IT’S NOT MAHATHIR CHARISMA, VOTERS ESPECIALLY THE CHINESE HATED NAJIB SO MUCH THEY KICKED HIM OUT – SURVEY: BUT WITH AZMIN-ANWAR EYEING POWER, HOW NEUTRAL IS LATEST SURVEY BY S’GOR THINK-TANK? MALAYS THEMSELVES WILL KNOW & SHOULD MARK DOWN PKR’S OVERAMBITIOUS ‘TWINS’

JUST before 11pm on May 9, when it was crystal clear that Barisan Nasional had lost badly, Najib Razak wondered aloud if Malaysians really disliked him that much.

The answer to that question is a resounding “yes”.

A post-election study conducted by Selangor think-tank Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) showed that Pakatan Harapan did not win the 14th general election because of its strengths, or the charisma of its leaders. It won because of the overwhelming hatred of Malaysian voters towards Najib Razak.

The study also found that the “total support” of non-Malays for PH was also what led the coalition to Putrajaya, while a majority of Malay voters cast their vote for Umno.

“It was not a total support from the people. PH won because the people rejected Najib,” IDE deputy chairman Professor Redzuan Othman told The Malaysian Insight.

He will release detailed findings of the study and it methodology in a few weeks.

Hatred towards Najib by the Chinese community hurt Barisan Nasional component parties MCA and Gerakan badly.

“Take the Temerloh parliamentary seat in Pahang. PH’s candidate Anuar Tahir won big because there is a large Chinese community in the state seat Mentakab,” said Redzuan.

“Chinese voters make up 44% in Mentakab. The other two state seats in Temerloh – Lancang and Kuala Semantan – were won by BN.

“It means it was Chinese support that gave PH victory in Temerloh. Umno still enjoyed support from the Malay community,” Redzuan said.

Anuar took Temerloh, which was last won by BN in the 2008 polls and PAS in 2013, with a majority of 1,904 votes.

In Mentakab, PH’s Woo Chen Wan won with a comfortable majority of 5,829 votes. The BN candidates in Lancang and Kuala Semantan won with smaller majorities of 3,725 votes and 474 votes respectively.

Redzuan said PH’s victory in Perak was also driven by strong support for the predominantly Chinese DAP.

He said the study indicates that for PH to safely retain its place in the federal government in the next polls, the coalition must do more to boost its Malay support.

“They cannot just rely on Chinese votes,” Redzuan said.

The study’s results are in line with post-election analysis which have shown that while the Chinese had voted overwhelmingly for PH, the Malay vote was split between PH, BN and the Islamic party PAS.

PH won 121 parliamentary seats over BN’s 79 in the 14th general election on May 9, ending 61 years of rule by the Umno-led coalition.

BN’s share of seats in Parliament was futher decimated when Sarawak-based parties announced their departure from BN, taking with them 19 seats.

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com