Sunday, August 05, 2007

Malaysians lower ratings for their PM

91 percent then, 70 per cent now. Abdullah Ahmad's popularity among Malaysian voters is diminishing. Between November 2004 and June this year, the PM lost a massive 21 percentage points in terms of his approval ratings, according to a survey. This should not come as a surprise, says the survey, as respondents interviewed generally express disappointment at Pak Lah for failing to fulfill his election promises. What might take many aback is the finding of this survey that neither his marriage to Jeanne Danker nor the pay rise for the civil servants did much to stem this decline.
His approval ratings suffered the most (63 per cent) in September 2006 due following harsh criticisms by Dr Mahathir aimed at him, his family and the 4th floor operatives.
The survey, however, did not include the most recent issues, such as the arrest of bloggers and the RM4.6 billion debt facing Port Klang, which Lim Kit Siang has already labeled as the PM's first mega-bailout in the making.

Elizabeth Wong has a more extensive take here on the findings of the survey published by Malaysiakini.

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:55 pm

    mega bailout, it will be. overpay for the land and unsurprising inflated construction cost.
    look at the principlas behind the company. they are all connected to the component parties of the ruling party and the whole damn project has the overzealous backing from the Most Corrupted Association
    politicians working for the people? better bet otherwise. they will screw you the moment you blink.
    Hey, I dont even see any news carried in the mainstream papers about this mega bailout. wonder why blogs are getting more popular and why the government is starting its clampdown on the bloggers. its the same everywhere for corrupted regimes, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anon,
    The Edge carried a good editorial on the P. Klang fiasco last week. The Sun also had a story a week or so back when I was in Bintan.

    Tq.

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  3. Anonymous11:22 pm

    rocky,

    yup, I did read about it in the Edge but I dont consider this weekly business publication part of the mainstream media. Sorry, I miss it in the Sun paper.
    Anyway, your point is taken and I stand corrected and I hope both papers will continue their good work. By the way, I have been a subscriber of the Edge for a long time.

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  4. Anonymous11:28 pm

    The result of the survey can't be right - pm's popularity should be 7% and not 70%. Something's wrong somewhere.

    Ancient mariner has the take on p.klang fiasco.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:33 pm

    Surprise on his slide? No, not us. But Zam will come out with a poll which may say that it is up cos Msian are happy that PM takes so many holidays. Some BN guys think too much of themselves to believe the unhappiness on the ground.

    anyway I'm one of Pak Lah's supporter and voted for him in 2004. Now!! hell I'll even vote for PAS if they stand in my area.Take a hike Pak Lah. Your 2004 manifesto is worst than a toilet paper. Promises but no delivery, still warming up but holiday bukan main garang.

    I heard that a hornyness will stand in my area.ladies better stay indoors!!!

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  6. Anonymous12:39 am

    Still have 70% rating that is very very good. I thought it is very much less at 30%. Maybe his marriage and the pay raise for the civil servant did help to boast up his rating.

    A word of advice, if he get rid of his SIL his rating will surely rocket upwards.....

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  7. If not of the rural folks who have no exposure to the alternative media, Pak Helah's rating would have been much worse.

    Based on the table, we can see that either the Malays have no confidence in DAP or being brain-washed by TV3 & Utusan Meloya.

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  8. Anonymous2:39 am

    All this numbers has no significant whatsoever to FIL. Will he ever wake up?? I guess not.

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  9. Anonymous6:35 am

    Dear Rocky and Friends,

    What is the basis of this survey: sample size? demographics? Before we get excited on the news that "Malaysians lower ratings for their PM", we need to acknowledge the fact that there are Malaysians that do not access to independent information like we all have especially people in the countryside/rural areas.

    The survey says that the PM's approval rating is down to 70%, but at the end of the day, what matters is the outcome on the upcoming GE, and lets not forget that those people's votes carry significant weight on the future of our country.

    Best Wishes to All Malaysians & Happy Voting!

    N.B: I am not a pro-BN supporter. As for the Opposition, buck-up and set aside your egos before you get me and my family's vote.

