Malaysia ranked 4th in public opinion survey on govt response to COVID-19

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 -- Malaysian has been ranked fourth in a global survey on public approval of their government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ahead of Singapore and Indonesia tied in seventh position.

Chief executive officer of real estate agency IQI Global Group Kashif Ansari said it is no surprise that Malaysians feel their country has responded well to the Coronavirus, because Malaysia has always had good world-class medical facilities and the government has taken muscular but empathetic action to protect the population.

"They have put health and well-being above short-term economic gains. As a result, Malaysia has had relatively few infections and looks like it will be able to emerge from the lockdown sooner than many other countries," he said in a statement today.

He said when property buyers from China and other parts of Asia looked around, they would see the United States and United Kingdom still having difficulties dealing with the Coronavirus crisis.

Malaysia, he said, is about to emerge from its lockdown with remarkably little loss of life, pointing out that 105 other countries have had more COVID-19 deaths per million people than has Malaysia.

He said in the survey, Malaysia came in fourth with an index score of 58, behind the United Arab Emirates and India tied at third spot with an index score of 59. Vietnam was second with a score of 77, with China (85) topping the list, with the most citizens rating its performance favourably across all four key indicators: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community and media.

New Zealand (56) is the only Western country with an index score higher than the global average of 45 – indicating that citizens in Western countries are generally less satisfied with their countries’ performances.

Ansari said the survey was jointly conducted by Singapore’s leading social research agency Blackbox Research and international online panel specialist Toluna between April 3 and 19, 2020 on more than 12,000 people aged between 18 to 80 across 23 countries.

In addition, he said, in Southeast Asia, Malaysia looks like a safe haven from the Coronavirus, noting that the welcoming visa policy, the diverse economy, the good educational opportunities, great medical infrastructure and the impressive response to the pandemic will make Malaysia more popular with foreign buyers in the second half of 2020 than in 2019.

“Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese buyers are the largest foreign buyer group in Malaysia. We also expect an increase in buyers from Singapore, Indonesia and Japan this year," he added.

-- BERNAMA