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Despite charges that the federal government's Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) cash aid is nothing more than an election gimmick to appease voters, the program does exercise overwhelming influence over fence sitting voters, an academic said yesterday.
Universiti Malaya (UM)'s Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman (left) said that according to his research, out of the 21 percent of the undecided voters - the topic of BR1M sparked an overwhelmingly positive response from 87 per cent of them.
"This is pretty surprising that BR1M actually does play a role, not only among rural voters, but the young and on-the-fence voters, too," he said during Merdeka Centre's Who will win the 13th General Election forum yesterday.
"When you go to rural areas, the effect of something like BR1M is actually quite huge. It means a lot (to rural folks)," said the former director of the university's Centre of Democracy and Elections (Umcedel).
Redzuan ,however, said that according to his team's ground research, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's popularity has been rising steadily since the year 2011, though he expressed surprise as to why Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak did not call for elections in mid-2012 when his popularity was apparently at an all-time high in the past two years.
"The anti-BN sentiment is very strong, but when we asked those who were against BN, they still wanted to vote for the BN. The opposition is yet to convert these disgruntled people' into voting for them," he added.
Graft charges have little impact
Meanwhile, Monash University's Head of School for Political Science, James Chin, argued that the rakyat might not cast their ballots based on the corruption track record of a candidate even though many have hit out at the alleged corruption of some incumbents.
"I can not remember a single constituency where the voters had voted based on the corruption track record of a candidate," he said.
"The person complaining the most about corruption is in all likelihood, will be the very first person who will try to settle his or her summons amicably with a police officer on a discount," he added.
Chin (left) also said that political bloggers will not play such a big role in the forthcoming elections unlike the 2008 elections, claiming that the people are now able to discount the bloggers' political allegiances compared to five years ago.
"Political bloggers now are merely touching base with their own supporters. They are not converting any new believers to their cause," he said.
Chin even went on to state boldly that he does not believe that the country will have a "free and fair elections" this year.
"In Malaysia, ever since the year 1955, we never had a free and fair election," was his curt response to a question from the floor during the forum.
Young voters and on-the-fence voters are likely to be decision makers in the polls, if research findings are anything to go by.
According to the Merdeka Centre's figures, the electoral roll has registered 3.27 million new voters since the 2008 polls, representing a massive 28.3 per cent growth- the highest since the centre started recording growth figures.
First time voters would represent a quarter- or 25 per cent- of the whole electorate in the looming elections.
Universiti Malaya (UM)'s Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman (left) said that according to his research, out of the 21 percent of the undecided voters - the topic of BR1M sparked an overwhelmingly positive response from 87 per cent of them."This is pretty surprising that BR1M actually does play a role, not only among rural voters, but the young and on-the-fence voters, too," he said during Merdeka Centre's Who will win the 13th General Election forum yesterday.
"When you go to rural areas, the effect of something like BR1M is actually quite huge. It means a lot (to rural folks)," said the former director of the university's Centre of Democracy and Elections (Umcedel).
Redzuan ,however, said that according to his team's ground research, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's popularity has been rising steadily since the year 2011, though he expressed surprise as to why Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak did not call for elections in mid-2012 when his popularity was apparently at an all-time high in the past two years."The anti-BN sentiment is very strong, but when we asked those who were against BN, they still wanted to vote for the BN. The opposition is yet to convert these disgruntled people' into voting for them," he added.
Graft charges have little impact
Meanwhile, Monash University's Head of School for Political Science, James Chin, argued that the rakyat might not cast their ballots based on the corruption track record of a candidate even though many have hit out at the alleged corruption of some incumbents.
"I can not remember a single constituency where the voters had voted based on the corruption track record of a candidate," he said.
"The person complaining the most about corruption is in all likelihood, will be the very first person who will try to settle his or her summons amicably with a police officer on a discount," he added.
Chin (left) also said that political bloggers will not play such a big role in the forthcoming elections unlike the 2008 elections, claiming that the people are now able to discount the bloggers' political allegiances compared to five years ago."Political bloggers now are merely touching base with their own supporters. They are not converting any new believers to their cause," he said.
Chin even went on to state boldly that he does not believe that the country will have a "free and fair elections" this year.
"In Malaysia, ever since the year 1955, we never had a free and fair election," was his curt response to a question from the floor during the forum.
Young voters and on-the-fence voters are likely to be decision makers in the polls, if research findings are anything to go by.
According to the Merdeka Centre's figures, the electoral roll has registered 3.27 million new voters since the 2008 polls, representing a massive 28.3 per cent growth- the highest since the centre started recording growth figures.
First time voters would represent a quarter- or 25 per cent- of the whole electorate in the looming elections.
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