Despite a series of surveys by PKR lawmaker Rafizi Ramli’s Invoke Centre for Policy Initiatives (I-CPI) which found that Umno currently only has an average of 40 percent of Malay support, Umno leaders think otherwise.
Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz believes that Umno is still the strongest party compared to other political parties in the country.
Not worried about Malay support for him in the Padang Rengas constituency, Nazri asserted that Malay support for him is “very high”.
Commenting on the surveys, Nazri doubts their reliability as he believes that all Malay voters on a particular voting list must be interviewed for the surveys to be accurate.
“They probably, at random, spoke to some Malays who may not necessarily be voters in that area and then 60 percent of those whom they interviewed were opposition members.
“So that’s how they got the 40 percent figure,” Nazri told Malaysiakini.
His distrust of surveys does not stop here. Nazri added that he also does not trust Transparency International’s corruption index.
“I don’t trust it, it’s not reliable. It’s not scientifically full-proof,” he said.
And as human beings, Nazri pointed out how those conducting surveys have their own preferences.
“To me the people who conducted this survey, their preference is for the opposition, it’s quite obvious.”
Instead of “wasting time and effort” on surveys, the tourism and culture minister is of the belief that the election should be faced head on.
“We have seen how surveys in America were debunked. (US President Donald) Trump debunked them, by winning."
Urging Umno not to waste time on surveys, Nazri said the party’s members and leaders should instead work hard at the grassroots level.
Political situation always changes
Meanwhile, Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed does not distrust the results of the surveys but believes that the results were as such due to the current fractured political situation.
“But political situation always changes. Umno still has the biggest percentage of support amongst all political parties,” he said.
Only Umno is able to provide what it has given the people all along, at least at the moment, added Nur Jazlan (photo).
As such, despite the decrease in support, the Pulai lawmaker stressed that Umno was still the party that many Malays still believed in to fight for Malays.
He, however, acknowledged how governments in Malaysia were formed on the basis of coalitions.
“No one party can form a government on its own. Umno used to be able to do that until the 2004 general election when it had 50 percent of the MPs in Parliament.”
Therefore, despite Umno being a strong party, it still needed support from other component parties, especially those from Sabah and Sarawak, said Nur Jazlan.
The deputy minister also admitted that Umno has to work harder to gain support from the people due to urbanisation of the country having changed the behaviour of the Malays.
“But as globalisation takes more control, they will have to rely on a political party to fight for economic resources shrinking due to the globalisation forces.
“They will still need Umno to protect them against the rise of protectionism in Western countries.”
His party colleague, Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin is also of the belief that Umno as well as BN were still formidable.
“We are still strong no matter how many corner fights there are - it’s been proven in many elections,” he said.
Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun, on the hand, simply stated his distrust in the surveys conducted by Invoke.
“Rafizi can come up with all sorts of assumptions and surveys.
“They can go on syok sendiri (be self-indulgent). I don’t want to comment on any of their views,” he said.
The three surveys - conducted since last December - were on the support for each party in the context of three-cornered fights and candidates for the prime minister's post.
Rafizi had pointed out how Umno had won 58 percent of Malay votes in the last general election when it faced PAS candidates and secured 60 to 63 percent Malay votes in battles with PKR candidates.
When faced with DAP candidates, he said Malay support for Umno was at 70 percent.
But since then, Rafizi said there was no doubt that support for Umno among the Malays has split.
Umno, he said, had won big during the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections because they had 60 percent of Malay support.- Mkini
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