Less than half of Malaysians polled say Budget 2021 enough

KUALA LUMPUR: A survey by a local think tank revealed that less than half of Malaysians said Budget 2021 was sufficient to meet the needs of the public.

Almost a quarter of respondents said they did not even think Budget 2021 was sufficient, according to the result of the fourth 2020 quarterly survey by Emir Research which was published yesterday

The survey also showed that six out of 10 respondents agreed that the provision of funds to address Covid-19 should be further increased, and the same proportion also said there is a need to increase allocation for vulnerable groups.

Only nine and eight per cent of respondents disagreed with the proposed Covid-19 provisions, and increment to allocations respectively.

In the survey, respondents were asked whether they disagreed or agreed to seven statements in order gauge their responses on Budget 2021 tabled last year.

The first three statements were: provision of funds to address Covid-19 should be increased, need to increase allocation for the vulnerable groups and sufficient to meet the needs of the people.

The remaining four statements were: assists SMEs and microSMEs, used as political tools, high allocation for controversial and non-essential outfits and budget deficits.

However, just four out of 10 respondents agreed that Budget 2021 was being used as a political tool, and 37 per cent agreed there was a high allocation for controversial and non-essential outfits respectively.

In terms of key demographic differences, the survey found that the youngest group of respondents (aged 30 and below) agreed significantly less compared to the other age groups in that Budget 2021 was sufficient to meet the people's needs.

“Those who are 41 and older agree more than the younger age groups to the suggested proposition that Budget 2021 has a high allocation for controversial and non-essential outlays and is being used as a political tool,” it added.

The report also added that respondents from the rural group demonstrated higher agreement than their urban peers with two of the propositions in the survey — Budget 2021 was sufficient to meet the people's needs and has a high allocation for controversial and non-essential outfits.

Emir Research also found in its survey that potential job loss remained the biggest concern for Malaysians amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, with almost eight out 10 Malaysians expressing this fear.

Eighty-one per cent of respondents polled responded they were worried of losing their jobs due to Covid-19, in a list of eight Covid-19 related worries presented to them; only six per cent said they were not worried at all.

“Overall, the dynamic and magnitude of responses remain unchanged in comparison to the 3Q20.

“In terms of household income, respondents earning between RM3,001 to RM5,000 appeared to be the most worried group as they demonstrated a significantly higher magnitude of worry on employment and living cost dimensions than those who make less than RM3,000 overall,” the report said.

Three other Covid-19 related worries recorded similar responses. Covid-19 threats due to illegal immigrant, quality of education and insufficient income were each cited by 79 per cent of respondents.

The remaining four worries were mental health (75 per cent), rising level of national debt (74 per cent), quality of healthcare (73 per cent) and patient waiting time (72 per cent).

“The concern about rising national debt was as high as the respondents' concern about the state of mental health.

“This shows that voices worried with the rising national debt are getting traction, especially in the wake of Fitch Rating's downgrading of our sovereign debt in November 2020,” it added.

Some demographic differences found by the research was that urban respondents worried significantly more than their rural counterparts on six of the aforementioned worries — losing a job, insufficient income, Covid-19 threats due to illegal immigrants, rising national debt level, mental health and patient waiting time.

The survey also indicated a significantly higher level of worry amongst the Malays, Bumiputera and Indians than their Chinese respondents in three aforementioned worries — quality of education, quality of healthcare and mental health.

Separately, respondents with higher qualifications demonstrated a higher tendency to worry about Covid-19 threats due to illegal immigrants.

At the same time, the oldest group of respondents (those aged 51 and above) appears to worry less than those in their 30s — 40s overall, particularly on the living cost dimension.

The state-wide survey was conducted in December last year, involving some 1,976 respondents nationwide.

Emir Research is led by Datuk Rais Hussin who was appointed as Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation chairman late last year.