The Malaysian Insider | BANGI, 11-Jul-2011 — A new survey among Malaysian Muslim youth released today show a large majority back the idea for the Quran to replace the Federal Constitution as the country’s highest law.
The survey in Malaysia by independent pollster Merdeka Center revealed that about 72 per cent of Muslims aged 15 to 25 support the Islamic holy book as the highest law; 25 per cent disagreed.
About 71.5 per cent support the cutting off of hands as punishment for convicted thieves, and 92.5 per cent agree to the death sentence for murderers.
Support for whipping as punishment for those who drink alcohol is at 92.4 per cent.
While the young Muslims surveyed appear to be religiously conservative at first glance, their views in real life appear to contradict the show of support for this change.
Only 18.1 per cent confessed to read the Quran often; 8.6 per cent say they never do; and the rest say they read it sometimes.
According to Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian(picture), the conflict is due to the perception among Muslims that the Quran, being God’s law, has a higher status than the Federal Constitution.Only 28.7 per cent say they always perform the compulsory five daily prayers.
“Why many see it so is partly because in Muslim life, the Quran is . . . complete,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
“Many are also not exposed to discussions on the Constitution and the position of Islam within it in the current education system,” he added.
The survey polled 1,060 people between October and November last year.
About 70 per cent of Malaysian Muslims surveyed were ethnically Malay, while the remaining minority were mostly Bumiputera Muslims from Sabah.
The survey also included Muslim youth in Indonesia, home to the world’s biggest Muslim population.
In the same survey to find out their priorities for the future, only 20 per cent of Indonesian Muslim youth answered “Yes” when asked if the Quran should replace their country’s constitution.
The survey “Values, dreams, Ideals: Muslim Youth in Southeast Asia” was jointly conducted by Merdeka Center with University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Goethe Institute Malaysia, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and, on the Indonesian side, the Lembaga Survei Indonesia.
Todayonline.com | SINGAPORE, 27-May-2011 – Younger voters here tend to consider issues and political candidates more when it comes to casting their ballots, a survey has found.
Older voters, on the other hand, view the political party and its leadership as more important.
The Merdeka Center poll, conducted between April 27 and May 5, also threw up other distinctions in political attitudes between those above and below 50.
For instance, although the majority of the 611 respondents were satisfied with the PAP Government’s performance – almost three-quarters were of the view that Singapore was heading in the right direction – some two-thirds of them supported the idea of having a stronger Opposition.
Of these, those in their 20s to 40s in particular were three-to-one in support of opposition parties, buttressing the popular perception that younger voters, which made up a quarter of all voters this year, played a significant role in the swing against the ruling party in the recent General Election (GE).
However, this did not translate proportionally to them wanting more seats for the Opposition in Parliament.
The survey also found that the older one got, the less likely they were likely to find an Opposition party credible.
An overwhelming majority of of Singaporeans also turn to the mainstream media for political news. Newspapers, followed by television, comprised 83 per cent of respondents’ first source of information.
Asked to rank the important issues in GE 2011, over two in five put cost of living and inflation on top of the list.
Healthcare (13%) and housing (12%) were the next most important.
In spite of its prominence in media coverage in the months leading to the elections, immigration was ranked as important by only 5 per cent of the respondents.
The telephone survey randomly selected registered Singaporean voters and was designed to mirror the electorate profile in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, and area of residence.
The unequal performance of PR parties in the Sarawak polls were due to a lack of co-ordination, said Aeria. — file pic
The Malaysian Insider | PETALING JAYA, 27-Apr-2011 — PKR’s dismal performance in the Sarawak election is a disturbing omen of how the party will fare in the next general election unless it institutes painful changes, a political analyst said last night.
Political scientist Dr Andrew Aeria said the party organised a respectable pre-election training programme but it ultimately foundered in making use of those preparations during the campaigning period.
“The campaign itself was too leader-centric,” said Aeria, referring to how campaign materials often featured the faces of the party’s top leaders like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian.
