Muhyiddin: We can’t take survey on Najib too seriously

PUTRAJAYA - Opinion polls do not necessarily reflect the sentiments of the people, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

“We can’t take the results too seriously and it depends on who the people interviewed were.

“It may not be the view of most Malaysians,” he said during the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya open house here yesterday.

He was commenting on a Merdeka Centre poll that reported Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s approval rating as having dipped to 59% in August from 65% previously.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, refuted PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s claim that the survey results represented a shift of support from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Rakyat.

“What is important is not the survey but what we do from now on.

“We need to focus on the issues at hand. We know what the problems are and we are addressing them.

“One issue is that of the rising costs of living, and I am chairing the NKRA (National Key Results Area) to deal with the rising costs of goods and services. We are looking into ways to solve this issue,” he said, adding that these initiatives were ongoing.

Bernama reported Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim as questioning the sampling method used in the poll.

He claimed that the centre had not taken into consideration the opinions of the rural and Indian communities – or even that in Kuala Lumpur – who supported the Prime Minister.

Dr Rais said an Information Department survey of 50,000 respondents across the country, including Sabah and Sarawak, had found that most people accepted Najib’s leadership and the Barisan government.

He said the centre should adopt a comprehensive approach in its survey, similar to that employed in Western countries.

“Its samplings are restricted and confined only to certain quarters. As such, the results will not be founded on the actual situation,” he said.

- The Star