KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — Nearly three-quarters of Malaysians did not mind living in a neighbourhood with mixed ethnicities, a Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) survey on unity has revealed.

Despite that, market research firm Kajidata said a bigger proportion of Malays and ethnic Indians still prefer to live with neighbours from the same ethnicities compared to the other groups surveyed, with 25.6 per cent and 19.5 per cent from each race respectively preferring so.

In comparison, the ethnic Chinese, Sabah Bumiputera and Sarawak Bumiputera have the smallest proportion of those who wish to live together with the same ethnicities.

“From the analysis, it is found that Malaysian citizens’ neighbourhood spirit needs to be refined so racial sentiment can be resolved in the future,” Kajidata said in its report.

“Based on the study, only the ethnic Chinese, Sabah Bumiputera and Sarawak Bumiputera were seen to give positive perception in not giving priority in having their neighbours be of the same race.

“Meanwhile, the Malays and ethnic Indians were still seen to prioritise their own races to be neighbours with,” it added.

The survey showed that 72.6 per cent of those polled did not agree when asked if their neighbours should be the same race as theirs, with 19.3 per cent agreeing it should be the same.

However, a whopping 95.7 per cent said their family and children were encouraged to make friends with those from other ethnicities, compared to 1.5 per cent who did not do so.

Similarly, 94.6 per cent of respondents said the current generation should mingle with each other regardless of skin colour and religion to foster unity, while 2.5 per cent did not agree.

In a statement, Kajidata adviser Prof Datuk Seri Dr Syed Arabi Idid was quoted saying that even though Malaysia is going through an “identity phase”, the majority of Malaysians are opposed to the idea of a polarised country.

“With a resounding ‘Yes’, 93.5 per cent of Malaysians indicated that they were willing to fight and stand up for the country. This is a good indication that Malaysians want to reconcile and progress as a united people and country,” the statement said.

The TN50 survey was done through computerised telephone interviews between March 8 and March 17, 2017 among 1,025 Malaysian adults randomly sampled across ethnicity, gender, age and state based on national demographics.