“And they did not offer an alternative to the policies the Barisan Nasional was offering. If it was change, then change to what? That’s what people want to know,” Aeria told a forum here last night on the election results and its implications.
He added that if the party hopes to do well, the PKR also needed to replace its “re-recycled leaders” with new ones and have stronger grassroots machinery.
This, however, did not mean that BN could automatically defeat PKR and wrest back lost seats and Selangor, a state where the former is the dominant party in the Pakatan Rakyat government.
Aeria, of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, said BN must also put through meaningful reforms if it wants to recapture the trust of a public weary of sloganeering.
The PKR fielded 49 candidates in the Sarawak election — the most out all PR and BN parties — but only managed to win three seats: Ba Kelalan, Krian and Batu Lintang.
Its PR partner, DAP, on the other hand, won 12 of the 15 seats it contested. Islamist party PAS won none of the five seats it contested.
BN was able to retain the two-thirds majority in the Sarawak state assembly when it won 55 seats. However, it only secured 54.5 per cent of the popular vote.
Aeria described PKR’s Sarawak campaign as “paradoxical” as it was organised and, at the same time, dysfunctional.
The PKR held pre-election training programmes for polling and counting agents, and for potential candidates.
It also had the support of local non-governmental organisations to tap into widespread anger among Dayaks over ancestral land disputes.
Yet when it came time to the actual campaign, the party was torn by factionalism and infighting between local influential figures over who gets to be a candidate, he said.
“Some candidates were even residing in Kuala Lumpur and flew back to stand in their area. In some places, there was not even a grassroots machinery to help them campaign.
At an earlier press conference, PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli admitted the party was stretched thinly across the 49 seats. However, it was forced to do so because it did not want to give BN walkover victories in 24 seats.
Initially, PKR had only wanted to contest in 25 seats where it had established a presence and was confident of gaining support.
But it was forced to contest in these 24 other seats because neither of its partners wanted to step up and “share the burden” of standing against the BN, Rafizi said.
PKR’s final decision to stand in these “unwinnable” areas crimped the party’s ability to pool its resources and focus on the 25 seats which it stood an even chance of winning.
Aeria noted that a weakness in the PR campaign was that each party’s grassroots machinery did not work each other.
“There was a lot of co-operation between the leaders of each party in how they staged ceramah together. But there was no cooperation at the grassroots level”.
“Moving forward, all parties, whether in BN or PR need to reform and renew. The electorate is more interested in substantive issues but the parties seem stuck in the past,” Aeria said.
Taib was the crux of PR’s campaign during the Sarawak state poll. — file pic
The Malaysian Insider | PETALING JAYA, 27-Apr-2011 — Political analysts have warned that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could lose its momentum in Sarawak should Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud resign before the next general election.
In their analysis of the just-concluded state polls, the scholars pointed out last night without the “anti-Taib” rallying cry to unite opposition supporters, Barisan Nasional (BN) may regain its lost votes — particularly from the rural communities.
As such, they said all PR parties — including DAP — needed to quickly formulate a new strategy that would bring their campaign beyond the anti-Taib sentiment and penetrate deeper into the interiors of the hornbill state where BN’s vote bank lies.
Political scientist Wong Chin Huat said DAP could not afford to rest on its laurels and expect its victories to repeat in the coming polls without working hard to keep its message alive among its supporters.
“PR will go forward but can it continue to maintain its dominance in urban Sarawak?
“Taib is now seen as a ‘rural CM’. Will he go before the federal elections? If he does, the opposition cannot campaign against him [any] longer because you cannot find a leader more hated than him.
“But can they survive without Taib?” he said during a Merdeka Center forum on the April 16 Sarawak state polls held at the Hilton Hotel here last night.
Wong pointed out that failure to perform well in Sarawak during the general election would mirror PR’s failure to wrest control of Putrajaya.
This, he said, was because by remaining in the opposition, PR parties would find it hard to prove to voters that they could do better than the ruling government.
“Like in Sarawak… can DAP do better than SUPP in government? They need to be remembered… they need to show that although they are in the opposition, they are really driving the state forward,” he said.
