BN parties say will regain two-thirds majority in Election 2013

File photo of BN and Umno flags seen at a by-election. BN leaders are confident the coalition with win a two-thirds majority in Election 2013.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Umno and MCA leaders expect significant voter backing for Barisan Nasional (BN) due to what they said were government measures to battle corruption, despite a University of Malaya (UM) survey showing that issues of integrity will erode support for the ruling coalition.

A total of 78 per cent out of a sample size of 1,409 voters said that integrity and abuse of power by BN leaders would affect voters’ support in the general election, according to a recent survey released two days ago by the University of Malaya Centre of Democracy and Election. But BN leaders were unperturbed.

“BN will win two-thirds majority, better than 2008,” Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan told The Malaysian Insider via a text message.

Ahmad said BN has and will continue to fight corruption.

“What is important is that the government and the party has and will continue to fight corruption. In the GTP (Government Transformation Programme) and the NKRA (National Key Result Areas), the efforts are clear,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s initiatives to combat corruption and reduce crime, among other things.

BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in the historic Election 2008 that saw four states — Perak, Selangor, Penang and Kedah — fall to the loose coalition of PKR, PAS and the DAP that later formed Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

The federal mandate expires by this April and a general election must be held by June.

MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung told The Malaysian Insider that “a substantial” number of Chinese voters have swung back to BN, because of the GTP and the government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

“Since Datuk Seri Najib took the helm, (he has launched) various initiatives like the ETP and the government transformation. All this shows that BN now is really serious in transforming Malaysia to what the rakyat wants,” Chor said.

Chor said a ‘substantial’ number of Chinese voters have swung back to BN.

The UM survey revealed that 95 per cent of Chinese voters were concerned about integrity.

The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, released last month, ranked Malaysia as the 54th least corrupt country in the world, trailing behind Singapore and Rwanda at the fifth and 50th spots respectively.

A total of 62 per cent of voters polled by the UM centre also said that the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal would reduce support for BN.

Ahmad, however, stressed that the RM250 million NFC scandal had “nothing to do with Umno”, though it had cost Wanita Umno chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil her senatorship and post as women, family and community affairs minister.

“Those involved are not Umno leaders,” he said, referring to Shahrizat’s family who ran the national cattle farm project.

The UM poll also showed that the Chinese comprised the majority of fence sitters at 53 per cent, while Malay and Indian voters stood at 37 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

Chor, however, stressed that the Chinese tended to support BN now. 

“It has changed because they find that after some heavy thought on what the government has done, it’s not bad after all,” said Chor, who is also housing and local government minister.

BN is ahead by five percentage points in the UM poll, with 42 per cent saying that BN will win the 13th general election compared to 37 per cent expressing confidence for PR.