" Suara Selatan "

BANGI – As he approaches the 100 day mark of his premiership, Najib Razak's approval ratings among Malaysians have risen thanks to a raft of announcements relating to economic policies, an inclusive message on inter-community unity via his One Malaysia concept as well as conciliatory gestures over Malay unity.

Fully 65% (comprising 15% saying 'very satisfied' and 50% saying 'somewhat satisfied) of Malaysians say that they were satisfied with his performance as Prime Minister, significantly up from 45% in mid-May 2009. Broken down into ethnic groups, the survey found 74% of Malays, 48% of the Chinese and 74% of Indians expressing satisfaction.

In spite of the encouraging job approval rating for the Prime Minister the survey also found that Malaysians remained split over direction of the country with 48% saying it was on the 'right direction' while 37% said 'wrong direction'.

The latest Peninsular Malaysia-wide survey by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, conducted June 19 – July 1 among 1,060 voters interviewed in Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil and English by telephone using a random stratified sampling method found that Najib's job approval increased on the back of improving public sentiments over the state of the Malaysian economy and further dampening of concerns over political stability in the country.