Kamis, 13 Januari 2011

Indonesians have negative perception of Malaysia: Survey

Recent disagreements with neighboring Malaysia have increased the negative perception of Malaysia among Indonesians, a survey revealed Thursday.
The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) survey stated that 67.5 percent of 1,000 correspondents nationwide thought there was a poor relationship between the neighboring countries.
The survey, which was done between September and October of this year, also showed that 59.2 percent of correspondents expressed little interest in Malaysia.
“Our survey was simply a portrait of most Indonesians’ perceptions of the relations between Indonesia and Malaysia,” LSI researcher Ardian Sopa said.
The poor perception of Malaysia by most Indonesians could influence the atmosphere in the upcoming final matches between Indonesia and Malaysia in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup, he said.
“I really hope Indonesian supporters can help organizers to make the anticipated games peaceful ones,” Ardian said.
The first leg of the final round will be at Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sunday. The second leg will be at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Dec. 29.
Serious tension between the neighboring countries was sparked after a number of incidents of violence involving Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia were exposed.
The debacle continued and was transformed into an “Internet war” following Malaysia’s claims to several Indonesian islands – located on the border between the two countries. Malaysia has also allegedly claimed some of Indonesia’s cultural heritage as its own, including the reog of Ponorogo in Central Java and batik. Tensions were also increased upon the arrest of Indonesian officers from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry by the Malaysian police.
Ardian said the upcoming final matches between Indonesia and Malaysia in the AFF Cup were another possible variable that could affect future relations between the two countries.
He said he hoped for a good result for Indonesia in the matches, which could invigorate Indonesians who were disappointed about the government’s poor performance in settling Indonesia-Malaysia disagreements.

Tidak ada komentar: