Khairy Blames Pandemic Fatigue For Lower Trust In Health Authorities

Public sentiment captured in the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer survey, conducted from mid-October to mid-November 2021, was a “snapshot in time”, Khairy Jamaluddin says.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 – Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has attributed the fall in trust in national health authorities by Malaysians, as shown in the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, to pandemic fatigue as the survey was conducted from mid-October to mid-November 2021.

“That was in October, November – I think there was some pandemic fatigue kind of stuff to be expected. So, let’s not dwell on it. I don’t want to give too much attention to this. I think our health care workers, our health authorities have done a good job.

“This is a snapshot in time,” Khairy told a virtual media briefing today.

In the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, national health authorities had the biggest drop in trust by Malaysians and are no longer the most trusted institution in Malaysia.

The annual trust and credibility survey by global communications firm Edelman showed a five percentage point drop from the 2021 poll in trust in national health authorities – the biggest decrease among all groups – to 72 per cent of respondents in this year’s survey expressing trust.

Scientists were the most trusted in Malaysia this year with 74 per cent of respondents, a two point bump from 2021, followed by one’s coworkers (73 per cent), national health authorities (72 per cent), one’s CEO (69 per cent), people in one’s local community (67 per cent), Malaysian citizens (65 per cent), and CEOs in general (61 per cent).

Edelman’s 2022 survey, with approximately 1,150 participants in Malaysia, showed that Malaysians distrust government leaders and journalists. Only half of respondents (51 per cent) trusted government leaders, a drop of two points from 2021. About 56 per cent trusted journalists, five points higher from last year’s survey.

Edelman Malaysia group director Christopher Ross de Cruz noted in a virtual briefing session yesterday: “An interesting observation is a decrease of trust in national health authorities, who were the most trusted leaders last year.

“This shows a growing concern from the rakyat on the changing [Covid-19] SOPs (standard operating procedures) and vaccination processes. In fact, there’s an increasing agreement that leaders are deliberately lying to us.”

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