KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — As Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy appeal rages on, 48 per cent of Malaysians said they have little to no confidence in the country’s judiciary, according a survey by independent pollster Merdeka Center for Opinion Research.

Of those, 19 per cent said they were “not confident at all”, compared to 38 per cent of respondents who said they were confident of the judiciary.

“It should be noted that these sentiments were more prevalent among younger voters where a majority of those under 40 year reported a lack of confidence in the judiciary,” said a statement which accompanied the survey results.

This was in contrast with voters over 60, of whom 53 per cent said they felt confident.

The sentiment was also prevalent within those who have access to alternative media, with 69 per cent expressing no confidence, compared to just 20 per cent otherwise.

There was also an inverse relationship between household income and confidence in the courts, with those earning RM5,000 per month registering the highest distrust in the judiciary, at 66 per cent.

Across ethnic groups, more of the ethnic Chinese — 70 per cent — had no confidence in the judiciary, as compared to other races.

The survey was conducted over the telephone between October 11 and 26 this year, involving 1,005 registered voters aged 21 and above from all states in Peninsular Malaysia.

Today marked the third day of Anwar’s challenge of the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a lower court’s decision to acquit him of the charge.

Critics contend that the case demonstrated Malaysia’s lack of judicial freedom, claiming political interference in the appellate court’s decision to reverse the opposition leader’s acquittal.

The High Court had in 2012 acquitted Anwar of the 2008 charge, but the appellate court ruled on March 7 this year that the trial judge had erred when rejecting the DNA evidence produced in the case.

Anwar’s lawyer told the hearing today that the Court of Appeal had acted hastily when it delivered its guilty verdict on Anwar within just two days, compared to the Federal Court hearing which is now into its third day.

Anwar has repeatedly maintained his innocence, insisting that the charges were trumped up to kill his political career as he allegedly poses a threat to the Barisan Nasional coalition’s decades-long rule with the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, which he now leads.