Wong said PR needed to offer “something” tangible to Sarawak voters to keep their support from dissipating, stressing on an often-raised point that the political expectations of east Malaysians vastly differed from those of the peninsula voters.
“PR does not have a policy for Sarawak. Its urban centre is stuck now as there is a stagnation in development so PR needs to offer something.
“(Penang Chief Minister) Lim Guan Eng came in to speak about offering free WiFi to Sarawakians but that is a West Malaysian thing; it’s different in Sarawak,” he pointed out.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Associate Professor Dr Andrew Aeria agreed, noting PR’s message to voters was to “change” but that the pact had failed to explain the alternatives.
“You tell them to change but change for what? Do not forget, BN has an economic policy in place and whether we like to admit it or not, people have benefitted.
“PR has not come up with an economic programme for Sarawak… so if you want to dislodge their programme, you need to come up with something better,” he warned.
He agreed that while many voters were unhappy with Taib’s 30-year rule, they still voted him into power as they were comfortable with doing so.
“True, it is always better to be safe than sorry and voters are very rational that way. Until and unless you can provide them with a better alternative, they would not want to risk it.
“This sentiment may not be shared by the urban communities but for those in the rural areas, losing BN is seen as very risky,” he explained.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer Dr Faisal Syam Hazis concurred with his fellow academicians, adding that all three PR parties needed to pool their resources and begin working the ground immediately to prepare for the general election.
He said DAP needed to move beyond its representation of the urban Chinese communities while all PR parties should share in the burden of taking on seats in BN strongholds.
“In the polls, DAP was obviously very well-equipped but the other PR parties were struggling with their campaigns.
“There is a need for PR to formulate strategies together,” he said.
Aeria agreed that the Sarawak state polls had seen a divided campaign among DAP, PKR and PAS, resulting in imbalanced victories between the parties.
On April 16, DAP emerged the biggest winners by securing 12 of the 15 state seats it had contested. PKR trailed behind, winning three of its 49 seats, while PAS failed to win a single seat.
Aeria said PKR’s biggest weakness in the polls was its lack of co-ordination and groundwork among candidates. He added that PR was still arguing over its manifesto even after nomination day.
“There was also no sharing of campaign machineries. It did not happen. Every party went out on their own.
“It is true that the leaders came together — Lim Kit Siang, Guan Eng, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat — but the machinery at the lower ground level… that was another story,” he said.
Faisal agreed that PR needed to stop depending heavily on the anti-Taib vote in the coming polls, particularly to prepare for the possibility that the chief minister stepped down before it is called.
The 13th general election must be called by April 2013. During the Sarawak state polls, Taib had promised to leave in “two or three years’” time, bowing to public pressure and the growing disenchantment among even BN leaders against his lengthy leadership.
The opposition had centred most of its campaign messages on calling for Taib’s early resignation, capitalising on the numerous allegations of corruption and abuse of power made against the country’s longest-serving chief minister.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also spent six days in Sarawak urging voters to believe Taib’s resignation plan, an unprecedented move that PR had described as a desperate attempt by the ruling pact to cling on to its fixed deposit state.
“So if Taib goes, what’s next? The challenge is for PR to penetrate the rural seats. Overcome the struggle between the opposition factions,” said Faisal
However, the analysts also agreed that with Taib’s thumping victory on April 16, it was unlikely that the chief minister would relinquish his post before the national poll.
BN managed to triumph in 55 seats during the state polls, retaining its two-thirds majority in the state and safely recapturing government.
Of the 55, Taib’s PBB topped the charts by winning in all 35 state seats that it contested while PRS won eight of its nine seats, SPDP in six of its eight seats and SUPP in six of 19 seats contested.
The ruling pact’s popular vote, however, dipped considerably — from 63 per cent in 2006 to 55.5 per cent this year.
