Ramanan downplays PKR's 'red zone' mark for Sg Buloh

 

PKR vice-president R Ramanan has downplayed his own party’s internal analysis that marked Sungai Buloh as a "red zone", where the party would likely lose in the next election without "extraordinary intervention".

The Sungai Buloh MP reportedly dismissed the analysis as inaccurate, saying its sample size was inadequate to represent the constituency's 180,000 voters.

According to Ramanan, who is also the human resources minister, only between 100 and 200 voters were engaged for the survey, while the status of the rest of the respondents could not be ascertained.

"... everyone is entitled to their opinion, but to me, I do not care if we are at Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3, or if this seat is labelled as blue, orange, or red.

"Everybody has their own view and analysis. If we look at a previous analysis, no one thought we could win and become the government. Nobody expected this or that person would become (the country’s) leaders.

"I can't comment further on this because the analysis was not based on the 180,000 people living in Sungai Buloh.

“This was just (sampled) from 100 or 200 people, the rest they just 'main tembak' (wild guesses). So, I am not taking this seriously, and I will just do my job the best I can," Malaysia Gazette reported him as saying.

Ramanan said this during an event held two days ago in Kota Damansara, when he was asked to comment on the strategic analysis titled "GE16 Strategic Analysis: Tier-Based Summary".

PKR on the defensive

The PKR strategic analysis for the 16th general election, which was presented by a senior PKR leader on May 2, shows that PKR is on the defensive, with its grip on key seats steadily eroding.

According to the document, sighted by Malaysiakini, PKR has identified 66 parliamentary seats as its main focus in the upcoming election.

These seats have been categorised into four tiers to map the party’s strengths and risks ahead of GE16.

It placed Sungai Buloh in Tier 3, which represents a red zone requiring “extraordinary intervention” or “special assistance” from the central leadership. - Mkini