KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 — Malaysians’ suspicion towards politicians was unabated last, with respondents in a recent Ipsos poll saying they were less likely to trust the group than a random person they encountered.

According to the findings of pollster’s Trust in Professions survey, only 20 per cent of respondents said they considered politicians to be trustworthy, making the group the least trusted in the country.

However, this was one basis point higher than the 2021 edition of the survey and above the global average of 14 per cent.

"Politicians are still the least trusted in Malaysia and across the world,” Ipsos Public Affairs senior research manager Azamat Ababakirov said in a statement accompanying the survey findings.

Advertising executives (24 per cent) and government ministers (26 per cent) were the next two professions that were least trusted, followed by journalists at 27 per cent and the clergy (29 per cent).

On the opposing end, Azamat said the list of most trusted professions in Malaysia was now unchanged for the third consecutive year, albeit with significantly lower levels of trust.

In the poll, doctors (58 per cent), teachers (58 per cent), scientists (49 per cent), armed forces personnel (49 per cent) and judges (43 per cent) were the most trusted professions in descending order.

However, the proportion of respondents reporting trust in the groups fell between three and 10 basis points, with the sharpest drop in trust reported in doctors.

"Two years after Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysian doctors are still enjoying high levels of trust today. Malaysians continue to have high trust in teachers, scientists and the armed forces.

"Earlier high trust levels of 2021 reflected increased interaction of Malaysians with the healthcare system and offline study arrangements with schools during the pandemic.

"However, at overall trust levels in different professions have dropped significantly since October 2021, during the final stages of the lockdown,” Azamat said.

Other professions that Malaysians considered trustworthy were bankers (41 per cent), police (37 per cent), news readers (37 per cent), pollster (37 per cent), and ordinary men and women (36 per cent).