PETALING JAYA, April 25 – Malaysia’s Chinese voters have virtually made up their minds to vote for change in Election 2013, while the Malays remain fence-sitters, according to a survey by a Universiti Malaya (UM) centre released today.
The University of Malaya Centre of Democracy and Election’s (UMCEDEL) poll also showed that more than 60 per cent of voters surveyed favoured Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) manifesto, compared to just 50 per cent for the ruling Barisan Nasional’s (BN) election pledges.
“It shows there’s general acceptance of Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto, compared to Barisan Nasional’s manifesto,” UMCEDEL director Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman told a press conference here today.
The UMCEDEL survey, which polled 1,407 voters in the peninsula from the day Parliament was dissolved (April 3) to nomination day (April 20), showed that the percentage of Malay fence-sitters increased from 53 per cent in March to 77 per cent in April, while the percentage of Chinese fence-sitters fell to just 17 per cent this month from 35 per cent last month.
“The Chinese have almost decided who they’re going to vote for,” said Mohammad Redzuan.
“Malay voters lean towards BN, while the Chinese voters lean towards the opposition,” he added.
The percentage of young fence-sitters (aged between 21 and 30 years) increased from 23 per cent in March to 48 per cent in April, according to the survey.
Mohammad Redzuan also said that PR’s manifesto seemed to be more popular because of the opposition pact’s constant claims that BN had stolen their manifesto.
“Their claims of copying appears to have an effect,” he said.
PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli(picture) said earlier this month that only 14 per cent of BN’s election manifesto was original, while 15 per cent was taken from PR.
He has said that out of 157 pledges listed in BN’s manifesto, 14 per cent (22 promises) was new, 15 per cent (23 promises) was copied from PR’s election manifesto, while 71 per cent was about BN’s current programmes.
According to UMCEDEL’s survey, PR’s various pledges that influenced voters to back the opposition pact are an average of 60 per cent, with the promise to reduce fuel prices at 66 per cent, eliminating toll (60 per cent), reducing car prices (61 per cent), free tertiary education (63 per cent), getting rid of the Automated Enforcement System (AES) (52 per cent), and a minimum wage of RM1,100 (53 per cent).
On the other hand, the number of voters who said that the government cash aid Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) would push them to support BN fell from 75 per cent in the period of September 2012 to January 2013, to just 52 per cent in April.
Caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced earlier this month that the BR1M payout, which is for families with a monthly income of less than RM3,000, would be gradually increased to RM1,200 from RM500.
According to the survey, BN’s pledges that influenced voters to back the ruling coalition are the 1Malaysia clinic and store programmes (54 per cent), creating 3.3 million jobs in five years (47 per cent), building a million affordable homes (56 per cent), and reducing car prices gradually by 20 to 30 per cent (56 per cent).
The survey showed that more voters supported PR’s pledge to give individual taxi permits (41 per cent), compared to the same promise by BN (38 per cent).
More voters perceived Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as having Islamic leadership qualities (43 per cent), compared to Najib (37 per cent).
A majority of voters at 62 per cent said that they were not influenced with sex videos involving opposition leaders, with 39 per cent believing them to be Umno propaganda.
UMCEDEL used the random sampling method with the results having a 2.61 per cent margin of error at the 95 per cent significance level and ran the survey using face-to-face interviews with Malay, Chinese and Indian respondents.
About 13.3 million Malaysians will cast their ballots in the May 5 polls, with 3.9 million new voters accounting for 23 per cent of total voters.
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