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If the readers can recall back to the time near general elections, few of the BN component parties - MIC, MCA, Gerakan, and PPP were clamoring for release of HINDRAF 5 ISA detainees - since this was a sore point among the Indian community. MIC in particular had a horrendous time during the elections. Now, nowhere did we hear the “big brother” of BN saying that the detainees should be released.

So, imagine my surprise when today’s Star reported:

Barisan Nasional youth leaders plan to meet Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar over the call for the release of the five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force.

People’s Progressive Party Youth chief T. Murugiah said the Youth leaders from Umno, Gerakan, MIC and MCA had already agreed in principle to join the group which he would lead.

Can’t believe it la!

At least Samy Vellu is being direct in saying that by releasing the 5 fella, BN will win back some voters (and in the course save MIC’s hind). Let’s read some of Samy Vellu’s quotes on the second round of call by MIC to release the detainees:

It’s about time that they are released as they pose no danger to the security of the country.

“The government should not hold them any longer as it will prolong the Indian community’s ill-feelings towards the government,”

They only voiced out the problems and the frustrations of the Indian community.

“Similarly, the MIC has also been doing the same for the past few decades … so why detain them any longer?”

Err…that means MIC fellas also should have been in ISA for decades? Please la, don’t insult HINDRAF by comparing with MIC. Wait till rebranding finishes and people can see some improvement before attempting to do so.

Samy Vellu said many Barisan Nasional “die-hards” among the Indian community had voted for the opposition in the last general election as they felt that the five Hindraf leaders had been detained unjustly.

“It is not because they loved the opposition or they wanted a change but rather they vented their anger on the (BN) government,” he said.

He said the BN could regain their support if the five Hindraf leaders were released.

Right, the reason to release them is to gain more votes. So that the champion of the community can go around claiming that they were released due to his effort? Hopefully not.

I had asked the prime minister to release them on several occasions and also raised the matter at two BN Supreme Council meetings.

Now, this is very interesting. Note that Samy deftly avoided telling what was PM’s response to his request. Makes us all think. Did Samy Vellu really ask? Was the PM’s reply unmentionable?

Popularity: 1% [?]

After reading about UMNO being penalised RM218 million in Malaysiakini, I was intrigued by the party’s response. The supplier said items (posters, banners, buntings, flags, souvenirs, mineral waters and other transportation costs) were delivered to UMNO (has UMNO logo stamped on the acknowledgement of receipt of goods), but the election (2004 general elections) was contested by BN. So, UMNO claiming the supplier should sue BN. UMNO is registered with ROS. How about BN?
Hmmm…if BN is to pay RM218 million, will cause a small dent in their coffers.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Previous Merdeka Center’s opinion poll results will usually come out in the Star or NST, but this time I did not read about it. This news was covered in Malaysiakini. Not surprising that it was missing in main stream media because it shows that only 42% of the polled people said that approved/satisfied with Prime Minister Badawi. This is even lower than pre-elections times and a huge drop from the 91% popularity he had in 2004. This means more people are unhappy than happy.

Few areas were covered in the poll, among them Najib’s suitabilty as next PM, satistifaction with BN and PR government fulfilling election promises, view on economy, and general outlook on the country’s direction.

The opinion poll, 2nd Quarter 2008 Peninsular Malaysia Voter Opinion Survey was between 4th and 14th July 2008 to gauge voters’ perceptions of current issues, the state of the economy and leadership. Some extracts from the summary:

The survey reveals a large majority also indicated that they perceived the country was going in the wrong direction – based on only 28% who felt satisfied with the way things are going in the country. This may be in part due to a deepening concern over the state of the economy as a majority (59%), were worried over economic related issues followed by 10% who cited political issues as being most important.

With respect to views on political parties and leaders, in two mutually exclusive questions, the survey found 44% of Peninsular Malaysia voters were satisfied with the Barisan Nasional while 57% report being satisfied with Pakatan Rakyat.

The poll also found 42% of voters reported satisfaction with Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s performance as prime minister.

With respect to Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the survey found that only 11% believed in the allegation of sexual misconduct while 66% agreed that it “was a politically motivated action to disrupt Anwar Ibrahim’s political career”. The survey also found that public confidence towards institutions likely to be involved in handling the matter to be
relatively low with not more than 33% citing confidence.

According to the center, the Peninsular Malaysia wide telephone survey of 1030 randomly selected Malaysian registered voters was carried out between 4th and 14th July 2008, and funded via internally generated resources. Respondents were selected using the random,stratified sampling method and structured along the national electorate profile and specifically proportional to gender, ethnicity, and state of residence.

Merdeka Center’s press release (PDF) is available on their website, but for those who are more visually inclined, Malaysiakini provided some nice graphics, but its good to read the full report to get a proper insight. So let’s have a look at them:

That means total of satisfied (very and somewhat) respondents (7+35) is 42%, total of dissatisfied  (very and somewhat) respondents is (37+17) is 54% and the balance 4% is no response/don’t know category.

That means for federal BN, total of satisfied (very and somewhat) respondents (8+36) is 44%, total of dissatisfied (very and somewhat) respondents is (38+16) is 54% and the balance 2% is no response/don’t know category.

For state PR, total of satisfied (very and somewhat) respondents (9+48) is 57%, total of dissatisfied (very and somewhat) respondents is (19+13) is 32% and the balance 11% is no response/don’t know category.

That means only 24% of respondents have positive things to say about the economy. 1 in 4 Malaysians surveyed by the poll.

Less than one third of the respondents are happy with the current situation. Those unhappy can be due to actions of both ruling government and the opposition.

Reader should note that the sampling is only 1030 and from Peninsular Malaysia.

Popularity: 1% [?]