KUALA LUMPUR: As pressure mounts against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim remains behind bars, a survey on the country’s next generation of political leaders has found that most Malaysians want Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to become the future prime minister.

The survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center found that 19.8% of the 1,008 respondents polled from Jan 21 to 30, preferred Hishammuddin as the future prime minister over his peers Khairy Jamaluddin (8.6%), Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (8.4%), Rafizi Ramli (3.9%), Mohamed Azmin Ali (3.7%) and Nurul Izzah Anwar (1.7%).

The survey, commissioned by The Malaysian Insider, also revealed that the majority of respondents (19.4%) want Hishammuddin to lead Barisan Nasional if or after Najib and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin retire.

“Malaysians prefer Hishammuddin as he has the pedigree and the family name. He was in the limelight last year over the MH370 disappearance and was perceived to be handling it quite well. He became the face of Malaysia and got good ratings,” Ibrahim Suffian, director of Merdeka Center, told The Malaysian Insider.

“He’s not a controversial figure in the media; there have been no open discussions on his problems as minister, and people have all but forgotten the kris-waving incident of 10 years ago,” he added, referring to Hishammuddin’s infamous brandishing of the kris at Umno’s 2005 annual general assembly.

Support for Hishammuddin as the future prime minister cut across race, gender and even the political divide, with the defence minister being the most popular candidate among Malays, Chinese, Indians, males, females, and Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters alike.

Among Pakatan supporters, 12% preferred Hishammuddin as prime minister, followed by PKR secretary-general Rafizi (11.1%), PKR deputy president Azmin (9.8%), Umno Youth chief Khairy (6.4%), PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah (4.7%) and Umno vice-president Zahid (2.6%).

However, Ibrahim said this does not necessarily mean that opposition supporters prefer BN to lead the country over Pakatan.

“Malaysians, including Pakatan supporters, just can’t imagine Pakatan winning the next general election. They are more used to the idea of BN leaders ruling the country. So even Pakatan are imagining Hishammuddin as their future PM because they don’t see BN losing,” he said.

“Perhaps three years down the line, when we are closer to the next general election, that will change.”

The survey also revealed that Zahid had lost out to Khairy because of the home minister’s unpopularity among the non-Malays and Pakatan supporters.

While Zahid was the second most favoured choice for prime minister among Malays, with 13.6% naming him as their preferred candidate, he was the least popular choice among the Indians and the Chinese, with only 0.7% and 1% respectively stating they wanted him as the future prime minister.

“Supporters of Pakatan Rakyat are mainly Chinese, and they have a negative view of Zahid,” said Ibrahim.

Zahid, who is seen as one of the more right-wing Umno leaders, has often courted controversy for making disparaging remarks against the Chinese.

More Malaysians preferred Rafizi as prime minister to Azmin because the former is featured more prominently in the media, while Nurul Izzah lost support because of her gender, said Ibrahim.

But when respondents were asked who they believe is most suitable to lead Pakatan after Anwar, most (13.9%) chose Azmin, followed by Rafizi (7.1%), PAS’ Datuk Husam Musa (6.7%), Nurul Izzah (6.5%) and PAS’ Mohamad Sabu (1.8%).

Ibrahim added that some respondents opted to name other candidates as their preferred choice for prime minister besides the six listed, with 3.3% preferring Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, followed by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (1.3%), Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (1%) and Anwar (0.7%).

“But the focus of our survey was to look at the next generation of leaders, which is why we omitted Muhyiddin, Anwar and [Guan Eng].” — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 12, 2015.