Malaysiakini.com | 27-Apr-2011 – The presence of Umno bigwigs and machinery during the BN election campaign in Sarawak has raised questions about the peninsula-based Malay party’s role in the state.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political science lecture Andrew Aeria(right) is of the opinion that Umno will eventually move into Sarawak. “But I dare not say more. I can’t really see it happening yet but the day (Chief Minister Abdul) Taib (Mahmud) moves away from the scene, there will be some serious moves (into Sarawak by Umno),” he said.
Speaking at a forum on the 10th Sarawak election organised by pollster Merdeka Centre in Selangor last night, Aeria said the possibility of Umno in Sarawak “should not be feared” and that there should be more engagement on this front.
Fellow Unimas political scientist Faisal Syam Hazis said Umno will have a hard time making its case to enter Sarawak after PBB – the local party which represents the Malay-Melanau and Muslim community – won all 35 seats it contested.
This also makes it the party which holds the largest proportion of the Sarawak assembly’s 71 seats.
“For Umno to come in, PBB will have to be dissolved. Sarawak BN, including (Dayak-based) PRS and PBDS will try its best to ensure that Umno stays out,” he said.
For Sarawakians, Umno is still very much the bogeyman. This was exemplified in a billboard during the election campaign, showing three sharks marked DAP, PAS and PKR circling Sarawak, while an unmarked shark was depicted taking a bite out of Sabah.
“You would assume that the unmarked shark is Umno and that Sarawak BN was killing two birds with one stone,” he said to laughter from the audience of about 300.
Whether or not Umno makes a play for Sarawak, Faisal said the fact that BN conceded 16 seats (three times more than 2006) and narrowly won 14 other seats foreshadows strains in federal-state relations.
Ngemah, Telang Usan and Senadin were won with less than 50 percent of votes, while 11 others including Beting Maro, Kedup, Bengoh and Kakus were taken with 50-56 percent of the votes. Most of these seats saw multi-cornered fights.
“With 14 (marginal) seats and 16 seats lost (by BN), there is a genuine threat of losing the two-thirds majority…if the opposition is able to put up a straight fight,” Faisal said.
“The expectation was for Sarawak BN to win 80-90 percent of the seats and when they lost 16 with Taib being the lead cause for that, Kuala Lumpur panicked and called for his head (causing) a strain in federal-state relations from now on.”
PBB power struggle?
However, Faisal believes that Taib will use the fact that he had retained the two-thirds majority support as a reason to stay and will use his succession plan to show Kuala Lumpur who is boss.
“There is a clear indicator that KL wants (PBB deputy chief) Abang Johari (Abang Openg, left) because he is seen as the leader with the less baggage in terms of corruption.
“But Taib was sworn in as chief minister soon after the two-thirds majority was announced, and as a symbolic gesture, the person sitting next to (Taib’s wife that night was PBB vice-president) Awang Tengah.
“Taib is saying: ‘I am not stepping down but even if I do, the choice of a successor is mine. I have been the strongman of Sarawak for 30 years and have delivered the parliamentary seats (to BN) so why should I bow down?’.”
Agreeing with his colleague, Unimas lecturer Neilson Mersat said post-election factional fighting within PBB will be watched for the anticipated “power struggle”, following raised expectations of Taib’s departure.
The chief minister in an interview immediately after results were announced on April 16 had said that he is seeking to retire “mid-term”.
Najib’s various transformation plans have yet to gain traction with Malaysians. — file pic
The Malaysian Insider | KUALA LUMPUR, 24-Dec-2010 — Over half of voters in peninsular Malaysia have little or no knowledge about the Najib administration’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), a recent survey by the independent Merdeka Center shows.
The survey also showed that the majority of Malaysians did not understand such economic initiatives despite their widespread publicity.
Fifty-two per cent of voters surveyed said they were not aware of the ETP, compared to 48 per cent who said they knew of it.
When asked how much of the ETP they understood, 82 per cent said “not very much.”
The poll was conducted in the first two weeks of this month.
Najib’s ambitious plans to build new train lines, taller towers and bigger developments is a major plank of his administration and has been called the country’s largest-ever infrastructure expansion programme.
The government has allocated close to RM100 billion to jump-start a raft of projects.
