Wan Fayhsal's ratings claim 'anecdotal, not scientific'

The claim by Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional government are enjoying good ratings has been revealed to be based on anecdotes and not a scientific study.

"Why is PN accepted by the public? If we look at the ratings, especially for Muhyiddin, it is because the majority of Malaysians, especially Malays and Bumiputeras, can accept the current leadership," Wan Ahmad Fayhsal (above) had stated at a press conference yesterday morning.

He did not at the time mention the source of the ratings he alluded to, and there has been no approval rating survey published on the PN government led by Muhyiddin.

However, when asked about the source of his claim in an appearance on Astro's #ConsiderThis programme, he told hosts Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan:

"Definitely, at the moment, what I get from social media and also my personal engagement with civil servants and the public out there - the general sentiment, especially among the Malays in the rural areas, is very positive towards the prime minister - Muhyiddin.

"We would love to have a formal census on the support. Maybe (research centre) Merdeka Centre can come out with the ratings, but from what we gather from random sampling on social media in many media platforms, I guess the support is there.

"And this is particularly true for the prime minister," he said.

Sharaad replied, "So Fayhsal, this is anecdotal, not scientific."

He also went on to ask how many MPs are lined up behind Muhyiddin's (below) PN government.

"Well as it is, from the Parliament seating you can see that at least we have 116, and this does not count those in the opposition that will give support to any motion, especially for example the Budget to ensure that the government can provide the basic necessities for the people - for parliamentary voting in certain motions," said Wan Fayhsal.

His claims of PN having the support of 116 MPs did not tally with the seating arrangement for the Dewan Rakyat on May 18 which indicated that there were 114 MPs aligned to the government.

This included one MP - Masir Kujat (PSB-Sri Aman) - who later clarified that he was wrongly assigned a seat on the government bench. - Mkini