KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Nearly eight in 10 Malaysians considered the Covid-19 pandemic as the most immediate threat to Asean, according to a regional survey.

The report from the Singapore-based Asean Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute released yesterday showed 57.8 per cent of Malaysians polled said Asean countries must consider unemployment and economic recession as a serious challenge.

This was followed by political instability in the region (50.4 per cent), increased military tensions (28.9 per cent), socioeconomic gaps and climate change (26.7 per cent each), deteriorating human rights conditions (20.7 per cent), as well as terrorism (11.1 per cent).

Malaysians’ concerns about Covid-19 tracked others in the region, where an average of 75.4 per cent named it the biggest threat, ahead of unemployment and economic recession at 49.8 per cent.

The report said that the third most important issue for South-east Asia is the urgency in addressing climate change and the extreme weather events that have battered the region in 2021.

“South-east Asians continue to express their frustrations with Asean as a slow and ineffective organisation, unable to cope with fluid political and economic developments at an overwhelming 70.1 per cent.

“This concern overtook last year’s top concern which was that of Asean becoming an arena of major power competition and its member states being used as a proxy in major power competition.

“This concern became the second-ranked concern this year at 61.5 per cent. Concerns about Asean’s inability to overcome current pandemic challenges maintained third place this year at 49.0 per cent,” it said in Asean primary concerns.

The survey conducted between November 11 and December 31, 2021 had involved 1,677 respondents, with 8.1 per cent of them from Malaysia. Most of the respondents were academics, from think tanks, or research institutions.

Established in 1968, the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute is a regional centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security, and economic trends and developments in South-east Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment.