KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has emerged as one of the world’s most trusted nations this year, ranking seventh globally out of 28 markets in the Edelman Trust Barometer.
The overall trust index measures public trust in business, government, media and non-governmental organisations.
However, the strong global ranking masks growing social fractures, with distrust and division increasingly shaping how Malaysians view one another.
Malaysia also ranked second in the Asean region just behind Indonesia which ranked fourth globally with a score of 73.
The global survey by Edelman found Malaysia with a Trust Index score of 71, up from 66 last year.
Topping the Trust Index were China and the United Arab Emirates at a score of 80 followed by India at 74.
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer is the firm’s 26th annual trust and credibility survey which was conducted between Oct 23 and Nov 18, 2025, covering 33,938 respondents across 28 markets, with a sample of more than 1,200 respondents per country.
The report said trust in business remained particularly strong at 76%, among the highest recorded globally.
The findings also revealed deepening societal divisions, with 65% of Malaysians holding what Edelman described as an “insular trust mindset,” which meant showing reluctance to trust people with different values, beliefs, cultural backgrounds or sources of information.
A striking 87% of Malaysians said distrust had become so severe that people were actively trying to make things worse for those who differ from them, the highest figure recorded among all 28 countries surveyed.
The report highlighted growing concerns over misinformation and foreign influence, with 73% of Malaysians worried that foreign actors were deliberately contaminating the country’s media environment with falsehoods to inflame domestic divisions.
Malaysian Press Institute president Datuk Yong Soo Heong said the findings reflected a worrying social reality beneath Malaysia’s strong trust rankings.
“We are building walls and fences around our own people. The report said distrust has reached crisis levels, where differences are not just tolerated less, but actively weaponised,” he said.
Yong also warned against politicians exploiting race and religion for political gain, saying: “If we allow fragmentation to persist in our society, be it at governmental, educational, corporate, or social levels, it is definitely very dangerous because it erodes the bridges that hold our society together.”
