Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem
KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem has received a high approval rating of 81 per cent from Sarawakians.
His rating was low in 2009 and 2011 but has increased steadily since 2013, reaching 74 in April 2015 – the month the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced.
Despite this, his popularity continued to surge and by January this year, the rating was still in his favour where 81 per cent showed support for him.
In terms of ethnicity, Adenan received the highest approval rating of 90 per cent from the Muslim Bumiputera; followed by 85 per cent from the non-Muslim Bumiputera and the Chinese at 71 per cent.
Generally, since he became chief minister, he has been well accepted across the board by voters from all strata of life, from the high income earners to the minimum wage labourers as well as the highly educated and those with only primary education.
Adenan is also perceived to be a game changer where 75 per cent of those interviewed (including 65 per cent of the Chinese) believed that he has brought about significant changes to Sarawak since taking over the administration of the state, though 18 per cent believed that there was no change at all.
The new policy which has received the most approval is Adenan’s announcement of English as an official language beside Bahasa Malaysia, to be followed by recognition of the Unified Examinations Certificate, which surprisingly also received high ratings among the Bumiputera.
These are some of the results of an opinion survey carried out by Merdeka Center between Jan 20 to 26 this year on 815 voters who were selected through random stratified sampling method along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age, parliament constituencies and state assembly seats.
Meanwhile, on performance of opposition leaders, 36 per cent interviewed found them satisfactory while 47 per cent found them unsatisfactory.
On individual leaders, the survey results showed that 31 per cent of survey participants were happy with state PKR chief Baru Bian while 27 per cent were dissatisfied.
State DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen received a slightly higher approval rating of 36 per cent, as compared to Baru while 27 per cent of those participating in the poll were not happy with Chong’s performance.
However, in general, 56 per cent believed that there should be a stronger opposition in Sarawak while 32 per cent disagreed.