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For majority, Umno polls not internal affair
13-Mar-2009, New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: A vast majority of Malaysians want Umno delegates to consider their views when choosing their party leaders.

Eight in 10 of the 1,031 voters surveyed by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research did not think that the Umno elections was merely an internal party affair.

They argued that this was because the new leadership line-up would affect national politics.

The respondents comprised 57 per cent Malay, 31 per cent Chinese and 12 per cent Indian voters in the peninsula.

On the most essential criteria for Umno leadership, 21 per cent voted for "being just" to all the people, followed by 11 per cent who chose "close to the people".
The survey also gauged voter perception towards issues affecting Umno and their hopes for the party.

Among the criticism received, 61 per cent of those surveyed felt that corruption was the biggest problem plaguing the party.

On Umno's next deputy pre-sident, 61 per cent of Malays surveyed said they wanted vice-president Tan Sri Muh-yiddin Yassin, followed by 14 per cent for Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and eight per cent for Umno information chief Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib.

For the vice-president's posts, Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was the most popular candidate (17 per cent), followed by supreme council members Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (13 per cent) and Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (eight per cent) among the Malay sampling.