The graphic designer acknowledged that the results of his survey may be flawed as anyone could have responded to it, but said that was a trivial matter as the survey’s primary aim was to get the public speaking on the issue.
It was also a follow-up to a previous question he posed on Facebook, asking his followers if they were prepared to openly discuss matters related to racial discrimination and racism, with those of a different ethnicity.
“I posted this question because I wished there were more spaces and opportunities where these exchanges could really happen in real life, and not just on social media,” he said, adding that the poll was merely a starting point for open talks on the rarely discussed topic of racism.
“I am actually planning to hold a few series of workshops about the issue of racial discrimination and racism that is intended to create a space and opportunity for this issue to be discussed openly by workshop participants from different ethnic backgrounds.”
Public policy advocacy group Centre for a Better Tomorrow had on March 17, released the results of a survey it conducted last year where 60% of the 1,056 Peninsular Malaysians polled claimed they were not racist.
Out of the 60%, half however said they would not vote for a candidate coming from a different race, while another 34% felt race-based politics was still relevant.
Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com
