- A Pew Research survey found 86 per cent of Malaysians believe the rich’s political influence drives economic inequality, with 62 per cent thinking it affected the inequality "a great deal”.
- While the gap between rich and poor is the biggest concern in Malaysia, gender inequality is at the bottom of the list compared to racial or religious discrimination.
- The study revealed 58 per cent of Malaysians think their children will be financially worse off in the future, reflecting broader pessimism in the Asia-Pacific region.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — A study by global pollster Pew Research Center found that 62 per cent of Malaysians polled said that the political influence of the elites caused economic inequality "a great deal” here — a universal concern among most nations surveyed.
The report titled "Economic Inequality Seen as Major Challenge Around the World” also showed that a roughly similar proportion (58 per cent) of Malaysians felt that their children will be worse off financially in the future.
"In the Asia-Pacific region, views are most negative in Australia, Japan and South Korea, where about two-thirds or more say children will be worse off than their parents.
"People in Malaysia and Sri Lanka are also pessimistic on this question,” said the report released earlier this week.
In the survey, 70 per cent of Malaysians said the gap between the rich and poor is a big problem in the country.
In response, 38 per cent of Malaysians said that the Malaysian economic system needs a complete reform, while 48 per cent called for major changes. Only 14 per cent said minor or no changes are needed.
"There’s a clear relationship between people’s perceptions of economic inequality in their country and how they see the next generation’s financial future.
"In most countries, people who consider the gap between the rich and the poor to be a very big problem are especially pessimistic about how children will fare financially when they grow up,” it suggested.
Here are the proportions of Malaysians who feel that these issues below are a "big problem” here:
- Gap between rich and poor: 70 per cent
- Discrimination based on race or ethnicity: 63 per cent
- Unequal rights for men and women: 48 per cent
- Discrimination based on religion: 57 per cent
Additionally, here are the proportions of Malaysians who blamed these issues for economic inequality here:
- Political influence of the rich: 86
- Problem with the education system: 78 per cent
- Some people working harder: 77 per cent
- Different opportunities at birth: 73 per cent
- Robots and computers taking over: 68 per cent
- Racial or ethnic discrimination: 72 per cent
The findings were part of the Global Attitudes Survey done by Pew Research for 2024. In Malaysia, 1,005 adults were randomly polled over the phone between January 16 and March 10, 2024.
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