KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 ― Despite admitting to being either racist or selectively racist, the majority Malaysia's young population say they reject race-based policies and believe in meritocracy, a survey by Centre for Better Tomorrow (Cenbet) revealed.

The group said of the 1,056 peninsular Malaysians surveyed, those in the 18-25 years age bracket were the highest to say no to race-based policies, with about 88 per cent surveyed saying they favoured merits-based dealings over race.

The survey also found that ethnic Malays were split equally when it comes to wanting pro-Malay policies, with 42 per cent saying “no” and the same number of respondents saying “yes”.

Cenbet co-president Gan Peng Sieu said the finding contradicts suggestions that most Malays are afraid to compete and rely heavily on government aid.

“This shows that they don't necessarily want race-based policies. They are actually divided,” Gan told reporters when releasing the findings of the survey on racism here.

Today's data release was the second part of a survey on racism commissioned by Cenbet. The first part, which revealed more than half of Malaysians who admitted to being either selectively or openly racist, was released on March 17. However, Cenbet said the survey found that close to all of the Generation Y respondents said they are colour blind when it came to picking friends, a finding Gan called positive. "There's a silver lining..it’s a positive thing for Malaysia's future," he said. The same generation of Malays also appears to be more open to the idea of a non-Malay prime minister compared to other age brackets. But the percentage of those who rejected the idea remains high.

From 26 to 56 years old and above, the percentage of respondents who were against having a minority as a prime minister was at 75 per cent average. When asked if he felt that politicians are mainly responsible for instilling much of the racial prejudices, Gan said "yes and no". "Politicians do play a part for the highly racial political tone but we need to look at the social structure of which it has been there since we were born," Gan said, pointing to racially divided housing villages and estates as example. The Cenbet co-president said politicians from across the board will always try and exploit geopolitical divisions but the voters must ultimately know how to assess their politics to make the right decisions. Cenbet’s survey was conducted by Anderson Market Analytics, and involved 1,056 respondents from across the peninsula in varying age, income and racial groups that reflect the overall population.