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  10. Anonymous7:43 am

    They will organise sms to support the PM before Merdeka. Later announce he is very popular with the rakyat.
    UP the rating lah!

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  11. Anonymous8:25 am

    Looking at Elizabeth Wong's posting on the survey and her highlights, it's pretty obvious that economic considerations rank high in people's rating of the effectiveness of Abdullah Badawi's government.

    And to the Chinese this is a matter of utmost importance! But why do they think the DAP can "cook up" a bigger economic cake beats me! Do they have the (best) ingredients I wonder?

    Why should his marriage to Jeanne Abdullah have anything to do with his popularity Rocky? Unless Jeanne has a big socio-political/economic base?

    Do/Can spouses of leaders play a big role in boosting their wife's/husband's popularity? Or in bringing about his/her downfall? It would be interesting to do a worldwide survey/research on this -both synchronic and diachronic

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  12. Rocky!

    The findings will find the regime to be more suppressive and the leadership paranoid! So beware of the nightof the long knives! And if that were to happen the ripple effects will be far reaching world wide where Singapore will play a leading role!

    No cheers today!

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  13. I would personally think that Uncle Lah is not as competent as Mahathir. Haven't really heard much from him. Which makes me starts wondering if he even work. Or just moving around and accept anything that comes by(eg proposals). Does he even think?

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  14. People make decisions based on the information available to them. When 'negative' news is consistently blacked out by the mainstream media, how reliable will be the people's perception of the PM?
    Abdullah's failings and failures are aplenty.
    He is a hopeless case and deserves no rating.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous12:24 pm

    You can rant, you can cheer but I've got the ballot-rigging on my side!

    So rakyat, I'm still the winner, and you the sore losers!

    Hahahahahahahahahah..... Catch me if you can!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous1:51 pm

    The rating will not have much bearing in the rural areas and those constituencies pumped with development fundings. The huge massive propaganda and related activities have yet to be implemented to ensure BN-UMNO victory in the next GE. Read my lips, I wrote BN-UMNO and not Chinese seats. UMNO don't give much shit to these seats, it's the fate of both MCA and Gerakan responsibility to win. BN-UMNO has given "specially prepared" electoral rolls to these parties "exclusively" with only names of Chinese voters (meaning, no names of Malay or Indian voters in these lists). So with this findings, God bless these BN components.

    madmonk

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  17. Anonymous4:27 pm

    Nowadays it is hardly possible to prevent unfavourable news from being reported on the internet. So, what is not reported in the mainsteam media does not mean people do not know, unlike the old days. Yes, you can continue to hope and pray that simple kampong folks who have no internet access will be kept in the dark, and can be easily appeased, but not forever. Times have changed and the battle for the hearts and minds of people will be fought not just in the mainsteam pro-Government newspapers but also in cyberspace. Just talking about banning or harrassing bloggers will not change anything. Did Dr. Mahathir said that he too tried to do just that but failed?

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  18. Anonymous10:57 pm

    The Port Klang fiasco to summarise,Kuala Dimensi a company under MCA and UMNO bought land from Selangor fisherman cooperative for a 100 million and then sold it to Port Klang for 1 bill. This was way overpriced and 900 mill was shared by the politicians and Port Klang and ministry of Transport officials. After that Port Klang gave contract to Kuala Dimensi again at very inflated prices. Kuala Dimensi built 512 warehouses(nobody build this many in one go in the world) 2 office blocks, 2000 covered car parks and a 4 star hotel.All of them except for a few warehouses are lying empty. The total project cost now is 4.6 billion. Worst still money is spend without Ministry of Finance approval and all projects given to Kuala Dimensi without tender.
    Jebel Ali is the consultant for this project. They did not agree to the scale of this project and port klang Managing Director then ignored their existence. Jebel Ali was used to lend credibility to the projects. Sensing that they are being used Jebel Ali withdrew from this project. Port Klang MD then said that Malaysians can undertake this project despite the fact the MD signed a 15 year contract with the company not too long ago,
    This such a major scandal and no newspaper has picked this up except for the Sun. No Malay newspaper has reported this and the poor people continue to remain ignorant to what is happening to their country. 4.6 bill of public's money and no one in the govt has clarified on this matter.

