Survey: Rising living cost will affect Kajang polls

A survey by Universiti Malaya's Centre for Democracy and Elections (Umcedel) found that the Kajang by-election will likely be a referendum on rising cost of living.

 

The survey of 576 voters found that 69 percent of respondents said rising living cost will influence them to support PKR during the by-election that will be held on March 23.

 

"Seventy-five percent of Chinese respondents said yes. Voters see this as a protest issue," said Umcedel chief Redzuan Othman.

However, he said that the cost of living issue in Malaysia, although painful to many, have yet to hit "extreme" conditions to totally swing sentiments and change the political landscape.

 

He said that other issues which rank high on the list of concerns of the 576 voters polled are traffic conditions, services and infrastructure maintenance,  house prices, crime and illegal migrants.

 

He said the issues were universal concerns across all races.

 

"If there is shortage of parking, it doesn't matter if you are Malay, Chinese or Indian," he said.

 

Civil servants

 

A Kajang resident himself, Redzuan added it is hard to find Kajang houses priced less than RM1 million and this is causing a strain on civil servants who live there due to proximity to Putrajaya.

 

Besides that, civil servant also polled high when asked if concerns over abuse of power in government influences them to vote PKR.

 

On the whole, 69 percent polled said they are more likely to vote PKR due to abuse of power issues.

 

Fortunately for PKR, 55 percent polled said that the issue over the use of the word "Allah" will not influence them to vote BN.

 

Among Malay respondents, the number was higher with 60 percent saying they will not be influenced to support BN because of the "Allah" issue.

 

"This shows the voters did not like that this issue, although it has been played up, be used for political gains," Redzuan said.

 

Likewise, the Najib-administration's Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia cash handout for those households earning RM3,000 and below will not sway 59 percent of the respondents in BN's favour.

 

PKR's wrong focus?

 

However, among those who earn less than RM3,000 a month, 68 percent of the Chinese respondents said it does not attract them to BN, versus 48 percent of Malays.

 

Redzuan said that while PKR's move to announce its candidate early put it at an advantage against the BN which is only expected to name its candidate on March 11.

 

"For political parties, before the candidate is named, the machinery does not work as they don't want to exert themselves for something that is uncertain," he said.

 

However, he said, PKR candidate Anwar Ibrahim's campaign activities thus far has only been concentrated in voting districts which PKR won in the general election.

 

"So I will say that there is still a chance for BN as PKR can't win simply by concentrating on these areas (the strongholds)," he said.