KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — They have a mixed bag of politicians. They often are at loggerheads with each other over ideology. And governing the states under their control has not been a walk in the park.
But what is the public perception of Pakatan Rakyat — the alliance of Parti Islam SeMalaysia, Parti Keadilan Rakyat and the Democratic Action Party – vis-a-vis Barisan Nasional?
A survey conducted in mid-August shows that the Opposition coalition’s public posture on human rights and democracy is gaining some traction with voters.
The objective of the poll covering 1,000 registered voters was aimed at gauging how the public perceived the Opposition 16 months after Election 2008 where Pakatan Rakyat made unprecedented gains.
Since then, Malaysians say that PR's biggest strength is that it fights for democratic reforms (31 per cent), fights for transparency and is against corruption (29 per cent) and advocates fairness for all races ( 27per cent).
This finding is not surprising given that the Opposition have been calling for the rehabilitation of Malaysia's institutions, especially the judiciary and the police.
Pakatan Rakyat has also been at the forefront of the movement to abolish the Internal Security Act and a slew of other regressive legislation.
Broken down according to race, 65 per cent of those who think that PR's biggest strength is racial fairness are Malays, 24 per cent Chinese and 11 per cent Indians.
Some 59 per cent of those who felt that PR's main selling point was fight for transparency are Malays, 32 per cent Chinese and 9 per cent Indians.
About 63 per cent of those who believe that PR stands for democratic reforms are Malays, 26 per cent Chinese and 11 per cent Indians.
On the flip side, those polled by Vox Malaysia said that PR's biggest weakness compared to BN was its inexperience in governing (38 per cent); bickering and fighting among members of the Opposition grouping (35 per cent) and the absence of a "good candidate" for the premiership. (20 per cent).
Broken down according to race, 67 per cent of those who think that PR's biggest weakness its its experience in governing are Malays, 27 per cent Chinese and six per cent Indians.
Some 62 per cent of those who think that PR's biggest weakness is infighting are Malays (62 per cent), 28 per cent Chinese and 10 per cent Indians. Nearly 70 per cent of those polled who believe that PR's lack of a clear candidate for the PM's is its biggest weakness are Malays, 13 per cent Chinese and 18 per cent Indians.
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