Survey may be flawed, but Umno shouldn’t ignore sentiment, say academics

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: Two academics have told Umno to take heed of a survey finding that 71% of Malays are dissatisfied with the government although one of them criticised the study as flawed.

Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara and Azmil Tayeb of Universiti Sains Malaysia said the result reflected poorly on Umno as the largest Malay party in the government.

Azmi told FMT the methodology employed for the 35,000-respondent survey was faulty and the public should not read too much into the result, but he said it was still a valid reminder to Umno that its days of being considered the defender of Malays were long gone with PAS having taken over that role.

“Umno has to do something about this if it is to regain the confidence of Malay voters, and it all depends on this month’s Umno elections,” he said.

He said Umno could reinstill confidence in Malay voters if all the important posts in the party were filled by people who did not come from factions opposed to and supportive of party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

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