Bersih says vindicated by new poll


By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 30, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — Bersih 2.0 has said it had expected the overwhelming two-thirds support for free and fair elections published by a local research house yesterday, adding it was inspired to ramp up its campaign to educate Malaysians nationwide on polls ahead of the 13th general election.

The electoral watchdog’s chief Datuk Seri Ambiga Sreenevasan said she had expected the overwhelming support from Malaysians polled by the Merdeka Center and published yesterday.

“That accords with our stand and the reason for that is because our demands are so wholly reasonable,” she told The Malaysian Insider.

But the lawyer disputed the pollster’s analysis that “Malays were also the only group where more agreed with the way the Najib administration handled Bersih than not, with 53 per cent saying they were satisfied with how the government reacted to the rally”.

Ambiga’s fellow Bersih 2.0 steering committee member, Maria Chin Abdullah, however, seemed to sport a different view when she said the Merdeka Center poll finding was a “fair observation of Malaysians’ view of electoral reform”.

“We definitely need to do more work to reach out to those out of town and in the rural areas, not just to Malays. It’s an indication for Bersih. We don’t think our demands have reached out to every city in Malaysia, for example, Sabah and Sarawak,” Chin said.

The head of Empower, a non-government linked group to Bersih 2.0, said the committee will also unroll a new programme to attract more support after the week-long Hari Raya-National Day twin festivities.

Chin also told The Malaysian Insider it had drawn up its strategies to promote its eight demands to free up the electoral process but will only announce them later.

She however, was overjoyed at the positive response from ordinary Malaysians towards the 62-member coalition, which the Home Ministry had outlawed last month.

“We need people from every state,” she said.

Thousands of Bersih supporters flooded the streets of the capital on July 9 to demand for free and fair elections after talks between the election watchdog and the government broke down.

This was despite an unprecedented intervention by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who called on both sides to reach an amicable solution for the sake of national stability.

Bersih has demanded that Putrajaya execute eight electoral reforms before the next general election, expected to be called soon.

The survey by the Merdeka Center of 1,027 randomly selected registered voters aged 21 and above was carried out between August 11 and 27.

Over two-thirds of Malaysians agree with the demands mooted by Bersih 2.0 while close to half disagreed with the way Putrajaya handled the July 9rally and the events leading up to it, the latest Merdeka Center poll results showed.

Seventy per cent agreed that foreign observers should be allowed to monitor elections while 68 per cent felt opposition parties should be given access to government-owned television and radio stations for at least one hour a day.

Support for foreign observers and greater opposition access to media were strongest among the Chinese (74 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively) while Indians were most likely to agree to the use of indelible ink (83 per cent).

  1. #1 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - 10:58 am

    So, WHEN is Bersih 3.0? May d force b with U

  2. #2 by dcasey on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - 12:34 pm

    Going by the Merdeka Center poll finding which says over two-thirds of Malaysians agree with the demands mooted by Bersih 2.0, that means UMNO together with its BN coalition are the minority Malaysians who oppose Bersih. Looks like Najib is on the way out.

  3. #3 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - 5:18 pm

    Ai say man, no trust 100% poll results, esp online poll results, very misleading 1
    Ask 1 of d presidential candidates of d just concluded Sg president election lah, he was so hopeful cos he polled >80% support, but he lost, no even 1 of d top 2 finishers
    So, b careful, don’t just syiok diri n get blind bcos of self-induced multiple or- gasms

  4. #4 by Loh on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - 6:57 pm

    ///But the lawyer disputed the pollster’s analysis that “Malays were also the only group where more agreed with the way the Najib administration handled Bersih than not, with 53 per cent saying they were satisfied with how the government reacted to the rally”.///–the author

    I think the Malays saw the government differently. They agree with Najib’s offer of a stadium but they forgot that Najib was not honest in carrying through with a firm offer of Stadium Merdeka. The Malays also did not think that the Home Ministry was under Najib’s control, and hence they did not count police response as government response. That is how the pollster’s analysis might make sense!

  5. #5 by waterfrontcoolie on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - 7:57 pm

    The truth is UMNO just wanted to continue to REAP the nation as long as they can and the only way is to frighten the Malays especially in the rural areas by painting the scenario that the Chinese “still control” all the wealth in the nation hence their refusal to accpet the fact that the Malays indeed has control over 45% of the current wealth of all the cash is accounted for. hence the continuous story spinning in this nation. We rally have to wait for the middle -class awakening!! if it ever comes!

  6. #6 by undertaker888 on Thursday, 1 September 2011 - 8:46 am

    Pencuri yang mana akan henti mencuri senang senang duit rakyat? kalau fair election, semua umno punya orang tentu kena rejection. Tengok MCA sama mic, sudah hilang dari permukaan bumi sini. undi postal tak cukup nak tolong dia orang. Semua habis quota bagi kat umno.

    hanya main kotor dan rasuah la boleh tolong dia orang. Fair election? Fair well la kat dia orang.

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