Most people agree with a bill aimed at regulating the operations of non-governmental organisations, requiring NGOs to reveal the sources of their funding, according to a recent Nida poll.
The survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll, was conducted on Jan 10-12 over the phone with 1,314 people aged 18.
On the requirement for NGOs to reveal their sources of funding, 52.3% strongly agreed with it; 27.7% were in moderate agreement; 11.2% totally disagreed; 7.7% somewhat disagreed; and 0.9% had no answer or were not interested.
On the requirement that NGOs with foreign funding reveal the amounts received and the purposes of the funds, 58.1% strongly agreed with it; 26% somewhat agreed; 8.45% totally disagreed; and 6.9% somewhat disagreed.
Asked to comment on the NGOs being prohibited from certain activities which might affect national security, 34.7% were in total agreement; while for activities which might cause divisions in society, that percentage rose to 44.5%.
For activities which might be construed as benefitting certain political parties, 46.9% strongly agreed with the measure with 23.5% totally disagreeing.
Asked whether they thought the bill to regulate NGOs would affect the people's right to and freedom of assembly, 19.6% thought it would be greatly affected as opposed to a nearly equal 19% who didn't see it as a threat.