A survey conducted by Merdeka Center in December 2016 showed that an overwhelming majority (81 percent) of Malaysians expressed concern about climate change. From this number, 32.5 percent of respondents said they have “great care” about climate change while 48.8 percent reported “somewhat care about climate change”.

In December 2016 Malaysia ratified the Paris Agreement, a protocol aimed at reducing global carbon emission by 2030 as part of the efforts to fight climate change. In addition, a recent scientific report noted that 2016 was the hottest year on record. As part of its interest on the topic, Merdeka Center carried out a public opinion survey during the second half of December 2016 to gauge the perspectives and attitudes of the Malaysian public towards climate change.

The data collected showed differences among Malaysians on their views towards climate change. As expected, those with higher income, college education and those aged 40 years old expressed a higher level of concern compared to their other peers.

When asked what they thought was the main cause for climate change, 70 percent of the respondents reported that it was caused mostly “by human activities” while 22 percent chose that it was caused mostly by “natural changes in the environment”.

As with the earlier findings, these views were heavily influenced by the respondents’ income and education level. Those who were higher educated or belonging to upper income groups were more likely to blame human activities as the cause for climate change.

With respect to the perceived impact of climate change in Malaysia, 21.2 percent of respondents believed it will cause “damage to forest and plants”, followed by 20.7 percent who felt “storms would become severe” and 17.1 percent believed “more droughts would occur and water shortages increase”.

The remainder of respondents chose “rising sea levels and shoreline erosion” at 14.2 percent and 11.1 percent felt climate change would “harm wildlife and destroy their habitats”. Five point 4 percent of the respondents reported that all of the earlier mentioned phenomenon could affect Malaysia.

When asked what they perceived about the weather, almost two-thirds (64.2 percent) of the respondents claimed the weather had become more unstable over the past three years. Twenty-four point three percent of the respondents report that weather conditions have remained largely unchanged while 9.4 percent said the weather in Malaysia has become more stable in the last three years.

When respondents were asked about the level of temperature, 65.3 percent of them perceived that the temperature in Malaysia had been higher when compared to three years ago. One-quarter (25.4 percent) of respondents claimed temperatures had remained the same while only 5.3 percent claimed the temperature now was lower.

More expect federal gov’t efforts in climate change

When asked about their satisfaction with the government’s handling of climate change, only 37.5 percent of respondents report satisfaction while close to one-half (49.7 percent) expressed dissatisfaction. The survey found that Bumiputera respondents were more likely to be satisfied with the government efforts while those with higher education and incomes were more dissatisfied.

Malaysians were also split when assessing their own personal efforts at protecting the environment, with 38.9 percent of the respondents claimed they had done enough while 42.5 percent of the respondents claimed they had not done enough.

The survey was carried out by Merdeka Center between Dec 18 to 20, 2016. A total of 1,208 respondents were interviewed via fixed line and mobile telephones. Respondents were selected on the basis of random stratified sampling along age group, ethnicity, gender and geographical location (including the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak).

The survey comprised 50 percent Malay, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indian, 6 percent Muslim bumiputra and 6 percent non-Muslim bumiputra respondents. The poll was internally funded by Merdeka Center.

Merdeka Center for Opinion Research was formally established in 2001 as an independent organisation focused on public opinion research and socio-economic analysis. Merdeka’s mission is to act as a bridge between ordinary Malaysians and other stakeholders with the leading members of the nation - by collecting public opinion studies and expressing them through survey results, analysis and position papers. For details, visit: www.merdeka.org