Keywords: trust in government, conspiracist beliefs, political cynicism, political discontent, Malaysia

Malaysia has been governed by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim since November 2022. The satisfaction levels among the public have not shown substantial progress and according to our recent survey, the satisfaction level is only at 51%. Despite various efforts to address key issues, public approval of the federal government has remained, and this has indirectly affected the coalition, Anwar Ibrahim's popularity, and his ability to govern the country. The question is what explains this trend? Therefore, this study aims to analyze the factors that contribute to trust in the current government. This study employs a quantitative survey design to explore the factors influencing trust in the government. A structured questionnaire was developed to measure the key variables, including conspiracist beliefs, political cynicism, and political discontent. The survey developed dimensions on conspiracist beliefs that are centered on the country's long standing dynamic of ethnic, religious and regional politics, and tested respondents' attitudes and views on government. The survey was administered to a random sample of 1207 respondents, selected from national sampling frame that represents Malaysian electorate aged 18 years old and above. The survey responses were analyzed using statistical techniques, including regression analysis, to identify significant predictors of trust in the government. Overall, we find that conspiracist beliefs, political cynicism, and political discontent among the predictor variables that are highly negatively correlated with trust in the current government and relevant in the Malaysian context.