They range from the controversial RM5 billion 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower, a RM36 billion mass-rail transit (MRT) network, a new high-speed rail link between Penang and Singapore as well as more new highways and power plants.
Najib’s ETP is estimated to cost RM443 billion and aims to double per capita income to US$15,000 (RM46,500) within 10 years, to propel Malaysia into the ranks of high-income nations.
But criticisms about Najib’s big projects remain, underscoring significant public dissatisfaction with “mega” projects and the perceived cronyism attached to the deals.
Property consultants and private economists have also expressed concerns that huge infrastructure spending could burden the economy and create a property glut that would take years to absorb.
The MRT for Kuala Lumpur will be the first project to kick-start the ETP, with construction expected to start by next year.
MMC-Gamuda Joint Venture Sdn Bhd was recently appointed the project delivery partner (PDP).
Yesterday, it was announced that the finance ministry would set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to raise funds for the RM36 billion MRT project.
Officials have argued that the massive spending plan will create jobs and help the economy grow.
The Merdeka Center survey showed that less than half of those polled — 47 per cent — were confident that the ETP would propel Malaysia into becoming a developed nation.
Broken down by race, the survey showed 61 per cent of Malays polled were confident of the ETP while only 19 per cent of the Chinese sharing the sentiment.
Among Indians surveyed, 55 per cent expressed confidence in the ETP.
The Star Online | KUALA LUMPUR, 19-Dec-2010 : A large number of Malaysians view their domestic help as servants or maids rather than workers.
A recent survey found that a majority of them disagreed with giving workers a day off each week or pay allowances if they were to work more than 14 hours a day.
These findings were among the results revealed in a research report launched by non-governmental organisations Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility Asia (CARAM-Asia) and Tenaganita.
The Merdeka Centre carried out the survey on their behalf through phone interviews with 283 randomly selected employers in the country.
It discovered that only 6% were adequately informed about their foreign domestic workers’ legal rights under the Employment Act.
CARAM-Asia regional coordinator Mohammad Harun Al Rashid said that the survey provided disturbing insights.
“Some disagreed that punitive measures be taken against exploitative employers,” he said at a press conference held in conjunction with International Migrant Day yesterday.
“They appeared ready to condone behaviour that denies the foreign workers their basic rights.”
In contrast, Hong Kong employers’ attitudes toward foreign help was far better. At least 47% showed awareness of the laws.
“Hong Kong employment laws provide a standardised contract that covers the workers’ basic rights,” said Harun, adding that Hong Kong had been chosen for comparison due to its stringent laws on foreign workers.
“Malaysia, on the other hand, has no such contract, and this has led to much abuse of the foreign workers’ rights,” he said.
He added that one should be created under the Employment Act and stipulate the foreigner’s scope of work, place of employment, duration term, rest days, annual leave and others.
“Another step is to change the term ‘servant’ to ‘domestic worker’. This will accord workers the same rights given to all other categories of workers,” he said
Harun also suggested that the Labour Department carry out random checks to ensure employers adhered to regulations.
“Lastly, the Passport Act needs to be strictly enforced,” he said. “It is a crime to hold another person’s passport.”
TheNut Graph | KUALA LUMPUR, 14-July-2010 : The Barisan Nasional (BN) will continue to rule Sarawak for at least two more state elections, said a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political scientist.
Citing the latest Merdeka Center for Opinion Research poll on Malaysian political values, Faisal S Hazis said the perception that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could take control of Sarawak was unjustified.
“Sarawak will remain with the BN for one, maybe two more decades,” Faisal, who is Unimas’s political and international relations department head, said today at a Kuala Lumpur forum by Merdeka Center to present the poll results.
He said despite doubts about the BN’s grip on Sarawak, especially after the Sibu by-election, 64.1% of the Sarawakian respondents in the poll indicated support for the BN.
This, he noted, was an increase by 1.1% of the popular vote that the BN secured in the 2006 state election.
Sarawak must hold a state election by the middle of 2011, although talk has been rife that it will be called earlier.