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  19. Anonymous10:53 am

    he is only know how to plans many-many MEGA projects.
    congrat to him, he have reached total 1 Trillion RM of projects for less than 4 year in charge, what a record? Malaysia Boleh. Syabas!!!
    Negara ada banyak duit!!!!
    Tapi Rakyat sangat miskin!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous10:54 am

    he is only know how to plans many-many MEGA projects.
    congrat to him, he have reached total 1 Trillion RM of projects for less than 4 year in charge, what a record? Malaysia Boleh. Syabas!!!
    Negara ada banyak duit!!!!
    Tapi Rakyat sangat miskin!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous12:30 pm

    "Not much to celebrate in 50 years". That is the title of a commentary by Pauline Ng that appeared in the Spore Business Times paper yesterday, Aug 6.

    No doubt, this will get Zam all hot and bothered. Imagine the temerity of a Spore paper (and one that's widely read by the business community there) daring to comment on things Malaysian!

    What did Ms Ng write?

    How about this - "Why then, instead of a celebratory mood, is there this palpable sense of angst, fear, uncertainty among a not inconsiderable portion of the population?"

    In writing about the Port Klang Free Zone fiasco - "costs to develop the zone ballooned by more than four times from RM1.1 billion to RM4.6 billion, and yet the zone remains a ghost town".

    And in commenting on the brain drain - "on the talent front, Malaysia's brain drain is accelerating, and is being replaced, not by skilled talents, but by an exponential rise in low-skilled foreign labour. Going by current trends, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research projects that the current 2.7 million legal and illegal foreign workers in the country will rise to 5 million by 2010, or a nearly a fifth of the total population".

    (Here, I am compelled to report what Spore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said at a seminar yesterday. In talking about foreigners coming to Spore, he said that "our many foreign talents...we are taking them only at the top end...", these are people "who would be, in their societies, the top 10, 15 or at the most, 20 per cent..." and that Spore is "taking people who can improve our lives...").

    And Ms Ng concluded her commentary thus - "if his (Pak Lah's) administration chose to listen, what they would hear is this: there is little accountability, the racial and religious divide is widening, crime is going up and foreign investment, as well as high-value job creation, is going down. It should be hardly a surprise that not many are in the mood to celebrate".

    You can't put it more bluntly than that!

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  22. Anonymous1:48 pm

    'They will organise sms to support the PM before Merdeka. Later announce he is very popular with the rakyat.'
    go fly kite i say!
    PAS i am on my way.............

    ReplyDelete
  23. thanks, anon (10.57pm) and skil.

    all these things and bocors should be listed out and every man and woman who goes back to kampung should read the list out to all the kampung folks in the heartlands.

    that's the most important citizen action that can be taken before election.

    the heartland people will listen to you - after all, you're from the same place, maybe even the same family.

    show what the cabinet and umno and the others and zam will never say accurately or completely; compare the way they print it or say it half-ways and the way the matter is discussed in blogs.

    make use of blog comments.

    explain to them why the umno govt is so in a hurry to clamp down and demonize bloggers.

    tell them what 4.6 billion ringgit translates to in kampung terms.

    tell them what 200 million for a personal plane translates to in kampung terms.

    tell them when a Prince has to call for integrity, what does that mean.

    show them the media article which compares all the hr firms saying which jobs are most needed in the coming years - on the top, sales. teach them to think how much value-add can come from a sales job and tell them what value-add in terms of income inflow really involves.

    ask them when they go to the malls in Beijing and sit outside while all the peoples of the rest of the world walk in and out with big shopping bags, how it feels to be a Malaysian kampung folk given a holiday - but not enough spending money. And what will happen by 2011.

    tell them what is happening in the cities when women are raped, brutalised and killed while MPs crack jokes about them in parliament.

    open their eyes and ears, and help them to connect the real dots.

    so that this charade and embarrassment of a government can end.

    ReplyDelete