Rafizi defends phone surveys for PKR polls

PKR deputy president candidate Rafizi Ramli has defended his use of phone surveys to campaign in the forthcoming party elections.

He denied allegations that he misused the personal data of PKR members, or that he stole phone numbers from the party's membership roll.

Instead, he said, the only information he got from PKR was MyKad numbers, which are also available to his opponents.

These MyKad numbers were then matched with other information in the database of his research outfit, Invoke - which were procured from petitions and private marketing firms, among others.

"My competitors in this PKR elections also have a copy of the membership roll which has the information that I have.

"We only need to use the current technology and new campaign methods to directly contact voters, as I have been doing," Rafizi said in a statement today.

He was responding to Selangor PKR communications chief Nor Hizwan Ahmad, who claimed that a phone survey on the party elections had violated the Personal Data Protection Act 2016, which prevents the use of personal information without consent.

A recording of the phone survey made available to Malaysiakini requires the recipient to key in "1" or "2" to state whether they agree with Rafizi's move to contest the PKR deputy presidency.

Rafizi urged those taking part in the PKR election to focus on a vision to strengthen the party, instead of making baseless allegations.

He said Invoke had done great work for Pakatan Harapan in the 14th general election, including convincing Harapan not too cooperate with PAS.

"No one from among the leaders of PKR or Harapan before this have accused me - and Invoke - of breaking the law," he added. -Mkini