The BN has consistently won at least 55% of the popular vote in Sarawak since 1974. It won 71.2% of the popular vote in the 2001 election. However, this dropped to 62.9% in 2006. Still, voter support remains substantial.
Massive swing needed
Faisal said the 2006 election data showed that there were only 12 marginal seats out of 71 in Sarawak.
“If there was a 5% vote swing towards the opposition, it would only give them five more seats. A 10% vote swing would give the opposition 12 more seats and a total of 21 seats in the state assembly,” said Faisal.
However, for the opposition to capture 36 seats and take over the government, it would require a vote swing of 20%, which Faisal categorised as “ridiculously impossible” by the next election.
Faisal also said Sarawak’s size and terrain was challenging for the opposition, especially since the state government controlled most of the resources. An average-sized constituency such as Krian is about the size of Singapore, whereas the largest constituency, Belaga, is the size of Pahang.
Faisal said an opposition candidate told him that just to bring supporters to polling centres on polling day cost RM50,000.
Desire for change
Faisal
However, all is not gloomy for the opposition. While between 70% and 80% of respondents had a positive perception of the BN, many of them were at the same time skeptical of the government.
“More than half believed that the government’s aid would not reach the needy, while almost half felt that the government is not spending money prudently,” said Faisal.
He added that a high percentage, 65.7%, said they were having trouble making ends meet. Many respondents also wanted to see an increased level of democracy, and for the government to be free from corruption.
There were also some positive indicators for the opposition. This included endorsement of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership; increasing popularity of the new media; and a strong sense of skepticism and distrust towards the ruling party.
“If a unified opposition can exploit the people’s grievances and their desire for change, the coming state election could become a feisty affair,” said Faisal.
Less racial politics
Faisal noted that racial politics was not played out in Sarawak as much as in Peninsular Malaysia. “All the BN parties in Sarawak are multiracial parties. So are all the opposition parties,” he said.
“This is because Sarawak is a multiracial state. A race-based political party which focuses only on one race would not survive.”
Faisal, however, pointed out that racial and religious issues “imported” from Peninsular Malaysia could be divisive.
He cited the “Allah” controversy as one example. “In Sarawak, Christians have been using ‘Allah’ for ages, so it’s a non-issue. But during the Sibu by-election, the opposition managed to exploit the issue by saying that the electorate should teach peninsular Malaysians to be as accommodating as the bumiputera in Sarawak. It played an important role in moving the fence-sitters,” he said.
The Merdeka Center survey, which looked at voters’ views about unity, government spending, interest in politics and race-based affirmative action, polled 3,141 adults nationwide between January and April 2010. Out of that figure, 518 were Sarawakians.
The Star/Asia News Network | KUALA LUMPUR, 14-July-2010 : Corrupt leaders are the main threat to the position of the Malays and bumiputras, a survey here found.
Only 20% of the respondents in the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research poll felt that the bumiputras’ position was threatened by demands made by other races.
The telephone survey, conducted among 3,141 people nationwide between Jan 21 and April 26, said 70% of Malay and bumiputra respondents agreed that the main threat to their position was corruption among their leaders.
In general, the public perceived the corruption problem as serious but 69% were optimistic that it can be resolved.
A view that was consistent across ethnic lines, region and urban/rural setting was the lack of confidence in government aid programmes reaching the needy.
Some 63% expressed dissatisfaction on the delivery system.
The survey also found 72% of the Malay and bumiputra respondents felt they still needed help to move ahead while 59% believed the special rights accorded to them should continue.
The respondents in the survey, aged 19 years and above, comprised Malays (51%), Chinese (26%), Indians (7%), Muslim bumiputra (9%) and non-Muslim bumiputra (7%).
Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian and researcher Lee Lih Qing presented the findings.
“There are limitations, such as not being able to reach to those deep in the rural areas.
“And we can only get hold of rural people who have mobile phones.
