Kit Siang: Will BN make Johor MB eat Pakatan polls win prediction?

Lim said Ghani’s prediction lent credence to the economist’s calculation that PR will take Election 2013. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 ― Lim Kit Siang asked today if Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman would have to retract his recent prediction that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could wrest Putrajaya in the coming polls as similar observations have wracked some nerves in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

But the DAP adviser said that if even the Umno leader could make the admission, it was more than likely that the coming polls will see PR and BN in a neck-and-neck race to the finish line.

He pointed to the latest prediction by Bank Islam Malaysia’s chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin that PR can notch a slim win over BN in the 13th general election and noted that it matched Abdul Ghani’s projection that the federal opposition will wrest Putrajaya with a 5- to 10-per-cent seat majority.

According to Lim, Abdul Ghani had made the prediction on Tuesday when the latter spoke to Chinese organisations in Kulai, Johor.

In Azrul’s computations, BN was likely only to win between 97 and 107 of the 222 parliamentary seats ― yielding to a PR federal government a parliamentary majority ranging from eight to 28 seats.

“PR winning a slim 5 per cent to 10 per cent parliamentary majority would range from PR winning 117 seats to BN’s 105 seats with a 12-seat majority (i.e. 5.5 per cent majority) to PR winning 122 seats to BN’s 100 seats with a majority of 22 seats (i.e. 10 per cent majority).

“Ghani’s estimate that PR can win in the 13GE with a majority ranging from 12-22 parliamentary seats is very close to Azrul’s estimate that PR can win with a majority from eight to 28 seats,” he said.

“Never mind whether Azrul’s projection is an official or unofficial estimate of Bank Islam, the fact is that this is a projection which Umno/BN leaders have also arrived at based on their own feedbacks, calculations and computations ― indication that the 13GE is going to be a very close affair,” he said in a statement here.

Bank Islam Malaysia yesterday distanced itself from its chief economist’s prediction, which was made during a forum in Singapore, saying the bank had not been involved in the event.

“We regret that your report has associated Bank Islam with his view, and forecast and we seek your co-operation to immediately rectify the erroneous report.

“For you information, Bank Islam is not a party to the regional forum and is not related or involved in any way in the event,” read a statement sent to Singapore’s The Straits Times andThe Malaysian Insider.

The Malaysian Insider had reported yesterday that Azrul Azwar’s calculations had ruffled feathers in Putrajaya, ahead of Election 2013.