Malaysians “not influenced” by sex videos

Twenty-two percent of those polled ina UMcedel survey are still uncertain about which coalition's manifesto will be able to fulfil the rakyat's hopes.

KUALA LUMPUR: With just 10 days to go, anything can happen in the 13th general elections, said the  University of Malaya Centre for Election and Democracy (Umcedel) director Mohammad Redzuan Othman today.

Umcedel had conducted a survey on voting trends ahead of the GE on May 5.

Redzuan said that unlike in the 2008 general election, in the May 5 polls both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat will contest on the same footing.

“Support for both BN and Pakatan is very close. The difference is not more than five percent.

“Everything will depend on the campaigning done by both sides in these last 10 days,” he said.

Redzuan also said that in Malaysian politics, no one can predict what will happen.

“You have to understand the dynamics of Malaysian election, anything can happen in the last 10 days before election.

“The political tsunami in 2008 started during the last four days prior to the general election,” he said.

He said according to the survey, the rakyat was more accepting of Pakatan’s manifesto as opposed to Barisan Nasional’s (BN).

When asked which manifesto will be able to fulfil the rakyat’s hopes, he said 42% of those polled gave the nod for Pakatan, 36%  for BN while 22 percent remained undecided.

However he stressed that acceptance of a particular party’s manifesto did not mean that the individual would vote for the opposition pact in the coming general election.

“What I can say is that there is a general acceptance of Pakatan Rakyat’s manifesto.

“But both Pakatan and BN have to show that they will be able to implement whatever stated in the manifesto.

“Pakatan’s intention to bring down the price of oil and cars and abolish tolls were probably factors which attracted voters to be more accepting of its manifesto,” he said.

Redzuan however declined to disclose who the respondents felt would win in the coming election.

“We are not a body which conducts research on who is going to win or lose the general election, because everything is based on academic data,” he said.

No to sex videos

The survey also asked respondents if  opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim should debate with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on their respective manifestos.

Sixty-three percent of those polled said “yes”, 18% said “no” while another 19% percent was “unsure”.

On the question of which leader had more Islamic leadership credentials,  43% of the those polled chose Anwar while only 37% chose Najib.

“So it is obvious that the smear campaign against Anwar does not really have a bad effect on him,” said Redzuan.

He said on the question of the alleged sex videos involving Pakatan leaders, 62% said they were not influenced by it. Twenty-seven percent of those polled said they were unsure while 11%  confessed that they were influenced by it.

“They (respondents) were not interested and many simply perceive it as BN propaganda,” he said.

The face-to-face survey which was conducted from April 3, the day parliament ws dissolved,  until April 20 nomination day. Some 1,407 people took part in the survey which involved the Malays, Chinese and Indians in Peninsular Malaysia.