Poll Position: Bi-Polar Snapshot of Malaysia Today

Technorati tags: Opinion Poll, 1Malaysia, Poll Position, Poll Analysis

Departing from the usual commentary of myAsylum polls, this time we look at not one, but two poll results.

The first poll was announced on this blog earlier, and asked your view about what you thought the biggest challenge to achieving 1Malaysia would be.

The second one was more spur of the moment, via Twtpoll. And it was spur of the moment because it was triggered by a statement from our Deputy PM (via The Malaysian Insider).

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (picture) said today that he considered himself a “Malay first,” and then only a Malaysian, in response to a challenge issued by DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang.

Lim had earlier this morning challenged Muhyiddin to state that he was Malaysian first, and Malay second to prove that he did indeed believe in the concept of 1 Malaysia which had been Barisan Nasional’s “unifying” slogan under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
(source: The Malaysian Insider)

Granted, this was later “clarified” by saying that he was a Malaysian at heart – yada, yada, yada… Which Walski can accept, but sometimes Freudian slips can be telling as well – what blurts out of your mouth first, no matter how unintentional, usually reflects more truth than more circumspect speech. Especially if you’re a politician.

In any case, on to the results.

The first poll had to do with the 1Malaysia concept – more specifically, what you thought would be the most likely factor that could derail it. 
(the results, the other poll, and more, in the full post)

Walski found the results interesting, although not entirely surprising.

Most people thought that Najib’s own party, UMNO, would be the most likely culprit to derail the 1Malaysia concept. This, perhaps, is based on the recent race-first rhetoric to come from key individuals within the party, like with Muhyiddin, among others.

But for Walski, personally, he thinks that the most likely folks potentially disastrous to 1Malaysia are the pressure groups, particularly Perkasa and the multitude of race/religion champion NGOs.

In fact, Walski would go as far to say that the real obstacle is both these two factors – UMNO and the pressure groups. The general perception is that UMNO – hence, BN, and thus the Government – panders just a tad too much to these pressure groups.

There were two respondents who provided their own factors, too. And in a way, the two responses kind of tie in with Walski’s supposition above, about UMNO and the pressure groups being the possible key factors:

• Islam as a religion of the Country
• all of the above

18% of the respondents thought that the attitude of ordinary Malaysians would play a part in derailing 1Malaysia, due to our obsession with race. Not surprising – asking what “race” someone is, is probably one of the first things many Malaysians ask someone they meet for the first time, especially if that someone can’t easily be compartmentalized visually.

One of the goals of 1Malaysia, similar to Mahathir’s Vision 2020, is Establishing a united Malaysian nation made up of one Bangsa Malaysia (via Wikipedia). To Walski, this means, more than anything else, to identify ourselves as Malaysians first, before our individual cultural identity or religion.

Which leads us to the results of the second survey, done via Twtpoll.

It’s heartening to note the results. Granted, as one of Walski’s Twitter friends commented, the results are likely skewed to reflect the opinion of those leaning more to the liberal side of things (Walski being what Walski is and all).

So, what do the results of these two polls really tell us?

Deep down, Walski personally thinks that there is a desire in each and every one of us to have a sense of real belonging to our nation, Malaysia.

That said, there are many challenges ahead of us before we can collectively stand up and be counted as Malaysians first and foremost. In a nutshell, these challenges emanate from the sociopolitical path that our nation has chosen to tread.

There are still too many self-interested parties out there whose aim in life is to be more exclusive than the rest, be it in terms of race/culture or religion, at the expense of excluding everyone else outside of their circle of self-interest.

Among those included in this category would be UMNO and the pressure groups to whom the party apparently panders to. Granted, there are numerous voices of reason within the party’s fold, but these voices tend to only be heard in private – with few notable exceptions, like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the veteran UMNO politician whose recent public opinions are somewhat surprising, but welcome.

In the public domain, the rhetoric of most UMNO politicians tend to not mirror what they really think – at least from Walski’s perspective – but what they think the grassroots expect, and keeping well within the expectational boundaries of party-stand.

On the other side of the fence, the recent Pakatan-led linkage of 1Malaysia to the APCO-Israeli-conspiracy is, in Walski’s opinion, unnecessary and quite frankly, stupid. The end-game is a political one for sure, but the method is more detrimental to a united Malaysia, rather than bringing about a greater good. It just goes to show that when it comes to politics, no level is low enough to stoop to, never mind which side of the political equation one belongs to.

Walski likes it not at all.

On a personal level, Walski always thinks himself as human first, then as Malaysian, and only then as other things (and there are many). It’s idealistic for sure, but that’s just the kind of person Walski is.

And 1Malaysia, despite its flaws and ambiguity, is a positive path towards national unity. Provided politics and self-interest don’t get in the way.