• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Poll: Candidate trumps party

By Zedeck Siew

January 13, 2009


From left: Abdul Wahid Endut (PAS), Wan Ahmad Farid (BN’s candidate from Umno) and Azharudin Mamat @ Adam (independent)

PETALING JAYA, 13 Jan 2009: The quality of the candidate standing in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election is more important than current issues and party capability, a new poll has revealed.

Seventy-seven percent of a 527-person sample polled by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research considered the quality of the candidate as “very important”, while factors such as the “trustworthiness of party leaders” and “current issues” rated lower. This tendency remained even as the responses were tallied by ethnicity.

However, Chinese Malaysian respondents appeared to feel strongly about the issue of fair treatment, regardless of race or bumiputera status. Ninety-four percent of 119 ethnically Chinese Malaysians queried chose “supremacy of the people” as a more appropriate ideal for Malaysian politics, as opposed to “Malay dominance”.

More than half (53%) of the Chinese Malaysians polled thought that the Terengganu state government should concentrate on treating non-Malay Malaysians equally.

The Kuala Terengganu by-election is a three-way fight between the Barisan Nasional (BN)’s Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh from Umno, PAS’s Mohd Abdul Wahid Endut, and independent Azharudin Mamat @ Adam. The Chinese Malaysian community, which comprises 10.95% of voters, is widely believed to be the swing vote in the by-election.

According to the Merdeka Centre, the survey was conducted from 7 to 10 Jan, and was designed to “uncover issues affecting the voters …as well as to uncover how they are responding to statements and campaign issues brought forth by the contesting parties.”

The sample comprised voters registered in Kuala Terengganu, and were interviewed by telephone.

Threats to Malay political power

Perceived external threats to Malay political power did not have traction with Malay Malaysian respondents to the survey.

“Only 17% agreed that ‘Malay political power was weakened by demands made by non-Malay communities after the 8 March 2008 general election’, while 74% felt that ‘Malay political power was weakened by corrupt and self-serving leaders’,” concluded a press statement released today by the Merdeka Centre alongside the survey results.

“The issue of hudud captured the notice of only one-half of the Chinese Malaysian voters in Kuala Terengganu,” the press statement added.

As to who would win come polling day on 17 Jan, the survey results had no definite answers. However, based on observations of the data, it suggested that Malay Malaysian voters, at the time the survey was conducted, were evenly split between the BN and PAS, with 8% undecided.

Chinese Malaysian voters were also difficult to read, but responses indicated that they leaned slightly towards the opposition.


See also:

KT’s decorative touch
Surviving perception
Wahid’s likeability factor
Getting the message across in KT
Politicising Islam in KT
KT’s odd man out
Contrasting campaign styles in KT

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Chinese, ethnicity, Kuala Terengganu by-election, Malay, Malay dominance, Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, people, poll, supremacy, survey

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2023 The Nut Graph