‘That itself says something about their socio-economic status,” Ibrahim said, adding that the margin of error was 1.75%
TheNut Graph | 14-July-2010 – A mere 11.2 percent of Sarawakians are willing to vote for the opposition, according to a survey by independent pollsters Merdeka Centre in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
This may dismiss belief that the recent Sibu by-election, which saw a surprise win by opposition DAP, was a precursor for more BN defeats in the upcoming state elections which must be called before mid-2011.
The survey of 518 Sarawakians – comprising of respondents reflecting the state ethnic makeup – showed that 64.1 percent of respondents were willing to vote BN, which is an 1.1 percent more than the popular vote received by the coalition during the 2006 state elections.
Though the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition’s figurehead Anwar Ibrahim (right) may be a top draw in the peninsula, the survey results suggest he wields little influence in Sarawak, with only 21.1 percent of respondents endorsing his leadership.
Moreover, there appears to be a general negative impression of the opposition, with most citing a lack of unity (33.6 percent), followed by lack of ideas on economic development (26.6), corruption (11.4), weak administration (7.5) and weak leadership (4.8).
Meanwhile, the survey saw between 70 to 80 percent having a positive perception towards BN’s policies and actions, albeit recognising that it has weaknesses, which include poor leadership, intra-party rivalry and money politics.
20% swing needed for Pakatan win
However, the surveyors noted that it was possible that Pakatan could pull an upset, provided that it manages a massive 20 percent swing in the popular votes which would result in 30 more seats to the current six.
A possible opposition swing could be fueled by an increasing popularity of the alternative media and increasing distrust towards BN, with a third of respondents believing that government programs only benefit the rich and half believing that government aid never reaches the needy.
Another possible problem for BN was the significant number of respondents who are seeking myriad changes such as increased levels of democracy (31.5 percent), less graft (21), a better education system (19.5), high income levels (18) and lower crime rates (14.9).
As proven during the Sibu by-election, the opposition can count on the support of the Chinese voters, as 36 percent of Chinese respondents said they were willing to lend them support.
However, 33.3 percent of Chinese voters identified themselves as fence-sitters.
On the economy, 45 percent of respondents are not satisfied with the economy but 59 percent are optimistic with the future outlook of the economy, while 65 percent feel secure of their jobs.
Similar to earlier survey results in Peninsula Malaysia, Chinese Sarawakians are the least optimistic about the economy while Muslim bumiputras are the most optimistic.
BN will win next 2-3 state polls
Speaking to reporters at briefing on the survey results, Unimas lecturer Dr Faisal S Hazis believe that the BN will win the upcoming state polls hands down.
“I expect BN to be strong for another two to three elections, but the campaigning will be feisty,” he said.
Elaborating, Faisal said opposition coalition face a complicated scenerio where Dayak professionals were sympathetic towards PKR but to a much lesser extent favours the Chinese-dominated DAP.
“Racial politics is not played up in Sarawak with all four BN component parties being multi-racial, but there are elements of racial politics imported from the peninsula,” he said.
According to Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian(picture), the conflict is due to the perception among Muslims that the Quran, being God’s law, has a higher status than the Federal Constitution.Only 28.7 per cent say they always perform the compulsory five daily prayers.
Malaysiakini.com | 27-Apr-2011 – The presence of Umno bigwigs and machinery during the BN election campaign in Sarawak has raised questions about the peninsula-based Malay party’s role in the state.
“But I dare not say more. I can’t really see it happening yet but the day (Chief Minister Abdul) Taib (Mahmud) moves away from the scene, there will be some serious moves (into Sarawak by Umno),” he said.
“For Umno to come in, PBB will have to be dissolved. Sarawak BN, including (Dayak-based) PRS and PBDS will try its best to ensure that Umno stays out,” he said.
However, Faisal believes that Taib will use the fact that he had retained the two-thirds majority support as a reason to stay and will use his succession plan to show Kuala Lumpur who is boss.
TheNut Graph | KUALA LUMPUR, 14-July-2010 : The Barisan Nasional (BN) will continue to rule Sarawak for at least two more state elections, said a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) political scientist.