Malaysian Chinese backing Umno? Ramasamy dismisses survey findings

 

Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy has lambasted the findings of an Emir Research study that claimed the majority of its Chinese respondents supported Umno.  

He questioned the methodology that led it to conclude Umno is the most popular party among the Malaysian Chinese community while only 17 percent of them supported DAP. 

"These are bizarre research findings, but Chinese and Indians will support DAP and PKR in Pakatan Harapan," said Ramasamy in a statement today.

The quarterly poll conducted by Emir Research in August suggested that Muhyiddin Yassin enjoyed the support of two-thirds of the Malays as prime minister, but only 7 percent of Malays supported his party Bersatu.

The poll involved 2,096 respondents who were chosen through a multi-stage sampling technique and surveyed face-to-face, with the goal of representing all 222 parliamentary constituencies.

Ramasamy was particularly unimpressed with the findings that Umno has the most backing among Chinese respondents with 25 percent, followed by DAP at 17 percent and MCA at 12 percent.

"The survey results of 2,000 respondents are totally bizarre and beyond imagination," he said, saying that it raised questions about the manner in which the research was conducted, the motive behind it and who the respondents were.

"To say that DAP only has 17 percent of Chinese support is another bizarre attempt," added the Perai assemblyperson.

DAP has 42 elected MPs and the party has done extremely well in Chinese majority seats, particularly since the 2008 elections.

"What has Umno done in the recent past to endear itself to the Chinese and what has DAP done to fall out of grace with the Chinese population?" asked Ramasamy.

"Umno is still the number one enemy of DAP and the last general election in 2018 was fought tooth and nail by DAP and its fraternal parties in Harapan to defeat Umno and BN. 

"The vast majority of the Chinese threw their weight behind DAP."

He added that while the support of the Chinese community for DAP might not be the same as before, he believed that given the choice between Umno in BN and DAP in Harapan, he expected non-Malay voters to continue supporting DAP.

"Some sections of the Chinese community might not be happy with DAP or Harapan for various reasons, but this does not mean they are ready to cast their support for Umno, Bersatu and PAS.

"I don’t think the Chinese community is ready to put up with extreme racial and religious parties; they might not happy with Harapan, but they have not forsaken DAP or Harapan."

Ramasamy suggested that the same may be true for the Indians, as they voted overwhelmingly for DAP and PKR in the last general election. 

Unless there is a major and far-reaching political realignment in Malaysian politics, the Chinese and Indians will stick with Harapan, he added.

Those behind the survey, he said, might have had their own motivations to paint a positive picture of an Umno tainted by corruption cases.

"To talk about the popularity of Muhyiddin also seems to be another attempt to whitewash his government that has failed to come up with a responsible budget let alone address the Covid-19 pandemic," he added.

Emir Research is owned by Bersatu former supreme council member Rais Hussin, who is also the firm's president and chief executive officer. He is also chairperson of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (Mdec). - Mkini