Survey: Most Malaysians clueless about what liberalism means

Think tank Ideas says majority of respondents support electoral democracy and believe in freedom of speech and a free media, but a majority are also for the Sedition Act and for government control.

(FMT) – The majority of Malaysians appear to have very little understanding of the term “liberalism”, according to a survey by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas).

The survey, which polled 1,207 respondents from the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak, looked at the level of public understanding and attitudes towards liberalism in politics, economics and social issues.

It found that only 51% of the population had heard of liberalism, with the rest saying they had not heard of it or were unsure.

The majority of respondents (78%) said they were either unsure or did not understand it.

A total of 81% of respondents under the age of 40, and 72% of those above 40, said they did not understand.

Only 17% of Malay Muslims said they understood what liberalism was.

When asked to explain what liberalism meant, 55% said they were unsure. This comprised 64% of Muslims and 43% of non-Muslims.

However, only 13% of non-Muslims and 29% of Muslims said liberalism was a bad concept. The majority either was unsure or thought that liberalism was good.

The majority of those who opposed liberalism said this was because it was detrimental to religion, particularly Islam. A further 20% said they were unsure why they felt it was bad.

But Ideas added that when different terminology was used to describe elements of liberalism, a huge percentage of respondents said they actually supported the idea.

“This begs the question if the disagreement shown by the minority is caused by a lack of understanding of the meaning of the word, as when we did not explicitly use the word ‘liberalism’, the responses became more positive towards liberal practices,” it said.

The majority of respondents (84%) supported electoral democracy, including free and fair elections, while 77% believed Malaysia was ready for freedom of speech and free media. Likewise 91% believed that the rule of law must be upheld.

But confusion became apparent when respondents were asked whether they supported an “illiberal” law like the Sedition Act. Here, the answers became more divided, with 60% saying they wanted to keep the Sedition Act to ensure peace and stability. An overwhelming 76% of Malays wanted to keep the act, the survey added.

Ideas said the different response received to the question highlighted the inconsistent understanding of liberalism among Malaysians.

In terms of social liberalism, 65% believed Malaysians should have the freedom to choose how to live their lives. A large proportion (84%) said they were against limiting personal liberty unless the person was physically harming others. Meanwhile, 64% said no one had the right to impose their way of life on others.

But Ideas said there was confusion over liberty and liberalism, when the respondents were asked whether they believed the government should control citizens in order to protect Malaysia’s “culture, values and traditions”.

Here, 74% said yes, with the highest number from among the Bumiputeras.

A high percentage (86%) of those who work in the government also felt that government control over citizens was good.

“The different response that we received on the test question on government control highlights inconsistent understanding, similar to political liberalism above,” Ideas said.

It also highlighted the attitude of Malay Muslim respondents, 57% of whom said they should not have the freedom to choose how to live their lives.

When asked whether people had the right to impose their way of life on others, respondents were split, with half agreeing.

Ideas said the survey results showed that the higher the level of income, the more likely it was that respondents had heard about liberalism, with 76% of those in the top 20% income bracket saying they had heard about it.

However, access to the internet was an important factor because 66% of those who did not have access to the internet said they had not heard about liberalism.

“It is, therefore, likely those who are in the lower income brackets and with no access to the internet would not have heard about liberalism and therefore have very little proper understanding about it,” Ideas said.