The Navel Gazers

The Malaysian Insider has an interesting article on Malaysians' perception of the Internal Security Act (ISA). Of particular interest is the Malay perception of the ISA and the New Economic Policy(NEP). 70% of the people polled by the Merdeka Centre disagreed that people should be detained without trial to safeguard national security.



As revealed in table 2, what is significant is that the majority of the people from the various races are united in their objection to detention without trial.



Although the majority of the Malays believe that as the original inhabitants of the country, they should be accorded special rights, a significant percentage felt that all races should be given the same rights (Table 3 below).



How do the Malays feel about the NEP? Only 42% felt that it benefited the ordinary Malays. Four years ago, 60% felt that it benefited them.




The results of the survey seem to indicate a significant shift in Malay perception as to what they want, but the government is still trapped in its old assumptions and the "navel gazing disease" according to Malaysian Insider.