Measurement of public opinions on security: the case from Malaysia

The measurement of security perception is necessary as one of the tools to assess the effectiveness of security policies and enforcement in a country. The aim of the paper is two-fold. Firstly, the study presents an attempt to develop the Security Perception Index (PSI) based on Malaysia’s specific context. Secondly, the study purports to measure the perception of Malaysia’s security for the year 2021 using the developed PSI framework. Six domains were utilised based on the country's national policies on security and public order, such as the National Security Policy (2021–2025) and the Security and Public Order Policy (2019). A total of 15,461 samples were collected within the period of three months. The perception index score is 64.67%, which falls into the "perceived as safe" category and implies that the public perceives Malaysia as a safe country to live and work in. The scores are also calculated for each state and the Federal Territories, with Johor obtaining the highest score (72.37%) and Sabah with the lowest score (54.3%). Implications of the study include prevention and monitoring, law enforcement, and community engagement. Future studies should consider integrating secondary data such as crime, crime scene frequency, and visualisation using geographical information systems (GIS) to provide more integrated and real-time information.