The latest University Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMcedel) polls on the rebound of public support for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Selangor is confirmation that Pakatan Rakyat can restore political momentum provided it can learn the right lessons from the self-inflicted wounds in the eight-month-long Selangor Mentri Besar crisis.
The survey was conducted three days after Mohamed Azmin Ali was sworn in as the new Selangor Mentri Besar from Sept. 26 to 28, polling 1,165 respondents in all 22 Parliamentary constituencies in Selangor and covering all races.
It showed that PR’s support in Selangor had rebounded to 43%, after taking a beating five months ago when PR’s support in the state nosedived to 35% in a survey conducted from May 10 to 19 – a 15% fall from 50% recorded in September 2012 in an earlier UMcedel survey.
The rebound in public support for PR in Selangor to 43% would have been even more significant than just jumping eight percentage from 35% as public frustration and disillusionment with PR in Selangor would have plummeted to lower than the 35% registered in May, especially in the months from July to September which saw the greatest heights in public disenchantment with PR in Selangor until the resolution of the crisis.
Indisputably, the rebound in support for PR in Selangor would have gone through double-digit percentage points.
As I had said, the saving grace of the worst PR crisis and haemorrhage in its six-year existence – the PR Selangor crisis – is that the Selangor Barisan Nasional/UMNO was too weak to be able to exploit it to its advantage, as they have no confidence whatsoever that they stood any chance of winning back the Selangor state government if a Selangor state general election was held.
This is fully borne out by the two surveys of UMcedel in May and September, which showed BN support plunging from a lowly 25% in May to another drop of five percentage points in September.
The September UMcedel survey found that 28% were unsure about both coalitions.
It also revealed that 48% of those polled said they wanted PAS to remain in PR while only 19% wanted the Islamist party to break away and another 22% were unsure.
The two recent UMcedel surveys have confirmed the changed political landscape in the country where UMNO/BN represents the discredited politics of the past while Pakatan Rakyat stands for the new future politics of hope and justice struggling to be born.
Pakatan Rakyat will continue to be relevant to the hopes and expectations of Malaysians for a better tomorrow if PR component parties and leaders can regain their bearings and reaffirm the two basic principles of PR which had fired the imagination of 52% of the electorate transcending race, religion or region – the PR common policy framework and the operational principle of consensus among the three PR component parties.
The reaffirmation of these two basic principles of PR will take the coalition to greater heights while their denial will despatch PR to the dustbin of history.
#1 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 21 October 2014 - 2:44 pm
PR must NOT b fooled 2 think dat Selangor n KL oredi in their pockets
Better improve performance n governance 2 win d hearts n minds of voters
Heard dis?
“I hereby ask you all components in the country to move together, demonstrating mutual aids so we can perform the nation’s goals. Without working hard, you can’t expect this country to become a great country.”
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo’s speech
B united, work HARD – his mesej 2 Indonesians
NO speech on NEP-like discounts 4 certain grp of citizens OR supremacy/ketuanan of one grp of citizens over other grps
Watch our neighbor progress n leave us behind (while we hentam each other everyday over race n religious issues)
#2 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 21 October 2014 - 3:26 pm
Its not just in Selangor. Najib and UMNO is pretty messed up right now. They have high growth rates for quite a few years now on their backs, dishing out political narcotics left and right and the opposition in disarray, AND not only they did not capitalize on it, they are STILL RETREATING.. It has not been a battle of who does better, it has been a battle of who messed up the most.
Still the battle lines are now very very deep for both sides. We are a divided country thanks to UMNO/BN rule for decades. Trying to get into each other territory is a matter of real will power and determination. Its not the stuff of boys and girls, faint hearted and dreamers, its stuff of REAL MEN – will of STEEL. strength of Giants and legends and EPIC to be made now.
#3 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 21 October 2014 - 7:35 pm
PR like 2 syiok diri n count chickens b4 before they are hatched