KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — Three-quarters of Johor folks polled by Singapore-based research centre ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute revealed they agree with the Johor royal house intervening in politics should the need arise.
In the survey results released this week, the highest support for this notion came from the Malays in the southern state, at 84.9 per cent, followed by the ethnic Chinese at 65.1 per cent, and Indians (53.2 per cent).
“The strong Malay support for the Johor Sultan intervention in politics when necessary is consistent with the community’s acceptance of the Sultan’s traditional role as their ‘protector’,” the report said.
Furthermore, those responded also had no problems with the royalty involving itself in business ventures.
Over half, at 51.8 per cent, disagreed that the royal house should refrain from business ventures.
Broken by ethnicities, close to 59 per cent of Malays supported such business ventures, compared to the Indians (52 per cent), and the Chinese (40.5 per cent).
“Finally, 18.8 per cent of Chinese respondents, 19.5 per cent Indian respondents, and only 6.2 Malay respondents are unsure whether or not the Johor royalty should refrain from business ventures,” it said.
In addition, those polled also viewed the monarchy positively, agreeing that the Johor royal family is a good steward of the state’s resources, the Sultan looks after the personal interests of the citizens, and is a good guardian of Islam.
The survey polled 2,011 respondents from Johor by phone between May and June this year.
Malays made up 55 per cent of the respondents, Chinese at 38 per cent, and Indian at 7 per cent.
Related:
Survey: Most of Johor’s Malays support hudud, over half want it applied to everyone, The Malay Mail