SMS: Who are you voting for?

A 'Survey Reformasi' text message is being sent to Malaysian mobile phone users, asking them if they're going to support Pakatan or BN.

PETALING JAYA: A text message asking local mobile phone users about their election choices is apparently making its rounds en masse over Malaysia’s airwaves.

Entitled “Survey Reformasi”, it asks users whether they’ll vote for Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional, adding this is done for surveying purposes only.

In verbatim, the text is printed as:

“RM0.00 SURVEY REFORMASI. Jawapan anda hanya untuk kajian sahaja. Siapakah yang akan menjadi pilihan anda pada pilihanraya akan datang. PR atau BN?”

The message does not say if it was sent by BN, Pakatan or a third-party. However, with the embedded “reformasi” term, some may suppose that it was sent by PKR.

(The “reformasi” term was coined by PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters after he was removed from power in 1998.)

Speaking to FMT, PKR central committee member Latheefa Koya denied that the party sent these messages en masse.

“We don’t do surveys in this manner. I’m not sure [who sent them], but we know for a fact that we don’t conduct surveys in this manner,” she said.

Adding that she too received the message, she said that PKR relied on professional surveyors to gauge voting patterns.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) officials were unavailable for comment.